Wine of the Week: Konzelmann Pinot Noir

The Konzelmann Pinot Noir is one of those wines that checks all the boxes for me. Local, well priced and pairs with a wide variety of foods – check, check, check! And of course, tastes amazing! Konzelmann Estate Winery is located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, along a gorgeous stretch of Lake Ontario. The Konzelmann family has been making wine in Ontario since the 1980’s and their experience shows! The Konzelmann Pinot Noir is a light-bodied dry red wine with flavours of cherry, earth, pepper and a hint of smokiness. Pair this wine with a wide variety foods like mushroom wellington, chicken alfredo or cheese and charcuterie. You can find the Konzelmann Pinot Noir for the great value price of $14.95 at most LCBO locations or the winery’s online store. Supporting local, well priced, pairs with lots of different foods and tastes great – the Konzelmann Pinot Noir is the perfect red wine to have on hand for the holiday season, no matter how you are celebrating!

Cheers!~GDW

Advertisement

Wine of the Week: Wayne Gretzky Estates Rosé 2019

The Wayne Gretzky Estates Rosé is the perfect bottle of wine to end the summer with. It’s seriously like an Ontario August summer day in a glass! Lets start with the beautiful light coral colour that reminds me of those pink summer sunsets. On the nose you’ll smell everything that’s wonderful about Ontario in August – sweet peach, yellow apple and wild flowers. And then you’ll taste it with beautiful flavours of fresh raspberries, nectarine, field strawberries and currant. Could you bottle August in Ontario more perfectly?! Made from Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio and Gamay from Niagara Ontario, the Wayne Gretzky Estates Rosé is a dry, light-bodied and fruity wine. Purchase at the Wayne Gretzky Winery or online through The Wine Shop for $16.95. Drink in those last days of summer!

Cheers!~GDW

Niagara Icewine Festival

I know a lot of you might think you don’t like Icewine, but trust me, the Niagara Icewine Festival will change your mind fast! Ontario is one of the world’s leading producers of Icewine and it’s what really put Ontario wine country on the map. Of all the wine regions in the world, only Ontario has the consistent climate required to produce Icewine every year. And our Icewine is ranked as some of the best dessert wine in the world. So I definitely think that us Ontarians should be celebrating our homegrown Icewine! The Niagara Icewine Festival the perfect way to celebrate, experience and try our amazing Ontario Icewine. Trust me, one day in the magical Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Village and this Ontario dessert wine will have you heart.

Myself and two fellow wine bloggers (Victoria Gamble and Vinfatuation) made the trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake last weekend to experience the Niagara Icewine Festival. Niagara-on-the-Lake is already a picturesque town, but with the recent snowfall, we arrived to the most magical winter wonderland. We started off our day spending some time in the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Village which offered icewine, food, ice sculptures and live music. It’s free admission into the village and tokens can be purchased for wine and food. The Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Village was such a magical winter experience and we would have stayed all day, but we started to get a bit cold in the -30 degree weather!

I would suggest after spending time at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Village to warm up by making some indoor visits to neighbouring wineries. A Discovery Pass can be purchased which gets you eight unique icewine pairings at your choice of over 40 wineries across the Niagara region. We didn’t get the Discovery Passes but instead chose three nearby wineries that we wanted to visit – Two Sisters Vineyards, Lailey Winery and Reif Estate Winery. The most memorable experience, and I cannot recommend it enough, was the Icewine flight and food pairing that we did at Reif Estate Winery. It came with a flight of four Reif Icewines (one of them named the world’s best dessert wine!) and four food pairings to match each wine. If you are going to the Niagara Icewine Festival this weekend, the Reif Estate Winery Icewine flight and food pairing is a must! It was amazing and the best way to end our day at the Niagara Icewine Festival!

This weekend is your last chance to experience the Niagara Icewine Festival. On Saturday and Sunday you can visit the magical Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Village and use the Discovery Pass to experience eight different wineries and their Icewine pairings. I had such a wonderful  time at the Niagara Icewine Festival and I think you will to! Have a winter adventure this weekend and experience some of the best wine and food that Ontario has to offer!

 

Cheers!~GDW

 

Wine Your Through Niagara: The Hare Wine Co.

The Hare Wine Co. is a beautiful new winery to Niagara on the Lake, opening it’s reclaimed barn doors in 2016. Located on the mature and bountiful lands of Niagara , the estate winery vineyard was named after the hare for it’s symbolism of fertility and good fortune. When guests enter estate, the Hare Wine Co. wants you to experience a shift in time to the founding days of the region. I definitely got this feeling as a sipped my VQA wine in the tasting room built from rustic and repurposed wood, metal and brick materials. Plus, gotta love all the bunny imagery!

The Wine Hare Co. has four series of wines, all with pretty rabbit labels perfect to pick up at the winery for spring get-togethers! We tried wines from the Jack Rabbit, Crown Land and Frontier Collection. We also used our Winemakers Selections Tasting Pass to sample the late harvest vidal and icewine. The winemaker has really told the story of the vintage and crafted some uniquely Niagara wine. We left with two bottles from the Jack Rabbit series to enjoy this Easter.

The tasting room is open daily and no appointment is necessary to visit the tasting bar. The Hare Wine Co. offers a flight of 3 wines for $5, and the fee is waived with the purchase of a bottle. In addition to the daily tastings, there always seems to be a fun upcoming event! My mom and I will be back on April 28th for the Etsy Spring Market. Local shopping and wine sounds like the perfect day to me!

Cheers!~GDW