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2006
Essentials for Travellers
Okanagan Fall Wine Festival 2007 Okanagan Summer Wine Festival 2007 International Wine Events in 2007 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival 2007 Okanagan Fall Wine Festival 2006 Sonoma County Showcase of Wine & Food 2006 International Wine Events in 2006 Recently Recommended Vintage Destinations Travel Books Madrid Fusion IV ~ Spanish Wines Take Flight Prince Edward County's Field of Dreams Long Dog Winery - No Long Shot! Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival 2005 Chicago Treasures from Art to Wine New Zealand: A Taste of Things to Come TimeOutToronto ~ The Triplets of Belleville Arizona Wineries The Lowdown on Lodi ~North America’s most exciting viticultural area International Wine Events in 2004 World's Largest Parsnip ~ Royal Winter Fair 2003 Uxbridge Celebration of the Arts 2003 Myths and Legends of the World Michelin Three Star Chef at Wildfire Restaurant at Taboo Best Vintage Destinations ~ Top Spots for 2002-2003 The Shiraz Rush is On! ~ South Africa's Hottest Grape IFOAM 2002 Organic World Congress 2002 Miami Art Highlight - Roy Lichtenstein: Inside/Outside New Horizons for Ontario’s Culinary Wine Tourism© New Zealand ~ A New Culinary Cornucopia
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New
Horizons for Ontario’s Recognizing the ever-increasing
importance of wine tourism, the Ontario government is poised to invest in an
industry, which seems to have a silver lining. Although the exact amount being
contributed by Queen's Park has yet to be announced, the Ontario wine industry
hopes it will help kick-start the industry's own spending – projected at a
staggering $1.3-billion over the next 20 years on marketing, tourism and
improving the vineyards themselves. Since the 1989 Free Trade Agreement
between the US and Canada, the number of wineries Ontario has swelled from 18 to
72 wineries. Today, huge numbers of
visitors, both from the US and abroad, are touring local wineries.
This combined with the uniqueness of Niagara-on-the-Lake, the popularity
of the Shaw theatre festival and new culinary destinations has meant an influx
of big dollars. Making wine and culinary tourism work
is by no means a simple job. While
one would like to cater to the whims of the most discerning visitors, the
economic reality of having to keep an operation functioning for 12 months of the
year is perhaps the greatest challenge facing the development of a sustainable
luxury tourism industry.
Cheap and cheerful may keep the
locals coming, but getting the international media attention the destination
needs requires much more. Over the
past ten years there has been a significant increase in fine dining spots in the
Niagara region. Wineries lead the
way, with Vineland Estate, Hillebrand and Cave Spring Cellars being the first
three fine dining regional wine-based restaurants. There are real pitfalls to be faced
by luxury properties. “As we
don’t have extra income from producing wine, our difficulty,” according to
one operator, “is that we just get too many one-nighters – people who come
here on the weekend for one night and then scoot back to the city.” Recently the number winery
restaurants have more than doubled. Peller
Estates, Peninsula Ridge, Strewn and East Dell have all joined the foray.
And while it might appear that the number of places to stay hasn’t kept
pace, there is a huge invisible B&B business.
The Niagara-on-the-Lake Bed and Breakfast
Association (905-468-0123) provides great alternatives to the upscale
pricey hotels. The association
represents over 180 licensed B&B operators ranging from historic and
traditional in the Old Town, to unique and picturesque in the beautiful orchard
and river-view countryside. Their
website http://bba.notl.on.ca provides full
details and photos of each property.
Also nearby is Keaton Manor (905-688-3625) a
B&B heritage home, which is pushing 200 years. It has three guest rooms ($95-$125) and is operated by Mark
Walpole an executive chef caterer by day and Angela
Manjos. Depending upon the
municipality, three rooms tend to be the norm due to higher tax assessment
considerations. While Mark can fill you in on
everything you wanted to know about Ontario cuisine, formal cooking classes are
another attraction operated by the nearby Good
Earth Cooking School (see http://www.goodearthcooking.com).
This Sunday, for instance, you can meet Roberto
Fracchioni, Executive Chef of On
The Twenty Restaurant from 12 noon - 3 p.m. where oils, wines and
vinegars will be assessed. To
reserve call 1-800-308-5124. Of course, there’s always the
element of traffic. “Congestion
takes a lot of the thrill away,” says one fan.
“I like to bike; so taking the boat from Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake
is an ideal solution for me. I
relax and read the papers on the way over with no traffic problems whatsoever!
The only problem is when I drink too much and the trip back is choppy.” With the ever-increasing local activities, there’s no question that the local operators may have hopefully struck gold, especially with new initiatives from the Ontario government. Your Guide to Ontario Winery Restaurants East
Dell • The Bench Bistro ~ http://www.eastdell.com/bbistro.html Strewn • Terroir La Cachette ~ http://lacachette.com/ Vineland
Estate • Winery Restaurant ~ http://www.vineland.com/dinersguide.html |
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Copyright: Food & Beverage Testing Institute
of Canada 2001 |
The Niagara’s Bench region, which
is a bit off the traditional beaten path, has also been evolving.