This past weekend we went to one of the happiest places on Earth! No, it wasn’t Macy’s shoe department (also a very happy place) but an Ontario winery: A place where my favourite beverage of all time is grown, picked, crushed, distilled, bottled and sent out.

As our group consisted of two beer drinking boys, my sister and I chose a winery that was close to our hotel, maximizing their limited attention span. We chose Inniskillin, an institution in Canadian wine.

For $5, we had a 45 minute tour and sampled 3 different wines: a Pinot Noir, a Riesling blend and an ice wine. We walked through the vineyard, into the cellars and through their private dining room before enjoying a tutored tasting. Our guide’s face lit up when she talked about Inniskillin’s famous ice wine, describing how she continually tried to keep the precious ice wine as an investment but she always ended up drinking the entire bottle. We also learned about Ontario’s great history as a world wide ice wine provider. Only 20% of this export is distributed world wide, making it an expensive novelty.

Surprisingly, the ice wine was not our favourite. I find that ice wine is like marmite: You either love it or you hate it. For our particular group, it was much too sweet and heavy, and it lingered in our mouths for what seemed like eternity.

As a pinot noir lover, I was very disappointed with this Inniskillin 2011 red. The pinot noir fell flat, lacked body and flavour. My attempts to covert the boys to a light red were thwarted right away and I doubt I will have another opportunity. We moved on quickly. Cue the 2012 Discovery Riesling- Gewurtztraminer.

‘I hate Riesling,’ my sister stated before taking a sip, quickly followed by, ‘Wow- This is delicious.’ Even our brew loving men were impressed! ‘I didn’t know I could like Riesling!’ she exclaimed before I pointed out the irony that this varietal came from the Discovery Series. The wine was light and crisp with hints of floral, lemon lime and citrus. Even the boys were impressed and wanted to drink more! We purchased a bottle right there and drank it that evening before dinner.

Overall, the experience was great. We tasted some delicious wine, learned a thing or two and discovered a new favourite varietal. Did I mention the experience was $5!?!?! A winery tour is a great way to spend an afternoon, winter or summer, spring or fall (remember those two seasons?) and Inniskliin provided us with a fabulous experience. I would definitely go back.

For more Niagara wine tours, visit Niagara Vintage Wine Tours or one of iYellow Wine Club’s Wine Escapes.

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