Wine Tasting Near Niagara Falls

You probably know Niagara Falls as a popular road trip destination, with its awe-inspiring cascades spanning the border between the US and Canada. But you may not realize that after you’ve dried off from your Maid of the Mist tour, wineries aplenty await you.

Start your winery-hopping by driving along the Canadian side of the Niagara River as it continues to flow north from the falls through the bucolic towns of the Niagara Peninsula. Here, the countryside between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is home to one of the largest and most productive wine regions in Canada, with some 50 wineries welcoming you to their history and, of course, their wine.

Canada has been producing wine for more than two centuries—particularly in Ontario, with its cool breezes, clay and limestone-rich soil, and adequate sun coverage. What sets the Niagara Peninsula apart from a place like California’s Napa Valley is that many grapes are harvested later in the year, during colder months, when there’s more residual sugar in the grapes. The result: sweet “late harvest” wines from late autumn and even sweeter ice wines from early winter—one of the region’s specialties.

Touring the terroir

Ask any sommelier or wine enthusiast about how a wine was produced, and they'll undoubtedly use the word “terroir,” which means that wine is an expression of the environment in which its grapes grew: the soil, climate and topography—and, in this case, the geology of the Niagara Peninsula. Across the peninsula is the Niagara Escarpment, a large ridge of rock—the same large rock from which Niagara Falls cascades—and it’s this escarpment that acts as a weather barrier, rerouting winds and trapping air to form microclimates across the grape-growing region.

So, wines will taste different depending on where you are on the peninsula. The soils of the Lake Ontario shoreline, in addition to those of the escarpment, are so influential in Niagara Peninsula grape and wine production that two regional appellations exist to protect the integrity of the wine coming from each region.

In the Niagara Escarpment Regional Appellation, wines are typically more delicate with notes of minerality. Wineries produce varieties such as syrah, gamay noir, pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling as late harvest and ice wines, in addition to traditional, drier wines from the same grapes harvested in the late summer and early fall.

In the Niagara-on-the-Lake Appellation, wines are typically light and fruity with a refreshing hint of acidity. Varieties include dinner staples cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, chenin blanc and gamay rosé. Thanks to the lakeshore’s cool climate, ice wines also thrive here, including the excellent gewürztraminer from the Lakeview Wine Company.

The perfect complements

The folks at 13th Street Winery in St. Catharines pair their wines with food from their bakery and bistro in a contemporary setting, encouraging visitors to sip while enjoying the art in their large gallery of works by local artists, or to spend a lazy afternoon in the indoor or outdoor seating areas. There’s also live music Thursdays through Saturdays from mid-May to mid-October.

Over at Redstone Winery in Beamsville, wines are paired with hearty entrées—rack of lamb and beef tenderloin crusted with bone marrow and herbs, for example—although its wood-fired pizzas are popular, too. Redstone also showcases live music in the form of a summer concert series, performed on the lawn and patio.

At the Reif Estate Winery, on the banks of the Niagara River in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, winemakers produce a deliciously sweet vidal ice wine that’s a bold complement to hearty and salty meat dishes.

From there, it’s just a short drive across town to a place that fans of both wine and hockey will appreciate: Gretzky Estates, founded by Canadian legend Wayne Gretzky. More than a winery, Gretzky Estates is also a distillery, brewery and museum celebrating Gretzky’s hockey career. Not surprisingly, there’s an ice-skating rink outside in the winter, next to the Whisky Bar Patio, which serves up everything from local trout to pasta to the Canadian staple poutine: fries and cheese curds, smothered in brown gravy.

Passport around the peninsula

Several wine tour companies will take you around the region from select winery to winery, eliminating the guesswork (and the driving). Wine preference is subjective, though, and there really are no wrong turns when touring the 13,000 acres of Niagara wine country, especially when wineries unite for one of three weekends-long Niagara Grape & Wine Festivals (in January, June and September). During these select weekends, the purchase of a Discovery Pass entitles you to a seasonal wine and culinary experience at each of six participating wineries of your choice.

Think jerk chicken tacos paired with cabernet rosé, sushi rolls with sparkling chardonnay, or plates of gooey raclette with cabernet franc ice wine—times six, for one flat price.

While the summer and autumn festivals are a great time to visit, it may be worth bundling up for the Icewine Festivals in January, which culminates in the grand Cool As Ice Gala, a formal yet approachable affair in which the region’s best wines are brought together with the best of the region’s culinary scene in the refurbished Niagara Parks Power Station, a power facility-turned-museum and venue overlooking Niagara Falls. Some people may believe that you need to fly to Italy or France to have a great gastronomic food and wine experience, but the Niagara Peninsula Wine Region proves you need not travel that far. In fact, for many wine-loving road-trippers, it’s just a lovely scenic drive away.