After our magical trip up the CN Tower on New Year's Eve we have been waiting for another bright day to get down to Niagara. Wednesday dawned very sunny and while the weather was nearing -10 with wind chill we decided to brave it. I had all my thermal underwear with me, but Roy needed to borrow some from Alex. Driving through the gaudy kitsch of souvenir shops, casinos, hamburger joints etc. in Niagara Roy commented on the Blackpool atmosphere all round. However, once we got near the falls it became absolutely stunning. I have been before, but Roy hadn't and anyway, winter is very different with all the frosted up trees and the high spray. Even Roy was suitably impressed which is saying something. The picture of the kids tells you how nice and warm it was there!!
After that we popped into Niagara on the Lake for lunch. The whole place is very posh, large detached houses, expensive shops and restaurants, hotels and vineyards. After lunch we went on a wine tour at Peller Estates Winery - another unique experience for me. We have first gone into the shop where we tasted a Riesling, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Riesling Ice Wine. The latter was a revelation. I have tried the Vidal Ice Wine at Christmas, but the Riesling Ice Wine was more acidic, therefore less sweet and altogether delicious.
The next step was to go on a proper wine tour with Rose Anne, who seemed very knowledgeable about wine in general and Peller wines in particular. She told us all about the method of making Ice Wine, although I must admit, having started reading the book I got from Daphne at Christmas, I knew most of it already. The frozen grapes have to be harvested at -8 Celsius or lower, so they were hoping that they can start that very night. We have heard later that they did and it was a good night's harvest, followed by another night, but since then it got too warm again. We then repaired to the cellar (see photo) where the tasting carried on. This time it was a Chardonnay, Merlot and Vidal Ice Wine. Roy did not take to Ice Wine and along with the kids thought the best was the Riesling, but I could not choose, it was all so lovely. I suppose the reds were a bit too light, we are used to more full bodied reds, but I liked them all. Oh yes, we also had another bit of interesting information about this winery, namely that the founder, Andrew Peller, was a Hungarian. Small world, isn't it?
As that day was pretty long and tiring we took the following day easy and the day after went to a Chinese restaurant to try Toronto Chinese. We had four different dishes and tried all and amazingly ate all of it. Last night we had Fish and Chips, which was the second time on this trip for Roy and me. Yum, yum!!
Only three days left, it went past very fast. I might not get to post before we leave, but will try.
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