Winery

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- We ducked our heads as the boom came across the deck. Captain Doug Hazlitt was tacking the schooner Malabar X to head straight up Lake Seneca. Then we extended our glasses as the wine steward appeared, pouring samples of the red and white (and one virulently pink) wines of Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards. It was certainly one of the more unusual tastings we've ever experienced, but the vintners of New York's Finger Lakes go to great lengths to capture the attention of American wine drinkers.

Backstage with the rock band Train before a performance at San Francisco's hallowed Great American Music Hall may not be quite what you expect from a Grammy-winning, multiplatinum group. What's missing from the dressing room — groupies, bling and that we're-about-to-trash-this-place vibe. What you get instead — a small table set with a few glasses and a bottle of the band's Save Me San Francisco wine which they are making in concert with ACME Wine Movers, a newly formed division of The Wine Group.

How to get there Chablis is 122 miles, or a two-hour drive, southeast of Paris. Take the A6 from Paris to Auxerre, then the D965 to Chablis. Where to stay Hostellerie des Clos Rue Jules Rathier 011--33-3-86-42-10-63 www.hostellerie-des-clos.fr/ Chablis' finest hotel, its adjoining restaurant has a coveted Michelin star. Elegantly appointed with a charming courtyard. Rooms $51-$150 per night. Meals extra. Manoir des Roches Sentier Manoir Des Roches 011-33-3-86-18-94-71 www.chablis.net/manoirdesroches A "chambres de hôtes" or bed-and-breakfast, the...

APRIL 28-29 CELEBRATION, Fla. The 2012 Great American Pie Festival: We sleep better knowing that there is an organization dedicated to preserving our country's proud pie heritage. To that end, the American Pie Council (with partner Crisco) sponsors the Great American Pie Festival, a two-day extravaganza of baking demonstrations, pie-eating contests, exhibitions, and entertainment. To hook the next generation, the Council lets kids make their own pies and participate in pie decorating and other contests.

The ferry ride to Martha's Vineyard often feels like stepping through the looking glass, where you gradually fall under a spell until you succumb to the magic of being "on-island. " Caught up in the Vineyard's seductive rhythm of land, sea, and sky, however, it's easy to pass by some of its best finds without even knowing they exist. Here's a treasure map -- and a summer's worth of events to boot. Chicama Vineyards and Winery Stoney Hill Road Box 430, West Tisbury 508-693-0309 www.chicamavineyards.com May 26 . Oct. 9 Open Monday-Saturday 11-5, Sunday 1-5 Tours Monday-Saturday at...

JEFFERSONVILLE, Vt. - The bustle of Vermont's famous Stowe area has not yet spilled over the mountains into the Lamoille River Valley - nor have the crowds. Here await quiet rambles filled with . . . well, I may as well say it: spacious skies, amber waves of grain, and purple mountains' majesty. Hokey? You bet. But it's the kind of hokey you will want to take home in the form of an award-winning bottle of wine coaxed from local grapes, cranberries, or blueberries. Or as a set of buffalo-checkered woolies just like the locals have been wearing for...

Backstage with the rock band Train before a performance at San Francisco's hallowed Great American Music Hall may not be quite what you expect from a Grammy-winning, multiplatinum group. What's missing from the dressing room — groupies, bling and that we're-about-to-trash-this-place vibe. What you get instead — a small table set with a few glasses and a bottle of the band's Save Me San Francisco wine which they are making in concert with ACME Wine Movers, a newly formed division of The Wine Group.

APRIL 28-29 CELEBRATION, Fla. The 2012 Great American Pie Festival: We sleep better knowing that there is an organization dedicated to preserving our country's proud pie heritage. To that end, the American Pie Council (with partner Crisco) sponsors the Great American Pie Festival, a two-day extravaganza of baking demonstrations, pie-eating contests, exhibitions, and entertainment. To hook the next generation, the Council lets kids make their own pies and participate in pie decorating and other contests.

This piece was written by James H. Burnett III, Nicole Cammorata, Ike Delorenzo, Sheryl Julian, Doug Most, Anne V. Nelson, Kathleen Pierce, Mark Pothier, Julia Quinn-Szcesuil, Denise Drower Swidey, Rachel Travers, Adrian Walker and Eileen McEleney Woods. 3 LITTLE FIGS Chef, baker, and co-owner Katie Rooney got her start at area farmers' markets, but the family affair (mother, husband, sister) put down roots last fall in Somerville. The airy cafe is a stylish understated place with stylish understated offerings: avocado muffins, glazed lavender scones.

LaBelle Winery has received Planning Board approval for a major expansion. Its plan calls for the construction of a 20,000-square-foot building on an 11-acre site on Route 101, just north of Camp Road, with a wine cave, tasting room, elevated terraces, and a hall accommodating as many as 200 guests for weddings and other events. The winery also will add 3 acres to its vineyards, and plans to increase its production capacity from 12,000 to more than 25,000 gallons of wine a year. - Tom Long

ROWLEY - She had the analytical chemistry degree and years of working in industry. He was a contractor who made wine in his basement. They started dating, and realized they made a pretty good blend. The Mill River Winery, at the corner of Route 1 and Wethersfield Street is already a large wine-making operation, but a portion of the 3-plus acres will soon be planted with grapevines. And the heart of the operation is the partnership of Rick Rousseau and Donna Martin. They met when he did some painting at her house.

To keep pace with an industry seemingly intent on moving its goal posts, wine drinkers have repeatedly adjusted their perceptions of what serious wine is supposed to look like. Long convinced that quality wine came in bottles sealed with a real cork, we were persuaded otherwise as upscale labels adopted screw caps and synthetic stoppers. Even bag-in-box, which could be relied on to dispense ordinary (or worse) wine, turned its image around once better vineyards caught on to its virtues.

LaBelle Winery has received Planning Board approval for a major expansion. Its plan calls for the construction of a 20,000-square-foot building on an 11-acre site on Route 101, just north of Camp Road, with a wine cave, tasting room, elevated terraces, and a hall accommodating as many as 200 guests for weddings and other events. The winery also will add 3 acres to its vineyards, and plans to increase its production capacity from 12,000 to more than 25,000 gallons of wine a year. - Tom Long

MAY 15-16 MONTEREY BAY, CALIF. Cooking for Solutions: In Monterey Bay Aquarium's 8th annual two-day culinary and wine event, chefs, winemakers, and educators focus on seafood and other foods that are good for the planet. Alton Brown of the Food Network, Thomas Keller of The French Laundry in the Napa Valley and Per Se in New York, Floyd Cardoz of Tabla in New York, and Jim Dodge, pastry chef and author, and others will have demonstrations. Chefs will lead sustainable culinary tours to farms and restaurants and four of them will compete in a seafood challenge using sustainable...

JEFFERSONVILLE, Vt. - The bustle of Vermont's famous Stowe area has not yet spilled over the mountains into the Lamoille River Valley - nor have the crowds. Here await quiet rambles filled with . . . well, I may as well say it: spacious skies, amber waves of grain, and purple mountains' majesty. Hokey? You bet. But it's the kind of hokey you will want to take home in the form of an award-winning bottle of wine coaxed from local grapes, cranberries, or blueberries. Or as a set of buffalo-checkered woolies just like the locals have been wearing for the past two centuries.

EAST CALAIS, Vt. -- At GrandView Winery, you can buy hard cider or rhubarb wine, elderberry wine, or dandelion wine. For 11 years, Phil Tonks has been producing fruit wines from his 30-acre spread on a picturesque hillside. But he wants to sell more to people outside Vermont, and he's hoping the creation of a new state panel dedicated to wine makers and grape growers can help pave the way. He isn't alone. Others in Vermont's fledgling wine industry want the Vermont Grape and Wine Council to help raise awareness, eliminate red tape, and lead the state...

In the introduction and first chapter of his new book, “Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey,’’ Robert Camuto writes of breaking more laws in 20 minutes than anytime in his life, driving behind a winery employee to a restaurant in Sicily’s countryside. He lauds the island as his kind of “terra santa,’’ or holy land, from “the anarchic street markets of old Palermo, to the morning stillness of the vineyards and lava flows of Mount Etna.’’ What the book doesn’t describe is how he broke that stillness one morning in 2008.

ROWLEY - She had the analytical chemistry degree and years of working in industry. He was a contractor who made wine in his basement. They started dating, and realized they made a pretty good blend. The Mill River Winery, at the corner of Route 1 and Wethersfield Street is already a large wine-making operation, but a portion of the 3-plus acres will soon be planted with grapevines. And the heart of the operation is the partnership of Rick Rousseau and Donna Martin. They met when he did some painting at her house.

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. -- Bordeaux seemed too far to go for a weekend. So did Napa, for that matter. But we did want to visit wineries where we could see how the grapes were grown and taste the result of their loving cultivation. So we headed southeast. Southeastern New England doesn't have the name recognition and history of better-known wine-growing regions, but five wineries between Newport and North Dartmouth have joined in a collaborative effort called the Coastal Wine Trail to spread the word and show off their reds and whites.

How to get there Chablis is 122 miles, or a two-hour drive, southeast of Paris. Take the A6 from Paris to Auxerre, then the D965 to Chablis. Where to stay Hostellerie des Clos Rue Jules Rathier 011--33-3-86-42-10-63 www.hostellerie-des-clos.fr/ Chablis' finest hotel, its adjoining restaurant has a coveted Michelin star. Elegantly appointed with a charming courtyard. Rooms $51-$150 per night. Meals extra. Manoir des Roches Sentier Manoir Des Roches 011-33-3-86-18-94-71 www.chablis.net/manoirdesroches A "chambres de...