Niagara Wine Tours Offer Family Friendly Fun

The Niagara region is a popular tourist destination for many reasons. The first and most obvious attraction is Niagara Falls, with its breathtaking views and picturesque beauty. The stunning nature of this attraction often inspires tourists to explore the region further.

Just a short distance away from Niagara Falls, tourists can find a veritable treasure trove of wineries complete with wine tours, winery events for the entire family, and of course, wine tastings. The Niagara region produces many great wines but is most famous for their amazing ice wines. Because of the area's cool climate, the grapes grown here have very concentrated flavours and balanced acidity levels.

Wine tours are an important addition to any itinerary because of the value a tour guide can bring. A winery tour guide can offer insight on wines that the tourist may want to taste and they can also help make sure the kids are entertained. When visiting a winery, tourists will want check the schedule ahead of time so they can arrive in time for wine tastings and any other winery events they would like to attend with the family.

Creekside Estate is just one well-known winery that the Niagara region has to offer. It is located just beside the stunning 16-Mile Creek so it is a perfect spot for a relaxed wine tasting after a full morning of white water rafting. Those on the wine tour may also view Creekside Estate's underground barrel cellars that are among the largest of their type in all of Canada.

While in Niagara, tourists may want to visit the vineyard that helped guide the region down its wine making path. Lailey Vineyard started producing wine in the 1950's by planting some of Niagara's first French hybrid varieties. While taking the winery tour, tourists will be in awe of how the owners transformed a 20 acre farm to the flourishing vineyard that Lailey is today.

Most people are surprised at how family friendly Niagara wine tours can be. Wineries often hold events that are fun for adults and kids alike. For example, it is not uncommon for a winery to host a concert or some other live show. The Niagara area wineries are also known for their food and for creating an outdoor grilling experience that is fun for all! Another way the winery events may include the kids would be in the wine tastings. Of course the kids would not be sipping wine, but red and white grape juice would certainly be appropriate.

It is definitely a good idea to research and book any wine tours in the area with an online source that offers all of the region's winery information and event schedules in one place. GuidedGrape.ca is one example of a website that does a great job at making the trip planning process easier. GuidedGrape.ca provides important information and events from all of the major Ontario wineries. It truly is the best way to book Niagara wine tours!

Family Trip to Three Sister Wineries of Niagara Peninsula

Three Sister Wineries of Niagara Peninsula

For those of you who are not familiar with these wineries, they are all related. The owners of these 3 sister wineries enjoy the benefits of separate brands and the convenience of shared vineyards. Eastdell Estates is the largest of the three, followed by Lakeview and then Birchwood.

Lunch or a Wine Tour?

Our experience at Eastdell was quite pleasant. We were greeted as we walked in. We inquired about the wine tour and lunch hours and were given a few options. It sounded like we could only do one or the other at the time we had available. We were getting hungry, so we decided to decline the tour, and just go for wine tasting while our table was set on the restaurant's patio.

The lady at the tasting bar was relatively new, but extremely friendly. She suggested various wines based on each of our preferences. Surprisingly, all four of us picked a different favourite. Shortly, we were called to take a seat on the patio.

The menu was quite skinny. I don't eat bread, so, after trying hard to find something without suitable, the only item that was not breaded or did not come on a bun was grilled vegetables with warmed goat cheese. I ordered that, and my mom chose the same. My dad and my husband each got a burger. Man, were we ever surprised when the 'Vegetable Towers' arrived. They each consisted of literally 6 peaces of vegetables, 2 slices of sweet pepper, 2 slices of zucchini, an onion slice, and a mushroom. It was situated in the middle of the plate, taking up about 1/8th of the plate space. So, if you're hungry, don't order that, even thought it's on the Entrée menu. The guys got a good size burger. The rest of the plate was filled with green salad. I could not believe they cost almost the same. Our men had to share with us a part of their meal after all.

Now, the best part was selecting wine to go with our meals. My husband and my dad got 2004 Merlot - very good wine. My mom was a designated driver. I went with a suggestion on the menu - Barrel Fermented Chardonnay 2006. It's good that I tried it before getting a full glass. It was so sweet! Apparently, they leave residual sugars in the barrels for better fermentation. I had to order another white. It was way too sweet as well, so I settled with a regular unoaked Chardonnay. It was also on a sweeter side, but quite refreshing. I didn't want to bother the waiter any longer, and got a glass of that.

We left the winery with a bag of wine bottles, some for us, some for my folks.

Birchwood and Lakeview

Our next stop was Birchwood Estates. It was short and sweet. We had a pleasant tasting at their modest tasting room, bough a couple of bottles, and headed toward the Lakeview Cellars.

On our way there, we stopped at the roadside farmers market and stocked up on peaches, plums and apricots.

When we arrived, we were surprised to find familiar labels on some of the wines offered for tasting. The Chardonnay I had with my lunch was Lakeview Cellars. So, I knew it was not worth buying or even trying one more time. It's one of those "try it once" kinds of wine. So, I tried their Vidal 2003. Oh, goodness gracious, was it ever delicious! It hit the spot. It one of the few tasting glasses I actually finished. My husband liked their Cabernet Merlot. We got a few bottles and went back to the car where my parents were waiting. My mom wanted to see what we got, and when I showed her a Vidal bottle, she decided to go back in and actually taste it. She also loved it and got a bottle for herself.

It was our last stop on our way to the Niagara Falls, so, slightly tipsy from all the samples, we happily took off for our next destination.

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