I’ll be going to Niagara a couple times this year at least, and I figured it would be a good chance for me to learn more about VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) wines in the Niagara-on-the-Lake region of Ontario.
There’s no way you can miss Colaneri as you’re driving by it. It’s a majestic estate (thus the name) that resembles some nobleperson’s massive mansion.
The rows upon rows of grapes seem to span as far as the eye can see.
A beautiful gate of black iron stands majestically in the center of the estate, and to the right is the entrance. In the summertime, there’s a patio area where they make pizzas!
Right as you open the door to the winery, you’re hit by the distinctive smell of wine. You can see the different processes that wine goes through to get to its final state.
Colaneri specializes in Italian-style wine, and they charge only $10 for a tasting of four different types. There are a couple that incur an extra $5 charge, and icewines tasting also costs an extra $5. While I’m normally not into sweet wines, the three Recioto wines I had (somewhere in between an overly sweet ice wine and an enjoyable Gewurztraminer or Riesling) had a more unique and complex sweetness to it that didn’t just overwhelm your mouth with sugar. Our bartender was very helpful and tried to help guide us through our tasting, giving us ideas on the different pairings and tastes of each wine we tried.
The people I came with ended up buying ten of the Recioto wines since they were blown away by how unique the flavours were. If you go, I recommend trying the 2014 Profondo Mistera Recioto Gewurztraminer and the 2017 Corposo Ripasso Style. By the way, if you end up buying a bottle after you do your sampling, the $10 sampling fee is waived!
Website: https://www.colaneriwines.com/winery/
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/tGYsb78pekDVei7EA
Icellars is a smaller winery that specializes in French-style Red wines.
Unlike Colaneri, where you stand and converse with the person pouring for you, Icellars is more of a sit down event that feels like it would be a great stop for a Bachelor/Bachelorette party instead.
Since my family friends are all really into Bourdeaux, I figured that this place would be a good idea. The Arinna and Wiyana Wanda are both done in the Bourdeaux style, and the Wanda in particular has a very unique meatiness to it that is definitely more rare compared to the usual fruity notes. Tastings start at $5 for 2 wines, but it’s separated into regular and special wines which cost more. I think each of us ended up paying around $15 as we ordered a couple of the special ones (ie. the Wanda) to try.
After serving us the wine, they kind of left us to ourselves to talk about our opinions on the wine. I feel like some people would prefer this over the Colaneri guided experience, but as I still have a lot to learn it’s always nice for people to tell me more about what they’re serving!
Buying a bottle means you get a $5 credit towards your tasting fee, but for some reason since we had a group of 7 we weren’t eligible for it (just so you know if you try to go with a bigger group).
Website: https://www.icellars.ca/about
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/YRSs6fTs5RBg3v1N8
JeffKCW Food & Travel 