The Film Noir Experience

So, I live near the The Niagara Wine Trail. I know this because I've driven past the "Niagara Wine Trail Begins Here" sign at least one hundred times since Monday.

I figured, I should see what its all about. Apparently, you can purchase their "vino visa passport" and with it you get a wine tasting at all of the vineyards on the trail.

I went to the first one today. The Warm Lake Estate Vineyard and Winery was Wine Spectator's highest rated Pinot Noir in New York State in 2007. The wine tasting consisted of five wines all made from the pinot grape. The two Estate wines (which were nice and smooth and a little sweet and a little spicy. I'm thinking the bottle I bought needs to be served with a lovely steak.), one I think was called "Mountain Road", (I should have taken better notes.) This one I didn't like as much, it had a huge black peppery kick at the end which I didn't care for. And, then the last two were their Glacé Noir. The first one was way too sweet for me. Although, apparently it is fantastic when mixed with pomegranate juice and chocolate martini mix. The last one was a mistake. It was meant to be the Glacé Noir, but instead ended up being more like a pinot brandy. It was fantastic.

From there I did a little exploring. I got lost for a minute on the way to where I planned to have lunch. I finally gave up looking for it and decided to go to the next place where food was served (that wasn't a fast food chain.) The next place I drove past was a bar and grill next to a take out sub place. I didn't feel like eating in my car, so I walked into the bar and grill.

Let me rephrase that. I walked into the BAR and grill. At this point, I just had to go with it. Yup, I had lunch down the bar from the two guys who had decided that Happy Hour started at 2 pm.

Then, I found Lake Ontario. Which isn't hard because it is huge.

But that's not where the excitement started. The excitement started after I breezed past the second vineyard I was planning on visiting. Looking for a place to turn around I found Russell's U Pick Blueberries. Russell gave me a bucket and let me wander through his twelve acres of blueberries.

When I first arrived here in Buffalo, we went to the grocery store and the first thing I saw was a huge flat of blueberries (that I had to be talked out of.) And, for the past week I've been thinking about going back to the store and buying blueberries and doing a lot of baking. Right now, I have four and quarter pounds of blueberries chilling in my fridge. Tomorrow, I'm going to make a pie from scratch. And, then maybe some blueberry buckle. Goodness, I couldn't be happier.

After that, I stopped at a fruit farm and bought some super cheap fresh veg (and a pint of apricots!). And, I drove past some orchards that I'm hoping are "U Pick" apple orchards once apples are in season. I think Western New York and I are going to be very good friends.