King Ferry Winery will celebrate the onset of fall with free tours and tastings at its annual Harvest Festival.
Chet Susslin / The Citizen
Lindsay Stevens, a wine maker at King Ferry Winery, punches down the fermenting grapes that will be made into a pinot noir on Tuesday.
Lindsay Stevens, a wine maker at King Ferry Winery, punches down the fermenting grapes that will be made into a pinot noir on Tuesday.
The festival, taking place Saturday and Sunday, will provide visitors an inside look at how wine is made, while also offering food and live music.
“This is a good time of year,” winery manager Christopher Couch said of the winery's harvest festival. “We're right in the midst of harvest here.”
The winery offers tours nearly year-round - they close tastings in January, staying open for sales - but the festival wine tours will be special, Couch said.
“We'll have the grapes up here, the clusters, to taste them off the vine,” he said. “They'll see how it starts - how it tastes on the vine and all the way to the final product.”
Tours will include a glimpse into vats where the grapes are just beginning to ferment, something not all visitors get to see, Couch said. Usually, tour guides gesture toward the vats and say “there's fermentation going on,” Couch said, but at the festival, guests will be able to see what is inside the barrels, the spent grape skins and taste the juices that are not yet wine. Hopefully, Couch said, the pressing process will be in full swing and able to be seen on the tour.
Extra staff will be on hand to help with tours and answer itching questions, such as the duration of the harvest season, which types of grapes are used and how many bottles fit into one barrel.
After seeing how it is made, visitors will be able to taste the winery's 17 wines. Among those available to taste will be a new release, the winery's Golden Iris, a late-harvest desert wine that Couch said is very popular. Juice will be available for children to taste.
Guests will be able to compliment their wine with fare from Mo's Barbecue and ice cream from Cayuga Lake Creamery, available for purchase at the festival.
New to the Harvest Festival this year is the Herb Harvest Hoopla event, a special potato-themed contest that will take place Sunday; entries may be made Saturday. Prizes will be awarded for best potato recipe, potato (without carving or other alteration) that looks most like a celebrity and potato that looks most like the winery's owner, Peter Saltonstall.
Restless, a band whose genre Couch described as “fantastically fun cover tunes,” will perform in the afternoon.
But the best part of the festival, Couch said, will be just being able to enjoy a fall day, enhanced by good wine and food.
“They can experience the fruits of our labor and taste the artistry,” he said.
Sarah Gantz
253-5311 ext. 237
sarah.gantz@lee.net
If you go.
What: King Ferry Winery Harvest Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Oct. 10 and 11
Where: King Ferry Winery, 658 Lake Road, King Ferry
Cost: Free
Info: Call 364-5100 or visit www.treleavenwines.com
If you go.
What: Bakers Acres Apple Festival
When: 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10
Where: Bakers Acres Garden Center, 1104 Auburn Road, North Lansing
Cost: Free
Info: Call (607)
533-4653
“This is a good time of year,” winery manager Christopher Couch said of the winery's harvest festival. “We're right in the midst of harvest here.”
The winery offers tours nearly year-round - they close tastings in January, staying open for sales - but the festival wine tours will be special, Couch said.
“We'll have the grapes up here, the clusters, to taste them off the vine,” he said. “They'll see how it starts - how it tastes on the vine and all the way to the final product.”
Tours will include a glimpse into vats where the grapes are just beginning to ferment, something not all visitors get to see, Couch said. Usually, tour guides gesture toward the vats and say “there's fermentation going on,” Couch said, but at the festival, guests will be able to see what is inside the barrels, the spent grape skins and taste the juices that are not yet wine. Hopefully, Couch said, the pressing process will be in full swing and able to be seen on the tour.
Extra staff will be on hand to help with tours and answer itching questions, such as the duration of the harvest season, which types of grapes are used and how many bottles fit into one barrel.
After seeing how it is made, visitors will be able to taste the winery's 17 wines. Among those available to taste will be a new release, the winery's Golden Iris, a late-harvest desert wine that Couch said is very popular. Juice will be available for children to taste.
Guests will be able to compliment their wine with fare from Mo's Barbecue and ice cream from Cayuga Lake Creamery, available for purchase at the festival.
New to the Harvest Festival this year is the Herb Harvest Hoopla event, a special potato-themed contest that will take place Sunday; entries may be made Saturday. Prizes will be awarded for best potato recipe, potato (without carving or other alteration) that looks most like a celebrity and potato that looks most like the winery's owner, Peter Saltonstall.
Restless, a band whose genre Couch described as “fantastically fun cover tunes,” will perform in the afternoon.
But the best part of the festival, Couch said, will be just being able to enjoy a fall day, enhanced by good wine and food.
“They can experience the fruits of our labor and taste the artistry,” he said.
Sarah Gantz
253-5311 ext. 237
sarah.gantz@lee.net
If you go.
What: King Ferry Winery Harvest Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Oct. 10 and 11
Where: King Ferry Winery, 658 Lake Road, King Ferry
Cost: Free
Info: Call 364-5100 or visit www.treleavenwines.com
If you go.
What: Bakers Acres Apple Festival
When: 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10
Where: Bakers Acres Garden Center, 1104 Auburn Road, North Lansing
Cost: Free
Info: Call (607)
533-4653
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