Dreemit's World: Happy Wine Trail Wednesday Steemit!

Well I am slowly working my way down the Seneca Lake Wine trail, and this next stop is at a winery that another one of my dear friends once worked at, providing lots of free tastings as well as excellent discounts.

Standing Stone once stood out to me because it was the only winery on the trail that offered free snacks, and I don't mean a bowl of oyster crackers, pretzels, or popcorn, no, I mean trays of homemade bread, gourmet crackers, and an array of different mustards and dips.

Alas it appears they no longer provide these yummy hors d'oeuvres...(well, they still have bread, but it's quite possible it's left over from the time my friend worked there- stale with the distinct flavor of mold-though I saw no mold which creates suspicion that they sliced off the bluish bits)

Actually, I noticed on the tastings menu that they offer bread and cheese for an additional five dollars, so I think it's possible they keep the fresh bread for the paying customers.

But enough about the snacks, or lack thereof, this is a winery and I should be talking about the wines. Now, as I've said in the past I have a bit of an immature palette when it comes to the alcoholic beverage made from grapes instead of barley, preferring the sweeter wines that most connoisseurs turn their noses up at. So it's generally difficult for me to discern whether or not a wine is good- and this is where my mom comes in.

My lovely Italian mama has been drinking wine since pre-school. Everyone just laughed at the exaggeration right?

Except it's not an exaggeration. Every Sunday my grandparents and their siblings would tote their children to Grandma and Grandpa Greco's for a Spaghetti and Meatball dinner, and red wine was served with it to every member of the family who could hold their own glass. Mom claims that contrary to the belief of many Americans that starting out young is a path to alcoholism, having a glass of wine with dinner teaches a respect for the beverage. She in fact regrets that she did not continue this tradition with her own family.

My parents attended a particular kind of church when we were little that had some silly ideas about alcohol being a sin. Somehow forgetting the part in the bible where Jesus turned water into wine after it ran out at a wedding celebration that had been going on for days. And actually her twin sister (my aunt)'s family also attended this church, so the tradition died out. Later in life they all (mom, dad, auntie and uncle) decided that while they loved their born-again churches they would agree to disagree about alcohol. No one can boogie on wine like the twins!

Getting back to my original point, my mom knows her wines, and according to her the Smokehouse Red and the Saperavi are two of the finest wines she's tried in a long time. For those of you who are aficionados like my mom, you might be interested in knowing that Standing Stone is one of only five wineries in the entire United States to grow and produce Saperavi. This grape originated in the Republic of Georgia, in Eastern Europe and they recently discovered that they have the largest acreage of Saperavi outside the Republic of Georgia.

And to really top off the greatness of the wines here, they have not one but two ice wines. Never heard of an Ice Wine? Just imagine the sweetest white grape juice you've ever tasted, and then add a cup of sugar to it. And my lovely mama bought me a bottle of the Vidal to take home, yum! (I say that until the inevitable headache that tends to follow alcohol that's high in sugar.)

And now for the photo journey--Enjoy!

Generously created for me by @son-of-satire