July 5, 2005
Entrepreneurs of all ages, encouraged by the immense potential of Ontario, decided to invest in vineyards and wineries. Most of these new enterprises are small, quality-driven, and due to their sizes none enjoys distribution by the L C B O.
They rely on traffic to the boutique and direct restaurant sales. According to estimates one million visitors frequent Niagara Peninsula's wineries.
Here are Ontario's newest boutique wineries:
Angel's Gate Winery - Beamsville
Located on the Beamsville Bench, this modern winery is surrounded by well-maintained vineyards.
It makes and markets varietal wines: Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Cabernet Franc icewine and Cabernets.
They all reflect varietal character and deserve the attention of consumers.
Mountain Road Wine Company - Beamsville
Steve Kocsis planted his vineyards in 1983 and at first sold his fruit to Thrity Bench Winery and D. Paskus up to 1999. Based on the success of Thirty Bench wines, he decided to open his own winery.
His Chardonnay, Gamay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Baco Noir, Marechal Foch and Vidal are well made and recommended.
The winery offers tastings and operates a boutique.
Daniel Lenko Estate Winery - Beamsville
The vineyards were planted in 1959 by Daniel Lenko's father Bill who ignored the advice of Horticultural Research Satiation's and decided that vitis vinifera vines could grow and even thrive in Niagara. He might have had good advice from others who had planted trial rows elsewhere in the region as the first vinifera plantings can be traced back to early 1950's.
Eager winemakers purchased his Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Merlot and Cabernets until 2001 when he decided to produce his own wines with the help of expert consultants. His wines are well made, deeply flavoured and balanced. He sells out his small production every year from his cellar door.
Peninsula Ridge Estates - Beamsville
Located on the Niagara Escarpment, this new winery cum restaurant, owned by Norman Beal has forged its reputation with small batches of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and blends.
The 35-hectare vineyards are well maintained and produce part of the fruit requirements of the winery.
The French winemaker from Chablis has managed to craft fine wines from locally grown high quality fruit.
Birchwood Estate Winery - Vineland
This small cottage-style winery of the Queen Elizabeth Highway makes small batches of varietal wines specializing in Gewurztraminer and Marechal Foch.
Ridgepoint Wines, Vineland
This small, quality-oriented winery under the direction of Arthur Harder specializes in red wines. Ridgepoint Wines, although primarily a red wine winery, produced a fine off-dry Riesling in 2003.
Flat Rock Cellars - Jordan
Located in the Jordan Bench this gravity-flow winery is small but determined to produce premium and ultra-premium wines. All their fruit comes from the 40-hectare property. This winery's Rieslings, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are well made and very attractively priced. This winery's 2003 Vidal icewine is particularly noteworthy.
Coyote's Run Estate Winery - Niagara-on-the-Lake
Winemaker David Sheppard likes to produce deeply flavoured Chardonnays and his 2003 vintage reserve Chardonnay shows what can be done with expertly grown Niagara fruit. This small winery excels in small batch high-end wines.
Visits by appointment only, but the boutique is open for tasting and purchases.
Riverview Cellars Estates Winery - Niagara-on-the-Lake
This small family-owned and operated winery specializes in icewines and premium VQA labels. Located on the Niagara parkway, the picturesque winery operates a fruit market and boutique.
Willow Springs Winery - Stoufville
This small winery with four hectares of vineyards and eight grape varieties has been producing wine since 2000. Their wines are light; acid-driven and suitable with food.
The boutique is open seven days a week.
County Cider Company - Prince Edward County
Located a few kilometres outside of Picton, the main city in Prince Edward County, the barn now is used for the winery, was built by Empire Loyalists in 1835. Two orchards provide the fruit for cider, and the grapes for wine come from vineyards in front of the boutique.
Jennifer Dean, the winemaker, manages to coax the best fruit character from the grapes.
Tasting room and boutique are open seven days a week.
Harbour Estate Winery - Jordan Station
A family-run winery with 12 hectares of vineyards, specializes in Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Vidal. Several late harvest and icewines are also vinted.
This estate's Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Baco Noir and Gamay are well crafted.
The reserve line of Harbour Estate Winery consists of deeply flavoured wines worthy of the description.
Joseph Estate Winery- Niagara-on-the-Lake
Dr. J Pohorly is a man of many firsts.
He was the first in his family to obtain a doctorate, produced the first commercial icewine in Ontario for Hillebrand (1983) and is to my knowledge also the first Ontarian who started two wineries in a lifetime.
He started the Newark Winery in 1979 and later sold it to German interests. The new owners renamed the winery to Hillebrand and expanded both vineyard holdings and cellars.
Today Dr. J Pohorly has once again started his small winery down the road from Hillebrand.
Quai du Vin, Elgin County
The owners first planted a vineyard (1979) ands started making wine in 1990. They specialize in custom-bottled wines and produce approximately 90,000 bottles year.
www.quaiduvin.com
Royal De Maria Winery- Beamsville
This unique Ontario winery produces exclusively icewines and is very successful. Since 1993 it was awarded 169 international awards. Owned by a successful Toronto hairdresser, De Maria produces icewines from the following grapes: Vidal, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinto Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Muskat-Ottonel, Merlot and Gamay. There is no other winery that can match the versatility in icewine that Royal de Maria produces.
Their sparkling Chardonnay and Vidal icewines are exemplary like all the others they produce.
Erie Shore Vineyard - Harrow
This small winery owned and Operated by Harvey and Alma Hollingshead, caters mainly to local consumers. They use the fruit of their vineyard located only 600 metres from the lakeshore.
The fruit benefits from diurnal temperature changes and yield deeply flavoured and balanced wines.
Now he consults and writes to increase wine, beer and liquor awareness. He conducts seminars and would be pleased to consider your requests. To peruse the list of his published books and order please contact him at hirayrberberoglu_3@sympatico.ca
www.littlefatwino.com