- Resumes May 1, 2024
- Ages 21+
- 7 Hours
Our most popular Seneca Lake tour focuses on three wineries that produce beautifully crafted vinifera wines on the eastern shores of Seneca Lake, along with a unique tasting and lunch experience.
Quick Details
Between the Lakes Wine Tour with Lunch
On this tour, guests have the opportunity to experience some of the best wine from the region. At each winery, taste multiple vintages and sites of different varietals and explore first hand the effects of seasonal variation, age, and terroir in each glass. The three wineries for your tour will be selected based on availability and timing and will include 3 producers, an interactive guided tour, experiential food pairings, and a locally sourced lunch. For more information on which wineries we visit for this tour, please see the drop-down below.
Our first stop will include an interactive vineyard or production tour. You will learn about the process of making wine from soil to grape to bottle to glass. After the tour you will have a curated tasting experience with a senior tasting room associate, owner or winemaker. Your tour will be weather dependent and may focus on what is happening now in the cellar.
After your first immersive experience and tasting, you will be hosted for a locally-sourced lunch with seasonal flavors ready to warm you from the inside out. Enjoy captivating views while eating local! If your lunch stop is hosted at a winery it will also include a fully-curated tasting before or after lunch as well.
After lunch we will visit 1-2 wineries depending on where your lunch was hosted for an guided tasting curated with an experiential pairing ranging from artisan cheese to locally crafted chocolate. You will be fully immersed in the warmth of stunning food and wine pairings.
To see the participating wineries on a given day, please visit the touring calendar. These wineries and lunch locations may be subject to change.
(as needed additional lunch destinations may be incorporated into the tour)
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Experience a special production tour at Damiani Wine Cellars. Be captivated by an elevated, private wine tasting paired with locally-made, hand-crafted chocolate, carefully curated to match Damiani’s award-winning red and white varietal wines. Damiani is known for consistently having some of the best red wines in the region.
At Sheldrake Point Winery enjoy the sights from their beautiful lakefront tasting room while sampling their wines, ranging from exquisitely crafted Rieslings to their proprietary red blends. Each wine is paired with local charcuterie, and the tasting ends with their traditionally made, internationally recognized, wonderfully sweet ice wine.
Bet The Farm is the boutique winery of owner and winemaker Nancy Tisch and owner and general manager Kit Kalfs. It is a wonderful stop with great views, amazing hospitality and fabulous wines. Being hosted by an owner is amplified by their stories and masterfully curated pairings. Savor some of their first vintages of estate wines as well as their award winning blends.
Buttonwood Grove Winery has been owned by Dave and Melissa Pittard since 2014. They host us beautifully any time of year with a private, behind-the-scenes tour of the vineyard and/or winemaking process. After your tour, you will experience a private tasting, featuring a curated wine list with a local cheese pairing. They may even be our lunch stop!
Flatt Rock Wine Cellars is an exciting new boutique winery on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake. Owner and grower Dave Flatt guides you through a tasting of elegant wines created in the French winemaking tradition particularly inspired by bottle-aged reds. The tasting features a locally-crafted chocolate pairing. On days when Flatt Rock is the first stop of the day Dave will guide a stroll through his precious vines.
Silver Thread Vineyards will welcome you, glasses in hand. Owners Paul and Shannon Brock have built their vineyard using sustainable and biointensive farming practices. You will learn all about them on the vineyard* tour while they share with you their philosophy of sustainable farming. Afterward, you will head to their VIP wine cellar tasting room, and explore a flight of their award-winning, biointensive, small-batch wines including Rieslings, Gewurztraminers, and their very popular Blackbird red blend paired with local cheese.
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This tour is available in three different options:
Shared Tour: Small, guided experience for up to 7 guests (2-3 different households) with knowledgeable wine professional tour guide. This is the enhanced shared group experience for which we are known, now in an extra small format.
Traditional Private Tour: The high-quality experience you have come to expect in an E!FLX tour, now available as a private experience for 2-7 people. Comes with $15 of “Bottle Bucks” per person, which serves as cash towards wine purchases at all stops.
Premium Private Tour Upgrade: All the enhanced features of our traditional private tour (including “Bottle Bucks”) with upgraded premium tastings at each winery. Tastings will feature limited library and reserve wines not typically offered to the public. You can upgrade your Traditional Private Tour to a Premium Private Tour for an additional $50 per person.
Want to get even more out of your private tour? Premium Private Tours offer the option to have a certified sommelier serve as your tour guide for the ultimate experience!
*Please note that on occasions, not all of these options will be available.
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- All-inclusive, wine tour experience for 2-7 guests
- Transportation provided in either our 7-passenger Mercedes Metris
- Vineyard and winemaking tour at a winery (weather dependent)
- Private, fully-curated, enhanced, tasting experiences at each winery
- An experiential food pairing at each winery
- Locally-sourced lunch at a winery overlooking vineyards & Seneca Lake
- Added services including water and snacks onboard your vehicle
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The following locations are available for pick up and drop off on our Shared Tours:
- 9:45 AM La Tourelle Hotel & Spa, 1150 Danby Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850
- 10:00 AM Hotel Ithaca, 222 S. Cayuga St., Ithaca, NY 14850
- 10:45 AM Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel, 16 N Franklin St, Watkins Glen, NY 14891
On private tours, we provide custom pick-up and drop-off at your preferred location (additional fees may apply).
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All Shared Tours require a minimum of 4 total guests in order to run the tour at the listed price. These tours will typically consist of 2-3 separate parties joining together in a shared experience, offering exceptional value for couples and small groups.
In the event that the 4 guest minimum is not met, we will contact you one week prior to the scheduled date where you will be offered the following options depending on the number of guests currently booked:
- Switch to the Traditional Private Tour when there are only 2-3 guests who want to experience at the most personalized level.
- Reschedule the tour for a future date at no penalty
- Cancel the reservation and receive a full refund
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- Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions or special considerations, and we will do our best to accommodate.
- All guests are required to verify they have read and understood our Assumption of Risk Waiver.