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Finger Lakes. Go in the fall if you can while they have the crush going as well as apples and other harvest, great foliage, lots of festivals.
Drive the west lake road of Keuka Lake. A bunch of varied winery options from larger productions with big tasting rooms to smaller outfits. There are also microbreweries.
The Seneca Lake wineries are probably a bit better on the whole and walking the gorge at Watkins Glen is fantastic. There is s solid winery outside Skaneateles if you choose to visit there. Also summer distilleries.
It is a giant wine region and a bunch of other items nearby, like the Glenn Curtis Museum, Corning Museum of Glass (options to blow glass souvenirs)
Do it.
Living in AZ, there had definitely been a lot of growth including a couple distinct wine regions. Both the area of cottonwood, Jerome, Sedona or down south at Sonoita/Patagonia with access to Kaercher Caverns are nice diversions but not nearly as robust as the finger lakes
There are nice wineries in Missouri along the Missouri River from around Boonville down to St. Charles and they are mostly reachable from the KATY Trail bike path long the river. Some are family owned and some are corporate wineries. By car that would be highway 100 or 94 for most of the distance. It is very scenic. There are other wine regions in Missouri around St. James and Ste. Genevieve and a few other places. Missouri has an old and flourishing wine tradition with over 100 wineries. Many wineries will have a Norton wine as well as French hybrid wines.
Wine making in New Mexico goes back 400 years and is the oldest wine production area in the US. There are about a dozen wineries in or around Albuquerque. Most are small family owned wineries but there are some large operations as well. There are others south toward Deming and Las Cruces and to the north. Some Spanish grape varieties are commonly grown in NM vineyards as well as usual hybrid domestic wine grapes and you will find some fruit wines. There are about fifty wineries in New Mexico.
In Washington state Wall Walla, Tri Cities, Yakima & Chelan. In South America, Mendoza, Argentina and in Chile Santiago & Vina del Mar. Spain, Italy & France of course are the big hitters...I hope to hit these areas within the next year.
Finger Laker, SunGrins and Gerania, thank you for your information- having an idea of where to start investigating is really helpful.
Do any of you have specific wineries that you would recommend visiting either for the wines or the scenery/experience in the places you mentioned?
Expat, Washington State is an area I have visited, but we only made it to the Woodville area, which is more tasting rooms than actual wineries. I agree that Washington offers a number of great options .
A friend has recommended I look into Colorado wineries- anyone have experience there?
Western Loudoun County in VA. The town of Purcellville and surrounding towns have some wineries. Sunset Winery, Breaux and a slew of others. I've been to Sunset though it's been about 6/7 years now. My sister lives in that area and her and her husband frequent the wineries.
They also have some in and around Charlottesville VA as well.
NC has some wineries up and along I77. We went to a wine festival near Dodson NC but I don't remember much about it. There is a winery in Monroe, NC called Treehouse Vineyards. They have treehouses that you can rent for the night or day. I really want to check it out sometime. The Biltmore in Asheville NC makes it's own wines and some of the are really tasty.
Dr Franks is a smaller outfit in a nice building. They typically have a single tasting group with a single employee, so the tastings are bit more customized and in depth. Dr Frank was the pioneer of vinifera in the finger lakes, so they have some styles a bit different from their neighbors. They also have a pretty good reserve room tasting that you can book out in advance. Dr. Frank Wines - A Visit to This Finger Lakes Winery
I like Hunt Country as well. More of a country barn type tasting area. This is off the hill that overlooks the lake, so you don't get the big views either. However, it's the type of place where dogs will be among you in the tasting and they have some solid wines, including some red table wines that I really enjoy. https://www.huntwines.com/Visit-Us
Also on west lake road you have Kueka Brewing, where you can grab a growler to go if you choose or just taste what they make brew
If you go in the fall you can stop at the Apple Barrell to pick some apples to snack on Home
There is a lot of stuff here for the entire finger lakes area. There are wineries on east lake road, but I just get pulled to west lake for Keuka.
If you come in fall you can grab tons of fresh fruit, pick up crates of grapes to snack on, fresh apples, grape pie and grab a NY style chicken bbq with salt potatoes
Another vote for VA. NC is also doing some decent stuff, but VA has it beat hands down. Base yourself in/near Charlottesville and you'll be surrounded by some great spots. You can also easily tack on some time in beautiful Shenandoah National Park which is just down the road.
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