Harvest weekend on Seneca: a barrel tasting, a schooner and the chef's table

Dundee, Watkins Glen, Geneva

1. 10:30 am1

   Private vineyard walk and barrel tasting at Hermann J. WiemerDundee

   West side, Route 14: the older estates, the deep-water bank that keeps the vines alive in January, and the Rieslings that get compared to the Mosel without embarrassment. The seated tasting is $15–25 and you can more or less walk in; this is the other thing — into the blocks with somebody who farms them, then thief samples out of barrel and tank. It has to be arranged weeks ahead, it costs about $125 a head, and during harvest they may simply refuse because everyone is on a picking line. Ask in August for an October date and take whatever morning they offer. Verified 2026-09-06 (wiemer.com/visit-us, exploretock.com/wiemer): the tasting room opens 10:30 Monday to Saturday and 11:00 on Sunday and closes at 17:00, with the last guided tasting at 15:30 and preset flights until 16:30 — the 09:30 start this day used to carry was before opening, so it now begins at 10:30 and the rest of the morning shifts with it. Reservations run through Tock and are strongly recommended; walk-ins are taken when they are not full. The private vineyard-and-barrel walk and its ~$125 price could NOT be confirmed on those pages — ask for it by email rather than assuming it is a bookable product.

2. 12:05 pm2

   Route 14 south to Watkins GlenWatkins Glen

   Thirty-five minutes with the lake on your left. Peak colour on this shore is usually the last full week of October and moves a week either way with the weather — the north end around Geneva runs later than the hills above Dundee, so if you are early, drive north; if you are late, drive up.

3. 12:45 pm3

   Lunch at Graft before the boatWatkins Glen

   Eat before sailing, not after. Two hours on open water in October is colder than the forecast says and there is no galley — the boat is a 1926 schooner, not a dinner cruise.

4. 2 pm4

   The whole of Schooner True Love for the afternoonWatkins Glen

   A 1926 John Alden schooner that was in High Society, chartering out of the harbour. A private two-hour sail is $999–$1,199 for up to 22 people — which is ridiculous for a couple and about $50 a head for a group, so this is the stop that decides whether you bring people. If it is just two of you, take a public sail at roughly $75 each instead and spend the difference on dinner. Harvest weekends are gone by August. Bring more layers than you think; the wind on the water is a different day from the wind on shore. Verified 2026-09-06 (sailtruelove.com): the schooner sails from Memorial Day weekend to Columbus Day only, up to three departures a day. That kills the sail on the late-October peak-foliage day this is written as — either pull the trip forward to the first week of October, when there is colour and the boat is still running, or drop the sail entirely. Neither the charter nor the public-sail price was re-verified.

5. 4:15 pm5

   Route 14 north to GenevaGeneva

   Fifty-five minutes up the west shore in low October light, which is the best drive in the region and the reason to sleep at the north end rather than back in Watkins Glen.

6. 5:15 pm6

   Check in at Geneva On The LakeGeneva

   A 1911 villa on ten acres with a formal garden running down toward the water. Mid-September to mid-October is the single peak of the year here — foliage and harvest land on the same weekends — and a room that is $220 in April is $400-plus now, usually with a two-night minimum. Book it in June. Walk the garden before dinner while there is still light; it is the whole reason to stay here rather than at a chain in town. Verified 2026-09-06: none of the room rates here were re-checked. What changed is dinner — F.L.X. Table’s first seating is 17:45, so this is now a bag-drop, and the garden walk moves to after dinner while the bar is still pouring.

7. 5:45 pm7

   F.L.X. Table — one table, one menuGeneva

   Christopher Bates is a Master Sommelier who cooks, and the room is one long table — you will eat next to strangers, and that is the format, not an accident. Verified 2026-09-06 (flxtable.com, exploretock.com/flxtable): reservation-only and prepaid through Tock, fourteen seats at a single table, two seatings a night at 17:45 and 20:15, open Monday and Thursday to Sunday and closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Bookings are released two months ahead (June 2026 went on sale 1 April), and the price now starts around $250 a head for parties of two to six — not the $85–$125 this note used to claim, and the cost on this stop has been raised to match. This day takes the 17:45 seating, which is why check-in above moved earlier. Tell them about allergies when you book, because there is no second menu to fall back on.

   8 min by train or taxi · 2.1 km
8. 8:15 pm8

   The lawn at the villa, afterwardsGeneva

   Costs nothing and is the best part of the day. There is almost no light pollution across the water, the garden is open to guests all night, and the bar will let you carry a glass out.