Niagara-On-The-Lake Wine Tour
Hello again Everyone,
I went on this trip on April 17, of this year. My mother finally got payback for going to all those crafters/art shows at the local exhibition places, and won a draw for the grand prize of the free wine tour, in a limo, and lunch for her and five friends, for the day. I had fun and enjoyed the trip despit being with my mother and four of her friends, and being a typical non-drinker. Not that I wouldn't drink, I just don't do it all that often.
Anyways, we went to 4 different wineries but there are tons more. At the first winery, Peninsula Ridge Estates it was pretty fancy, medium sized winery with these two huge beautiful farm houses on the property. They had an extensive wine tasting menu, and even more varieties of wine to buy. Our limo driver, Paul, took us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the fermentation tanks and keg room, where he explain the process of how wine was made. Due to the time of year, we didn't see the vines leaved and full of grapes, but during the summer I can imagine how beautiful the property would be.
The next winery that we went to, and my favorite, was De Sousa Wine Cellars. We met up with one of the owners of the winery Maria (I hope this is right), she was fun and taught us the Portugues, i.e. the right way, to enjoy wine. If you plan on going through the wineries in the Niagara area, definitly stop here. They have an amazing port! They also have a spot in Toronto at 802 Dundas St. W.
After De Sousa, we went to the Birchwood Estate Wines, it looked small, it looked cheap, but it had amazing wines many of which won several gold/silver/bronze metals. This spot in Niagara is more of a satellite for people to taste their wines. They have a good Rose, at a surprisingly affordable price. But their big wines, are their icewines, they are one of the few wineries in the world that offer a red icewine.
After our stop at Birchwood, we went for lunch, then a quick tease stop at the shopping district of Niagara-On-The-Lake. Here we didn't have enough time to shop around and see the stores, we were on a time limit, but atleast I saw it. From there we were going to stop at a fruit winery, but unfortunately it was closed for the day, so we went down the road to Strewn.
Strewn is another winery in NOTL, but to be honest I was not impressed with them. I did not like their wines, their staff we not as welcomeing as the other wineries, and you had to pay to taste the wine, which the other wineries also did not do. I can say that they did have some interesting classes where they teach individuals and couples cooking/wine classes. If this interests you, I'd say give it a try, but don't just go for the wine, you might leave disappointed.
Leaving Strewn, we then headed home with our many bottles of wine in the trunk. Luckily we did not exceed the record of 80 or 90 something bottles, as Paul said a group of older ladies left the region with. Here I should also say that I would recommend Paul and his limo company Coach House Limousine. He does all the typical things like weddings and proms, but he also offers these great wine tours. He knows what he's talking about and is flexible enough you make your trip just that more personal making you feel like it's your trip and not just another agenda.
If you want more information on the wineries in the area go to the site for Wines of Ontario or just Google search Niagra On The Lake, and I'm sure you'll find something you'll enjoy.
--Diana
posted by Diana @ 10:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home