LCBO Food and Drink Autumn 2016

Niagara

COYOTE’S RUN ESTATE WINERY & PROVISIONS FOOD COMPANY

FRUIT PASTES from Provisions echo Niagara’s wines by using locally grown, single-variety fruit. Lori Elstone buys bushels of Bartlett pears from local farmers at the precise moment of ripeness, cooking them into a paste that bursts with pear fla- vour. Stiffer than a jam and not as sweet, it’s also a fabulous con- diment for blue or soft cheeses.

I first met Lori Elstone when she was managing De Luca’s cheese store outside Niagara-on-the-Lake and she made me a scrumptious sandwich. “I worked all sorts of jobs in the local food and wine industry,” she recalls. “I was in my 30s and still asking myself what I might do when I grew up!” In 2010, she co-wrote The Harrow Fair Cookbook with her sis- ter, Moira Sanders, then in 2012 started Provisions Food Company, seeing a need for local, top-quality packaged treats that could be sold at winery tasting rooms.

A Woman In Business start-up grant from local entrepreneur Shannon Passero gave the firm a boost, and today her de- lectable fruit pastes, sweet and savoury shortbreads, caramels and condiments are widely distributed (find out more at provisionsfoodcompany.com).    Af t e r 21 yea r s mak i ng wi ne a t Inniskillin, David Sheppard helped found Coyote’s Run Estate Winery in 2003. Two very different soils on the property (one 15,000 years old, the other 450 mil- lion years older) yield wines with dis-

tinct differences, nuances of terroir that Sheppard can exploit when crafting his award-winning Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. He picks his Pinot Gri- gio a little later than many producers and that extra ripeness gives the wine exceptional character and a voluptuous, almost Alsatian weight. There’s a hint of sweetness braided with a refreshing acidity while the intense, fruit-forward aromas and flavours remind me of ripe peaches, pears and apricots with a hint of spicy citrus.

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