Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009 - (Page 65)
Toronto N Just a short drive southwest of Toronto lies a lush grapegrowing land to rival the best in the world Lake Ontario Driving through the Niagara region is a meditation on landscape: horizon-reaching rows of leafy vines, weather-scarred farmhouses, wispy peach trees and the formidable limestone bluffs of the Niagara Escarpment that plunge down to the shimmering waters of Lake Ontario. The postcard-perfect town of Niagara-on-the-Lake in the heart of wine country is full of white-picket fence, Victorian charm. Gracious 19th-century homes are set back from wide leafy streets. The main street has clothing boutiques, an apothecary that opened in 1869, horse-drawn carriages, an illuminated central clock tower. Still, to many wine lovers, Niagara feels like undiscovered country. That’s changing, though, as thousands of people come here each year to appreciate both the beauty of the land and the bounty of wine it produces. The area is an ideal environment for growing grapes. About 450 million years ago, an ancient inland sea left behind a ridge of limestone deposits, similar to the soils of the great French wine regions of Champagne and Burgundy. Defined by Lake Ontario and the Niagara River, both the escarpment and the water shelter the grapes from weather extremes, moderating the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. Such conditions suit classic European grapes like riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet. Niagara vintners have been experimenting with these grapes for years to express the region’s unique character, blending old-world structure with new-world vitality. And let’s not forget Niagara’s most famous creation, its world-class Icewine. This sweet, concentrated winter nectar is made from grapes frozen naturally on the vine and harvested on winter nights when the temperature plunges below –8 C. Back in 1991, Inniskillin’s 1989 Vidal Icewine won the BordeauxVinexpo Grand Prix d’Honneur in a blind tasting against more than 4,000 of the world’s best wines. TORONTO 2009 | 65
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
Contents
Contributors
Welcome
Cityscapes
Toast of the Town
In the Night Garden
Gooooal!
Take a Moment
Faces of Toronto
Red Rocket
Past Perfection
Water Lust
The Artist’s City
Living the Green Dream
York Region and North Toronto
Mississauga Marvels
Vine Country
Discovery Walks
Neighbourhoods of Greater Toronto
Listings
Visitor Resources
2009 Event Calendar
Parting Shot
Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
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