As the 2007 grape growing season blooms, the promise, expectation and reality of wine in Prince Edward County are poised to come into alignment. There has always been incomparable ambiance and spirit in the County - as the locals call it - but now there is also some very good, distinctive wine, and more of it than ever before. By summers’ end there is also expected to be a new official VQA appellation called Prince Edward County.

Wine takes time. It’s an adage that has always frustrated those who rush out to grow grapes, build wineries, and indeed carve out a whole new wine region like Prince Edward County. Vintners who have been in the County since its ‘early days’ at the turn of the millennium suffer no shortage of ambition, idealism or resources. But difficult vintages and cold winters which reduced crops have sewed doubt about commercial viability.

Meanwhile there was growing expectation generated by generous publicity surrounding the County’s emergence as a wine region. The unique limestone-based landform jutting some 50 kilometers into Lake Ontario south of Belleville has always been one of Ontario’s great scenic, recreational and cultural jewels. An already mature tourism, economic development and marketing infrastructure quickly embraced wine and gastronomic tourism, almost before there was enough wine serve in the tasting rooms.

Now, there is. The 2006 vintage was the most bountiful on record for the County, so you will find more 100% County-grown wine (2005 reds will however be in short supply). The wineries can and do use grapes grown elsewhere in the province (largely Niagara) to create Ontario VQA wine, and the quality can be good. But until the VQA Prince Edward County designation appears on labels you will not experience the unique character of County wine unless you can determine that it is County-grown - so don’t be afraid to ask!

The limestone-laced soils, like those in Burgundy, France (on the same latitude), tend to lend finesse and minerality to the wines. They are light, elegant, subtle — sometimes with a floral fragrance -, quite different from the powerhouse wines we have come to expect from other New World regions, even Niagara. Cool climate white varieties like chardonnay, riesling and pinot gris flourish here, as well as varieties that produce lighter reds - pinot, gamay, cabernet franc, merlot and baco noir..

Take two days to fully experience County wineries.

Day One
Focus on the wineries around Picton. The bucolic strip of lakefront orchard and vineyard near the village of Waupoos is home to the County’s first winery - Waupoos Estates Winery, est. 2001. Owners Ed Neuser and Rita Kaimins have fashioned a charming, friendly tasting room and gazebo-style restaurant ideal for a summer lunch or dinner, and a bottle of their intriguing, aromatic white geisenhem, vidal or gamay noir. Nearby, with a panoramic view of Prince Edward Bay and Lake Ontario beyond, The County Cider Company in the same area is must visit for tasting, photography and a spot of lunch. Owner Grant Howes and winemaker Jennifer Dean make Ontario’s best apple and peach ciders, terrific Iced Cider dessert wine, plus chardonnays and pinot noir based on a vineyard in Adolphustown on the mainland.

On the western edge of Picton, Black Prince Winery, with winemaker Geoff Webb at the helm fashions a wide range of white and red vinifera and hybrid wines with amiable drinkability, and he also helps produce small lots for other very small wineries as well. Northwest of Picton near the geographical centre of the County Huff Estates, under the leadership of French-trained winemaker Frederic Picard is leading the region with very fine chardonnay, riesling, gamay and merlot-based Bordeaux blends sourced from vineyards in the South Bay region. A finely appointed, modern wine country inn opened here in 2006.

Day Two
The largest concentration of wineries is centred on the hamlet of Hillier. The Grange of Prince Edward Estate is a County landmark on Closson Road, with the winery and high beamed tasting room in a very impressive, much photographed Victorian barn, plus the largest vineyard acreage in the region. Should be a break out season for Caroline Granger, winemaker Jeff Ines and viticulturalist Mike Peddlesden as their own pinot noir, pinot gris and chardonnay vines come on stream. A short distance east, Closson Chase Vineyard is a tiny facility with big ambitions under famed winemaker Deborah Paskus who is focused on high quality pinot noir and chardonnay.

To the west on Greer Road, an enclave with several vineyard developments, Dan and Lynn Sullivan are making waves with wines from over 20 acres at Rosehall Run, which opened in 2006. Their pinot and chardonnay earned Best of County awards at the local Artevino competition last year. Nearby on the scenic Loyalist Parkway Catherine Langlois’ tiny Sandbanks Estate Winery is making some of the most elegant, gentle wines in the region, with fine cabernet franc, baco noir and riesling.

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