Some winery owners believe the annual Cayuga Wine Trail Wine and Herb Festival is the kickoff to spring and the winery season.

The warm weather this weekend provided that atmosphere for the 1,650 trail visitors.

“It's spring and people are willing and eager to get out and have a good time,” said Montezuma Winery owner Bill Martin. “For this event, people like to hit all 16 (wineries) and make a weekend of it.”

That was the case for Linda Bazewick and Tammy Orzelek, of Binghamton, who decided to spend two days in the area, starting with the wineries on the west side of Cayuga Lake and finishing on Sunday at King Ferry Winery and Long Point Winery on the east side.

During the festival, which is extended over two weekends, each winery is assigned an herb. Visitors to each winery are given a sample of the herb to plant in their garden, a glass to taste wines and a portion of a dish featuring whatever herb the winery was assigned.

Martin said festivalgoers like to collect all 16 herbs to plant in their gardens.

Each winery also offers instructions on where and how to plant each herb.

“The focus is on the garden,” said Long Point Winery owner Gary Barletta. “This time of year, everybody is thinking about their herb garden.”

Long Point Winery offered a pasta salad featuring its herb, purple basil. Barletta also selected three wines, which would pair well with the pasta. King Ferry Winery used its herb, gray sage, to create a sage cheese spread.

And Montezuma Winery, which was assigned broccoli, offered its guests a broccoli salad made with wine.

The festival has been held for 14 years, but this was the first visit for Bazewick and Orzelek.

Both, however, said they would likely return.

“We really liked visiting the wineries. It's a nice way to spend the weekend, without the kids,” Orzelek said. “We're very impressed. We'll do it again.”

Bazewick said they were also impressed by the unique recipes they picked up, including oregano popcorn.

Also, Bazewick said it's nice to know what wines she actually enjoys as opposed to making blind purchases at the store.

“Now we really know what we like and what we don't like,” she said.

The wine trail event, the largest for the Cayuga Wine Trail, will continue next weekend.

Barletta said while this weekend was sold out, tickets are still available for next weekend.

Tacie Saltonstall, who owns King Ferry Winery along with her husband Peter, said she encourages people to spend the entire weekend at the festival, rather than trying to squeeze all 16 wineries into one day.

While the majority of wineries along Cayuga Lake are in Seneca County, with large wine trail events like the Wine and Herb Festival, many visitors stay for the weekend and make the drive around to the Cayuga County side of the lake.

“This is the biggest one we do,” Saltonstall said. “Everybody loves to get the garden started.”

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net.