We don’t pledge to continue this annually forevermore, but there’s no denying that this is the third year in a row we head to the Niagara area around now. In a lot of ways, it’s a good time to visit: it’s low season, so somewhat cheaper, and quite a bit less crowded—often resulting in better service. Weather of course can be iffy but that means, sometimes, it’s not bad!
Same destination, but that doesn’t mean it was all the same activities. These were the new:
- Visiting Reif Estate Winery
- Staying at Shaw Club, Niagara-on-the-Lake
- Reserving Wine Dome Lounge at Fielding Estate Winery
- Staying and dining at Inn on the Twenty, Jordan
And these were repeats, though not necessarily “same old”:
- Dining at Peller Estates Winery
- Wine tasting at Strewn Winery
- Hiking the Niagara Glen trail
- Dining at Treadwells
- Hiking the Twenty Valley trail, Jordan
Despite knowing I was heading into wine country, I would not have predicted trying a $100 bottle of wine, nor a sherry nearly as old as I am. And yet!
Reif Estate Winery
Reif Estate Winery came up in advance research as offering quite an interesting variety of wine tasting experiences. This is true, which made it trickier knowing which one to book. Since they allowed each of us to book a different tasting option, I selected one “general” tasting and, for $10 more, one “back vintage” tasting. I also added a cheese plate for each of us, as we’d be arriving around lunch time.
Upon arrival at our reserved seats, we were both handed the same list of wines to select from, which was confusing. We pointed out that we had opted for the prepaid “back vintage” option, along with some food. Recovery was fairly smooth; one list of wines was replaced with a much shorter one of rather pricier options, which we perused while he went off to assemble our cheese plates.
I have no idea why we’ve never been to this winery before, given—as I learned on this trip—that it’s one of the very oldest in the area. The longer “general” list featured some unusual grapes, apparently inspired by the German heritage of the founders. We started with one of those, a Kerner (a white), along with a Gewurtz from the “fancy” list.
In what was to become something of a theme on this trip, our request for two wines resulted in three pours, as he felt we should compare the “regular” 2020 Gewurtz to the listed 2017 one. And indeed, though both were fine Gewurtz’s, the 2017 was just notably superior. And only about $3 more than the 2020!
From the general list, we then tried the Drea’s Rose, based on the Dornfelder grape—see what I mean about the unusual types? It was quite a substantial rose, darker in colour and more robust in flavour than many. I rather liked it.
But I was so feeling the wine at this point, even though it still wasn’t—I don’t think—the equivalent of a single full glass of wine. I guess breakfast was just far away by now, and the nibblies I was having were much helping. As a result, I’m not really sure what else we tried! Except…
We definitely tasted a $100 Cabernet Sauvignon. Which was probably the most expensive one I’ve ever had. Was it was also the best ever? I dunno! I was, after all, slightly drunk. But I can tell you that it was, indeed, very very good, and I’m confident, the best Cabernet of this trip.
It also paired rather well with chocolate…
Shaw Club
We really like Harbour House, but Shaw Club did have a pretty good deal on this time, so we tried it out as our accommodations this time. It isn’t as charming as Harbour House, and doesn’t include breakfast. Also, we couldn’t work out a way to set the TV to access Netflix, so we had to use our Chromebook.
But it was a perfectly nice room with bathrobes, king bed, fireplace, rainfall shower, all that good stuff. And the second day we did have breakfast at the attached restaurant (we were the only patrons), and the food was quite good.
Peller Estates Winery
I did the usual trick of booking an early dinner at Peller, resulting in us having the place to ourselves at the start, and not that many other people by the end. When booking, I had mentioned my recent birthday, which resulted in us getting a complimentary glass of sparkling wine to start.
We decided to go for the five-course chef’s menu, but splitting the wine pairings between us. The five courses break down to three appetizers, a main, and dessert, along with the occasional amuse bouche. I thought everything was quite lovely; Jean generally agreed, but thought the lamb main sous vide was a bit under-flavored. I took a few photos.
Random meals
Tuesday was unusually (for the time of year) warm and sunny. So instead of dining at the hotel that day, we went for a walk to check out other options—only to end up at the very un-inspiring Sunset Grill. It makes a perfectly serviceable breakfast, but… meh.
Then at lunch, we considered this one restaurant that had a patio (yes, it was that nice!), but that was proving such a popular choice we decided to move on. We went with a little cafe that made passable panzerotti, but absolutely excellent double affogatos with your choice of ice cream flavor. I went with tiramisu flavour—nummy! We sat on a bench in the sun to eat that.
Strewn Winery
We had pre-booked Strewn also, but the night before, they called me and said they were refunding us our tasting fee and upgrading us to a VIP tasting. As a thank you for our past patronage. OK!
Similarly to our past visit, we started with a discussion of the types of wines we like, where we emphasized that (when not on vacation) we mainly drink with meals, so food friendliness matters. There was a list of wines to choose from, but (though we didn’t realize this at first), we weren’t restricted to that.
I expressed interest in Sauvignon Blanc, so he had us try two types, same year, just different parts of the vineyard: South block and North block. Fascinating that each tasted quite different! (We preferred South block.) We also tried a Riesling, a Vignonier (just one of each), and their Cabernet Franc rose (very nice, another quite substantial rose).
For reds, he went entirely off-list for a set of 2020 medium-bodied wines that he said would suit food better. He noted some would need to age about a year. This was a Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a blend. All were very good. (Not quite $100 Reif good, but they also didn’t cost that much.)
At one point I mentioned that we’d just finished a bottle of their Carbernet Sauvignon ice wine, which was amazing. He said they now sold all of that stock to China… except for a few bottles they had around the store, and would we like to buy one? We would!
Niagara Glen hike
That Strewn tasting was in the morning, and we had concluded that we couldn’t manage more than one winery per day, so after lunch, we drove to the starting point of the Niagara Glen hiking trail. It’s one of the most interesting trails in these parts (though Jean sighed at the lack of vegetation due to it in fact being winter still), and it was a lovely day, so that was all good.
Except for when we kind of went off trail? Ending up kind of closer to the water than I’d like (despite the water’s lovely teal colour), particularly as we had to scramble along these rocks. Sometimes crumbly rocks. Never my favourite thing.
I whined that I wanted to be back on a trail. Jean, eventually, got us back to the trail. Neither of us fell in the rushing water or hurt ourselves on the rocks. I still hope that next time, we actually stay on the trail.
Treadwell’s
We always enjoy dining at Treadwell Cuisine, and this dinner was no different. For once it was a nice enough that they didn’t think it strange we wanted to eat in their outdoor covered, heated patio area (although we were the only ones who did!). The sommelier commented that he preferred the atmosphere out there.
They had a special, cheaper three-course menu, but we decided to stick with the regular four-course. With wine pairings. I won’t remember everything we had, but I did take pictures of the first courses:
Don’t recall my wine pairing, but I believe Jean got Cave Spring Riesling with his. He was most blown away with the ice cream (whose flavor I can’t recall). My plate was fab also; they cure their own meat, make their own ice cream.
I do recall that my next course was a mushroom tart that was just divine, light and lovely. And that I had squash and ricotta ravioli as my main. Jean: ? (I mean, I tasted whatever it was, but wasn’t my meal…) And I know I was getting more international wines while Jean was getting more Ontario… I do recall that one of his was from a winery I’d never heard of, named 2027 or something like that.
Also, with one of the courses, where we each had a white, after chatting with us a bit, the sommelier brought out a red to also try with the food—I think we both got the same one. So we could experience the contrasting options with the food. As one does.
And for dessert, I had the chocolate (with espresso ice cream), and Jean had the cheese. (He was especially impressed with the mustard. So particularly pleased that my birthday gift from the restaurant was a bottle of it.)
To drink, the sommelier brought over a bottle of a 1970 (yeah, 1970!) sherry that he said was difficult to get (I bet!) and was the last of the stock they had in-house. It, yes, was very good and did match both desserts.
It’s really an extraordinary restaurant.
Fielding Estate Winery
On Wednesday we left Niagara-on-the-Lake to head to the nearby (40-minute drive) Beamsville area. Our first stop was at Fielding Estate Winery, where we’d booked use of their “Winter Wine Dome”. And it had in fact turned somewhat more wintry this day, cooler and with some wind. But it was quite cozy in the dome.
The wine list featured stock not generally available at LCBO. We started by trying six (three each), and added three more later. We also got some food, which was quite good: squash hummus, spiced olives, and warm brie.
By virtue of us being in the dome and our hostess having to run in and out of the building to get wines and dishes, it wasn’t quite as guided an experience as the others on this trip, but she definitely knew the wines and was able to answer any questions we had.
It was quite an enjoyable collection of wines, most relatively modestly priced. We left with some rose, Pinot Gris, Riesling, various reds (including a 2020 Syrah purchased on faith, to be aged a couple years), and a lovely strawberry cider.
Twenty Valley trail
Late addition to this post, but we did do a hike in Jordan as well. We avoided the offshoot of this trail that goes to Ball’s Falls, because it was muddy. But the part we did wasn’t too messy, given the time of year. No rocky / watery drama on this one. Most interesting was coming upon a flock of sheep, along with assorted chickens and ducks. Apparently a small, free-range farm.
Inn on the Twenty
Jean had stayed at Jordan’s Inn on the Twenty for work previously, but it was my first time. Our room was fantastic, really. It had two levels, two bathrooms, super plushy bathrobes, a Chromecast-enabled television (look, it’s important to keep up with “Emily on Paris” while on vacation, haha), a fireplace… In honour of my birthday (yep, I was really milking it this year), we also got a little assortment of chocolate treats.
The Inn also has a restaurant, and for dinner, we had the option of room service or eating on the premises. After assurance that it wasn’t going to be a busy night there (true!), we decided to go eat in the dining room.
They also had a three-course, lower-price special, and in this case, we decided to do that. And have an accompanying three-wine special. They also did a fine job with the food, the only issue being that the sauce on Jean’s beef was really too salty. My pickerel was fine.
While we were out dining, they came in and made up our room again, leaving a rose. Kind of reminded me of a cruise!
For breakfast, we had with room service. That was on time and quite good.
And then we drove home and drank no more wine that day.
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