Every year, people spend exorbitant amounts of money taking winery tours through renowned regions like Napa Valley and Bordeaux. Luckily for Central New York residents, they need look no further than the Finger Lakes region, which boasts around 100 wineries and is the second largest wine-producing area in the United States.

Fall is harvest time at vineyards, providing the perfect day or weekend trip for wine aficionados and novices alike. The Daily Orange had a chance to sample a few in the area.

For my adventure, I selected three wineries on Keuka Lake, recruited a few legal friends and soon found myself immersed in acres of beautiful vineyards.

Bully Hill Vineyards

Bully Hill, founded in 1970, occupies a steep expanse of hillside overlooking Keuka Lake. The winery grounds include gift shops, wine and art museums and a spectacular restaurant offering a gorgeous view of the lake.

Bully Hill produces almost 40 wines and currently sponsors several sports teams, including the Buffalo Bills.

‘There’s always room for expansion in the wine industry,’ said Sean King, sales and marketing manager. ‘We’re currently trying to put our products in more restaurants and increase the number of states we ship to.’

King said Bully Hill defies the stereotype that wineries are only for the pretentious and wealthy.

‘Our atmosphere really sets us apart,’ King said. ‘People come here to have a good time.

In the tasting room, we begin a session with Dustin Dowdle, an energetic, tie-dye-clad employee whose enthusiasm is infectious. Dowdle leads eight of us in tasting five pre-selected wines – two reds, two whites and a rose. We learn how to swirl, smell and taste wine, while Dowdle cracks jokes about Napa Valley, sex and various members of his tasting group.

Several of the wines we sample are incredibly sweet, especially the Pink Catawba, which Dowdle grinningly describes as a ‘clothing wine,’ meaning it goes well with clothing, or without.

When Dowdle produces a bottle of Banty Red, I happily exclaim, ‘Oh, the chicken wine!’ (we have a longstanding relationship), and he proceeds to lead us in the chicken dance.

Unorthodox? Yes. A good time? You bet.

All Bully Hill wines are priced between $7 and $15, and for good reason, Dowdle said.

‘People from all walks of life should be able to afford and enjoy wines,’ he said.

As a poor college student, I’ll drink to that.

Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars

Dr. Konstantin Frank holds a special place in United States wine history: In 1962, he founded the first winery in the Northeast that grew European grapes (Vitis Vinifera) instead of grapes traditionally produced in the Eastern United States (Vitis Labrusca).

The winery continues to produce a vast selection of wines and consistently wins awards in tastings conducted nationwide (40 gold medals in 2007 alone).

Konstantin Frank’s grandson, Frederick Frank, now manages the winery. He hopes his 16-year-old son will someday carry on the family business.

Dr. Frank’s recently built a new tasting pavilion with a beautiful lakeview to celebrate its 45th year. Frank said he is also planning an entirely Riesling winery on Seneca Lake.

‘As we mature, you’ll see more specialization in what we do best,’ Frank said. ‘We’ve already started planting grapes for the Riesling winery (a white grape historically grown in Germany), and I hope to have it operating within three years.’

Dr. Frank’s employs an international team of winemakers with different specializations, which is reflected in the winery’s success in competitions, Frank said.

‘There are thousands of wineries in the United States,’ Frank said. ‘We have to excel every season, with every bottle of wine we produce.’

The tasting atmosphere at Dr. Frank’s is a bit more sophisticated than at Bully Hill, but we still find ourselves highly entertained by employee Joshua Goldman. It is clear Goldman has been around the wine business for quite a while, and he tests his tasters’ wine knowledge before offering explanations about topics like tannins and oak barrels.

We each select five wines to sample and taste them under Goldman’s tutelage.

‘Never fall in love on the first sip,’ he cautions. ‘The second sip is more authentic.’

We enjoy the wines immensely, most of which are attractively priced between $10 and $20. Goldman lightheartedly jokes with his group, smiling from ear to ear the entire time. ‘I’ve worked at a lot of wineries,’ Goldman said, ‘but the people I work with here are truly the best people in the industry.’

Pleasant Valley Wine Company

Our last stop was Pleasant Valley, which was established in 1860 and is U.S. Bonded Winery No. 1. The winery is not directly located on Keuka Lake, but nonetheless offers scenic views of the surrounding area of Hammondsport.

Pleasant Valley offers extensive tours of its grounds, which include a museum, tasting room, gift shop, equipment facilities and the winery’s original buildings – many of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tour guide Lynn Domras leads us into the equipment facilities, where the pungent sweetness of grapes becomes immediately apparent. She explains how grape juice, skins and debris are separated to make wine (grape juice is white – the color in red wine comes from added skins), and we see the harvest season at Pleasant Valley is already underway.

Next, Domras takes us up to the original winery site. After recounting the long and varied history of the winery, which managed to survive Prohibition, she shows off everything from the stainless steel casks used to hold wine to the large champagne vault. It’s an educational tour to be sure, and we feel quite knowledgeable once it’s finally time to taste.

The tasting is a bit more subdued than at Bully Hill or Dr. Frank’s. We select which products to sample, trying everything from champagne to sherry. Beware – with an alcohol content of around 17 percent, Sherry is not for the faint of heart.

Pleasant Valley offers an array of innovative products, including a wine called Chocolate Lab. We are instructed to pour half a glass of Chocolate Lab, then top it off with Blackberry Merlot. We sip the concoction tentatively, discovering a unique, refreshing dessert wine.

Luckily, the gift shop is right next door, so we’ll be able to end our day of touring appropriately: with another bottle of wine.