21/07/2026
Do you ever wonder about the vineyards your glass of wine is from? 🍇
One of our favourite experiences at Int Cool Climate Chardonnay 2026 was spending the day tasting wines and then visiting a couple verdant vineyards located along the Niagara Escarpment of Wines of Ontario! 🌱
Our day began with with Leaning Post Wines, with a tasting of small lot Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Dolcetto and then a walk through the beautiful Grimsby Hillside Vineyard. It’s one thing to hear a winemaker describe limestone soils, elevation, cooling breezes and meticulous farming while tasting a Chardonnay (or in Leaning Post’s case also a Pinot Noir). It’s another to stand among the vines, look across the escarpment and realize that every glass is a reflection of this exact place, straddling Hamilton and Niagara. 🏔️
The day continued to the new, exciting and growing perenelle that is also located on the Niagara Escarpment but almost on the opposite end in Niagara-on-the-Lake’s St. David’s Bench. Here, we tasted Rosé, Chardonnay and some intriguing red blends from one of the warmest sub-appellations of Niagara. Benefiting from a unique microclimate and sustainable practices (including beekeeping), the wines are crafted with great care to emphasize the place they are from (much like our earlier stop!).
The day culminated with a late vineyard lunch at Itty Bitty Farm Co., where the connection between Niagara’s farms and vineyards carried right onto the plate. Along the way, Chef Ryan Crawford cultivated (you like that?) a few unforgettable i4C moments too - from Mike sabring a bottle of sparkling wine with an axe (yes, really!) to Jeff lending a hand in making the famous dip dip eggs before enjoying them alongside a beautiful lineup of cool-climate Chardonnay. 🙌
Sometimes the best wine experiences aren’t about finding another tasting note. They’re about discovering the place behind the wine. 🍾
Because once you’ve walked the vineyard, shared the stories and broken bread with the people who grow the grapes you don’t just taste the wine … you taste its sense of place (which is delicious, obviously). 😏✨🥂
