Jackson-triggs Winery
Pairing Wines and Experiences
MOST OF CANADA’S WINE COMES FROM ONTARIO. With such consistent quality to choose from, how do we determine our next glass? We have to visit the winery, taste the wines, and more important, have a wonderful experience that we can recall as a frame of reference for that wine. At
Jackson-triggs Winery the aim is to take the intimidation out of wine, make it fun, memorable and educational.
Each season offers exciting and romantic experiences to share with friends at Jacksontriggs. Passport programs like Taste the Season in fall celebrate the bounty of the season paired with holidayinspired food. Days of Wine and Chocolate helps us through the winter with warm weekends in which to explore sweet and savoury pairings of wine and chocolate. The renowned Ice Wine Festival
enables us to celebrate all things Icewine, and to appreciate that it’s not merely about sweetness, but about all the savoury pairings to enjoy. The New Vintage Festival
showcases all that’s new for the coming year. In between, countless pop up ideas offer experiences that fit whatever we’re looking for.
Savour the Sights is a progressive dining experience through the most picturesque locations of the winery. We begin with sparkling wines and hors d’oeuvres in The Great Hall, and then progress to the atrium for a million dollar view of the vineyard. In the Entourage room we enjoy two more courses, before heading down to the barrel cellar for our main course, and returning to the boutique for desserts. Wine pairings with each course inspire our imaginations as much as our palates.
A new program called Fireside Wine & Chocolate offers four different wines to pair with artisanal chocolates from Belfry Chocolates. Learn why they pair well together while lounging on couches and comfy chairs by a crackling fire. A glass of Sparkling Brut is served with a white chocolate covered pretzel. Sweet and salt characters coalesce into a foamy mousse. Sticks, marshmallows and graham crackers are used for making s’mores in the fireplace while enjoying a big, round, buttery Grand Reserve Chardonnay.
The chocolate elicits caramel qualities. The fifteen months oak-aged Grand Reserve Merlot
has hints of cocoa that lend itself to a 75% Dark chocolate pairing that evokes raspberry, cassis and warm chocolate in your mouth. For dessert, Cabernet Franc Icewine chocolate truffles sing of chocolate covered cherries.
The goal at Jackson-triggs is to demystify wine and make every guest comfortable with the idea of integrating wine into meals they already know and love. In addition to public and private tours, and formal lunches and dinners, we can visit the Entourage Room, whose patio offers one of the best views in Niagara, and order simple but beautiful homey foods. We don’t have to prepare multi-course dinners to incorporate wine into our everyday. Here we indulge in share boards of local cheese and charcuterie; hummus and tapenades, and country grilled cheese.
What could pair better with a Grand Reserve Entourage Sparkling Brut than a grilled cheese sandwich of local ham and Brie? Pair the
Grand Reserve Entourage Sparkling Merlot with beef kabobs, and the Sparkling Grand Reserve Entourage Sauvignon Blanc with fish tacos. Jackson-triggs Sparkling wines are not necessarily for fancy occasions; they can be for any day to sparkle. Low sugar content and high crisp acidity make these wines food friendly.
In summer, the amphitheatre in the vineyards of Jackson-triggs estate has become a hot venue for touring acts, making the Summer Concert Series one of Canada’s great experiences. Sinking into a sumptuous glass of Riesling Icewine that bursts with lychees and peaches, while munching on a bag of freshly popped corn, and transfixed on the mellifluous ballads of Sarah Mclachlan is simply a beautiful experience. The barrel cellar dinner before the concert reflects what is growing in Niagara. Jacksontriggs works with farmers to incorporate farm fresh produce into the menu. We are greeted with a glass of
Entourage Sparkling Brut, slightly pink with lingering fruit, zest and minerality. Local cheese and charcuterie are artfully presented with house-made preserves, and followed by an amuse bouche and a three-course dinner. This multi-course, multi-pairing extravaganza shows off how the chef and winemaker harmonize to share their passion for pairings.
So much of wine enjoyment is connected with our sense of smell. The bouquet in the swirl of a glass seduces us. Our olfactory memory is our strongest memory sense, and the one from which we can most easily recall experiences. When it comes to choosing a wine, there is no substitute for the experience of visiting the winery and creating unique visceral and romantic memories for a lifetime. www.jacksontriggswinery.com
also sourced from the garden accompany a pork shoulder smoked in apple and cherry wood. As a side dish, the chef proudly presents his Kimchibd—kimchi that is fermented with a watersoluble CBD isolate—one gram per pound—sprinkled with hemp and sesame seeds, drizzled in rosemary oil and mixed with puffed wild rice. Its initial kick is followed by a gradual pleasing buzz.
Down the street hotel Jupiter Next is modern and hip, but cozy. Entering Hey Love, the 1970s-inspired cocktail bar on the main floor, feels as though I’m back in college and staying at the coolest residence, where everyone wants to be.
On an afternoon cannabis tour with Cordilleran Tours we visit a glass blowing studio to see how pipes are made. In the workshop of Oracle Glass Inc. an octopus, a cross bow and intricate molecular designs are being set. It can take anywhere from minutes to months to make these artful ornaments that range in size from a finger to a tuba, and can cost thousands of dollars. They are beautiful, whether in use or on display. Next stop is Laurie + Maryjane, where Laurie Wolf, part Mother Nature, part Willy Wonka, and three-time Dope Cup Winner, leads us through her handcrafted cannabis edibles production. “One truffle will get you high.” She cautions, halting me from grabbing one. Not your average bake-sale, Wolf ’s aim is to “elevate the edible.” Warm pop-in-your-mouth cookies of ginger molasses, peanut butter, or vegan chocolate are decadent bites containing 10mg of THC. Her Morning Blend Granola contains 120mg of CBD. Dosing and potency are listed, and quality control is strict. We purchase a few fruity nut bars for our hike through the trails of Forest Park. Vegan and glutenfree, they’re chock full of cashews, dates, bananas, chocolate and crispy brown rice with a 1:1 ratio of 25mg THC to 25mg CBD. For the calorie and cannabisconscious, the bar is sectioned to let us know exactly how much we’re consuming.
Got the munchies? When it comes to satisfying food cravings and making taste buds dance, Portland’s got the boogie. Renowned for its Food Pods, every cuisine imaginable occupies abandoned nooks to become community hubs of really good food. At The Bite
on Belmont we share Hawaiian Korean Bulgogi from Namu, along with some Viking Soul Food of saffron chowder with lemon cod and mussels. There is always something innovative in the restaurant scene too. At Lovely’s
Fifty Fifty, sungold tomato confit with shaved summer squash, basil, orange agrumato and flowers resembles a potpourri. Oui Wine Bar + Restaurant at SE Wine Collective, an incubator for up and coming local wines, offers a choose-your-own-adventure list of pairings with a vegetabledriven menu. Chef Althea Grey Potter makes vegetables cool. Her smoked carrot hummus with mint, almonds and olives, paired with Division Wines Chardonnay, and green garlic and pine nut pesto risotto with a sous vide egg, paired with a Laelaps Wines Riesling offer a quintessential taste of Oregon, both through the vibrancy of ingredients and the exuberance in attitude.
Whether foie gras dumplings ➤