Foxy Wines

This afternoon was spent in the small village of Jordan, Ontario. It is a beautiful little village that is centered around the winemaking industry. The Pennachetti family owns Cave Spring Cellars, The Inn on the Twenty as well as the Jordan House. After a fantastic lunch at the Jordan House Tavern we made our way down Main Street to Cave Spring Cellars. I love the atmosphere in the boutique there. It is a very large boutique that has a lot of space to walk around and browse the bottles of wine and stemware that they have for sale. When in the store I feel comfortable and not cramped, I'm not worried that I'm going to turn around and accidently knock something of great value over! The bar is very long and today there were a fair number of employees working and available for tastings, so they were able to accomodate the busy stream of summer tourists who were flowing in. In one corner of the boutique there is a raised section that has a very comfy looking couch. This was a perfect spot for my very tired and uninterested 3 year old son to curl up and rest.

The following is a list of the wines that I sampled along with my first thoughts as I tasted each (All of the wines came from the Cave Spring Cellars VQA Niagara Peninsula selection.):

2007 Reisling Dolomite - Minerals

2006 Chenin Blanc Sparkling - very dry and refreshing

2007 Pinot Noir - black fruit

2007 Gamay - black pepper

I purchased a bottle of the Dolomite and a bottle of the sparkling wine to take home. I really enjoyed all of the wines, but decided on the two white wines because they were available only at the winery store.

After having sampled and purchased some wine, it was time for the public tour to begin. We decided to sign up. It was a very informative tour led by the friendly Cave Spring Cellars guide Jessica. We had a chance to see the presses and the cellar room. Jessica pointed out an old picture of the building taken back in the 1920s, long before it became Cave Spring Cellars in 1986. It was really interesting to see how little it had changed over the years. The facades are very much the same. They did a wonderful job of renovating the inside of the buildings though, very impressive.

Well I hope I'll soon have an opportunity to enjoy the bottles of wine that I purchased. I'm especially looking forward to a nice hot day where I can sit outside, enjoy the sunshine and savour the bottle of Chenin Blanc Sparkling wine. Sparkling wine is not just meant for New Year's!