Vines & Canines

On Sunday, Nick and I toted Toby along with us for our first visit to the Martha Clara Vineyards in Riverhead, to attend one of their Vines & Canines Vineyard Walks. Dogs of all sizes and shapes gathered for the event, including a rare Shiloh shepherd – a gentle giant bred to resemble the German shepherd of yesteryear.

Other than a donation of a non-perishable dog food item that would be donated to an animal shelter, the event is free. Well, unless you like wine. Or perusing gift shops filled with edibles and other cute but pricey fare. In that case, you better bring your credit card.

More dogs and owners showed than the coordinators expected, so they needed to split the crowd into two separate groups to walk through the vineyards. Ours was the first, which was good because the sun beat down on the open fields, and I had foolishly worn jeans. During the walk, Toby exhausted himself by running ten miles to the one that we humans walked, endlessly zig-zagging in front of me: What’s over here? What’s over there?

Refreshing water was provided for the dogs at two points during the half hour walk, and we stopped several times along the way to listen to our guide, who came equipped with a roll of blue baggies and a dog of his own. With so many dogs nose to tail, I found it hard to listen to what sounded like an informative speech, as he explained how the grapes were grown, and gave a brief history of the Entenmann family, who own the vineyard. Instead, my eyes were on my dog, either stopping him from breaking out in noisy play, or guiding him away from a little dog who had already nipped him and several other dogs along the way.

Although Nick pointed out that the reactive little dog was wearing a red bandana, (often used to signal dog aggression), I think a verbal warning from the owner would have been appropriate, especially considering that the other fifty-odd dogs were all friendly, and greeting one another left and right.

At the conclusion of the tour, Nick and I were both given a coupon for a free flight of wine (a sample of four different varieties) and 10% off any items we purchased in the shop. But before we could put our coupons to good use, we needed to cool ourselves and Toby from the walk.

Since the facility was dog friendly, Toby was invited inside the snack area with the other dogs – although they might not welcome him again. When a kind woman offered him a bowl of water, Toby dove in up to his eyeballs, sloshing water all over the floor. And when the woman removed the bowl, he belly flopped into the pool, further spattering the mess.

After an embarrassed apology, during which I mopped up the water as best as possible, Nick and I headed into the air conditioned store. There, Toby found the joys of sprawling on the cool concrete floor. When we decided to explore, instead of walking along beside me, Toby frog crawled next to me on the floor, giving everyone a laugh – except me – who was worried that the sun-drenched walk had been too much for my graying companion.

Once assured that Toby was just being Toby, and not in any danger of succumbing to heat stroke, Nick and I took advantage of our free flight. Had we not had dinner plans for later in the evening, we would have stayed to enjoy a quesadilla at the snack bar and to listen to the Rare Groove Band, who were scheduled to give a free performance that afternoon.

Before leaving, we stopped in the store, and then loaded up Nick’s Jeep with four bottles of wine, a tired Labrador, and a jar of “Really Good” cherry tart fruit spread to enjoy at home inside of one of Nick’s famous ricotta-almond butter-cherry Panini’s. All in all, it was a fun day out, and one that I’d definitely recommend checking out if you like wine and have a friendly dog that can handle large crowds.