Weekend in Wine Country



Last weekend my wife and I, along with her sister and brother-in-law, went down to Toronto for a Blue Jays game and a couple of days to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a few winery tours.  Although the weather was cold and wet, we stayed dry for the most part and timed our outdoor activities accordingly.

My sister and brother-in-law have been to Niagara-on-the-Lake numerous times and know a lot about the area, wineries and restaurants which really helped with logistics.  Although I’m not much of a wine connoisseur, I would say the others know their way around a wine bottle quite well :).  In fact, my sister and brother-in-law are wine-club members at Peller Estates which was our first stop.  Their privileges allowed us to go on the tour for free with some tasty perks....woot.



Never being to a real vineyard before I found it quite interesting and learned a lot which will help me with my little one.  One thing that struck me was how closely all the wineries planted their vines; the soil is deep here so the roots tend to tap deeply rather than laterally reducing competition between the plants and permitting close spacings (~3 feet).




A relatively young vine at Peller Estates.



Barrel aging at Peller Estates.





Eric, our tour guide, was a down-to-earth guy and let us taste three wines including a pricey ice wine.  His tips for enjoying wine were practical but not pretentious.  After the tour, the four of us were escorted upstairs to a private wine bar where club members and guests are permitted to taste countless wines (and even more ice-wine)....woot.

Our visit to Chateau des Charmes was also really fun.  These grounds and vineyards are also immaculate.

Because we spent just a bit too long in a small bakery buying awesome pastries, we missed the scheduled tour start time.  Everything was made right again by Sylvie, a very friendly, knowledgeable employee, who gave us what amounted to a private tour nonetheless....woot.  On this tour we were able to visit grape crushing, wine fermenting, storage and bottling circuits.  This tour also ended up with a generous tasting of wines including the best ice wine of the weekend....woot.



Closely-spaced vines.



Barrel fermenting at Chateau des Charmes.









27,000 litre storage vessels.



4,200 litre storage vessels.











Below are some interesting facts that will put the sheer volume of wine they produce into perspective:

• It takes 3 to 5 bunches or 1 to 1.5 kg of grapes to make 1 bottle of wine.
• The 27,000 litre storage vessel contains ~36,000 bottles of wine which, at 1 bottle per day, would take almost 99 years to drink.