Convincing me to Buy - Wine

 

Who goes wine tasting in the winter?  We do!  When you live in the Buffalo/Niagara region, winter is wine time.  While I'm not a big fan of Ice Wine, the Niagara escarpment is known to be one of the best regions for growing vidal grapes - a hybrid white variety that is very sweet.  The sweetness is condensed when they freeze.  It is a big deal when the first freeze occurs -- hordes of wine enthusiasts swarm to the vineyards and help harvest the grapes.  They must be picked at the first frost and the window of opportunity is short.  The wine produced from the fruit is very sweet -- and fairly expensive!

 The Big Guy is my favorite wine-tasting companion, along with another couple and their daughter.  Last week I went to a local charity wine tasting with ladies from work.  It was a total bust.  The pours for any sample was less than one sip and you couldn't taste anything. I was so angry I didn't buy anything.  On our trip this weekend, be bought five or six bottles.  Having only short time to tour (we ate lunch and shopped Niagara on the Lake first), we just visited Inniskillin and Jackson Trig.  JT makes a wonderful sparkling Merlot that we paid a pretty penny for -- but it will be a treat with a rich chocolate dessert on New Year's eve.  Another good variety grown here is Riesling, which I like quite a bit.

When we first started touring wineries at NOTL, there were maybe a handful.  Now there are a couple dozen (probably more).  It's always a good time and the area is beautiful.  Niagara on the Lake is quaint and charming.  The shops are pretty pricey, but it is fund to window shop.  I will buy a thing or two, but mostly I am there for the booze.  I am usually looking for values when I am in a traditional wine/liquor store, but when we're having a tasting adventure, I'm a little looser.  That's why it was really ridiculous for the tasting I went to the week before to be so chintzy with their samples.  I figure if they don't want me to taste their wines, they don't want me to buy them.

So I got my revenge, and a half a case of good wine too!