To curtail a problem of tasters enjoying too much wine, Finger Lakes wine trails have announced an initiative to give yellow or red warning cards to groups treating a wine trail as a pub crawl.

Wineries have reported public urination or female patrons going topless on their properties; groups with the goal of boosting wine glasses or wine bottles as mementos of the occasion; verbal arguments with employees; and even one new graduate jumping off head-first from a winery's deck.

And then there's the concern of drunk driving once the groups are dropped off by a limo, bus or trolley at their vehicles.

"There's no law that says they can't drink on the bus between the wineries," said Joe Gober, the owner of Americana Vineyards on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail and one of the leaders on the new initiative. "By the time they arrive, they're pretty intoxicated. We've experienced vomiting in the parking lot or urination in the parking lot."

Paul Thomas, the Seneca Lake Wine Trail executive director, said drunken misbehavior by group tours is not an epidemic, but goal is to "gently bend behavior back in the direction we prefer."

The development of the "Safe Group Wine Tours" program started last December. Members of the Cayuga, Keuka and Seneca wine trail executive committees, as well as the respective wine trail directors, brainstormed a way to bring cohesive management of unruly groups by wineries and cideries.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's edition of The Citizen.