Symposium Tours

Post-Conference Tour: Finger Lakes Wine District and Niagara Falls

Breeders and geneticists will be especially interested in seeing the growing wine industry of the Finger Lakes, which is based upon the use of cultivars originating from both European and American species.  Award-winning wines are being made from classic grapes such as White Riesling, and high quality interspecific hybrid cultivars such as Traminette have also garnered awards and accolades. In addition, the native cultivars descending from Vitis labrusca are being used in a variety of wines.  The post-symposium tour will begin directly after lunch on Thursday, 5 August, and conclude at mid-day Saturday, 7 August.  The diversity of grapevine cultivars grown in the Finger Lakes region will be featured during vineyard and winery visits on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, and dinner on Thursday will be at an area winery. 

Dinner on Friday will be in Niagara Falls, with a visit to the Falls (on the New York side) and a “Maid of the Mist” boat ride to the base of the famous Horseshoe Falls on Saturday morning.  Accommodations on Thursday evening will be in the air-conditioned student housing on the Hobart and William Smith Colleges campus and at the Days Inn Niagara at the Falls on Friday night. 

The tour will conclude after lunch on Saturday.  Participants can elect to stay at Niagara Falls on their own or continue on to the Canadian side where there are further viticultural as well as sightseeing attractions, such at the multicultural city of Toronto, Niagara on the Lake, and winery tours.  Information on tourism possibilities in Canada will be available at the conference.  Please make sure you have the appropriate visa for entering Canada and returning to the United States, if necessary, before crossing the border.

Tour participants can be dropped off at the airports in Buffalo, New York, or Rochester, New York, during the afternoon return of the tour bus to Geneva.  If overnight accommodations are needed near either airport, please contact the conference secretary.

The cost of the post-conference tour is $300/per person double occupancy and $375 per person single occupancy.  This includes two nights lodging, dinner on Thursday, 5 August; three meals on Friday, 6 August; and two meals (B, L) on Saturday, 6 August, plus the boat ride on the “Maid of the Mist”.

 

Accompanying Persons Program

Accompanying persons are invited to join symposium participants for the welcome reception (Sunday 1 August), the Experiment Station tour plus barbecue dinner (Tuesday 3 August), and the banquet (Wednesday 4 August).  Information on tourism possibilities will be available at the registration desk. 

Please note: All Accompanying Person tours have been cancelled