I heard about Ontario Wine Country back in 2010 when a friend got married in the beautiful venue of Peller Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I was impressed and became curious to know more about wines from Ontario. So in 2014 when I had to choose a topic for my Masters’ in communications capstone project, I decided this was the opportunity to dig more into it by conducting research and find out more the reputation of Ontario wines and Ontario wine regions. I got the chance to interview several winemakers from the established Niagara-on-the-Lake region and Prince Edward County, an emerging wine region at that time. My research also led me to talk to some other “random” winemakers in the Niagara region that were not in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Throughout the years I’ve maintained my interest for wines from Ontario and today have some favourites I go to. Last October I had the opportunity to visit Beamsville with a friend. I was quite excited to find out about the official name of this wine area: Niagara’s Twenty Valley. I don’t recall coming across “Twenty Valley” five years ago when I was doing my research for my Masters’.
Niagara's Twenty Valley comprises of Beamsville, Vineland, and Jordan in the Town of Lincoln and extends from Grimsby to the City of St. Catharines. According to Twenty Valley’s website: “Twenty Valley's landscape is often described as Niagara’s Sonoma Valley. It is Niagara’s hidden gem; it’s unpretentious, high quality, down to earth and friendly.” I couldn’t agree more. It was a wonderful couple of hours visiting the very friendly wineries.
My visit started with a stop at Malivoire where I had their 2017 Cabernet Franc, 2017 Courtney Gamay and 2017 Rennie Paradox Pinot Noir. This is a winery I already liked since my favourite rosé is their Ladybug.
We then headed to Redstone and I was completely “WOWed” by the premises. There too I had their Cabernet Franc and their Meritage – a delicious blend of Merlot (34%), Cabernet Sauvignon (33%) and Cabernet Franc (33%).
We finished our visit at Tawse, a must for me since they produce one of my favourite Riesling. I tried their 2017 Rosé as well as their Meritage.
This quick but exciting visit just got me more interested and excited to visit more wineries. What I particularly liked about Beamsville was how close each winery is and how friendly the people working there are. When we told one person where we were going next they didn’t hesitate to say “Oh, you’re going to X? You must try their ... “ or “You need to stop at X and try their...”
I definitely want to go back to Twenty Valley this summer. And I also decided to plan my visit in July so I can finally go discover i4C - the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration event in Niagara, celebrating its 10th Anniversary in 2020.
What’s your favourite Ontario wine region?