Our Great Northern Road Trip included overland travels filled with outdoor adventures, and were possible visiting wine country along the way. We traveled from Vermont to Alexandria Bay, NY to visit Thousand Islands Winery (Harvest Host). Thousand Islands Winery is in the Northern part of New York State, which includes the Lake Erie, the Thousand Island, and the Niagara Escarpment wine regions. On this trip we visited the Thousand Island wine region. Later before leaving New York State we took a detour south to the Finger Lakes wine country.
Before starting our Great Northern Road Trip in 2021 we traveled to Maine to connect with US 2 on the east coast. This post covers one of our wine country stops at Thousand Islands Winery. Our route west took us along US 2, then 37 and 12 to arrive at the winery. Along 37 & 12 we traveled along the St. Lawerence River, we passed crossings into Canada along the way. While our original plan was to leave the west coast on US 2 journeying east across the US, and enter Canada, returning across Canada, from the east coast to the west coast, and then back into the US. We realized that was not possible in the spring of 2021; so instead we crossed the US to Maine on the east coast and returned via US Highway 2, as much a possible. While we traveled the Great Northern Route, we stayed on the US side because of the Canadian travel restrictions during 2021.
Thousand Islands Winery, Alexandria Bay, New York State
Tuesday, June 22 our travels from Vermont to Alexandria Bay, NY look us along US 2, then 37 and 12 to arrive at Thousand Islands Winery. Thousand Islands Winery is on the Thousand Islands-Seaway Wine Trail, which was established in 2007. Winding through 78 miles of the scenic Thousand Islands region there are eight member wineries and vineyards. Wherever you are in the Thousand Islands, at least one winery is a short drive away. Our route took us to the Thousand Islands Winery.
Along Highways 37 & 12 we traveled along the St. Lawerence River, passing crossings into Canada along the way. In fact while at the winery we viewed a few transport trucks crossing over the bridge into Canada.
Occasionally we would see a transport truck on the Bridge into Canada.
We had traveled onto Alexandria Bay to visit Thousand Islands Winery because it is also, a Harvest Host.
During our visit we enjoyed a wine tasting and stayed overnight as Harvest Host guests.
The tasting room was quite busy when we arrived. We choose a number of wines to taste from their tasting list.
Later, I explored the vineyard on my own to get insights into the grapes grown there. What follows is a vineyard story.
A Vineyard Story
On that late spring day the vineyard at Thousand Islands Winery was just perfect for grape filled exploration.
During our evening stay on the property I checked out some of the vines. Amongst my discoveries is that they have wines produced from grapes developed by University of Minnesota. We managed to taste a few of those during the tasting. What was most interesting was visiting the vineyard to gain more insights. I always like to take a peek in the vineyard when I visit a winery. This vineyard visit was most rewarding for me. For not only did I discover cold-hardy grape varieties produced by University of Minnesota but also, few others that do well in this cold climate region. Here are some discoveries from my vineyard walkabout:
1. Valiant
Valiant is an early-ripening, red-skinned grape variety grown in the northern regions of United States and Canada’s prairie provinces. This hybrid of Vitis riparia and Vitis labrusca is extremely cold-resistant and hardy in marginal grapegrowing conditions.
The variety was developed at South Dakota State University by Dr. Ron Peterson in the mid-20th Century. It has low acid and high sugars, meaning that despite its early ripening, the berries need to stay on the vine longer to be suitable for winemaking.
Valiant is predominantly grown in its home state of South Dakota and neighboring Minnesota. It is used for non-alcoholic grape juice as well as wine.
Still early in the season and the Frontenac vines were doing well.
Frontenac was develop by University of Minnesota. It is used for the production of dry red wines, rose, and fortified port style wines.
3. Frontenac Gris
Frontenac gris, a white wine version of Frontenac, introduced in 2003. It started as a single bud mutation of Frontenac, yielding gray (thus named gris) fruit and amber-colored juice. Frontenac blanc was later introduced in 2012 from white fruited mutations found in both Frontenac and Frontenac gris vines in Minnesota and Canada. While I did not record any Frontenac Blanc vines in my photos it is a suitable candidate for this region.
4. La Cresent
La Crescent, a cold-hardy white hybrid grape, was released by the University of Minnesota's grape breeding program in 2002.
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| Brianna Vines, Row 37 © Spaswinefood |
Junpiter is the best seedless American hybrid muscat. Jupiter grape was developed at the University of Arkansas in 1998. It is a cross of Arkansas 1258 x Arkansas 1762. Its Muscat flavor comes from “Gold” (vitis vinifera) variety; the grape's seedlessness comes from “Reliance” (vitis labrusca) variety.
As you might have guessed by now I spent considerable time gaining a few insights into the grapes grown in this area. This made our visit Thousand Islands Winery quite worthwhile and insightful. After leaving Thousand Islands Winery we returned to Finger Lakes. Since our wine supplies were running low, a two night stop-over in the Finger Lakes was in order before continues onwards on our Great Northern Adventure.
I invite you to join me in the sharing of our overland travels, and adventures along US 2 elsewhere at Wine Travels with Dr. Sharon and at Spaswinefood on Bluesky and Facebook.
CHEERS!!
Sharon
Memories of Great Northern Adventure Travels, June 2021
January 2026
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See earlier post on travels in Maine
