Wine Country: Lincoln, Ontario

We took last weekend for ourselves.  All the craziness from the week, all the stresses and worries and responsibilities, we put all those aside and headed out to Jordan, Ontario.  Right in the middle of Niagara wine country. 

The beautiful weather was a sign that it was meant to be.  If it wasn’t for the reds and golds colouring the countryside, you could almost imagine it was summer. 

 

We sweated it out walking to Flat Rock Cellars.  The long, straight, unshaded road led through acres and acres of vines, some still laden with fruit, others being harvested as we watched, still others already waiting for the following year.  After the 3 km walk (and 3 more to come walking back) we really felt like we deserved the cool glasses of Unplugged Chardonnay and Rogue white blend.  The view stretched out over the Ontario countryside, endless acres of wine potential.
 

Of course we had to tour the winery that we were staying beside in the small town of Jordan.  Cave Spring Cellars is owned by the same family as the Inn on the Twenty where we stayed, as is most of the town of Jordan, we learned.  Their 2011 Dolomite Pinot Noir stole my heart and the oak/grape smell of their cellars made me want to camp out there.

The next day we stopped by Ridgepoint wines.  Definitely not to be overshadowed by their neighbours Megalomaniac and Tawse.  Their White Cabernet, with the cute label featuring a white taxi (get it, white cab?), was slightly sweet and super refreshing.  Alex was impressed by the Merlot-Cabernet Aglianico and we fully enjoyed our relaxing lunch on their patio.
 
Megalomaniac was bustling and smelled of the crush while Tawse impressed with their long list of awards from the National Wine Awards of Canada (they were #2!).  The oaky smokey 2010 Chardonnay was delicious. 

After all that wine, it was time for a change.  Dillon’s distillery let us sample their vodka, white rye, and my personal favourite, gin.  We also left with a couple of their bitters.  They will lure us back with the promise of the pear bitters (that they were out of), rye whiskey that is projected to be ready in 2015, and countless other bitters flavours coming soon (like chocolate!).

All in all, I was so impressed with the friendliness, the obvious passion in wine conversation, the knowledge willingly shared, that I can’t wait to go back!  But while we can’t go to wine country every weekend, we can always uncork (or unscrew) one of the 9 bottles we came back with, close our eyes, and imagine the countryside, sunshine, cool breezes, and of course, people, that made these wines everything they are.  

P.S. Cookies soon! 

This was not a sponsored post.  All opinions are purely my own!