On TASTE! weekend at the end of September, Sandbanks Estates Winery threw a big party to celebrate their 2010 grape harvest and to thank the folks who had laboured in the vineyard picking grapes.

As well as their paid workers, owner Catherine Langlois flung out an open invitation to friends and fans to get up close and personal with the juicy, sun-warmed grapes as volunteer vineyard workers for a day. (Most amateur pickers find that one day of hard labour is quite enough – and they come away with muddy boots, tired hands and a new appreciation for what goes into a glass of wine. But they all rallied to good music, good wine and good fun afterwards. And a little honest hard work never killed anybody – just look at Catherine Langlois. That’s a fine looking farmer – and her mother is amazing, too.

Catherine’s mama is painter Rita Thivierge who shows her vivid abstract paintings in her own gallery space at the winery. Rita was a featured artist at the well known Oeno Gallery before moving to the County from her native Quebec. Now she and Catherine are a mother-and-daughter Double Whammy Destination on both the Prince Edward County Arts Trail and Prince Edward County Taste Trail. To add to the gaiety, celebration and colour of Sandbanks’ harvest time, Rita has a show of new work at the winery. We think it’s cool that Sandbanks Estates Winery combines two strong elements of today’s County. The ever-growing number of wineries here come in all shapes and sizes and differing styles: rustic, elegant, business-like, casual. We think Sandbanks Estates Winery is a nice combo – friendly, accomplished, dedicated – and that’s just the women!

Did you know two of their wines – Sandbanks Waves Cabernet Merlot and Sandbanks Dunes Vidal – were served to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her Canadian visit this summer? Good score guys!

Sandbanks Winery – if you haven’t been there, go. You can’t miss it on the Loyalist Parkway just west of Wellington – watch for the colourful flags that announce this colourful winery.