Seneca Lake - East

We recently met some friends for a tour of Standing Stone Vineyards, in Hector, and then dinner at Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine, just up the road in Lodi. Even though we could have done this as a day trip (we were amazed that it only took a little over an hour to get there), we decided to stay over, so we could both enjoy the wine pairings with our meal.

Tom and Marti Macinski are celebrating their 20^th anniversary as vintners of Standing Stone, and they have increased their production from 800 to 8000 cases over this time. After retiring from working in Binghamton for other people (Marti as a lawyer, Tom as a chemist), they decided to “retire” and work for themselves. They purchased the 125-acre farm in 1991, and spent three years creating a business plan, with the goal of making world class Riesling and Gewurtztraminer (Marti admitted they were “incredibly visionary or totally nuts”). 

tasting the reds from the kegs

They have been successful in both, and their Merlot grapes are also doing fine, despite Cornell’s recommendation not to plant this variety because of the cold. They also have 4.5 acres of Saperavi, the largest planting outside the Republic of Georgia (they just recently received permission to label the wine as Saperavi). We tasted (and purchased several bottles) of this “lovely, inky-colored” wine, as well as several Cabernet Sauvignons and several of the

whites, which also found their way into our mixed case... Marti explained that the Saperavi is a harder sell, because it doesn’t meet the popular $10 price point. She also lamented that “the trick is not making the wine, the trick is selling it.” And price drives volume.

Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine

After an informative history of winemaking in the Finger Lakes, Marti gave us a tour and overview of their fermenting and pressing processes. It’s apparent that this is a true labor of love for Marti and Tom (and their family – their 8-year old granddaughter was working the register), and they enjoy their craft as much as their success. Over dinner, Tom told us the twisted New York State process for hiring the pickers (they pick some grapes by hand, some by machine), most of whom are H-2A workers from Mexico (the compulsory local hires usually don’t last). His answer to Charlie’s question about where the wine is bottled was enlightening. They don’t have their own bottling facility, but a mobile bottler comes to them, so that their label can truthfully say the wine is bottled on the premises!

Dinner at Suzanne was an experience to be savored (and to be repeated). Each course was paired with a wine chosen specifically to complement the complex flavors of the dish, and all of the vegetables were from their own garden. The preparation and presentation were wonderful, and we were also able to enjoy the sunset over Seneca Lake.

Our room at the Fox and the Grapes B&B was comfortable, and the new owners (who just bought the place in July) made us feel welcome in their home. Breakfast wasn’t served until 9am, but it was well worth the wait.

We took a meandering route home, by way of:

the Lively Run Goat Dairy, where we petted the goats and bought some cheese made from their milk; 

Myer Farm Distillers, overlooking Cayuga Lake, where we sampled and bought some interesting gins and vodka; 

(passing a Mennonite in horse and buggy along the way)

and Muranda Cheese Co., where again we sampled and bought (and learned from the owner that they make 3000 pounds of cheese per week, and in 1997 their cows set the world's record for milk production!).

Watkins Glen and the west side of Seneca Lake now beckon. So much to do, so little time!

Volunteering with Lifespan

After I retired, I wanted to volunteer in some way, to make a contribution of time, not just money. I investigated the possibility of ‘friendly visiting’ for the elderly in Morristown, NJ, but they wanted a year+ commitment, and Charlie had just informed me we were moving to London. Luckily, there was an organization there called Age Concern that was looking for people to tutor some seniors in the use of their computers, and I jumped at the opportunity. I assisted about half a dozen clients, visiting them in their homes, trying to get them comfortable with email and word processing and simple internet searches (this was the early ‘90s, when dialup was still the norm – remember that?!). I finally settled on two of the women to visit weekly as part of their friendly visiting program. I looked forward to these visits as much as they did, and I made sure to schedule my week’s activities and vacations around them, when possible. Even after I moved home, I stayed in touch with both, and saw them every time I went back to London, until, sadly, they passed away. In the meantime, I was able to volunteer in Morristown, where I visited two elderly housebound women. When they died, I decided to take a break. But when I moved to Rochester, I was eager to get involved again.

My friend, and fellow Concentus singer, Kathy, introduced me to Lifespan. Interestingly, I am too young to be a friendly visitor here!  (you have to be over 55 and I’m not quite there... yet.) Instead, they have a program that matches volunteers with seniors who need in-home financial management assistance – right up my alley. There are many more seniors who need help than there are enrolled volunteers, and their needs range from simple checkbook balancing and budgeting to assistance with managing debt that is beyond their means to pay. My first assignment was a lovely, 90+ year old woman who insists on keeping two sets of checkbook records, but hadn’t updated either in about a year. I got her up to date, and in the process, discovered that she had significantly overpaid her rent, and I suspect the landlord, who was satisfactorily responsive to my investigation, had no intention of bringing it to her attention… At this point, our monthly meetings are about 15 minutes checkbook oriented and 45 minutes chatting and reviewing her mail, and I have assured her that just because her finances are straightened out, she can’t get rid of me that easily!

My second assignment has some memory issues, hoarding tendencies, and significant credit card debt, some of which is due to services she signed up for for ‘free’ (for the first month…) and forgot about. But those businesses didn’t forget about her, and were charging her monthly, without her noticing. We put a stop to that! Both women had been victims of bank mergers that put them in inappropriate account tiers, with monthly charges, of course. Neither woman has a support structure to assist in reviewing her finances, and I was reminded of my father, who had four children, but was too embarrassed or stubborn or independent to let me review his (and of course when I finally did, I discovered he was a victim of phone cramming).

I always feel guilty when I get the emails from Arnisha Jordan, who coordinates the Financial Management Program for Lifespan, with the long list of new client needs. I would love to help every one of them, but know my limits, and I need to get my second client a bit more under control before I take on another. Because I know that I won’t stop seeing these people when their financial issues are solved; they have become as much a part of my life as I have of theirs.

For more information about Lifespan, and opportunities to contribute or volunteer, visit their website:  http://www.lifespan-roch.org/

Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion

Sonnenberg Gardens has been on my ‘to do’ list since before I moved to Rochester. For one reason or another, it took until Cindy and Mike, friends we met in London who now live in Arizona, visited recently. I didn’t know how Sonnenberg would compare to our day trips to various British gardens, and I was also worried that we had missed the prime flower time. I needn’t have been concerned on either count.

Roman Bath

Charlie’s nephew who was visiting from Israel also accompanied us on a glorious Saturday morning. We decided to wander the gardens on our own, but we did occasionally eavesdrop on a tour that was in progress (and learned a bit about the Roman Bath, which would have been fed from the lake, and the Sub-Rosa Garden’s double entendre – not only is it a secret garden, but it is located several steps below the Rose Garden). 

Japanese Garden

The grounds are a manageable size to walk around, and we made sure we saw each highlighted area on the map. The Japanese Garden, built in the early 1900s, was one of my favorites. But I also loved the Old Fashioned Garden, with its arbor, and the wonderful scent of the colorful Rose Garden.

View from the upstairs balcony of Canandaigua Lake

One can only imagine the view the Thompsons, the original owners of the late 1800’s mansion, would have had of Canandaigua Lake. A sliver of the lake is visible from the upstairs bedrooms and balcony, but 100 years ago, when the intervening trees would have been shorter, the view must have been incredible from the “Sunny Hill.” It was remarkable that each upstairs bedroom in this summer home (the Thompsons lived primarily in New York City) had its own full bathroom (one bedroom even had two bathrooms!). We didn’t linger to dial up the cell-phone descriptions, although I noted the number (585-797-6304) and listened to a few selections when I returned home!

Charlie admiring the dining room

Yigal under the weeping beech

We couldn’t decide whether a woman in a sort of bridal dress and blue lipstick, who was being professionally photographed in the Rock Garden, was posing for real wedding photos or an art project, but we all agreed that Sonnenberg would be a lovely spot for a wedding (in good weather). We returned to the Greenhouses via the South Lawn, past some magnificent weeping beeches, weeping willows, and other wonderful tree specimens. Lunch in the café, including some New York cheeses, was a perfect end to our visit, before the boys headed back to Rochester, and Cindy and I spent a little time on Main Street supporting the local economy... 

A massive trunk for such a little tree!

Cindy & Mike in the Old Fashioned Garden