Monday, January 23, 2012

Taste the Season (Day 1)

As I've previously posted here, I planed a weekend at Niagara-on-the-Lake for Taste the Season back in November. It's a $50 food and wine pairing pass to 26 wineries. Wanted to share with you my experience before I head to another weekend adventure for the Days of Wine & Chocolate in February.

Since it was a 2 day weekend pass, we decided to stay overnight since there's no way we could go to all 26 wineries in one day. We book a cheap $50 room at Super 8 to make it affordable since we won't spend much time in the room and our only requirements was a clean one =P


2009 Black Series Merlot w/ Merlot Braised Shortrib with Fall Vegetables
What a great start to a windy day; flavorful, warm and comforting.... and it's my first time actually liking a Jackson-Triggs wine =P



2007 Tollgate Red w/ Farm-to-Table Pulled Lamb with yuzu hoisin
The toast was dry, cold and stale (>_<) and the pulled lamb was rather dry.
The station was hidden at the back with very small serving size of both wine and food.  I thought Stratus wine are on the expensive side compare to other wineries in the area.






2008 Portraits of Honour Red w/ French Macaroon Filled with Red Pepper Jelly & Brie
Love the sweet Macaroon with the brie ♥ and


2007 Cabernet Franc w/ Vegetable Chili
Although I wasn't a big fan of the wine, I love the chili which was super delish























Andrew Peller Signature Series Ice Cuvee Rose W/ Smoked Salmon Bisque
I was a bit disappointed since the bisque was so watery and bland... especially when they have an award winning restaurant.


 6th stop : Lailey Vineyard
2009 Cabernet Merlot w/ Coq au Vin
 Love the intimate setting for the tasting among the wine barrels but it was sort of self serve without any plates or bowl whatsoever... 
w/ the napkin the sauce was dripping and end of with sticky hand... and it was a dry piece of chicken at that (over heated) but the wine at $15 a bottle was quite good




2010 Cherry Wine w/ Chocolate Cherry Cookie
The cookie was made with the cheery wine as well and it was incredibly moist and delicious which I wish I could have a few more... 
but as per my previous post here, I'm still not a big fan of the fruit wine (non-grape)




8th stop : Strewn Winery
2008 Riesling w/ Winter Green Salad with Icewine Vinaigrette




2010 Method Cuvee Close Rose w/ Cranberry, Pear, Gorgonzola & Walnut Strudel Roll




2007 Merlot w/ Original Buffalo-style Chicken with Creamy Dip & Garden Celery
This is one of the worst looking winery you'll find around the area, just look at how dark it was and there wasn't even display shelves etc but only a few barrels scatter around as table (>_<)























2009 Riesling Reserve w/ Smoked Salmon Mousse
Love the mousse and it just pair perfectly with the crisp acidity of the Riesling
They also had an end of season Christmas sale and we bought a combination of 6 bottles for less than $45 which we bought all white (perfect for my Sangria stock)




After 11 Wineries, it`s end of Day 1
to be con`t

4 comments:

  1. WOW, that's a lot of wineries in one day! I would have been drunk by the 2nd one.

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  2. LOL, i was a bit hangover from the previous night (a bday party), if not could have head over earlier and head to more wineries... But we tried to stick with the pairing only and not have extra tasting ;)

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  3. that is a ridiculous amount of wineries. wow. i'm getting lightheaded from just looking at it.

    also, you're showing a lot of leg for a cold winter day. ;)

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  4. LOL, it was back in November when it was quite warm

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