Downtown Skaneateless newest retailer is both a wine shop and a wine bar, with seating and a small kitchen serving nibbles to go with your drinks. Its White Birch Vineyards Tasting Room, at 18 W. Genesee St. (formerly Ming Jiang Chinese Restaurant). And its all about the Finger Lakes and Central New York: The wines sold are exclusively from five regional wineries: White Birch Vineyards, located at Skaneateless Hobbit Hollow Farm, plus Ravines Wine Cellars on Seneca Lake, Heart n Hands Wine Co. on Cayuga Lake, and Dr. Konstantin Frank Wine Cellars and Heron Hill Winery, both on Keuka Lake. White Birch Vineyards and the tasting room are both owned by Michael Falcone. The other featured wineries are some of the most highly regarded in the Finger Lakes, and those that White Birch has business relationships with, said tasting room manager Natalie Pascale. Ravines owner and winemaker Morten Hallgren makes the wines at White Birch, for example, and the vineyard sells grapes to the others. The tasting room also features spirits from Finger Lakes Distilling Co. on Seneca lake, and soon will offer hard ciders from 1911 Spirits (Beak n Skiff Apple Farms in LaFayette). The tasting room opened on Nov. 14 and is still sorting out its dual identity as a retail shop and gathering place, Pascale said. Its really become more of a wine bar than we first thought, she said, adding that the owners see it as predominantly a wine tasting room, more about the higher end wines of the Finger Lakes region. For that reason, the tasting room has already moved its hours later: Its now open noon to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Its also available to be booked for private parties. In the tasting room, you can sample wines by the glass, or taste flights of certain categories (including flights of Finger Lakes Distilling whiskies). And, of course, you can buy bottles to take home. The shop also has a small kitchen, run by chef Luke Houghton of Pure Food & Catering. The menu includes cheese plates and other small plate offerings, and Houghton will prepare meals for occasional special events like wine-and-food pairing dinners. The first of those is a three-course dinner scheduled for Dec. 3. The room can seat up to 47, with some comfy chairs, two high top tables with eight stools each and a couple of regular dining tables. Pascale describes the design as industrial farmhouse. Its already become a place where people stop by with friends have a few drinks and a nibble or two and relax, Pascale said.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 04:48:51 +0000
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