Niagara on the lake wineries
 

We are planning a long weekend this summer and would like to visit a couple of wineries. Could anyone suggest which ones to visit and also any good restaurants to try. Thanks in advance.

There's lots of terrific information at www.niagaraonthelake.com. You can also e-mail for fabulous literature. Many of the wineries have websites. All the locals seem to have their personal favorites.

Thanks for the information Donna. I would like some personal input from people who have visited different wineries-which ones they liked or disliked.

<BR>If you're looking to tour a big operation I'd go to Inniskillin. Personally my favourite for tasting is Konzelmann! Try to have a meal at On The Twenty in Jordan! Best restaurant in the area!!

Niagara on the Lake is beautiful. The Pillar & The Post, and the Prince of Wales are both popular spots. Another is The Buttery, which is pretty pricey but good food. My particular favourite is the Angel Inn. Great food, and apparently the rumour is it is haunted. It's very quaint regardless. <BR> <BR>As far as wineries go, I like the smaller wineries like Marynissen, but Pilliteri Estates and Iniskillen are alright too. Konzelman, not my particular favourite, but hey - everyone has their own taste. The drive down the <BR>Niagara Parkway is beautiful.... you should check out the Butterfly Conservatory if you are in to that sort of thing. I think its about $7 admittance and there are about 50 different types of butterflies that fly all around you in the conservatory. Wear bright colours and they land on you. My boyfriend wasn't exactly thrilled we were going at first, but even he thought it was pretty amazing. <BR>Try and check out a play at the Shaw Festival. <BR>Have a great time!

Well, this is what I meant. All the wineries are different. Most people visit several or more and have strong opinions. Some people take the "winery route" and visit them all. We went to several last year and will be going to others this year. We asked locals which they liked best - no two answers were even similar.

The reason people post on these forums is to get personal opinions on where to stay or eat etc. Thats what these forums are all about. Websites are great but they don't give you somesones opinion who has stayed there. That's why we ask people questions so we can form our own. Just my personal opinion don't want to offend .

Hi Diane, <BR> <BR>It's been a long time (8 years or so), but we really liked Inniskillin. I don't believe we toured there, just tasted and they had some very nice wines, and some entertaining discussion about the difficulties of growing wine in their climate. They were very friendly. <BR> <BR>We had lunch at the Buttery. It was quite good.

We visited several wineries. All were different, but interesting. Our favorite was Hillebrand where lunch was also excellent. We didn't care for the Buttery at all. Throughout our meal, there was a large (and loud) crowd waiting to be seated. They were very inefficient at clearing and re-setting tables to seat the folks waiting. The food wasn't very good and they served tartar sauce in little plastic packets (awful) with the Fish N Chips, which was the special of the day. You'd think they could have made up a batch of tartar sauce to go with the special.

<BR>The winery I like is Reif. <BR> <BR>The only restaurant I like in Niagara on the Lake is the Blue Angel Inn. Others are overpriced, so-so food. The Moffat Inn also has a nice restaurant. <BR> <BR>The Shaw festival has an excellent line-up this year. We already saw "REbecca" and have just got tickets for "Getting Married".

A lot of people take an organized "winery tour" or follow the "wine route" in their car and go to all of them...Agree that lunch at Hillebrand is good. So many restaurants in NOTL. If you wnt reviews from someone whose been to all the wineries and restos, buy a book called Getaways for Gourmets in the Northeast by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Be sure to post your recommendations after your long weekend okay?

Hillebrand, Inniskillin, Konzelmann - in that order.

Diane, I make an annual trip to the Niagara region and always visit wineries. If you are going in July, the wineries all have special activities going on during the weekends at that time (e.g. special wine tastings, barbeques, concerts). So make sure you pick up a schedule of the different events. As far as my favourite wineries go: I always like the Reif Winery. Chateau Des Charmes is impressive if they have a tour going on. Hillebrand has some nice things also.