Finger Lakes Winery Reservations

 No one can argue that everything has changed over the last year and the same can be said with how you need to prepare for your visit to the Finger Lakes wineries, breweries, and distilleries. You can no longer just walk in to most wineries for a tasting, especially on the weekends now in the Fall Harvest season. The good news is that winery traffic has picked up considerably and wineries are filled with visitors this harvest season. The bad news is that you will need reservations at many wineries and will have to wait to get in at others.

The best thing that you can do to prepare for your Finger Lakes winery visits is to call ahead to the wineries that you plan to visit or at least look at their website to see their current tasting policy. From my experience this Fall, it is prudent to start planning your visits and making your winery tasting reservations at least 2 weeks ahead, especially if you plan on visiting during a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. 

The wineries are all doing the best that they can to accommodate walk-ins, but mandated seating restrictions have significantly reduced the amount of visitors that they can accommodate. Below are my tips for visiting the Finger Lakes during the 2020 Fall Harvest Season.

Finger Lakes Visit Preparation Tips for 2020

1. Decide which wineries, breweries and distilleries that you want to visit. This alone can be a challenge because of the large amount of them in the Finger Lakes. If you are not familiar with Finger Lakes wines, beers, etc. search for reviews of the type that interest you, such as Best Dry Finger Lakes Rieslings, etc. Then call ahead or check their websites for the tasting policy for all wineries that you wish to visit.

2. If tasting reservations are required at a place that you want to visit, make your reservations at least 2 weeks in advance, especially if visiting on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

3. If a place that you want to visit does not take reservations and only allows walk-ins on a first come, first served basis, be prepared to wait a little bit to get into the winery. Tip: Visit walk-in wineries in the morning when they first open and beat the crowds. Many Finger Lakes wineries open at 10am, so you will have to get over your no drinking before noon edict. Breakfast wine is considered proper etiquette in the Finger Lakes.

4. Make a daily time scheduling plan for the places that you want to visit. Because of the mix of "reservations required" and walk-in only tastings, you can no longer just drive from one winery to the next and be able to make the best use of your limited visiting time. My strategy has been to group the places that I want to visit into a daily schedule by area and then call for their tasting policies. Because you can't be sure of how long you will have to wait at walk-in only places, it is best to plan your schedule around the Reservation only places that you want to visit. For example, in your group of wineries that you want to visit on a certain day, let's say that you have 11am and 1pm reservations. This means that you could probably slip a 10am walk-in winery into the schedule if the walk-in winery is fairly near the 11am Reservation winery. It has become a little more complex to plan your visits these days, but with a little planning a few weeks ahead of time, you can still enjoy tasting at many places.

5. New York State requires that all persons entering a winery be wearing a mask that covers the mouth and nose. You will not be allowed entry without a mask. New York wineries can lose their winery licenses if they are not in compliance, so they are very serious about this requirement. All persons must be seated while tasting and tasting groups must be separated, so this significantly limits the amount of people that places can allow in at one time. You can remove your mask while seated and tasting. All persons tasting are required to purchase a food item when tasting, but most places just provide crackers and include the cost of the crackers in the tasting fee. However, some wineries do have a "snack" menu that you will have to purchase a snack item from. From my experience at the wineries, these "snack" items can range anywhere from one dollar to ten dollars.   

6. This brings me to the cost of visiting wineries. It's going to cost you more to taste wines now, mainly because the wineries are trying to make up the revenue lost by reduced seating caused by the new pandemic requirements. So expect to pay about double the tasting cost from last year. For most wineries, a $5 tasting fee last year is now a $10 fee this year, but many wineries are including an extra wine or two in each tasting. So make sure to budget for the increased tasting fees.

7. If you are looking for the annual Holiday events at the wineries, you will be disappointed because just about all of the events have been canceled this year. Entertainment options in the Finger Lakes are currently limited because of the pandemic restrictions, but if you do a search for Finger Lakes Events, you may find a few music and other entertainment events happening here and there. As with the preparation for winery visits, you must also do your prep work if you plan on going to any Finger Lakes restaurants. You will want to be making reservations several weeks ahead of time, especially if dining on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

8. If you have any questions on visiting Finger Lakes wineries or on what wineries may fit with your specific wine palate, feel free to contact me using the Contact link.