Mark your calendar for February 3 - 5 and plan on attending festivities including wine tasting, seminars with the experts, wine dinners, and Grand Tastings where you can meet the winery owners, winemakers and distributors. Sample vintages from 120 US wineries, including those of the Robert Mondavi Family of Wines and the Iron Horse Winery, from Somona Valley, California. Iron Horse Winery has developed a following for their chardonnay and their sparkling wines, some of which have been offered by Presidents' Reagan, Bush and Clinton at international summits. Samples of food from gourmet food vendors will be available to cleanse your palate while tasting the fine wines. If you're even slightly interested in fine wine this festival is the place to be the first weekend in February.
Visitors are welcome at the wineries close to home.
New York is America's second largest wine producer with 125 wineries producing 100 million bottles of wine each year and also the home of the home of the oldest winery in America - Brotherhood Winery . There are four major wine producing regions of the state - the eastern end of Long Island, the Hudson Valley, the Fingerlakes, and the Lake Erie area. Uncork New York - New York Wine on the Web lists the major vineyards in New York State, including those in the Hudson Valley area, just south of Albany. Many of the wineries offer weekend tours. Take a look at the New York State Gold Medal Winners - you'll most likely be able to taste some of them at The Desmond.