On this very special episode of the Food About Town podcast, Ben Woelk and I spent some time talking about his new venture with the Niagara Wine Trail Winery Trains. Ben and I have been talking about this for a while now and I’m truly excited that this big idea is coming to fruition.

The Wine Trail and the Medina Railroad Museum are partnering to offer a food and wine experience that is unique for our area. Of course there will there be Niagara region wine tastings but the kicker is that they will be served up with farm to table dishes prepared with local ingredients. You’ll also be able to shop at a farmer’s market at the Medina stop (edited 9/16 from original Lockport market plan) where you can buy bottles of local wine, produce and other local goods.

A two hour ride between Medina and Brockport on a historic train through some beautiful countryside accompanied by food and drink. What more can someone ask for?

The link to the official page for the Winery Train where there is more information and information about how to buy tickets for their four scheduled dates this fall is below:

http://railroadmuseum.net/newspost/niagara-wine-trail-winery-trains-sept-27-oct-4-11-18/

As for the podcast we recorded, we covered the Train concept in detail and talked some about the wineries, local food and briefly delved into some of Ben’s history with Joe Bean Coffee and coffee in general. Definitely something I’d like to explore with him in more detail on another podcast.

Unfortunately I did have some technical issues with the recording we did at the Smokestack Cowork. There is a background buzzing/crackling that goes through the entire recording and it is definitely annoying. I’ll be trying a few things to make sure that doesn’t happen again but for this one I hope you can stick through it and enjoy our conversation.

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Ben has been driving this effort through his WNY Excursions front and I am consistently impressed by how much he puts into his projects. He has been pushing this for months while still advancing his work with his Slow Road documentary series and just generally being a voice for cool things going on in Rochester. I’m glad I’ve gotten to know him a bit more through this project and hope to keep in touch through all of the interesting things he’ll be doing in the future. One of the great joys about running this site has been spending time with passionate people and Ben is one of the prime examples I’ve run across.

I hope you enjoy the podcast and get a chance to ride the Niagara Wine Trail Train this fall. See you out there!