Wineries event gets into the roots
Niagara-on-the-Lake’s winemakers want everyone to rediscover the savoury, sweet, fresh tantalizing and unique tastes of local vineyards.
The inaugural Dig Our Roots weekend celebration, planned for April 6 to 8, will provide an opportunity for wine lovers to learn about what makes the grapes that grow in NOTL so distinct. Twenty-six winemakers will open their doors over the course of three days to offer a variety of food and wine pairings, vineyard tours and a behind-the-scenes look at wine-making.
Each wine maker will offer something different, that’s not usually done when someone visits a winery, explains Andrew Niven, board chair of the Wineries of NOTL.
Eighty-year-old winemaker Herbert Konzelmann, who emigrated from Germany with his family and opened his own winery, will lead a tour at Konzelmann Estate Winery on the weekend. Guests will follow him through the vineyard and enjoy as he serves wine tastings and shares stories. It’s an experience Niven says doesn’t happen very often.
Other wineries such as Peller Estates and Jackson-Triggs will host formal dinners with their winemakers.
“It’s really up to what each winery wants to showcase,” Niven says.
The Wineries of NOTL, an association consisting of more than 20 wineries, is hosting the event, which Niven says will become an annual celebration to draw attention to Niagara’s wine country.
The weekend will kick off on April 6 with the Winemakers’ Gala Dinner at the Royal Cambridge Banquet Centre at the Prince of Wales Hotel.
Guests will sit shoulder to shoulder with the community’s winemakers while they sip wine and discuss what they are drinking.
“All of our wineries will be sending a winemaker to enjoy dinner and discuss the winemaking process with our guests,” Niven says. “I can’t think of a time there has ever been a larger group like this. It certainly is an unique event.”
The dinner will begin with a sparkling wine reception with canapes, followed by a multiple course dinner paired with wine flights and the meal will finish with an icewine reception. Tickets for the dinner are $200 a person and can be purchased online at the Wineries of NOTL web site.
During the celebration, wine makers will emphasize what makes the wines grown in NOTL so special, which is the soil where the grapes are grown.
The community has four subappellations, meaning the specific place where wine grapes are grown. These sub-appellations, which include St. David’s Bench, Four Mile Creek Road, Niagara Lakeshore and Niagara River, are part of the broader appellation of the Niagara Peninsula.
The differences in soil, climate, elevation, precipitation and heat from one sub-appellation to the next account for the diversity of wines produced in Niagara’s wine country.
“We could grow a pinot noir grape at (Konzelmann) on our lakeshore property and go to St. Davids Bench and grow a pinot grape with the exact same grape and the taste is completely different and it’s really due to growing conditions,” Niven says.
The goal of Dig Our Roots is to highlight what and why each area of NOTL is different and interesting, and to encourage Niagara resident to remember the beauty of what they have in their own backyard.
“I think (people) might forget how beautiful (NOTL) is. We’ve transformed ourselves into a world-class wine destination and I think people who for them, this is their own backyard, they forget about that and take advantage of that,” Niven says.
Tickets to each winery event during the Dig Our Roots celebration are limited and cost anywhere between $25 to $100. More information about pricing and events at each winery can be found online at wineriesofniagaraonthelake.com.