Appreciation for Ontario Wine

Getting to know the many place to enjoy wine in our province

This past week I took a trip down memory lane. I went back to the first winery I worked for in a little place called Turkey Point or Saint Williams, Ontario. The winery is called Burning Kiln and has changed a lot since we were young and opened it. It’s located in Norfolk County, 1.5 hours Southwest of Toronto, where some of our summer produce comes from.

A very youthful Katrina seen here in the vineyard. This crazy person put Cannoli on the menu for dessert

I first worked there in 2012, when I had no money left from travelling and living in Italy. I was asked if I wanted to run a kitchen in a winery in the middle of nowhere by myself, with no car and all the creative freedom I could ask for. Naturally as a young chef, this was a perfect opportunity and I took it.

The kitchen was tiny and ill equipped for what I had planned to do, but we mad many services work on chits made of written paper and plug in induction cooktops. I loved living there and making food, being close to the vines and learning about wine. I learned so much about myself and about food while being there. My appreciation for creating and making wine also began there and when I visited last week my heart was happy again.

I saw the house I used to live in, that has now been turned into a bed and breakfast. I looked out onto the field where we planted a tiny garden I would take herbs for cooking. The garden is gone and nice grass is growing there instead. I smiled and thought of me as a young chef taking on the world and making a name for myself in a place no one knew about.

Drinking wine on their patio brought me back to an appreciation I have for finding good Ontario wine in the summer months. I’m sure it’s the sunny weather that draws me to a vineyard and romances others just like me to get outside and see something new our province has to offer.

Travelling down the winding roads of Norfolk County and the Beamsville Bench in Ontario are some of my favourite summer drives. Do you have to enjoy wine to enjoy driving down long roads in the sunshine and end up at a winery? Not really, but you can have an appreciation for that atmosphere and the setting around you and not be into wine.

Ontario wine sometimes gets a bad rap. It can be expensive and at times a let-down for the effort that is put into it. I think it is one of those things that you have to rationalize spending money on and decide if it’s worth it or not compared to getting another product from a different country.

When I lived in BC I could never understand why it was so expensive, when it was growing right there. Well, I can say that I know it costs a lot of money to make it and it is very much similar to growing food. Some years have horrible growing seasons and that can increase the price because the winery wants to make some sort of money on the product they are creating, plus whatever they need to pay to the government. Sadly the customer has to be the one who ends up footing the bill for the operating costs of having this wine in this place.

So why go to a winery in Ontario and drink Ontario wine? Well probably because it’s special and its part of a really special experience of living in Canada.

A couple weeks ago after seeing a show in Hamilton, we decided to drive down to Rosewood Winery, located near Lincoln Ontario to have lunch. Sitting on the patio in the hot sun, overlooking the vineyard and lavender, you can’t help but smile breathing the fresh air. The food is wonderful and the wine is so interesting. Some of their bottles are well priced, fresh and delicious. You can see the care and time the people who are working there put into the experience of being there, so it’s hard not to be appreciative.

If you have a car, I would suggest you take a drive out of the city and down the long winding roads of our province to many of the wineries that are located here. Drive on highway 8, one of the most beautiful roads in Canada. By being outside and being surrounded by the fields and vineyards, I took inspiration and appreciation for where we live. Maybe you will too.

Burning Kiln Winery https://burningkilnwinery.ca/

*Located near Turkey Point, restaurant and patio are open to the public as well as the tasting bar and shop

Frisky Beaver Winery https://www.friskybeaver.ca/

*Located closer to Port Dover, the patio is open for a glass of wine and so is the tasting bar to try before you buy. Cheese boards available.

Rosewood Winery https://rosewoodwine.com/

*Located near Lincoln and Beamsville Ontario. Open for tastings and the restaurant makes really excellent food. Check out the honey as well