AAA uncorks New York state of wine

The wine and grape industry in Niagara County, the Lake Erie Grape Belt and all of New York’s Wine Country get the spotlight in the May/June issue of AAA Going Places.

To passionate wine tourists, the article states, “the picturesque lakes and home-grown wineries of western and central New York remain some of the state’s best-kept secrets.”

In production of ice wine, the region’s “bitter cold weather is a blessing,” the article states.

It quotes Jennifer Johnson, president of the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail and owner of Johnson Estate Winery who says, “This year, we got lucky. The temperature was in the teens, and the wind was blowing, but our timing was perfect. We harvested our ice wine grapes at 3 a.m. before they were thawed by the sun.”

The article is carried on AAA.com and mailed to more than 600,000 households of AAA Western & Central New York members in the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse regions.