Here it is! The definitive guide to Ontario’s Wine Country. But there’s much more to it than wine. It is, in fact, a complete tourism guide to some of the province’s most scenic and inviting places. And it contains everything you need to know about enjoying, discussing and pairing wines with food…
This 94-page, full colour menu-format guide book is chock-full of information you’ll want to access if you decide to do the wine tour thing this summer. If you want to tour them all, you’ll find that Toronto is the geographic centre of Wine Country. You can do a day trip to most of the regions, except maybe those in deep southwestern Ontario, like Pelee Island.
I’ve visited most of the officially-recognized regions and even lived and worked in the Prince Edward County Region when I was just starting out in journalism. The Wine business was just getting under way there in the late 70s and nobody took much notice at the time. Farmers were more concerned with the Apple harvest – the big business down in ‘The County’ and along the north shore of Lake Ontario over to Cobourg at that time. And small growers were focused on their soft fruits – strawberries, raspberries and so on. People were surprised, at first, when Prince Edward was first recognized as a major Ontario Wine Region. Well, I’ll bet they’re having the same experience right now in those regions North of Toronto, and fronting on Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, which are classed as ‘Emerging’ in the 2016 Wine Guide.You can be part of it!
‘Visit the world next door’
That was a slogan they used, several years ago, in a marketing campaign urging people to visit tourist destinations in their own parts of the country, attractions they may not have considered visiting because they were so easily accessible. Just like folks who live in Ottawa, the nation’s capital. You never visit Parliament Hill or the Museums or the National Gallery unless someone is visiting from out of town and needs a tor guide. Human nature is a funny thing…
The 2016 Wine Guide falls into the same category – pointing out the obvious to folks living just a couple of hours from some pretty great destinations they may be overlooking. Now, that’s not to say that folks from away – outside southern Ontario – won’t find the Guide beneficial. They’ll find it indispensable!
A fund of info…
Even if you don’t visit an Ontario winery or two this season, grab and save the 2016 Wine Guide. it’s full of great wine appreciation info and other tidbits you’ll want to have close at hand, in one easy reference!
And, for your ultimate convenience, the 2016 Ontario Wine Guide is available online as a .PDF so you can enjoy the great photography and helpful maps. If there’s anything negative to say about the online Guide, it’s that it’s not optimized for your smart phone.
You can also get the paper version included with the Spring edition of the LCBO’s Food & Drink magazine, on the usual racks at your local Liquor Store, now!
~ Maggie J.