Vineyard Tour on Vacation

We went up to Geneva with Mo's family again this year.  The cottage was torn down and rebuilt and is now like 3 times bigger and so nice!  The cottage is just like 5 or so houses down from the Old Firehouse Winery so we would always go there every year.  This year we wanted to go more inland and see the majority of the other wineries available there in Grand River Valley area. We did this over 2 days.  We mainly just did tastings at each since we were driving, the last day we actually enjoyed full glasses.  We stayed at some longer than others, some had A/C  others did not. 

The 1st one we went that was open was South River.  This is a church that was moved 50 miles from its original location when it was going to be demolished to build a convenience store in its location.  The vineyard owner and group of Amish men dismantled the church board by board and rebuilt it at the vineyard.  This was one of our FAV wineries for the building, the outdoor area, etc.   We purchased a bottle of their Riesling there.

2 that we sampled.

Yeah like I wasn't gonna take a photo of those!

Mo enjoying the shade... it was HOT out.

I thought steeple top was cool.

 The next one was just right down the road.  This one seemed the most touristy that we went to, but it did have A/C and the person at the sampling table was one of the owners or something, she knew a lot about the wine process and I was able to ask a lot of questions about growing the grapes, diseases, etc.  She even gave me the contact person at OARDC who is their go to on grapes!  They put in a video for us to watch to show how the harvester machinery picks the grapes and the wind machines.  She told us due to the elevations of the land - some pockets are more prone to frost and that they burn huge bales of hay/straw and use the wind machines to blow the warmed are over top of the vineyard to keep the frost from killing the grape vines.  Was a very interesting conversation at DeBonne Vineyard.  They also started a brewery there as well and had a glass cutout in the floor that you could see down to the brewery.    This was my most education stop along our tour.  We purchased a bottle of their Jazz White (blend of 76% Chardonnay, 12% Riesling, 12% Pinot Grigio).

The next stop was at the Grand River Cellars which we found out at the previous winery that it is owned by the Debonne winery.  We decided to eat lunch at this one, and the food was awesome.  We did another tasting tray.  Nothing jumped out at us at this one, so we didn't buy any bottles.  No air either so it was a bit humid.  The overall look of the place was really nice - especially on the outside.  The part that made this stop memorable was the 3 old Italian men who sat down by us at the bar.  Barmaid warned us they were coming, the make their rounds every Friday and they can get loud.  They were fighting on who paid, who could drink more (who was driving), etc.  Half of what they said I couldn't even make out...  barmaid even had problems.  She said they never stop arguing about the same thing every week.  I want to go to the wineries every week with my friends when I'm in my 80's too!!  =)

We tried to stop next door at St Joseph on Friday as well, it said opened at 3pm which is when we went, but no one there - also noted they had a new building on another road.  We hit that one the following day.

 

We actually went to the last one 1st, but they were not open yet, so we figured we would go on the way back to the cottage.  Another one of our favs.  We tried 4 I think but decided up buying a bottle of their Gewurztraminer.  We love saying the name of that one, and tried it at many of the wineries, becoming one of our favorite whites.  Laurello's vineyards are right off the road as you drive to it.  We stopped and took a photo of them.   Seeing all the acres upon acres of vineyards really makes me want to plant my entire back property with grapes!!!!  

Would LOVE to actually get to tour their wine making facilities!

Here is one of the wind machines to help keep frost from forming.

Next 2 visits were on Sat.  The 1st was the Harpersfield winery.  The was also one of our favs - it sits way back off the road and the buildings are very old school.  We tried a few samples and decided on a glass of their Gewurztraminer.  They have their 2 family dogs there (short & long hair Jack Russel terriers).  The inside of the tasting room has photos and paintings of them.  They run around, have a water bowl outside on the deck and gets lots of petting from all the visitors.  I love the photo I got of the one as he just got done rolling under one of the bushes. 

Saying this is what I want in my back yard!!

Had Mo hold her glass funny to show off her Hello Kitty band-aids
from her batting cage wounds the night before. 
Bad grips and no batting gloves is bad combo!

Enjoyed wonderful company (Mo), great glass of wine,
and a little shade and breeze.  Perfect!

Ahhh nothing like a good roll in the dirt to cool ya off!

Notice dog bowl...

The last winery we went to was St Joseph's other newer building.  The had the air on there and a musician was just about to start as we got there.  Wasn't much as far as coolness goes for the looks of place.  We tasted 2 wines and decided on a glass of Riesling there. Our 2 glasses were completely different in size but she poured them the same - mine was wider so since I was driving I switched with Mo for the less alcohol.   We got a cheese and cracker plate and did some people watching and just talked about wine and what our evening plans were.... (which would be RAIN...again!).