After Thanksgiving, I get so excited for our annual wine trip! For the past 7 years, I’ve gone to Corning NY with my Aunt and Uncle for an event called ‘Deck the Halls’. It seriously gets you into the holiday spirit! If you are interested in participating next year, keep reading because I’ll give you a breakdown of where to stay and where to eat!
We like to stay at the Radisson (soon to be Double Tree in 2023) in Corning, NY because of an evening event that occurs every first Saturday in December called ‘Sparkle‘ (this is separate from the wine tour). It is about 30 minutes from Seneca Lake in a very cute town that is walkable. If you aren’t interested in Sparkle, then I would rent an AirBnB right on Seneca Lake!
A quick snippet about Corning’s Market Street – it is such a cute, quaint town that is filled with small businesses, and breathtaking streetscapes. It kind of reminds me of Charleston! The shops are filled with one of a kind Christmas decorations and gifts that you can pick up for friends and family. And the food? AMAZING! I’ll leave a few recommendations towards the end of this post as well :).
So what exactly is Deck the Halls?
It is an event held every year on the last weekend of November and the first weekend of December (you can pick either weekend, we love to go the first weekend of December). It is located on the wine trail of Seneca Lake (one of the Finger Lakes) and participating wineries are decorated for the holiday season. Once you check in at your assigned starting winery and pick up your tickets, you are given a wreath made from the grape vines, a recipe book and wine glass. Not only do you get to sample food and wine, but you collect an ornament for your wreath at each winery you visit.
This is a map of the wineries to hit during the trip. When I first started coming, there were like 40-50 participating wineries, but it looks like the numbers slowly keep trickling down :(. Nonetheless, 18 wineries is still a lot to hit over a few days! This year, we decided to do a few of the wineries on Friday (we usually did them all on Saturday). It was nice breaking them up over two days. We started at Fulkerson Winery, so we checked in, grabbed our wreath and went straight to the tastings!
All of the wineries have their own personalities and are decked out for Christmas! It is like heaven ahha. When it comes to the actual wine itself, some places are a hit or miss. I’ll definitely call out our favorites throughout this post.
If you are a sweet wine drinker, you’ll fall in love with 90% of the wines! Sabir and I are not; We love a good dry, full-bodied wine. It is a little harder to find wines we like BUT there are some great hidden gems.
At most places, you get a menu and can select up to three wines you want to try. There is usually a “welcome” tasting so technically you get four pours!
Lakewood Vinyards has an industrial feel and allows you to walk through the room where the wine is produced. This was one of the only wineries that had a vegan food pairing option (extra points)! They’re very dog friendly and the wine is fairly priced! Sabir and I thought the dry wine was so-so.
Glenora was our last stop on Friday and they had an AMAZING Cabernet Franc! Highly recommend trying it – We ended up buying a bottle to take back home. They also sell really good wine slushies! They had pineapple, watermelon and a few others. Fun fact, Glenora opened their doors in 1977 as the first winery on Seneca Lake!
Poppleton Bakery
Saturday morning we woke up early and grabbed breakfast at Poppleton Bakery and Cafe before we started the second round of wineries. The food and coffee were phenomenal! The menu had a ton of great options. I love finding small town cafes because everything is always fresh and tastes good!
From there, we hit our first winery around 10:30 am (YES, they start that early)! J.R. Dill had really good dry wine! They are a small family run winery on Seneca Lake in the heart of the Finger Lakes. They specialize in dry vinifera varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and more.
Sabir and I ended up buying a case of the Vidal Blanc and Cayuga Sparkling. Highly recommend adding this winery to your list of places to stop at. Since it was still early, we decided to get a mimosa and sit in the back room at the tables. A lot of these places sell food as well so you could also grab something to snack on.
Next on the list is Three Brothers. This is definitely one of our favorite wineries – we make it a point to stop here every year. This winery is unique because there are three unique wineries, a microbrewery and cafe all on one estate. They sell an expansive selection of hand-crafted wines, beers, hard ciders, and craft sodas.
My personal favorite is Stoney Lonesome (still on the Three Brothers Estate). You get to sit down and choose 4 wines to taste. They bring them out in these cute carafes & the pours are anything but shy hahah. The wine here is really good! If you’re looking to spend a little more on a bottle, you have to try the Estate Bourbon Barbera. It is not included in the tasting but for $3 more, you can get a sample of this. The bottle goes for $65 but wow, it is good!
Last but certainly not least is Ventosa. We align our schedule so that we get here around lunch time. There pizza is AMAZING guys! Like hands down the best pizza I have ever had. It is brick over and uh. I’m not sure what they do in the back but it is magic lol. The wine is meh but it is most definitely worth it to add this just for the pizza.
We usually try to leave Seneca Lake around 4:30pm so that we can find parking in Corning. It gets crazy and parking is very hard to find because of Sparkle, so make sure you allot enough time to park. Here are a few food places you must check out:
Poppleton Bakery and Cafe // As mentioned before, definitely try this place for breakfast!
Nine Elephants // This place has delicious Thai Food. I always get the summer rolls and Green Curry!
The Cellar // We typically come here for drinks before dinner. Definitely try the espresso martini with Grey Goose!
The Quincy Exchange // This place is a must! The atmosphere is such a vibe and the food is outstanding! You can’t go wrong with anything you choose from the menu!
Dippity Doo Dah Ice Cream // Skip the dessert at the restaurant and grab ice cream here! The waffle cone is so soo good! They also have dairy free options – I normally get the peanut butter flavor. This year, they had a really good dark chocolate raspberry flavor!
I hope this was helpful and inspires you to check out the event next year! It is so much fun and I guarantee will quickly become a part of your annual tradition as well!
