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Vintage New York

09/18/2008

Source: Adam Mayers- Toronto Star

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FINGER LAKES, N.Y.–If the drive to cottage country is becoming a drag, you might consider turning your car around, heading south and spending a few days in the Finger Lakes region.

The drive can take about the same three to four hours, the fall colours are just as spectacular and at the end of the road there are fabulous inns and restaurants awaiting you.

The bucolic towns lining the 11 lakes offer hiking and biking and, at this time of year, the region's 100 wineries offer as much appeal for the sniff-and-swirl crowd as for the more casual visitor.

Just three hours after leaving home, we reached New York's wine country on Route 96, which runs between Seneca and Cayuga, the largest of the Finger Lakes (so named because of their long, narrow shape).

The area is perfect for growing grapes along the slopes of the lakes: The soil drains well and the lakes act as climate moderators, absorbing heat in summer and releasing it in winter and offering some protection for the vines.

Grapes have been grown in the area since the early 1800s, but Prohibition in the 1920s did the big wineries in.

Thereafter, the region languished and became known for its kosher and jug wines. Today, those are long gone, replaced by award-winning Rieslings, ice wines and cabernet francs.

Once Route 96 joined Route 414, we drove through Lodi, Caywood, Valois and Hector, with its cluster of small cellars, in quick succession.

We passed Suzanne's Fine Regional Cuisine which Frommer's dubs one of the 10 best places to eat in New York state, and stopped at Dano's Heuriger for lunch.

From the outside the restaurant looks like a barn. But inside, it is a triumph of open space, with west-facing windows that look out onto a patio where cream-coloured picnic tables are shaded by large umbrellas and the hillside slopes down to the lake.

Chef and owner Dano Hutnik explained that the restaurant is modeled after an Austrian wine garden, where the fare is traditional, hearty and meant to be shared over a glass of wine.

We opted for a variety of cream cheese spreads with hot, fresh bread and a charcuterie board with curried chicken wings, shredded duck and pork rilletes, accompanied by a glass of Anthony Road cabernet franc from across the lake. The bill, including tax and tip, came to $61 (U.S.).

The wineries are mostly small, family-run affairs. Some are only open on weekends, so be careful if you go midweek.

Be sure to book ahead in the busy months of September and October, when the grape harvest and fall colours draw crowds.

There is ample accommodation in several price ranges and four wine trails. If you don't want to drive, there are local services that will do it for you. Just south of Dano's was Shalestone Vineyards whose sign "Red is all we do" made clear we should go elsewhere for the sweeter whites produced in the region.

We didn't have to look far: Caywood Vineyards, across the road from Shalestone, offered Rieslings and Chardonnays.

The last stop of the day was  Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars, whose grapes have been cultivated since the 1800s and whose wines were recently featured in the Wine Spectator and Good Life magazines.

After that, we headed for our hotel, the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles,  the eastern gateway to the lakes. It is one of the prettiest towns in the district, curving around Skaneatles Lake, the smallest of the 11.

"Skinny Atlas," as the locals call it, is small-town America at its best, complete with old homes on shaded streets, quaint shops, galleries and a waterfront that boasts a boardwalk. In the summer of 2000, you might have found Bill and Hillary Clinton here having a treatment at the Mirabeau Inn and Spa and laying low after "Monicagate."

The Sherwood has been a hotel for more than 200 years and it has that pleasing, loose-jointed, old-inn feel of dark wood and squeaking pine planks.

The dining room has also won praise from the Wine Spectator and the menu offered in both the bar and dining room is varied and ample, including a heart-stopping 1 1/2-pound porterhouse steak.

We followed the crowds to Doug's Fish Fry on Jordan St.  where Doug Clark dishes out an estimated 2,000 dinners on a summer Friday.

He has one declared mission – offer decent portions at fair prices – and he fulfills it.

The Fish Fry is a fast-moving self-serve lineup with no waitresses, no tips and no stinting – the portions are huge. Shellfish, fish and chicken are all served with a mountain of fries and a side of slaw. Thirsty? A Saranac Adirondack Amber draft costs just $1.30, less than a small coke at $1.49.

Next day, we did what Canadians do best and drove back to the Waterloo outlet mall.

It has 100 stores with all the usual suspects and those shocking American outlet prices, which may account for all the Ontario plates in the lot. From there we headed south on Route 90 and followed its winding path along the east side of Lake Cayuga to King's Ferry, where New Jersey designers Victoria and Richard Mackenzie-Childs have a restaurant and showroom for their renowned handmade ceramic and enamel dinnerware.

What began as roadside pottery sales now includes stores on Madison Ave. and Rodeo Dr., with prices to match. Window shopping was all we could afford.

In nearby Aurora we went hunting for Dories Great Old Fashioned Soda Fountain, once a multi-tasking local icon that served as a soda fountain, variety store and post office. The ambience is gone and only the restaurant remains, but you can still get a BLT for $3.95 and PB&J sandwich for $2.50.

Many of the customers are students from Wells College, established in 1868 by Henry Wells, founder of Wells Fargo and American Express.

The town is anchored by the Aurora Inn,  a grand hotel built in 1833 and now lovingly restored. The grounds stretch down to the lake and offer the luxury of hammocks strung under shady maples for an afternoon snooze.

Back in Skaneatles that evening, we visited Krebs Restaurant, just a short walk from the Sherwood.

The Krebs has been in business for more than 100 years with a tavern upstairs and restaurant below. The tables had fresh flowers from the garden, the white linen was crisp and the place settings could have come from my grandmother's pantry.

We chose the $50 seven-course meal, and soon learned that each course was more ample than the one before – beginning with a platter of hot breads and continuing through three choices of soup and half a dozen salads, lobster Newburg and a platter of prime rib and chicken.

We begged the waitress to stop, but the food kept coming right through to dessert: a choice of blueberry pie or peach shortcake and a platter of homemade cookies and brownies.

We wobbled off into the night for a stroll along the boardwalk and next morning, drove home. The border crossing was quick and painless, capping the perfect getaway in a friendly and unspoiled nook of upstate New York.