I need to write this out quickly as I’m going to a cottage tomorrow, and don’t want to forget the whole deal. So last weekend (more accurately, Sunday to Tuesday) some friends and I went on a wine tour in Niagara.
The first night we got there we checked into the hotel and then went to the falls, I photographed many many many pictures of a rainbow, not sure why, it was just pretty I guess. Later we enjoyed the midway where I won what I thought was a sick number of tickets from a token-pushing game. You know the ones, a Mr Bean episode had one, where there is a little wall that cycles, pushing coins towards the drop-zone, and then moves back again, and the goal is to get your coin to cause a chain reaction to push coins down. On no other game did I get as many tickets, but even then the combined winnings of Curtis, Alicia and I were enough for a football and some trinkets. Later we watched the fireworks over the falls and found dinner at this place called Coco’s where the waitress kept coming by asking us if we needed anything because apparently someone somewhere kept telling her we needed her.
I must have taken a dozen other shots of this
The next day we had to get up relatively early to meet our tour driver, 9:30 I think. The 8 of us piled in the van and went off to our first vineyard, Jackson-Triggs, where we toured the production facility and then learned our first lesson on drinking wine. Step one was to tilt the glass and inspect the colour, checking for clarity in a white wine, or the rubyness of a red wine. Then we are to take a sip to cleanse the palate, which I rarely did since I don’t like wine until a later step. Then you smell the wine. Then swirl it to aerate it a bit. Smell again (it smells much better now). Take a sip and consider the taste, then take in air like a reverse-whistle and consider the taste. That last step is the only way I managed to drink my red wine. I still hate the stuff, but I had a couple of whites I enjoyed. I was expecting a later step about checking for the ‘legs’ of the wine as the residue from tilting it broke across the glass, but no step was forthcoming from the vineyard tour-giver, alas. It was then I had discovered ice-wine. Oh lord. So good it was, I bought a bottle of it from them. It’s like nectar. When the reds came out, Murad dumped some of his in the bucket, and he got a stern talking to from Laura, she wanted to be the bucket. Alicia bought a pack of 3 icewines at Jackson-Triggs to keep the one bottle she already had previously company, and presumably one day one might be drunk. But I can see why she’d hold onto them, they are preciously expensive tiny bottles of ambrosia (see the Maleta section)
Our next stop was Palatine Hill, where it was just a tasting. They also gave us an ice-wine, but they had a Vidal non-icewine that sort of reminded me of an ice-wine, so I bought a bottle of that, I’m taking it up to the cottage where I hope it goes over well. Since no tour occurred, not much to say about it, other than they had a very large and tired dog semi-guarding the place. They had given us a few tastings, didn’t really seem to count the ones we had, sometimes poured whatever, other times asked what we wanted.
The next stop was Strewn that had a cooking school and a restaurant as part of its operation. We had lunch there, nothing terribly memorable, but it all seemed okay. I think 3rd of 4 is a hard place to be in when it comes to vineyard tour orders. People buy stuff at the first because it’s the first one, then probably get something at the second. By the third, they are all bought-out and probably more conservative. The fourth, being last, suddenly reinvigorates the wallet, since it’s the last chance. In any case, I didn’t get anything from Strewn, and I think a few others also failed to do so as well. The tasting had I think a white, a red, and an ice-wine. Some paid for more tastings, but I didn’t feel like it. They gave us an icewine that was pretty good. I think perhaps one other ice-wine called a Late Harvest where they press the grapes again and get something that’s not quite as sweet, but still a nice flavour. We all got a generous helping of that, but for some reason, people didn’t care for it, and many used Alicia’s glass as the bucket, and so she ended up drinking nearly a full glass of it.
One of many rows of vines, sort of like a simple-man’s hedge maze
The last place was a something that was running out of what I think was their own private residence. It was a tiny place, with a tiny field of vines, called Maleta. Apparently they make some good wine, but not much of it, so it’s sort of a specialty. By that time, we were getting wined out, but they gave us 4 tastings, 2 whites and 2 reds. Being a small operation, I guess they couldn’t part with icewines. For the first three wines, they had an accompanying cracker with either cream cheese or actual cheese on it, which was the only place to do something like that. They did offer a taste of an icewine for $4, but it was free if you bought the bottle. They had a 2003 vidal that was reasonable, but a 2002 vidal that was in an even smaller bottle, and apparently won awards. Since I’m a sucker for that kind of thing, I bought one of those for a tidy sum. I’ll probably hang onto it the longest. So now that I know of icewines, something tells me I’ll scope them out. I can only imagine how many calories they are. But hopefully the price will keep my tastebuds in check. All in all, I learned I still hate red wine, am sometimes able to like white wine, and otherwise enjoy sugar in things.
That night we hit the casino, not much to speak of there, other than my losing $40 in very short order to no good dirty slot machines. Alicia stayed alive for a good while playing a sort of roulette-like game. Curtis opted out entirely and just watched us. I think others lost a bit or broke even. One amusing anecdote that will probably be referenced for a while was how the game-runner would wave their hands over the betting-board to stop the bets just before a spin. It looked like they were casting a spell or something. That night we ended up at Coco’s again god help us.
A weird water-flowing sculpture at the casino, which I’m sure pulls in the crowds from the falls next door
Apparently climbing fences more ornate than this one is a danger, so I assume this one is fine
The next day was wrap up, so we checked out of the hotel and went to Niagara-on-the-lake to browse around the town. It reminded me most of St. Jacobs, a little touristy town. I didn’t buy anything, having already spent enough money for one weekend. We went to a restaurant where we were denied seating on the patio as there was nowhere to seat 8, despite the fact the patio was deserted. Apparently the tables and chairs are simply incapable of being moved without disrupting the harmony and flow of the restaurant. After that, it was home time, we said our faretheewells, and we went off.
My friends know to stay ahead of me and to walk away as quickly as possible
One interesting thing was our time in the hotel rooms. I was with Curtis, and he and Alicia both brought their DS’s and games. Alicia had a weird little game called Elite Beat Agents which fascinated me, despite my inability to play. It’s sort of a DS version of Amplitude, or probably more like Dance-Dance-Revolution, except you use the stylus to touch circles on the screen at the right time (ie, in the beat). Not having any sort of natural rhythm, I failed utterly at it, but the weird plot of Beat Agents who somehow by rocking out cause the day to be saved and the anime feel of it all, I found it very amusing, so here’s a flash of that. I spent a little more time with the DS. I’m not much of a game player anymore, sadly, but it is a very neat device.
Anyway, it was a short vacation, but it was sorely needed. Props to Alicia for organizing. And so, now, for a long weekend, off to cottage.