Prince Edward County

We decided to checkout the winery area of Prince Edward County. It is a lovely area of Ontario bound by water on all sides. The area is quite small with a fair variety of different terroirs. We decided to stay at Waring house to allow us to see more wineres. It's not a bad place to stay. Very simple. Lovely restaraunt and geat staff. I would stay again, but don't be ready for a high end place. Very humble. Our meal was lovely! With dinner I had Trumpour's Mill Gamay Noir which is available at the LCBO! They also have a nice pub on site with live music that was a nice add to the evening.

Onto the wines

In Niagara the reds are always about managing the tannins. The Merlots/Cabs are big tannic monsters. I always call them bruisers. In Prince Edward County they can not make a big red. They have much softer reds. Their Gamays and Baco Noirs are softer than you would expect compared to Niagara. They do have some Marechal Foch which seems quite good but I must say I have no idea what it should taste like.

The whites

The whites on the other hand have another challenge. The soil is so packed with minerals the whites are overwhelmed by the minerals. The Pinot's, Chards and Reislings are all effected by this and quite frankly it's overwhelming. It means that the differences between the various varieties in the county is subtle. They all seem to exhibit a tart taste similar to a granny smith apple. On some of them it was quite prevalent. Very interesting. In fact Carmela Estates would rate as the longest white I've ever experienced. The tartness went on and on. Very powerful.

Niagara based wines in the county

Interestingly enough Prince Edward County does not make enough wine to support the wineries. So they are bringing in grapes from Niagara to broaden out their offerings. So be sure to ask if you are drinking a county wine or a Niagara wine. The small batches mean that most of the wine is only available from the winery rather than the LCBO. Sometimes they will also use Niagara based wines in a blend, again to add complexity and depth. If Niagara wines are off to the left of French wines, Prince Edward County wines are off to the right by at least as much. So belnding the too is an odd concept (to me anyway).

Planning

There are a number of web sites to help you plan your visit. Realising there are a lot of wineries you likely won't be able to hit them all even with the small size of this district. Also realize that there are very different terroirs as I have mentioned in this small area. Very different soils.

Ice Wines

The region also does an Ice wine which up until this year they called a "Late Harvest" after first frost wine. They now have the laws in place to allow them to use the term Ice Wine.

Onto our experience

We really didn't have a lot of guidance on the good the bad and the ugly of PEC so we just started and tried what we encountered. While we had Gord Stimmel's article, to be honest I have not been impressed by his ratings. So on we went ... When I first started I had my usual thought process, wines ought to be varietal. So a Chard ought to taste (what I think) like a Chard ought to taste like. I quikcly came to realize I needed to adjust that ignore the label and decide that I like the taste or did not.

Seasonal warning

Like a lot of seasonal areas you need to insure that where you are going is actually open. During off seasons the wineries reduce the tasting hours and reduce or close the restaraunts.

Wineries with Restaraunts

Huff Estates has an Inn with it but they strangely enough do not have a restaraunt.

The tastings

Note ** Implies this is a wine I bought

Carmela Estates

As the first winery I hadn't come to the realisation I needed to shelve my varietal expectations.

Rosehall Run

Black Prince Winery

I wasn't all that impressed when we walked in. It's a converted house and the gentleman serving was crusty at best. They have a large number of wines some of which they source from other wineries. I didn't take notes of the wines we did taste. As we got started a bus drove in with 14 people so we ran away ... quickly.

By Chadseys

For every bit gruff the Black Prince fellow was the By Chadsey's lady was a treat. Quite chatty. A pleasure to talk to. The tasting room is setup in an old apple storage building. Lots of character. Unfortunately again my notes are not as thorough as they could have been.

Sandbanks Winery

The staff here started out a little cool, a Quebecois woman, but she warmed up. They have a reasonably large number of wines for tasting

Huff Estates

This is a very modern building with lots of concrete and metal on the building. The tasting room is quite impressive and they are setup to deal with a fair number of people. They also run tours. As I mentioned above they have an Inn as well if you want to stay but no restaraunt.

Waupoos Estates

This is a lovely building with a great tasting room. Staff were quite pleasant. They have a restaraunt that serves in a beautful Gazebo. Lunch was quite tasty. We enjoyed the wines so much we went back in bought a few more wines! The wines were very reasonably priced. This is the pioneer in the area and the first winery to realize the potential.

Summary

All in all we had a great time. The best advice I can give is that if you choose to go and do tastings, have an open mind. Discard your thoughts of varietal tastes because you will not find them here (in my opinion). Being so close to water there are lots of things to do. Sandbanks provincial park is close as well. I'd defnitely go back!