Wine About Winter another sellout in Medina with 800 participants

Photo by Tom Rivers: Laurie Banker of Albion has wine poured in her glass by Brittany Moden of Victorianbourg Wine Estate in Wilson. They are inside the Coffee Pot Café, one of the many stops for the annual Wine About Winter. Banker attended the event with 14 of her friends. “It’s a fun way to break up the winter and the weather today is beautiful,” she said.

MEDINA – The Medina Area Partnership’s Wine About Winter has proven itself to be a crowd-pleaser, regardless of the weather. When temperatures last year plummeted to near zero, people still made the trek for the annual wine-tasting event.  When 800 tickets went on sale for this year’s eventthey didn’t last very long.

Wine About Winter has grown from 350 tickets sold for the first one in 2009 to the 800 now sold. MAP members say they could probably sell more, but feel that 800 is a manageable number. Tickets are sold for $30 each for two start times, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., to minimize the congestion from the crowds, said Ann Fisher-Bale, former events coordinator with MAP.

Registration takes place at the Medina Senior Center, where participants get a wristband, free bag of goodies and a wine glass. There they also purchase tickets for the many baskets which are raffled off during the event.

Sponsors who provided gift items for the goodie bags and the wine glasses were Albone’s Spray Foam Insulation, Bent’s Opera House and Generations Bank.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) Medina Area Partnership member Laura Gardner stands in the Medina Senior Center, where hundreds of goodie bags and wine glasses were lined up to give participants of Wine About Winter. (Right) Members of MAP ready wristbands for the 800 participants for today’s Wine About Winter in Medina. Clockwise from left are Sarah Fisher, Ann Fisher-Bale, Wendy Oakes Wilson, Dawn Borchet, Cindy Hewitt and Amy Crandall.

People come from throughout the Western New York region for Ale in Autumn and Wine About Winter, but on Saturday, it seemed like there were a lot of locals who participated, Fisher-Bale said.

Robyn Ottaviano of Medina and Kevin Hinckley of Lyndonville were among the local residents. Hinckley has attended every Wine About Winter, while Ottaviano has been to all but one.

“I love to try different wines and then go back and buy some,” Ottaviano said. “It always a lot of fun to see all the people. It’s exciting to visit the shops and discover things you didn’t know about, and it gets you out on the house in winter.”

Brittany Donovan and Jeffrey Stanton of Middleport are both first-time attendees.

“Our other friends had done it and had fun, so we thought we’d join them to enjoy the wine and have a good time,” Donovan said.

Holleigh Utley of Barker has done the wine event for three or four years.

“Is it fun. Heck, yeah,” she said. “I’m here with my sister and brother-in-law, a girlfriend and bunch of their friends.”

(Left) Brody George, a conductor on excursions at the Medina Railroad Museum, pours wine for Robin Ottaviano of Medina. The Museum’s wine selection was 999 Buffalo’s Chateau Buffalo, a red wine with loganberry. (Right) Holleigh Utley of Barker drops a ticket in the jar for a chance to win a wine basket at the Medina Railroad Museum. Raffle baskets were available at each of the participating merchants at Wine About Winter.

Stephanie Preston of Medina said this is probably her eighth time attending the event. She was with her sister-in-law Rachel Preston, friends Christina Baisley of Rochester and Alicia Barth of Akron, attending for the first time. The girls raved about the cheese and pickles they tasted at The Walsh Hotel.

Fisher-Bale said the MAP committee walked around town after everyone had been checked in.

“Not only was everyone seeming to have fun, but it is a wonderful way to get people familiar with our merchants, in hopes they will come back and shop,” she said.

Twenty-three businesses on Main Street, East Center and West Center participated, in addition to Medina Railroad Museum, the Walsh Hotel, Hustl House, Medina Historical Society and American Legion, all in close proximity to downtown.

Fisher-Bale said wine selections ranged from dry to sweeter.

Another feature this year was information in the goodie bags on an upcoming Murder Mystery event scheduled downtown on May 4.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Dr. Jim Robinson pours “Barry’s Red” wine from 21 Brix in Portland, NY for Sandy Kress of Royalton. She recognized Robinson as her veterinarian. He and his family also own The Vintage Cigar, which was one of 23 wine-tasting sites. He said Wine About Winter is a great way to get people inside and see what the businesses have to offer.

Sandra Baxter, right of Albion and friend Erica Miller of Albion try the wine from Brickstone Cellars in Hammondsport. It was served at Modern Mercantile by Anita Giles, left, and Lisa Mannella.

Nicole Montpetit and Anita Jones, both of Middleport, have fun at Modern Mercantile. Jones said she has been to several Wine About Winter events, and enjoys seeing a vibrant downtown Medina. “Just walking around Medina, it’s so nice to see it is so alive and thriving.”