Added April 13, 2025; trip March 31 to April 3, 2025
This year’s trip featured a few new experiences amongst a number of do-overs.
We left on a cloudy but warm Monday, heading for Fielding Estates winery. We had a snow dome booked. We’d actually been there a few weeks prior, with a friend, also for a snow dome experience. So this time we just shared a flight of three wines we hadn’t tried last time: a pinot gris, a Riesling, and a red blend. We also had a cheese board and some warm feta with honey and crackers (so cheese and cheese, basically).
It was a good experience again. It was so warm this day we turned off the heater for most of the visit. We enjoyed the wines, purchasing a bottle of two of them. The food items were also quite nice.
Afterward we visited Niagara Custom Crush Studio, or The Crush, in Vineland, which houses a collective of smaller wineries for whom maintaining their own tasting rooms doesn’t make sense. We were warmly greeted and got a history of the space—It actually started with Stony Creek Winery, who are associated with The Tragically Hip—followed by an overview of the other wineries they represent.
You can select to taste any individual wines, but they also had a number of preset wine tasting options to make decision-making easier. We decided to go for two of these presets, trying wines from 2027 Cellars and from Therianthropy. This proved quite fascinating to alternate between, as 2027 Cellars does very traditional wine-making, while Therianthropy explores wild fermenting and more natural process. So very different results for each, even when they’re using the same grape from the same region.
Generally, we liked the 2027 Cellars wines more, but we did enjoy some of the Therianthropy. We were also able to try a sparkling made from the Concord grape by a different winery, that was quite refreshing and also unlike anything else. We purchased a few bottles here.
We then headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake and checked in to our accommodations at the Oban Inn. Our room was quite small, but had what we needed, and the Inn is well located downtown.
Dinner was booked at Trius Winery for “date night”, which meant you got a three-course meal for a fixed price. They also offered $40 bottles of wine, but we opted for matching wines instead.
Trius is listed by Michelin, and their plating is quite beautiful.
I found my appetizer of mushroom soup quite delicious, but Jean wasn’t quite as impressed with his chicken pate. (Nothing was bad; it just wasn’t overly sensational.) I also thought they did a nice job with my Cornish hen stuffing, though the side gnocchi was less notable. Jean again wasn’t overly impressed with his pork main, though he quite enjoyed the side of mac and cheese. Dessert was fine all around; I had chocolate with peanut butter while Jean went with goat cheese and pear jam.
Wrong time of year to do much outdoor dining. Rates of respiratory illness, including Covid, weren’t bad, though, and it’s less crowded time of year in Niagara. We also took anti-histamines (in case that helps), used anti-viral nasal sprays (in case that helps), and I had my portable air purifier (which does help, at least while your faces is in the clean air stream). We tested for a few days afterward, and all was negative. And we also felt fine.
Tuesday
It was a cool but sunny day, the first in a while (the sunny part, that is). Since we had an early lunch booked, we headed to Balzac’s Cafe for a lighter breakfast. It was quiet there, and we enjoyed our cafe lattes and breakfast sandwiches.
Afterward, we did some walking through the park and along the river.
Lunch was at Caroline Cellars. We hadn’t been there in quite a few years, and they’ve expanded considerably since then, including adding on The Farmhouse Cafe, open from 11 to 4. The cafe and the winery have an unpretentious air, which is a nice change in these part. We both ended up ordering the lake perch for lunch, though I had mine with the salad special while Jean had poutine with his. We each tried a different glass of wine: the Vidal, and the Riesling. Both quite good! As was the food.
We stepped up to the bar for a wine tasting afterward. Tastings here are $5, with fees waved with purchase (something that is rarely done elsewhere). All their wines are under $20, and since we enjoyed many of them, we ended with a case of 12, which granted us a free wine glass as well. Definitely a good value place!
Afterward we went for a hike in the Niagara Glen area. Unlike last year, we managed to stay on the trail and thereby avoid any rock-scrambling adventures.
We didn’t have a dinner reservation. I’d had the thought that we could try either a sushi or Indian restaurant, both of which have good notices, and would give us a meal where we could take a wine break without feeling deprived. But, turned out both of those restaurants were closed Tuesdays. As was the Thai place, the Italian place, and the restaurant at our Inn.
I finally stumbled on NOTL, a sister restaurant to our fave place, Treadwell’s. It offered a less elaborate menu than Treadwell’s, and was open on Tuesdays! So that’s where we headed.
NOTL (for Niagara-On-The-Lake) have a lovely dining room with an enclosed patio area. Enclosed this time of year (save a small opening), but it’s a proper covered patio in the summer. Either way, a nice place to sit on a sunny day, as it’s all glass doors.
And, since it shares a kitchen with Treadwell’s, the food was quite good. I had butternut squash soup, followed by rigatoni à la vodka. I think Jean had sesame tuna followed by salmon.
Wednesday
A storm was predicted for Wednesday, but not til the afternoon. We had breakfast at the Inn—it was good, and the waitress was quite interested in my air purifier—then took advantage of the merely cloudy skies to go for a walk.
We had a wine tasting, with charcuterie board, booked for 1:00 at Reif Estate Winery. By the time we left, it was pouring, but it was cozy indoors, and possibly because of the weather, we were the only patrons.
We’d been to this winery last year as well, for this first time. This year we selected a slightly different option, along with a standard wine tasting, of the Drea’s wines. (Last year we did premium wines.) Drea’s wines are made by Andrea Kaiser in small batches, and the tasting includes all of them (which is five or six). It was a pleasant experience, of trying the various options, along with the charcuterie plate. We weren’t rushed at all. Our guide had risen through the ranks at the winery, starting out washing dishes, and eventually learning enough about the portfolio to do the tastings.
While we were there, the weather turned to snow. We left with some of the bottles we had particularly enjoyed, and returned the Inn, from where we could watch the thunderstorms, freezing rain, and other various inclement weather forms.
We had a 6:00 dinner reservation at Treadwell’s. It was close enough to walk, and by then the weather wasn’t quite as dire, so walk we did. We were not able to sit in their outdoor covered patio area, though, because of the weather. But they informed us there were only two other patrons booked for the main dining room (along with a group in the basement). So it didn’t seem like especially risky indoor dining.
It was, however, our least favourite meal at that establishment. Not because of the quality of the food and wine, which was as astoundingly good as usual.
But the service was just lacking in all the little extras that, for some reason, we’d gotten every previous time we’d dined here. I’m sure, for example, that we previously got added in amuse bouche to start, and sorbet palette cleansers, and a treat at the end. But this meal was a strict three course, with bread served along with the appetizer (even though they each had a distinct wine to match). The meal wasn’t rushed, not really, but it certainly wasn’t an extended evening event, either. Nor did they serve us the last bottle of a 25-year-old rare Sherry, or anything like that.
Which sounds ridiculous, but they had done stuff like that before. So, it was disappointing only by comparison to their past selves. It was still the best meal of the trip.
Thursday
It was a nice day again, the calm after the storm, and we strolled over to the uncrowded Sunset Grill for breakfast. That was fine. After checking out of the Inn, we went to Strewn Winery for a private tasting. We had a very experienced guide there, who had a huge wine cellar and some interesting travel experiences to share. He was well equipped to give a good overview of the wines on offer.
Unsurprisingly, we enjoyed quite a few wines here too, and purchased more. Overall, we ended up with kind of a ridiculous amount of wine! We don’t actually drink it that fast!
Still, we weren’t done! Jean wanted to stop in at Malivoire in Beamsville on the drive home, partly because a friend of his was interested in their portfolio. They were actually supposed to be closed this day because of some water damage in the parking lot from the previous day’s storm, but someone was there anyway and people kept arriving, so she finally gave up and agreed to offer wine tastings.
We focused especially on the Gamays (they have 17! We did not try all 17), which were quite good. We added a couple of those for ourselves to the pile, and purchased some extras on behalf of Jean’s friend.
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