First up was County Cider Company. This was my second trip to this pretty stone barn, overlooking Lake Ontario. They make a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic ciders, from many locally-grown apples. They also produce a few wines as well. I didn't buy anything this time around, but the Waupoos Cider, available at the LCBO, is well worth the buy. And although I didn't spot any for sale this time, their Ice Cider is phenomenal -- like apple pie on crack!
Tasting experience: free samples of flights of cider, ending in their limited-edition sparkling version, drinks poured in order of sweetness
Tasting environment: drinks served bar style, showroom inside old stone barn, washrooms on-site, faint smell of fermented apples, large windows/doors overlooking vineyards
Customer service: friendly staff, eager to pour, provided description of produce
Overall experience (out of 10): 8
Next up, and just down the road, was Waupoos. This is probably one of the prettiest wineries in the county, and would make a great location for a wedding or other special occasion. I visited Waupoos last trip, and was impressed by some of their German-based varieties that aren't too common in Canada. But then I bought two bottles and both were corked. So let's just say my impression was a bit tarnished after that.
Tasting experience: samples $1
Tasting environment: drinks served circular bar style, wine store doubles as a gift shop with some tacky wine-related accessories for sale
Customer service: staff seemed uninterested in serving us, provided information about the wines only when asked, gave some questionable information about German varieties!
Overall experience: 5
Last stop of the day on Saturday was Long Dog Winery, whose covered vines are pictured above. Interestingly enough, this is one of the only wineries in the county who make all their wine with grapes grown on their property. Many other ship in juice or fruit from Niagara to supplement production.Long Dog was on my list this time around as it was closed for my last trip. I'd also had one of their Chardonnays in my wine class last fall and was suitably impressed. Their operation isn't huge, but is housed in pretty stone house and rustic old barn along an old country road. The owners are an Imax film producer and a former Bay Street lawyer, who recently ditched his legal work to pursue wine making full-time. And how do I know this? Because it was this former lawyer who poured our wines and spent 20 minutes talking passionately to us about the winery's history and production. Bonus marks for great customer service here! Plus we got really good restaurant recommendations from him.
Long Dog only makes Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris and Noir. The wines are on the pricey side, but I bought a bottle of Pinot Gris (pressed with skins on) anyway. The wine didn't exactly blow me away, but I bought it because I enjoyed talking to the winemaker so much, and wanted to support him. See how important customer service is?
Tasting experience: free samples (but I believe we would have had to pay had we not bought), nice minerally mouthfeel to all the whites, which I particularly like
Tasting environment: drinks served bar style in old barn with all sorts of daschund chotzkes on display; best stemware of entire trip
Customer service: excellent! knowledgeable, intelligent and friendly
Overall experience: 9
Next day it was Huff, also where we stayed. In the picture, you can see the bag, so I clearly purchased (Also, I was attempting to "smize" here, but failed miserably, as you can tell. Instead I look drunk -- which I was not!)Anyway, Huff has some very nice wines on offer, and their facilities (winery and inn) are very stylish. I tasted a very nice unoaked Chardonnay and their rose, both of which I bought. Their merlot is yummy as well, but needs to sit for a bit. I have a bottle from my last trip three years ago that should be quite good in another couple of years.
This was the only place we took a tour of the rather small production operation Our tour guide was terrible, both in knowlegeability and in presentation skills. This makes a very poor impression on potential buyers!
Tasting experience: free samples with our coupon received at check in (we had three), then we could have seemingly had as many more as we wanted after the tour
Tasting environment: drinks served bar style, wine shop nicely displayed
Customer service: woman pouring samples wasn't very helpful about varieties, no water offered between samples! see above for notes on tour guide
Overall experience: 6
Then it was on to Norman Hardie, a little winery that has been generating a fair amount of press lately. I was eager to try it out, and the first impression of the funky-looking sign was a good start.
But it was downhill from there!
The wine shop is housed in a modern looking barn, that I suppose was meant to look "interesting", but instead just looks ugly. The walk up to the tasting room is also ugly -- a sea of gravel with nary a flower or gourd in site. What up, Norman? Trying to ignore the fact that it's fall? The lousy first impression outside continued inside, where we were met with the mildly revolting smell of fermenting fruit and, rotten eggs? Something vomitous anyway. Didn't exactly tempt us to stay and taste, but we figured we had made the drive, so we opted to stay.
Again, this is another spot with pricey wines. Their tasting flight featured their pinots and chardonnays. The pinot was nice, with a good cherry flavour, but not worth the price in my mind.
Tasting experience: sample flight $6
Tasting environment: glasses were dirty, smell was off-putting
Customer service: surly teenager pouring our wine was about as uninterested in what she was doing as she could possibly be, we had to ask her quite firmly to explain to us what we were tasting (she complied, but without enthusiasm)
Overall experience: 3
But it was downhill from there!
The wine shop is housed in a modern looking barn, that I suppose was meant to look "interesting", but instead just looks ugly. The walk up to the tasting room is also ugly -- a sea of gravel with nary a flower or gourd in site. What up, Norman? Trying to ignore the fact that it's fall? The lousy first impression outside continued inside, where we were met with the mildly revolting smell of fermenting fruit and, rotten eggs? Something vomitous anyway. Didn't exactly tempt us to stay and taste, but we figured we had made the drive, so we opted to stay.
Again, this is another spot with pricey wines. Their tasting flight featured their pinots and chardonnays. The pinot was nice, with a good cherry flavour, but not worth the price in my mind.
Tasting experience: sample flight $6
Tasting environment: glasses were dirty, smell was off-putting
Customer service: surly teenager pouring our wine was about as uninterested in what she was doing as she could possibly be, we had to ask her quite firmly to explain to us what we were tasting (she complied, but without enthusiasm)
Overall experience: 3
Last stop of the day on Sunday was Closson Chase, owned by Canadian actress Sonia Smits. This is definitely one of the most picturesque wine shops -- a renovated barn painted in cool shades of purple. So you knew I was gonna like it, right?Inside, gorgeous floral arrangements and original artwork adorn the space. There are even some chaises available to take in the atmosphere.
The tasting room is rather small and dark, but the staffer was friendly and welcoming. Their tasting flight was pre-set at $10 for three chardonnays. When we asked about the possibility of just one taste, we were told that the wine maker set up the flight in this fashion and it couldn't be altered. Huh? That's a bit rigid for something as hedonistic as wine tasting ought to be, don't you think?
We forked out a tenner anyway, and tasted some very fine chards. Again, the prices were a bit out of our league, so we didn't buy.
Tasting experience: sample flight $10
Tasting environment: intimate, only spot to offer palate-cleansing bread in between wines
Customer service: friendly and knowledgeable, but not really remarkable
Overall experience: 7
Closson Chase does get a bit of extra mention for its marketing pumpkin, seen below. Take a hint, Norman Hardie!
And lest you think the trip was without any food, let me allay your fears. While I didn't take many pictures, we did eat very well.
First up for lunch on Saturday was Buddha Dog in Picton. I've read a lot about this place, and I have to say that I left feeling pretty underwhelmed. The idea behind this small restaurant is to offer gourmet, locally-sourced all-beef hot dogs with a variety of toppings and condiments. The dogs themselves are cheap, at $2 a pop, and then you pay extra depending on what kind of toppings you want. The dogs are also incredibly small, about 4 inches maybe, so our order of two didn't leave us feeling full. We both got suckered in to ordering the dogs with the special "bacon jam" (yep. bacon jam) which was basically cooked down bacon with maple. It was tasty, but didn't exactly knock our socks off. Overall impression? Kinda gimicky and a bit pretentious.
Dinner on Saturday was better though. We ate at Harvest, and apart from the restaurant being crowded and a bit noisy, everything was great. The starter of pumpkin gnochi with sage and mushrooms was delicious and our mains of steak frites and lamb were great as well.
We were hoping for a bit of a dramatic outburst from chef Michael Potter, but sadly he was quite well behaved that evening.
Sunday found us in Wellington, and to a small place on the Main Street, called East & Main. This spot was recommended to us by our new friend at Long Dog Winery. The menu was impressive, and it actually took a while to narrow down the choices.
Here's what we had.....
Roast chicken quiche and "sassy" slaw. Verdict? Quiche was tasty and moist. Slaw needed more sass.
And roast chicken sandwich with lemon aioli and roasted parsnip and pear soup. The sandwich was yummy, but the soup was really tasty. I just wish there had been more of it. Presentation was a little lacking, and the portions could have been a wee bit bigger.
But a good food find in a pretty town none-the-less.
So that's it -- PEC in a weekend. After two fall visits, my next visit may have to be in the spring. 'Til next time!
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