Ice wine, a fairly local treat

I'm very blessed where I live, I completely understand that. I have two fabulous markets (ok, technically three) right next door that I frequent and more in the area. I have a store I buy local meats and dairy through year round. There are organic stores in and around town....

and wine is a short drive away.

We took a tour of the Niagara region for the Ice Wine Festival this past weekend. We each bought a Discovery pass, which gave us tastings at 6 wineries (for half the price it would have cost to pay for each). The lovely man at the tasting bar in the first one said we'd never make all six. We made 9 ;) The wines and food were fantastic, and the ambience was everything you'd hope for in a winery tour.



Tastes and adventures along the way, in order:

• Lakeview Estates: A fabulous start to our trip, it's a pretty building. We bought our discovery passes here, and were shocked to find out we bought the last three. I am still not sure how to buy them online earlier next year. The pass took us upstairs to a separate tasting bar where Hayden walked us through three wine samples and a double-bacon mini quiche. We started with their Brut (a sparkling wine), then the Late Autumn Harvest, then finally the ice wine. To top it off he snuck us an extra sample to show us a tasty treat: sparkling wine + ice wine. Fantastic!
• Cave Springs: Usually one of my favorite wineries. Our pass got us a taste of the Dolomite Reisling and a corkscrew. We were disappointed (we've had the Dolomite before) and we said something and got a complimentary taste of their ice wine. I still bought two Reislings from here, their CSV: Estate bottled Reisling is my favorite.
• Flat Rock Cellars: I can't tell you how beautiful this winery is. The building is mostly window, and with good reason. You are on top of the escarpment here, but you can see everything out to the lake - breathtaking. In a private room with a fabulous view of the vineyards, we tasted two ice wine martinis. They both had vodka, one had mango and apricot juice, the other white cranberry juice. Also, we sampled some frozen red grapes which had been rolled in sugar. Out at the sample bar, we tried ice wines from two different harvests and settled on one (2007) for purchase. We also bought a tasty treat for later: homemade ice wine marshmallows.
• Creekside Estates: At the outdoor patio, a large serving of roasted chestnuts with an orange-garlic butter (the other option was cajun) with an ice wine. Inside we enjoyed some mulled wine. A tasty stop, and a beautiful building.
• 20 Bees: Ok, this one actually suprised me a bit. The building you go into literally looks like an oversized classroom portable. But it's quaint inside and the wine is really good. We got free samples of three wines (a perk of the smaller wineries) and bought a sample of ice wine. We ended up buying the bottle of ice wine and reisling, both of which were incredibly inexpensive.
• Inniskillin: The pictures up above are all from Inniskillin, another of my favorite wineries. First of all, the wine is fantastic! The buildings (the sample bar is in another building separate from the gift shop) are beautiful. Outside they had an ice wine sample bar, carved of ice. It all comes at a cost in the price of the wine, but it's all delectable so who could complain? The discovery pass tasting was fantastic: an ice wine and a truffle cauliflower soup. Mmmmm. See those ice grapes up there? I ate some. So sweet.
• Riverview Cellars: An awkward room full of people, but the discovery pass gave us a very tasty treat: a red ice wine with a plate full of goodies on skewers to put into the chocolate fondue (store bought marshmallows, banana, strawberry, soft fresh biscotti etc). They have a cute gift shop with a lot of wine bags.
• Peller Estates: Probably my most favorite Winery to go to, it's phenomenal. The building is *grand* by definition, I think. Large stairways, a posh room to sample and purchase wine, a fancy restaurant, and I think someone said there were rooms you could stay in. The discovery passes got us ice wine and homemade ice wine marshmallows, outdoors on the patio. We roasted our marshmallows in the open fires, and we were fabulously shaded from the wind. Afterwards, we made our way to the sample bars and had a flight of dry whites.
• Pilletteri Estates: A cute place, it looks like it might have been a veggie stand once upon a time ago. We had some free samples and bought a bottle of wine. It was a cute place.

On the way home the next day, we took a quick detour to one last winery (so, that's 10). Rosewood Estates was my favorite new discovery. It is not only a winery, it is also a MEADERY. Mead is a honey wine, and my husband and I bought have a love for it. We sampled 4 meads and a wine. We bought two meads. Fabulous taste. It is the second meadery we've found in Ontario, and it's only about an hour's drive.

All in all, a great wine-related weekend.