Tuesday i decided to go on a road trip, since Wednesday was supposed to be rainy. I decided to do a winery tour, which i haven't done in a year and a half. I need to do more research beforehand, so this was kind of rushed. I wanted to go to a place that did tours during the week, not too late, and served food, and somewhere i haven't been before.

I ended up at Jackson Triggs in Niagara-On-The-Lake. I got there around 12:58 and was kind of starving, so i thought i should eat before i did a tour and tasting, lol. This is sitting on their back patio, looking west.

Looking south.

Looking east.

'Heirloom carrot soup, with cumin chantilly cream', pulled pork sandwich with red wine bbq sauce and housemade pickles, side salad. Not as ritzy as Hillebrand, but cheap! Only 15$.

From their front, looking northish.

Looking west.

From the parking lot, which is set among vines.

Pinot noir grapes (not yet blue).

Okay, i should've booked a tour when i arrived, because even though they have them every half hour, they were booked until 3. So, i drove down the road, and stopped at Pillitteri - many places do tours, but not all have food. This is their family carretto (wine cart).

Some of their many awards.

All of their ice wine varieties, throughout the years.

In the vineyard.

I think these are cabernet sauvignon.

The roses help detect mold and other issues.

The squeezers.

The icewine squeezers, at the back.

Each one of those holds something like 50,000 bottles of wine.

Down in the cellar.

With their ginormous polished concrete table.

Syr = shiraz.

The best i could do in very low light (1/3 of a second). Cabernet sauvignon, i think.

The tasting room. We got a free white wine (Gewürztraminer Riesling Fusion) and a free red (Merlot). No icewine, but the tour had been free, so i went down to the tasting counter in the store and bought a glass of Cabernet Franc Icewine... I've never seen such variety of icewines (Shiraz? Merlot? Sangiovese - who even grows that grape in Canada?). I loved the riseling and cabernet franc icewines i had at Hillebrand.

I decided to take a back road at least part of the way back, but there's something i always find a little disturbing about driving along the escarpment. I rejoined the QEW at Grimsby. I really ought to plan ahead better, and spend more time just driving around (if only traffic didn't suck going through Oakville).