Third and Final Preferred Pairings Event of 2013 at Southeast Wineries of the Seneca Lake Wine Trail

Finger Lakes, NY -- The third Preferred Pairings event -- a collaborative between the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail and the Seneca Lake Wine Trail -- will be held Saturday, March 30, from 10:00am-5:00pm at 10 select wineries along Seneca Lake. Partners & Pairings is a series of three monthly events where the creameries of the Cheese Trail pair with different members of the Wine Trail to offer select pairings of reserve wines and artisanal cheeses to their audience. 

At the each host winery, their visiting cheesemaker will give a brief presentation about their farm, their process and their cheeses at 10:30am, followed by a day of paired samplings. The winery will have those wine and cheese pairings available in a special packaged deals for attendees. Attendees can also buy the wines and cheeses separately should they prefer.

March's host wineries are on the Southeast portion of the Wine Trail. The northernmost winery is Kings Garden Vineyards and the southernmost is JR Dill Winery. 

The pairings for March 30 are:

Kings Garden Vineyards - Lively Run Goat Dairy

Caywood Vineyards - Jerry Dell Farm & Store 

Penguin Bay Winery - Kenton’s Cheese Company

Tickle Hill Winery - Sunset View Creamery

Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards - Sunset View Creamery

Leidenfrost Vineyards - Lively Run Goat Dairy

Red Newt Cellars - Keeley’s Cheese Company

Chateau LaFayette Reneau - Muranda Cheese Company

Atwater Estate Vineyards - Side Hill Acres Goat Dairy

JR Dill Winery - Vanillen Dairy

"By having the wineries grouped near each other, it makes it easier for people to get around," explains Carmella Hoffman of Sunset View Creamery in Odessa, just outside of Watkins Glen. "So they're able to get to all 10 participating wineries over the course of the day, and try all the pairings."

Tickets to the event are limited to 400, or 40 at each starting winery, and are only $15 per person when purchased in advance through the Seneca Lake Wine Trail, or $20 at the door the day of the event at select wineries. Advance tickets for March 30 are still available for all ten starting wineries.

Following this final Preferred Pairings event is Wine Trail's popular Spring Wine & Cheese Weekend, April 26-28. This event is also co-sponsored by the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail, and will feature the Trail's cheeses in dishes at the wineries all weekend long. As Tom Murray, of Muranda Cheese Co. in Waterloo puts it, "Think of the Preferred Pairings as a primer to the big Wine & Cheese Weekend in April."

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