Category — drinking wine

Genius Idea: Think of Vinyou as an events board for wine lovers. The site is set up so you can browse upcoming wine tasting events in your area and also post your own events to the community at large.

Still, let it be known that the Syracuse Wine Meetup Group has the best wine events in the Finger Lakes, and Central New York, Lake Ontario wine regions.

Find Upcoming Wine Tastings Near You [Mashable]

Pick up is include in this $99 package from  Walmart parking lot – (East Syracuse) – 6438 Basile Rowe – pick up at 8:00 on October 3, 2009. Limited to 1000 travelers, return at 4PM. For more information, see http://www.oldforgelakecruises.com/specialsTASTEAROUNDWORLD.html

What to look forward to:

* Cruising on both the Clearwater and Zilpha through Old Forge Lake Cruises
* 24 distinct wines at 10 locations throughout the region
* Food pairings are available at each location to coordinate with the wine
* Music is on-hand at some of the locations

This a good deal, recommended by captain Andy! I’m only sorry they won’t be serving my wines.

If you’ve never seen the great 2004 documentary, Wine for the Confused, starring John Cleese of Monty Python, then you’re in for a treat. Although it is John Cleese, the film’s description points out that it is meant to be more educational than funny:

Wine is confusing…overwhelming even. So where do you start if you want to learn more about it? Join comedy legend John Cleese on a witty and personal look at the world of winemaking.

You can watch the entire film below or head over to Hulu.com and watch it there.

I had so much fun last night at the Winery with my friends playing cards. We had a very special guest visitor, ‘NaNa’ a famous international dancer and drummer from Accr, Ghana, Africa. You may remember him and his troupe last year at the New York State Fair.

friendly guest at our Lakeland Winery Booth

the wild side

Lakeland Winery was in Utica this past weekend for the Wine and Chocolate Festival sponsored by Galaxy Communication. Had fun, did quite well and have pictures to prove it!

July 2nd is the last day to enter wine in the New York State Fair Home Wine Making Competition. All my customers should enter their wine made by you at Lakeland Winery. If you do you will probably win a nice medal, and definitely receive a ticket to the Fair.

You only need one 750ml bottle to enter but they must be in two 375ml bottles. If you need them I will supply the bottles at no charge. Just bring in your wine with a check and I will take it from there.

While traveling recently through the Finger Lake wine country,  I came across this Renaissance women working at Prejean Winery. She was kind enough to display my Travel Poster advertising our trip to Napa Valley, California. The deadline is approaching fast so if you are interested in going, please visit www.lakelandtraveltours for more information. One thing I noticed from this excursion is that winery owners and their employees are very friendly and accommodating people.

Stories and news from the wine world:

• Wine Word of the Week: Clarification
  — Clarification is the wine-making operation which removes suspended and insoluble material from grape juice, or new wine, in which these solids are known as lees.
• Sulfites in Wine
  — Sneaky Sulfites Cause Splitting Headaches, or Do They? The truth behind sulfites used in wine.
• Wine May ‘Protect Against Dementia’
  — The beneficial effects observed are due to compounds called flavonoids, found in red wine.
• Time Works Against Opened Wine Bottle
  — The problem arises when you taste several wines or simply don’t want to drink an entire bottle by yourself or with a friend.
• Report: American Wine Industry Healthy
  — Wine Intelligence, a London-based wine industry consulting and market research firm, is reporting that American wine is doing just fine…

This is a shameless plug for Ytb Travel Network and Ytb, International, the parent company of my travel company, and 26th largest travel company in the world. These photos are of me and the Syracuse contingent at the recently attended Ytb, Inc. International Convention in St. Louis.

So, here’s my story: A few months ago, I had been thinking of setting up trips for my wine drinking customers to visit wineries all over the world, but hadn’t a clue how to get started. A month or two later, I’m serving wine at the farmers market and need water to wipe up some spilled wine. Nearby there was a guy at a table with lots of plastic water bottles at his display. I went over to him and he said, “how would you like to get paid to travel and have that money go back into your business”? That was all I needed to hear. Several weeks later I joined Ytb Inc, and started Lakeland Travel Club. You can see it at www.lakelandtravelclub.com.

In a nut shell, I get paid to do what I love doing…travel. And, you can too! Just visit my website; watch the video; sign up to become a member of Ytb and begin working at the most exciting and potentially rewarding business you’ve ever owned. Make money from commissions paid by airlines, hotels and car rental agencies when people book travel on your website. It’s not easy, but what is? You have to work it, like any job. Tell people your reason for joining. Everyone has their own story. What’s yours?

Want to know more? Call me at (315)572-4763 and reserve 30 minutes of your time to find out more.

Andy

Stories and news from the wine world:

• The Vintner’s Case for Global Warming
  — French winemakers are buying land in northern areas that haven’t been able to produce wine in centuries. Areas like upstate New York, Ontario, and British Columbia that were marginal wine producers are becoming important winemaking centers.
• Winemaking: Requested Recipe (Pineapple Wines)
  — By the time the fruit reaches your local market, the intense flavor and sweetness made be decidely reduced. For that reason, pineapple wine made from canned pineapple or pineapple juice are, generally speaking, every bit as good as wine made from fresh pineapple fruit.
• Using Wine Recipes for Fruit Wine
  — Once you have all the basic equipment together you can start looking for wine recipes to make your own fruit wines.
• Winemaking Calculators Go Online
  — New website’s free tools provide help for busy winemakers.
• Wine Critics and their Discontents
  — You might think that the job of wine critic would be heavenly—traveling the world, tasting wines and talking and writing about them. What could be better? But there are downsides and trade-offs to the job.
• Wines to Make a Party Swing
  — So you’re having a party? There is nothing worse than going to a party and being given a bad tasting glass of wine. There is no excuse for this, and so this article gives you a few ideas on what to serve your guests.
• The Way to Make Wine: How to Craft Superb Table Wines at Home
  — Written by a vintner and science editor with twenty-five years experience, The Way to Make Wine is the most readable and reliable handbook among the many winemaking guides.