09 APR 2018: I’ve been raving about Ontario wine country for decades and thought I had already seen it at its best. However, a recent visit to Niagara to attend the 30th annual Cuvee, a celebration of excellence in winemaking, showed me that the wow factor just keeps growing.
According to research by the Canadian Vintners Association, Ontario wine regions now attract 2.4 million visitors to the province annually. There are over 100 wineries offering distinctive wines and different approaches to wine tastings in their boutiques. A good number also offer restaurants on premises or tapas and picnic style food for their outdoor patios. Others offer jazz in the vineyards, live theatre and even golf on location.
At Cuvée local and winery restaurants dished up delicious tasting plates demonstrating just how well one can eat in Niagara. I was intrigued to see and taste the products of new wineries in places not known for wine in Ontario. Adamo in Hockley Valley is part of an emerging region. In 2015 they had four acres of grapes in their first production. (Vines have to be buried during the winter to protect them from the cold.)
Niagara Falls now has its first ever estate winery, Lundy Manor Wine Cellars, in a renovated mansion on the historic Lundy’s Lane. Burning Kiln, perched on an escarpment overlooking Long Point Bay World Biosphere Reserve, rose from the ashes of an era when tobacco ruled the local economy.
On my way to Cuvée I stopped in Niagara-on-the-Lake to have lunch at Kitchen76, the Italian inspired restaurant at Two Sisters Winery. Two Sisters, established a decade ago in the warm Niagara River sub-appellation, sits on 76 acres of farmland. Co-proprietors and sisters, Angela Marotta and Melissa Marotta-Paolicelli, have a vision to elevate the Niagara wine experience to the highest level. Based on what I ate and tasted I would say they have achieved their goal.
Kitchen76 under Chef Justin Lesso serves up country style Italian dishes that are just terrific. I had the best Tuscan bean soup with fennel sausage and fresh zucchini, a perfect salad of local fresh ingredients and Napoli style pizza so good that its worth driving from Toronto for that alone. In summer the restaurant’s covered terrace overlooking the vineyards is among the top outdoor dining venues in Canada.
Adam Pearce, the winemaker at Two Sisters, makes well balanced, well crafted chardonnays and other whites as well as truly awesome reds from merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. Their flagship red, the ultra-premium Stone Eagle, a bordeaux style blend is a blockbuster. The 2012 vintage might also break the bank at $130 a bottle but it’s worth every penny. www.twosistersvineyards.com
The next day after Cuvée I decided to search out another winery I had been hearing people rave about, Pearl Morissette which produces some of Canada’s most unique wines. In fact, the wines are so unusual that the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) repeatedly failed their Niagara Riesling on the basis that it “lacked typicity”. The winery created The Black Ball Wine Society as a result.
Their 2013 Cuvée Black Ball Riesling, the first Black Ball Riesling to be released in a number of years, ironically does bear the VQA designation. The wine is fully-dry in a classically ‘atypical’ Pearl Morissette style and has been fermented and aged in 100% old Alsatian foudres. It’s distinctive and funky in a very nice way with fusils, fruit and a rich, layered mouthfeel.
It’s not just their wines that take a different approach, so does the winery and its on-premises restaurant. The winery, near the town of Jordan in Niagara’s Twenty Valley region, has no signage. I had looked up its exact address and put it into my GPS and still drove by the place. The long gravel driveway leading to the winery has only a sculpture of a cardinal to indicate it.
As I drove down that driveway towards what looked like someone’s country home, I was certain I’d made a wrong turn. Once past the house I saw just an arrow pointing towards a big black barn. Again, no signage. Just an almost hidden black door (no windows) with a little cardinal on a small welcome sign.
However, once I opened the door and climbed up the concrete stairs to the second floor, I knew I had found the right place. The dining room was charming with rustic wood harvest tables offset by modern white walls and black chairs. Large floor to ceiling windows flank both sides of the room at the half way point.
In the open kitchen were Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson – co-chefs of the Restaurant. The restaurant which opened in November 2017, offers one set menu only of five plus courses at $78 per person including gratuity – incredibly reasonable considering the extraordinary calibre of the meal. The menu inspired by seasonal French cooking changes according to what’s fresh and available.
Both chefs are Ontario natives who have cooked in some of Europe’s trendsetting and Michelin starred kitchens before finding their way home. They’ve also cooked in some great Canadian places such as Langdon Hall.
The meal I enjoyed with my husband began with three starters: a perfect scallop with hogweed and koji, a grilled beet with plum and lamb jus and east coast oysters in ham broth. Then came a potato dish made with over winter potatoes, arugula, onion and topped with sea urchin. This was followed by fresh Lake Erie pickerel, and then Mennonite duck which had been dry aged a month and cooked with oyster mushroom, kale and berries. At the finale were two desserts, a rhubarb sorbet followed by an apple cake made from the 14 different apples grown on the farm orchard.
Every dish was fabulous as was the whole experience. We went for the matching wine pairing ($60 each) and it included not only some great Pearl Morissette wines but also interesting wines from around the world. Their prices are all-inclusive and no tipping is expected. The only way to try Pearl Morissette wines is to dine here or to order on-line. In its typical contrarily cool fashion, the winery does not have a tasting room. https://pearlmorissette.com