During the first week of August my wife Valerie and I made our first post pandemic adventure to Prince Edward County.  I came prepared with a selection of wineries that I felt deserved a closer look, each having caught my attention for a variety of reasons.

The wineries are not presented in any particular order.

Hinterland Wine Company, 1258 Closson Rd, Hillier, Ontario

Hinterland Wine Company is a boutique winery specializing in wines made using the traditional method. Hinterland uses minimal intervention in their winemaking process, allowing the unique terroir to shine through.

I was particularly impressed with their 2021 L’Imparfait Seneca, which is classified as an orange wine, though it is very much red in colour.  It is a blend of 67% Pinot Noir, 26% Marquette and 7% Savagnin grapes.  If you like a sweet wine this one is definitely not for you; it has distinct earthy tones.

Closson Chase Winery, 629 Closson Rd, Hillier, Ontario

From Closson Chase we came away with some of their 2022 Estate Unoaked Chardonnay and 2021 Churchside Pinot Noir. 

The unoaked Chardonnay was sourced entirely from their South Clos vineyard. It was whole cluster pressed, then cool fermented in stainless steel at 14 C.

The Pinot Noir is sourced entirely from their Churchside vineyard. Destemmed with no crushing and cold soaked for 3-5 days. The juice was then fermented in oak tonneau and aged for 18 months in French oak barrels, 20% new. The wine has five to seven years of cellaring potential.

Rosehall Run, 1243 Greer Rd, Wellington, Ontario

At Rosehall Run we found a 2021 Chardonnay Musque, a wine that not many wineries seem to produce. It is an unoaked variety that contains Chardonnay Musque grapes, rather than the more common Chardonnay.  The wine is 100% estate grown and bottled.

Another find was their 2019 Cabernet Merlot which is a blend of 49% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Franc and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that were sourced from select vineyards in the Niagara Peninsula.  This wine has a cellaring potential of a minimum of ten years. It has been consistently rated as a 92 out of 100 by several wine critics.

Grange of Prince Edward Vineyards and Estate Winery, 990 Closson Rd, Hillier, Ontario

At Grange I had to go with one of my favourite varietals, Cabernet Franc.  In this case it was their 2020 Cabernet Franc, which contains 100% estate grown grapes.  This is unusual for Prince Edward County given the slightly cooler climate and shorter growing season than either Niagara or the North Shore of Lake Erie. 

Broken Stone Winery, 524 Closson Rd., Hillier, ON

This find I must credit my brother for as he happened by it when he was touring the County earlier this summer.  He brought me back a bottle of each of their 2018 Intensity Meritage Blend Niagara Peninsula and 2021 Gamay Noir Barrel Reserve.  Both were delightful.

In addition to purchasing these two wines, I also picked up some of their 2021 Chardonnay Sans Chene.

Karlo Estate Winery, 561 Danforth Rd, Wellington, Ontario

I am pleased to report that Karlo is back in full swing with a complete lineup of both red and white wines, including their unique red blend Quintus.  Winemaker, Derek Barnett, has recreated this work of founder Richard Karlo using a blend of the classic noble grape varieties, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Old Third Vineyard, 251 Closson Rd, Hillier

The Old Third produces unfiltered Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay.  Unfortunately, the tasting room is inside a barn that can only be entered by climbing steps consisting of some uneven precariously strung planks with no handrail.  This proved too much of an obstacle for my post-stroke climbing ability so I had to pass on going inside.

Stanners Vineyard, 76 Station Rd., Hillier

Stanners locally grown Cabernet Franc has always been one of my favourite Prince Edward County wines but given the small quantity produced, it is often difficult to obtain and this year is no exception.  The 2020 Cabernet Franc VQA Prince Edward County is already sold out, as well as the 2020 Pinot Noir VQA Prince Edward County and the 2020 Pinot Noir VQA Prince Edward County.  However, I was still able to obtain the 2020 Cabernet Franc VQA Lincoln Lakeshore. The grapes for this Cabernet Franc came from a single vineyard in the Lincoln Lakeshore sub-appellation of the Niagara Peninsula. The grapes were hand harvested then destemmed to whole berries with no crushing. The wine was aged in mostly older French oak barrels for 19 months and was not fined or filtered in order to preserve its fine fruit flavours. This wine is likely to age gracefully for quite a few years.

Devils Wishbone, County Road 7, Prince Edward County, Ontario

In the past I always enjoyed several of Devil Wishbone’s red varietals.  When I last visited the County in 2020 the winery was temporarily closed.  I anticipated a return visit there this summer but was saddened to learn that the owner, Jennifer Baldini, passed away in June of 2021 after suffering from a two-year illness.  The retail operations of the Devils Winery had been closed since the onset of her illness in 2019 but the vineyards were maintained in anticipation of her successful recovery.  Sadly, this didn’t prove to be the case and Devils Wishbone is now closed permanently.

Sláinte mhaith