GQ: The 20 New Rules of Drinking (and Buying) Wine

RULE NO. 4:  Even a Hot-Dog Shack Can Have a Top-Notch List If anything embodies the wine-ification of America, it’s the surprising places tasty wine is popping up. Drink at That Hot-Dog Joint Master Sommelier Christopher Bates worked at world-class restaurants before opening F.L.X. Wienery in the Finger Lakes, where he serves his favorite wines […]

Food and Wine Magazine: 2016 Sommeliers of the Year

FLX Wienery and FLX Table, Geneva, New York Why He Won This Master Sommelier is a Finger Lakes change agent: focusing on Syrah and Cabernet Franc instead of the usual white varieties at his Element Winery; operating a fancy hot dog stand (FLX Wienery) with an inappropriately excellent wine list; and launching a new 12-seat […]

Wine Enthusiast: America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants of 2016 FLX Wienery, Dundee, NY

Owned by husband-and-wife Christopher Bates (a Master Sommelier) and Isabel Bogadtke, this wine-country winemaker hangout offers killer burgers and sausages you might pair with Chinon or Beaujolais, even aged Chenin Blanc. The “secret” wine fridge offers an astonishing hodgepodge of well-priced gems. Picked up a bottle of Finger Lakes wine at a local tasting room? […]

Coravin: Wine Blends

new obsession: singularity. Single clone. Single vineyard. Single varietal. But as it turns out, blends today can be just as, if not more, impressive. We sat down with Master Sommelier Christopher Bates, chef-owner of F.L.X Wienery, to better understand wine blends and whether or not they’re worth drinking. Read the article >

Hoppy Half Pint: FLX Wienery: Beer and Brats on the Finger Lakes Wine Trail

We caught up to Christopher Bates—restaurateur, chef, Master Sommelier and vintner–at his Dundee New York establishment, FLX Wienery. It was a perfect Saturday afternoon in the Finger Lakes, and the restaurant was doing a brisk business. Christopher was in the kitchen, slicing onions for the crispy, spicy onion rings. I’d made tentative arrangements to drop […]

Edible Finger Lakes: Eat Here Now: FLX Wienery

Recently, I took a day trip to explore some wineries on the lower west side of Seneca Lake. My favorite way to experience our beautiful wine region is to pick one-to-three wineries and find a place to eat nearby. In between tasting some really great wines at Shaw Vineyard, Villa Bellangelo and Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard, I stopped […]

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