LCBO Food & Drink Autumn 2022

Below: Colio Estate has welcomed wine lovers since 1980.

Pelee Island Winery’s pavilion (pictured) affords fine views of Lake Erie.

TRIED AND TRUE

You might think that it was Prohibition, introduced in Ontario in September 1916, that ruined the wine industry in Essex County. In fact, nearly all of those early wineries had long since found larger profits in tobacco, tomatoes and other crops. Long decades passed before the region’s interest in wine reawoke. In 1980, a group of local Italian businessmen with roots in Friuli took a look at the way vinifera grapes were beginning to thrive in Niagara and decided to try the same game near Harrow, plant ing vinifera and hybrid vines, and hoping the chart-topping heat and sunshine units in the area would help them flourish. They called their company Colio, and it’s still one of the province’s largest. In the same year, Austrian winemaker Walter Strehn started growing Chardonnay, Riesling and a handful of other German varieties on Pelee Island, opening a winery on themainland in 1984. The ambitions of these pioneers have been realized. Today, Wine Country Ontario lists 13 wineries in the region, renowned for ripe Cabernets and versatile red blends that make the most of the climate.

Pelee Island Lighthouse Cabernet Franc VQA (LCBO 145441, $14.95) Cab ripens well this far south, and you can taste it in the wine’s lingering red-berry flavour, balanced with a hint of fine tannins and well- controlled acidity. Medium weight and fruity, it’s a refreshing match for meat pies or charcuterie.

4 LAKE ERIE NORTH SHORE

WHILE YOU’RE THERE

Jack’s Gastropub Kingsville

Todd Loop fishes commercially for Lake Erie pickerel and perch. You can taste his catch, as fresh as can be, served with caper dill aïoli, at Jack’s Gastropub in Kingsville. The place has a wraparound porch and a fine list of local brews and wines. jacksgastropub.com

D rive down to Essex County on a warm day in early fall and you’ll see why this is the place where Ontario’s wine industry began. Never mind that it’s on the same latitude as Rome and Portugal’s Douro Valley; it has sunshine of its own, glittering off Lake Erie and ripening an incredible abundance of fruit and vegetables. “Why not grapes, too?” asked “a company of gentlemen from Kentucky” in 1866. They bought 30 acres of damp land on Pelee Island, planted them with Catawba vines sourced from Ohio, and built Vin Villa winery. The success of their operation soon encouraged imitators. By the end of the century, 20,000 acres of vineyard and over 30 more wineries were spread along Lake Erie’s North Shore, most making sweet, potent wines from labrusca grapes such as Concord and Catawba with their foxy, “grape-jelly” taste.

Hopetown Wine Co. Hill House Craft Red VQA (LCBO 20258, $13.95) From Colio Estate, here’s a smooth, dry red blend with plenty of blackberry and plum notes and a touch of green pepper—just the thing for a burger or grilled vegetables off the barbecue. Easy to drink and a very good value.

Lee and Maria’s Farm and Market Kingsville

A family business for 45 years, the market sells fruit and vegetables from the farm, plus all sorts of groceries and produce from local growers and artisans. Stay for a farm tour or cooking class. leeandmarias.com

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHNNY C.Y. LAM (BARN AND DOOR, LEFT); COURTESY OF IAN VIRTUE/PELEE ISLAND WINERY

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