Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009 - (Page 66) Tasting Tips for Your Wine Trip Plan your visits: Visit wineries clustered together, such as the ones in the Niagara-onthe-Lake area. Visit no more than three to five a day: two in the morning, one for lunch and one or two in the afternoon. Take a cooler: Pack a picnic lunch in a cooler, and then you’ll have a place to store the wines you buy, so they don’t cook in the trunk. Most wineries will ship anywhere in the continent, so think twice before lugging those bottles around: a case of 12 weighs 37 pounds. If you do buy a bottle, get one that’s only available at the winery — and ask the vintner to sign it. Avoid strong smells: Perfume, cologne and aftershave all interfere with the wine aromas, so skip them when you’re going to taste. Go early: Tasting rooms are much less crowded in the mornings before lunch, and less packed on weekdays than weekends. And even though cabernet at 10 a.m. may not sound appealing, your palate is at its best in the morning. Experiment: Try wines you’ve never tasted before, widen your range, surprise yourself. Ask the tasting room staff for the wine the vintner is best known for. Ask questions: Unless they’re swamped with visitors, most tasting room personnel love to chat about their wines and the region. Start by asking how their wine differs from that of nearby wineries, and which dishes it pairs well with. Ask to be added to the mailing list: Some wineries produce such small quantities of wine that you need to be part of their loyal customer base to buy any. A visit to the winery is a great time to express your interest. 66 | www.SeeTorontoNow.com u ntil then, most of the wines from this region were made from bitter native grapes whose virtue was more to survive the harsh climate than to produce good wine. The resulting plonk had to be sweetened to be drinkable. But Inniskillin’s founders Karl Kaiser and Donald Ziraldo changed all that and are credited with bringing international recognition to the region. That attention brought more investment to Niagara, and more money meant better grapes, deeper viticultural expertise, more advanced technology and more demanding producers and consumers. As a result, the number of Ontario wineries jumped from just 18 in 1989 to more than 140 today: Last year, they produced wine worth more than $500 million. Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery in Beamsville was founded in 2000 by former oil commodities trader Norman Beal with an investment of $7 million. Beal convinced vintner Jean-Pierre Colas to leave Burgundy’s Domaine Laroche (where, in 1988 his chardonnay had won Wine Spectator’s White Wine of the Year) to make spectacular reds and whites in Niagara, most notably his sauvignon blanc. Another exciting producer just three kilometres up from Inniskillin is Lailey Vineyards, run by Donna and David Lailey. The couple started out growing grapes for other wineries, which they did successfully for more than 30 years. Then in 2001, they decided to strike out on their own and partnered with vintner Derek Barnett. They now have a 20-acre vineyard that specializes in low-yield, hand-harvested grapes from which they produce opulent, buttery chardonnays and spectacularly rich cabernets. http://www.seetorontonow.com
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
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