Yesterday I was down in Niagara-on-the-Lake for my second round of Taste the Season. Like last week, a girlfriend and I made a day of it. Also like last weekend, our first stop was less than inspiring. I was looking forward to stopping in at The Lakeview Wine Company because it’s been awhile since I […]
Ingrid Sapona
Taste the Season – Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake
As a friend mentioned the other day, November is kind of a buffer month – it’s a time to re-charge before the busy holiday season and, for many of us, time to start to think about what we might serve – both in terms of food and wine – at our holiday get togethers. With […]
Celebrating Women in Wine
Noble Estates Wine & Spirits, a wine agent here in the Toronto area, hosted a fantastic event in Toronto a couple weeks ago: Celebrating Women in Wine. The event featured women from 20 wineries around the world. The list of women was impressive – there were owners, winemakers, enologists, and women who hold important behind-the-scenes […]
Pick, Stomp & Taste at Flat Rock Cellars
If you’re a wine enthusiast and you see yourself as someone who is “hands on” (not to mention if you have fond memories of Lucy and Ethel getting down and dirty in a wine barrel) – Flat Rock Cellars’ Pick, Stomp & Taste is for you! I had seen this annual event announced a few […]
Sometimes Grandma Knows Best …
A friend and I were out for a drive in Caledon on a recent Saturday. It was a lovely day and so I suggested we head up to Hockley Valley Resort and the Adamo Estate Winery. I had been there when it first opened in September 2016 but Shauna White, the winemaker, was not there […]
Ardiel Dry Cider — Worth looking for
Found another fantastic Ontario craft cider: Ardiel Cider House Dry Cider. A friend brought it sailing — I think he got it at an LCBO in Bolton. The label says it’s from The Blue Mountains, Ontario. So, my guess was that it’s somehow related to Georgian Hills Vineyards — they’re up in the Blue Mountain area […]
Hunter Bottling – a mobile innovation that would make Rube Goldberg proud
I often wonder how wineries can afford all the different types of equipment needed for that precious nectar to go from grape to the bottle I enjoy with dinner. If you’ve ever been to a winery, you’ve probably seen a press, tanks and barrels. But there’s also a raft of special-purpose equipment involved in bottling […]
EPIC Celebrates – and Commemorates – Canada’s 150th in Style
I’m continually impressed with the ideas Ontario wineries come up with and I’ve been wondering what some might be doing to mark Canada’s 150th birthday. Well, 10 of the EPIC wineries (the acronym stands for Essex, Pelee Island, Coast wineries) have released a special, limited collection of VQA wines under the EPIC 1867 banner. Each […]
Winemaker Amélie Boury’s Favourite Childhood Game Really Paid Off
Like many winemakers, Château des Charmes’ Amélie Boury attributes a love for the outdoors and growing up on a farm as a reason she’s at home in the vineyard. But, she attributes her interest in winemaking to a creative game her mother played with her growing up. The “Nose Game”, as she referred to it, […]
Sip & Sizzle through the long weekend — and next weekend
A friend and I popped down to Niagara-on-the-Lake yesterday for Sip & Sizzle. A few years ago we enjoyed this event, but I must say, this year the selections are even better. The Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Konzelmann Estate Winery had invited me and I had plans to go earlier in the month but I […]