Private Insider Wine & Gastronomy Experiences
Hosted by Chef Marcus & Jamie Guiliano
November 9–12, 2026
Private custom travel also available for groups, families, and culinary clubs.
Travel through America’s #1 Wine Region (Wine Enthusiast) the way locals do — east and west shores of Seneca Lake, slate-and-shale Riesling estates, Champagne-method sparkling houses, biodynamic cellars, and the small towns of Watkins Glen, Hector, Geneva, and Lodi where Marcus and Jamie have built relationships across more than three hundred winery visits.
Date
Destination
Experience
The Finger Lakes isn’t just a scenic region dotted with tasting rooms. It is a rising powerhouse in American wine, recently named the #1 Wine Region in America by Wine Enthusiast, and a destination for collectors, sommeliers, and travelers seeking purity, elegance, and world-class cool-climate wines.
With VIP Winery Vacations, you go far deeper than the typical visitor ever will. This is an invitation into the real Finger Lakes — an insider’s journey curated through the relationships Chef Marcus and Jamie Guiliano have built with winemakers, growers, and boutique producers since opening Aroma Thyme Bistro in 2003. You’re not following a tourist trail. You’re stepping inside private barrel rooms, meeting the people shaping the region, and tasting at wineries where your hosts are greeted by first name.
The shores of Seneca Lake from Watkins Glen north to Geneva, the slate-rich east side around Hector and Lodi, the limestone-driven west side toward Dundee and Penn Yan, working family cellars, terraced vineyard blocks, the historic harbor of Watkins Glen, and the small lakeside towns that make Finger Lakes wine country feel personal, layered, and alive.
Private estate visits, library and vertical Riesling tastings, single-vineyard Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir, Champagne-method sparkling wine from estate Chardonnay, owner-led cellar walks, farm-driven lunches reserved exclusively for the group, long dinners with winemakers, and the slow rhythm of small-group lakeside travel.
Hosted Departure
November 9–12, 2026 — four days, Watkins Glen to Watkins Glen, Marcus and Jamie traveling alongside the group from arrival to farewell.
Small group experience
Only 8–14 guests are invited into this hosted Finger Lakes experience. The size is intentional — it protects the intimacy, the access, and the private barrel-room time that define VIP Winery Vacations.
Prefer private travel?
Many guests choose to travel privately with family, friends, corporate groups, or wine clubs. Ask about custom FIT (Free Independent Travel) programs designed around your schedule, your pace, and the producers and properties that matter most to you.
Schedule a discovery call with Marcus and Jamie to discuss availability.
Just relationships built over more than three hundred winery visits — and the friendships that make every door on Seneca Lake open a little wider. You sit with winery owners, not behind a tasting bar. You pour through library bottles, verticals, and single-block selections rarely opened for the public. You stay lakeside in a property chosen for character and harbor light, not chain reliability. You travel in a private Mercedes-style tour van with a chef and a host who have walked these vineyards for two decades.
The Finger Lakes doesn’t reveal itself in a single afternoon at a tasting bar. It reveals itself in the second glass of dry Riesling poured by the winemaker, in the library bottle pulled out because Marcus walked in, in the farm lunch reserved only for the group, in the late-afternoon vineyard walk above the lake with the light coming in low. Four days is the minimum to do Seneca Lake the way locals do it — unhurried, generously, and on someone else’s clock.
The journey opens at Harbor View Hotel in Watkins Glen, where Marcus and Jamie welcome the group with a chef-curated bite and a regional toast before an afternoon at Hillick & Hobbs Estate for vineyard-specific Rieslings on slate-rich, Mosel-style slopes, a private behind-the-scenes barrel-room tasting at Finger Lakes Distilling, and a welcome reception in the Harbor View Suite over local cheeses, chef-selected bites, and a curated lineup of regional wines.
Breakfast at Harbor View Restaurant, then east across Seneca Lake for a private tasting and farm-driven group lunch at Ryan William Winery, an afternoon of single-vineyard Rieslings and an optional vineyard walk at Silver Thread Vineyard, a VIP library flight at Damiani Wine Cellars, a pre-dinner gathering in the Admiral Suite, and a long-evening dinner at Graft Wine + Cider Bar.
Breakfast in the Harbor View Suite, then west across the lake for a morning at Ravines Wine Cellars in Geneva, a midday lunch of house-baked breads and estate wines at Tabora Farm & Winery, an afternoon of aromatic European-style whites at Weis Vineyards, a relaxed end-of-day tasting at Barnstormer Winery, and dinner at Elephant Thai Restaurant with cool-climate wines made for spice.
Farewell breakfast at Harbor View Restaurant, then a late-morning visit to Living Roots Winery for the signature side-by-side comparative tasting of Finger Lakes versus Clare Valley wines, with the official farewell in the early afternoon and guests departing at leisure.
Deep glacial lakes and cool growing seasons shape Seneca Lake wines with bright acidity and mineral lift, more Mosel and Alsace than California. Over four days, you will taste dry and off-dry Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, méthode champenoise sparkling, plus a few single-vineyard and library pours.
Absolutely not — curiosity matters far more than expertise.
Most guests fly into Elmira/Corning Regional (ELM), Ithaca Tompkins (ITH), or Rochester (ROC). Many also drive from New York City, Philadelphia, or Boston.
Regional transportation in a private Mercedes-style tour van is included throughout the hosted experience.
Moderate. Expect walking on vineyard rows, lakeside paths, and cellar floors. The pace is designed for comfort and enjoyment.
Yes. New York-to-home shipping is straightforward for most U.S. states, and we assist with selections and logistics.
Comfortable walking shoes, layers for cool lakeside evenings, smart casual dinner attire, and room in your suitcase for Finger Lakes bottles.
Relationships. Most of these experiences exist because of friendships built over three hundred-plus winery visits, not because of a booking platform.
Yes — custom FIT (Free Independent Travel) experiences are available for couples, families, wine clubs, and private groups.
Only 8–14 guests are invited into the hosted Finger Lakes departure on November 9–12, 2026. The size is intentional — it’s what makes the library pour, the biodynamic farm lunch, and the unhurried lakeside afternoon possible. Many of these experiences simply cannot be replicated at a larger scale.
If the Finger Lakes is the trip you’ve been waiting for, the next step is a conversation — not a checkout page.
Schedule a discovery call with Marcus and Jamie Guiliano.
VIP Winery Vacations · (845) 647-3000
Because the best parts of New York wine country aren’t found on a map. They’re found through friendships.
Your details are used only to follow up about the Finger Lakes hosted journey or private travel request.
