Archive: Around Town

After the rush of Thanksgiving  we got a rest and a second wind and took off on our major non family event of the season, the Cayuga Wine Trail Santa visits. With Jim as the perfect Santa and Mary as Mrs. Chris Kringle (Mary, Chris’ missus; he, he, he) we started out Dec. 5 to visit our friend, Matt at Knapp winery. If you haven’t met this older rhyming gentleman, you’re in for an experience in the tasting room. He was in reindeer regalia this time and excellent holiday spirits even early in the morning. Santa Jim gave him coal to warm his puns, which he happily accepted.

We were scheduled for the afternoon at Sheldrake Winery but we wanted to have lunch first. Simply Red Bistro’s last day for the season was Dec.6th so we took the opportunity to have one more round of their amazing steak sandwich, best served with sweet potato fries, mushrooms and caramelized onions; rare thank-you. The service was great but we skipped dessert because we knew that the winery was offering Sam’s incredible Mac n’ Cheese (made with local goat cheese and other choice ingredients) as their sample for the holiday event across the driveway. The Holiday Shopping Spree event offers 16 wineries, tastings and food samples at each, recipes, discount coupons, free wine glasses and a wreath with ornaments from each stop for the ticket price and the coupon book usually more than covers the ticket price in savings for the serious vinophile.

We had a wonderful time with over 400 people receiving “Santa said I was nice” or “I got coal from Santa” stickers and, in some cases, actual bags of coal to the tasting room manager and one of the owners for being “appropriately naughty”. It was a tough job, but Jim stood for every person who wanted their photo with Santa. His brothers were envious of all of the attractive women 21-90 who couldn’t resist checking to see if the beard was real. Tough job, yeah, really tough! We did our tasting two weeks ago since we don’t mix alcohol and the Santa image, but we took home Mary’s favorite ice wine and Jim’s favorite Reserve Cabernet Franc for a treat later.


We were especially careful this year because our friends, Jeff and Judy scheduled a “Supper with Santa” at the Creamery for our return trip. They offered a special dinner combo and a chance to sit with us and come over to see Santa whenever they felt like it for an hour or so. Some of them were shy at first, but Jim’s experience with his own two daughters and his gentle personality mean that he waits for the kids to come to him on their terms. There were about ten children and their families who took part this first year and both the parents and the children seemed to have a good experience; no tears or frightened kids, just memories of the 5 year old who came to talk for his two younger brothers and the sweet little girl who turned and ran back and asked to be picked up as we walked her family to the door and snuggled into the combination of furry collar and beard on Jim’s shoulder. We did indulge in ice cream after the kids left (Jim is a vanilla guy and Mary loves the Guianduia, chocolate hazelnut) and took some home for later as well.


To finish the weekend we visited our favorite foodie, Chris, at Trelaven/ King Ferry and we were very pleased to see Malvie, Santa’s special elf, at the door to greet us. Tacie Saltonstall is proud to have this hard working senior as her oldest employee. Malvie, a young thinking woman in her 90’s, is an inspiration and obviously loved and respected by everyone there. She told us about her early career as a teacher and her decision to keep her mind active by continuing to work after her husband passed away. I want to be as alert and active as she is when I’m in my ninety’s too!! While we had a quieter time on the east side of the lake on a Sunday afternoon, it was great to visit with Tacie and swap the latest food and wine event information with Chris. We hope you’ll join them (and us) as they help introduce a new local cheese maker Saturday and Sunday Dec.19& 20 at the winery.


We had a bit more coal so we made a detour to see Lansing’s own Russ Nalley at Long Point before distributing the last bags to Joe, the bar tender, at Rogues’ Harbor on the way home. Mary has known Russ for most of his life and if ever a man has found his calling, Russ as a wine salesperson working with customers directly in the tasting room is a perfect match! He was working on a delivery so we almost didn’t recognize him without his signature Hawaiian shirt, but Santa checked the list and he truly had been “appropriately naughty”.

We’ve had a great year and want to thank our readers for letting us share our adventures and our celebrations with you. We hope we’ve encouraged you to get out and meet some of the great local folks who produce some of the best wine, cheese and local produce on the planet.  If you have a suggestion or a tip about a new winery or restaurant please let us know so that we can visit it and write about it, maybe we’ll see you there too in the New Year!

Peace, Love and Joy to All of You and Your Families!

Mary and Jim Sullivan

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