I’m just back from a day of visiting wineries in the Lake Erie/Pelee Island area. One of the biggest surprises was how tall and full of leaves the vines are out there already. I know the area is the southern-most wine region in Ontario and so it has a slightly longer growing season than elsewhere in the Province, but seeing how far along the vines are really drove home the climate difference.

The weather was perfect for the drive from Toronto, which was much quicker than I thought it would be. Since the drive was shorter than I expected, I had more time to spend at the wineries, which was great.

I stopped at a number of wineries. Because it was mid-week, none were too crowded, which was also a bonus, as that means folks at the wineries had more time to chat and show me around. At Erie Shore Vineyard, for example, Harvey Hollingshead, who owns the winery along with his wife Alma, took time to answer my questions about the winery. Even better, when I asked him about the young grape plants that looked like they were ready to be planted, he did a bit of show-and-tell for me. You can watch Harvey’s explanation in a short video I shot of him.

The Lake Erie/Pelee Island region (which the local wine tourism association has branded EPIC: Essex Pelee Island Coast Wineries) has a number of long-established vineyards and wineries and a number of lovely new ones. In the next App update you’ll find entries for the six I visited this week, and there’s more I’ll be visiting in the future.