Yay, Wineries!

I started off my trip home with a detour to Niagara-on-the-Lake and a viewing of Niagara Falls. I loved Niagara-on-the-Lake. This town had both quaint buildings and the natural beauty of the lake, but, best of all, it’s also home to some of the country’s finest wineries. We didn’t have enough time, but I think winery tours, with the obligatory tastings, followed by a tipsy picnic by the lake could be a recipe for a perfect day.

We visited two wineries: Inniskillin and Jackson Triggs. It was really neat to see Inniskillin because this wine label put Canadian wines on the map. An Italian-Canadian and old-school Austrian winemaker founded Inniskillin in 1975. These two men set out to make world class wine and actually made it. One of their major innovations was the importation of European grapes that they grew in Canadian soil. By the 1980s, they were winning prizes for their wines, specifically their ice wines. Does it get any more Canadian than ice wine? I’ll take a minute to explain ice wine in case some of you haven’t had the pleasure. It is definitely delicious, if expensive. I consider it worth it, but you’ll have to try it for yourself. The winemakers leave the grapes on the vine until the first frosts arrive. Then they harvest the grapes by hand, usually at night, when the temperature is below at least 8 C. Freezing concentrates the flavour of the wine because the water in the grape is frozen while the sugars remain unfrozen, making the wine much, much sweeter than regular wine.

I love ice wine precisely because it is so scrumptiously sweet. I’m planning on cracking a bottle at a party soon so I’ll post the recipe I decide to pair with my ice wine after the party. I also indulged in a bottle of ice syrup. This treat is not fermented making it somewhat cheaper. I haven’t tried it yet, but the saleswoman compared it to grape syrup. I’m excited to try it in desserts and maybe even some lucky pancakes or French toast. These two wineries carried other products for the kitchen like ice syrup, but also local grapeseed oil. It was a great place to find interesting local ingredients. I think these wineries have done a great job of melding European culture to Canadian geography. Germany and Austria only receive the correct conditions to make icewine every 3 or 4 years, while Canada has those conditions every single year. Yes, it may not be pleasant to have ice and snow every, single year, but hey when life throws you some frozen grapes, you’ve just gotta make icewine.

After sampling some of the lovely wines, we decided to head off to the most iconic sight in Canada: Niagara Falls. My first view of Niagara Falls was somewhat sceptical of its greatness. I thought to myself, “Well, it’s a beautiful geographic phenomenon. Not sure what the fuss is about. It looks just like the pictures.” Of course, the number of pictures I took of the falls will attest to my enjoyment of it. We also took a ride on that other great Canadian tradition: The Maid of the Mist. I have to admit that seeing the falls, and hearing the roar, from the distance of a couple hundred feet was an unforgettable experience. I find so often that falls can appear as merely quite beautiful, foamy water that I often forget just how much of a power punch that rushing water packs. Getting up close and personal with Niagara Falls made me remember that those Falls were more than just pretty, picturesque water falling over a cliff. For all its tackiness and business, I really did enjoy Niagara Falls. That pretty much wraps up my fun on the Canadian side of the border before heading into the States.