The hour-long winery tour ends in a pink-hued room built for Instagram holding long-stemmed glasses of Trius Brut Ros茅 topped with fluffy clumps of pink cotton candy.
Grinning guests like Tia Mullett and Hazel Keats excitedly climb into a bathtub (aka the 鈥渂ubble tub鈥�) decorated with giant gold and white bubbles under a sign that says 鈥淭here鈥檚 always room for more bubbly.鈥� Some hop into a swing of sorts with faux fur pillows or take selfies in a translucent hanging chair decorated with more bubbles and the slogan 鈥淢ore bubbles please.鈥�
Large information signs with fun fonts make the technicalities of sparkling wine approachable. 鈥淟earn to speak sparkle鈥� details the way wine is blended, aged, riddled and disgorged.听 鈥淭he finer points of fizz鈥� explains how a white wine base and a hint of red creates 鈥渢he picture perfect pink.鈥�
Tour guide Jasmin Ozkur ducks behind the counter to pour the bubbly and whip up a batch of cotton candy for the garnish. 鈥淵ou can eat the cotton candy on its own,鈥� she advises, 鈥渙r add it to your drink.鈥�
Without stressing over the options, I push the spun sugar confection into my glass and watch it rapidly disintegrate and give the pale liquid a more pronounced pink hue. 听Wine aficionados would probably be aghast, but I eagerly down the sugary ros茅 and it tastes just fine.
Welcome to the modern word of immersive wine tours and experiences. This one costs $39 and includes four drinks on the property, including one in Canada鈥檚 largest underground sparkling cellar. Trius humbly calls it 鈥渢he most Instagrammable winery tour on the planet.鈥� It may be winter, but everything except the drink on the 鈥渆levated hot pink vineyard perch鈥� is going ahead.
sees more than 1.8 million wine tourists a year. The fact that it鈥檚 January and snowing doesn鈥檛 deter my group. The wine鈥檚 the same. The crowds are smaller.
is a world leader for icewine, but its table and sparkling wines are gaining recognition. More than 180 VQA vineyards (certified by the Vintners Quality Alliance) stretch across the southern part of the province near three of the Great Lakes. Three appellations include the Niagara Peninsula, Prince Edward County and Lake Erie North Shore.
Using as a base, my two-day exploration sticks to the Niagara appellation 鈥攈ome to the Niagara Escarpment 鈥� a limestone bluff that circulates moderating air from Lake Ontario down over the vineyards.
There are large, medium and boutique estates, wineries with elaborate shops and restaurants, serious guided tastings and fun tours. It鈥檚 the middle of the annual (which runs until Jan. 26) and there鈥檚 an Icewine Village in downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake.
At , proprietor Bill Redelmeier goes by 鈥渃hief storyteller.鈥� He regales us with tales of getting up at 5 a.m. for the first icewine harvest of the year in November, the importance of organic and biodynamic certifications, the gorgeous tasting table runner his mom wove from his old shirts, and the making of his orange wine, a Vidal Skin Fermented White.
Redelmeier also shows me 鈥� an unapologetic craft beer and cocktail lover who rarely drinks wine 鈥� how to smell it during a tasting, suck in a mouthful of air with the liquid and then spit it into a spittoon. 鈥淢ake it sound disgusting,鈥� he urges. 鈥淭he more disgusting and the further you can spit, the better.鈥�
For a wine guy, he鈥檚 refreshingly down to earth. 鈥淲hy do people drink that bottle of wine?鈥� he asks rhetorically. 鈥淭hey buy it to put on the table, share with friends and tell a story about why they bought that bottle of wine. My job is to give out stories.鈥� As for wine pairings, he subscribes to the theory that if you 鈥渆at what you like and drink what you like, with people that you like, it will always go together.鈥�
At Kitchen76 restaurant at , we eat an Italian feast family style, trying things like elk tartare, heirloom beet salad and crispy artichokes with Parmigiano-Reggiano, preserved lemon and olives. In winter, the winery offers cooking classes, collaboration dinners, half-priced tours and an icewine cocktail experience.
All our wineries are in Niagara-on-the-Lake, except for in Beamsville. Winemaker Rene Van Ede leads us through a laid-back tasting and then a leisurely lunch with wine pairings.
I鈥檇 return just to eat chef David Sider鈥檚 Broccoli Caesar and Cumbrae Beef Burger (cooked medium-rare) and hand-cut fries again.
Any trip to wine country should include an appreciative moment at Niagara Falls, especially in winter when views from the observation deck include lovely ice formations. The happens year-round, so we take an elevator down 125 feet to explore the tunnels and see the falls from viewing portals.
鈥淓verything is still open and people are still here from all over the world,鈥� says communications manager Victor Ferraiuolo. The falls don鈥檛 actually freeze, he adds, but when it occasionally looks like they do it鈥檚 an optical illusion because the water is always flowing.
If I had to pick a favourite winter winery experience though, it has to be skating at . Canada鈥檚 most beloved hockey player makes wine, whisky and beer here and so naturally offers 鈥淭he Great One鈥檚 Backyard Rink鈥� from early December to mid-March.
Five bucks gets you on the ice (unless the Zamboni鈥檚 out). Another $10 gets you rental skates. No hockey sticks are allowed and of course everybody stops for a selfie in front of the giant number 99 at the edge of the rink.
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