Visit Shalestone Winery for Wine Tastings in the Finger Lakes Region

Do you crave the full body flavor of a great red? Do tannins make your eyes roll in bliss? If so, I have just the place for you to visit during your Trumansburg getaway. Just 17 miles from my Finger Lakes bed and breakfast is a small craft winery that specializes in only reds: Shalestone Winery on Seneca Lake.

"Red is all we do" is the bold statement that greets guests when they arrive at this
unassuming little building just outside of Lodi, NY. But don't let the size fool you. Shalestone produces some of the best reds in the country.

Owners Rob and Kate Thomas aren't in the business for national accolades. They have built their business around their serene lives and their love of red wine. The quiet winery is close to their hearts, and the couple appreciates small-group wine enthusiasts who are respectful of their care for their wines, and of their nature-loving lifestyle reflected in their philosophy: "Tune into nature, go with the natural ebb and flow of life." The couple believes that red wines are much like life in that they are both complex with multiple layers - the taste progressions in red wine somewhat reflect the vast experiences of a life. This noble view guarantees an amazing tasting experience when you visit Shalestone!

While the wines are amazing, you won't find any award-winners, as Rob and Katie don't bother with the competitions. Instead, they concentrate solely on crafting great red wines to their taste out of the amazing grapes grown on the 6.5 acres of shallow, but nutrient-rich, soil. And they make only what they grow, which usually works out to about 1,200 cases per year.

The wines at Shalestone run toward the dry-end of the spectrum including Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Noir. The real treat, however, are the house-named blended wines: Harmony, Synergy and Red Legend. Rob is known as a "Michelangelo" of red wine blending, producing these three amazing variations.

The winery is open on weekends on a seasonal basis for relaxed and serious tasters and guests. Hours are noon to 5:00 p.m. from Friday through Sunday, with occasional long and short weekends. I will be glad to check during your stay to assure they are open. Special appointments are often accommodated. Wines can be purchased year-round, however, by calling 607-279-6065. Some shipping restrictions may apply, depending on state.

Consider a visit to Shalestone Winery during your visit to The Inn at Gothic Eves bed and breakfast in Upstate New York; discover what 25 years of wine making experience and a passion for creativity can produce!


Innkeeper Rose Hilbert
POB 95, 112 E. Main St.
Trumansburg, NY, 14886
info@gothiceves.com
1-800-387-7712 | 607-387-6033

NY Finger Lakes Region Presents the Watkins Glen Wine Festival this July

What is arguably the best event in the Finger Lakes is on the horizon.  July 13, 14, 15, 2012 welcomes the Watkins Glen Wine Festival, held annually at the Watkins Glen Raceway, just 24 miles from The Inn at Gothic Eves in the heart of wine country!

The 2012 event has confirmation from 93 different New York wineries.  That's approximately 34 percent of all wineries in the state of New York!  No other event can offer the ability to "visit" with that many area wineries in just one place!  Whether you're simply wine-curious, or you have great knowledge of wine, this event has something for everyone.  Even if you prefer beer over wine, the onsite Brewer’s Garden offers the best of area microbreweries for an extra onsite fee.  Offering wine seminars, cooking classes and demonstrations by some of the area's best chefs, more formal wine and food experiences, over 120 vendors offering their wares (wine-related and otherwise), this event should not be missed! 

Special events throughout the weekend include:

• Launch of the Lakes on Friday, July 13, 2012:  THE kickoff event of the festival.  Dress in your best Greek Festival Finery (togas, anyone?) and enjoy music, dancing, food, and fireworks.  Bacchus, the Greek god of the grape harvest and wine-making, will crown some lucky toga-wearing attendees the official King and Queen of the festival!
• Great Western Champagne Breakfasts:  Offered on both Saturday and Sunday, The Glen Club offers a 9am morning meal featuring music, made-to-order omelets, breakfast buffet, and morning drinks (including mimosas on Saturday).  Reservations are required.
• Taster's Banquet:  This Saturday Night meal features specific food-and-wine pairings, created by Chef Paul Mach of Pennsylvania College.  Reservations are required.
• Live Music:  More than 25 bands have confirmed attendance, offering entertainments in our courtyards, roaming the festival, and at our events.  Music will surround you during the entire festival!
• Pace Car Rides:  Of course, you are at Watkins Glen, known for their world-famous road course!  First come, first served for $10 per ride.

Please Note:

• Bring your Photo ID as proof of age at the Festival.
• While minors are admitted, this event is geared to adults.  No family-friendly activities are planned for the event, and you are fully responsible for any minors in attendance.  No strollers are permitted at the Festival.
• Pets are not allowed at the Festival.
• Coolers are not permitted on the Festival grounds.
• This event IS handicap-accessible!
• Wine pick-up service is available to aid in your shopping experience.  Claim checks are available at the Welcome Tent (to easily mark your tickets, bring address labels or a stamp).  Fill them out before you shop for easy use - simply give half of your claim check to the winery and keep track of the other half for claiming.  You can then simply drive to the wine pick-up area when you leave the Festival.
• Safety is the Festival's first and foremost concern.  The Schuyler County Sheriff's Department will be performing courtesy blood alcohol level checks during the event, as well as a departure gate checkpoint.  Please be responsible about your consumption, and consider assigning a designated driver to your group.

Tickets can be purchased online, with advance discount prices still in effect until June 25, 2012.  Tickets are also available onsite.  Designated driver tickets are available for half price: you can still enjoy the vendors and shopping while being responsible!  One-day taster passes are $30 (advance)/$35 (pre-event and onsite).  Two day passes are $40/$45.  Designated Driver and Minor Passes are $15 at all times.  Children ages 5 and under are FREE.

Enjoy your day at this great Upstate New York event, and then return to the inn to enjoy your wine purchases on the on the patio or in the parlor, and enjoy a scheduled massage or dip in our wood-fired hot tub to end a perfect day.  I look forward to hosting your stay during the Watkins Glen Wine Festival.


Innkeeper Rose Hilbert
POB 95, 112 E. Main St.
Trumansburg, NY, 14886
info@gothiceves.com
1-800-387-7712 | 607-387-6033

Summer Events at Ithaca's Cornell University

Even though the song says "School's out for summer," it really isn't here in Upstate New York!  Cornell University continues to offer summer learning sessions for anyone interested.  Besides the learning sessions, Cornell's Mann Library, Johnson Museum of Art, and Schwartz Center for Performing Arts offer performance and visual art exhibitions that are open to the general public throughout the summer months.  When you stay at The Inn at Gothic Eves, a Finger Lakes area bed and breakfast, you are just 12 miles from Cornell University and their summer-season shows and exhibitions!

Besides the events listed below, Cornell also offers programs and events at off-campus locations.  See their calendar for additional selections.

The Schwartz Center for Performing Arts supports theater performances, film editing, lighting, sound, costume design, scene building, and more... basically everything you'd need to produce a play/musical, art performance, or television/film production.  The Schwartz Center's summer performance lineup is offered in the 456-seat Kiplinger Theater.  Performance offerings include:

Schwartz Center

• June 26-27, 2012 (Tuesday and Wednesday) at 7:30pm - The Pirates of Penzance musical production.  Follow the story of young Frederic, apprentice to a group of good-natured pirates... who discovers that a loophole in his contract requires him to stay with the pirates for most of his life!  What will become of his new-found love?  Will he truly belong to the pirates all his life?  The Pirates of Penzance will answer every question!  Admission is FREE and tickets are available in the Theater lobby at 6:30 on each night of the show.
• July 3, 2012 (Tuesday) at 7:30pm - Ahhhhhh: A Festival of Sound.  A contemporary dance performance blending body and voice into something you've never before experienced!
• July 17, 2012 (Tuesday) at 7:30pm - Epiphany Project.  John Hodian's piano and Bet Williams' vocals come together in this tribute to world music, modern classical art song, Americana, and avaunt-grade folk... all rolled into one performance!  This amazing show should not be missed!

Mann Library is widely regarded as one of the best academic libraries in the United States.  Boasting over a million print volumes and almost as many microforms, the Library also offers workshops, customized reference consultations, studies methods of online archiving, houses several rare manuscripts, and occasionally highlights collections for public viewings.

Mann Library

• June 8 to September 29, 2012 - Beyond the Garden Wall: Wild Foods from Page to Plate.  Highlighting the topic of edible plants in the wild, the Mann Library gathers a wide variety of illustrations, photography and texts for public view and study.  This is of particular interest in the Finger Lakes Region, where organic food (http://blog.gothiceves.com/2012/04/sweet-land-farm-wide-awake-bakery-local.html) is widely grown and consumed.
• June 8 to September 29, 2012 - Of Tropical Fish and Mermaids: Louis Renard's "Poissons, Ecrevisses, et Crabes."  This rare work presents engravings of both real and imagined sea species in the East Indies.  Those that were drawn from actual specimens are startlingly accurate.  See this amazing work firsthand this summer!

The Johnson Museum of Art is widely known throughout the country for both its educational contributions, and for its more than 35,000 works of art in its permanent collection.  Admission to the Museum is FREE.

Johnson Museum of Art

• April 7 to July 29, 2012 - Age of Discontent: German Expressionist Works from a Private Collection.  View a wide range of German art, including prints and paintings, spanning from the early 1900's through (and beyond) World War I.
• April 14 to July 22, 2012 - [space]: Constructing the Intangible.  A variety of artwork inspired by the idea of humans and they space in which they reside - both physically and perceptually.
• April 14 to August 12, 2012 - Cornell Art Faculty 2012.  Recent works by our very own Department of Art faculty.
• April 14 to August 12, 2012 - Witness: 20th-Century Photographic Images from the Collection of Gary and Ellen Davis.  Featuring a variety of photographs of 20th century life, both memorable and haunting.  These powerful images will make you stop, make you consider, and make you think.
• April 17 to August 12, 2012:  Chinese Calligraphy and Poems of Professor Wong Chai Lok.  The poetry and calligraphy of this noted Chinese scholar.
• April 14 to September 9, 2012:  Memory and the Photographic Image.  Are events throughout historic skewed by the photographer's choice of photographic subject?  Can photographs skew our perception of the past?  Are manipulated photographs often accepted as fact?  These and many other questions are explored through this exploration of memory versus popular photography.

No matter when you choose to visit this summer, Cornell University has performance and art events for every taste!  You can easily choose to take a day-trip to Ithaca after an amazing breakfast to explore Cornell's current offerings, and Ithaca's charm and hospitality!  Your room at my Ithaca area inn will be waiting for your return...


Innkeeper Rose Hilbert
POB 95, 112 E. Main St.
Trumansburg, NY, 14886
info@gothiceves.com
1-800-387-7712 | 607-387-6033

Maxie's Supper Club in Ithaca - Authentic New Orleans Cuisine

Looking for New Orleans-style cuisine during your next visit to upstate New York? When your getaway includes a stay at Gothic Eves, I suggest you just head down to Ithaca for a great southern-style dinner at Maxie's Supper Club and Oyster Bar!

Maxie's Supper Club serves southern comfort favorites including raw oysters and clams, jambalaya, shrimp and grits, gumbo, and Po'boys with all your standard southern sides.  Throw in some barbecue, and great service, and you have the makings of an amazing eating experience!

Maxi's proudly supports local sources of food ingredients and products, so when you eat at Maxi's, you also support the entire community of Ithaca!  Their seafood comes straight from Boston through Steve Connolly Seafood, which ships to the restaurant within 48 hours of harvesting.  So no long-frozen fish sticks from these guys!

Even though this restaurant is a seafood place with land-mammal backup, there are great vegetarian options for our non-meat-eating friends.  Vegetarian versions of New Orleans' classics like jambalaya and Po'boys will hit the spot.  Or try the tofu specialties!

What's Cajun without beer?  There is always a wide variety of handcrafted beers both on tap and in the bottle.  They even feature a wine list and specialty mixed drinks straight from the south.  Mint Julep, or Hurricane, anyone?
And did I mention music?  Twice weekly, Maxi's brings the New Orleans' spirit to life even more with food and music nights.  Shuck and Jive Sundays end your weekend right, while Chicken-Fried Tuesdays give you a reason to take a break by offering American Roots Music in the bar coupled with Fried Chicken Dinners for $11.95.

If you don't make it in for dinner but crave dessert or a drink after a movie or late-running event, Maxie's welcomes you with open doors thanks to their late-night hours!

I personally love this great Maxie's Supper Club and wholeheartedly recommend it to all my guests.  While it isn't appropriate for a quiet, intimate dinner, it is the perfect place to go for an 'attitude adjustment' after a difficult week your escape from the city.  The staff is amazing, and the food and atmosphere will immediately lift your spirits.  So "Get in Here!" to Maxi's supper club when you stay at my Finger Lakes accommodations for the best authentic New Orleans cuisine in the upstate New York area!


Innkeeper Rose Hilbert
POB 95, 112 E. Main St.
Trumansburg, NY, 14886
info@gothiceves.com
1-800-387-7712 | 607-387-6033