What We Did on Our Summer Vacation
Exploring Pelee Island & Lake Erie North Shore
Summer’s end is always so sad, there’s a feeling of finality to it that doesn’t come with other seasons’ closures. Perhaps it’s the farewell to long, lazy days filled with beaches and barbecues, or maybe it’s the slight sense of foreboding about the cold Canadian weather quickly coming our way.
Whatever the reason, we needed to send Summer off with one last hurrah – so we packed up the car and headed east to Pelee Island and Lake Erie North Shore.
Embarassingly, this was our first time making the four-hour trek to LENS. Sure, we’ve tasted the wines with reps in Toronto, or at various trade shows here and there, but we’d never stepped foot on the sandy soil that makes Lake Erie North Shore great.
So, palates primed & ready, we hit Canada’s southernmost shores of to get our drink on. And oh, it was on.
A Little About Lake Erie North Shore
Lake Erie North Shore is on the same latitude as northern California, making it one of the warmest regions in the country with a wine-growing season that starts, on average, two weeks earlier than Niagara.
The long, hot growing season is tempered by lake breezes, and also comes with a lot of a rain — and the occasional serious hailstorm, which can be hazardous to vines. Despite the moderating effects of Lake Erie, the area still gets a lot of snow, so the spring growing season starts with the clay soils already saturated: the upside is winemakers don’t need to worry about irrigation, the downside is rot can quickly become a problem in the humid summers so winemakers must be vigilant.
The whole area is noticeably flat, with modest slopes and well drained soils of sandy loam, gravel and clay overtop of limestone. Lake Erie North Shore is ideal for growing Bordeaux varietals, but the warm temps means cool climate wines like Riesling risk flabbiness.
Colio Estate Wines winemaker Lawrence Buhler says Syrah is the varietal to watch, as it produces elegant, spicy wines not unlike northern Rhône reds, as well as Sauvignon Blanc for whites. Colio’s top tier, is under its “CEV” label; their 2007 Cabernet Franc is coming to Vintages this fall, but the Syrah is only available to order from the winery, as is the Sauv Blanc.
Colio is one of Lake Erie North Shore’s oldest and largest wineries producing more than 300-thousand cases a year, with the ambitious goal of increasing that number to 450-thousand. The bulk of that is made up of their wildly popular “lifestyle” wines Girls Night Out, and “fruit essence” wines — generic Canadian white wines with fruit concentrate added.
These are so in demand that Colio produces 3-thousand bottles per week — and truth be told, the Grapefruit/Pinapple/Lemonade flavoured wine mixed with a little sparkling water or wine, is quite a refreshing appertif on a hot day.
A Little About Pelee Island
Pelee Island Winery dates back to 1865, making it the oldest winery in Canada. Today the winery produces over 300-thousand cases of wine that are distributed around the world, with workers telling us Pinot Grigio and Baco Noir are the most popular with visitors.
A 90-minute ferry ride from the mainland, Pelee Island is the southern most point and the only wine region on the 42nd parallel north (about the same latitude as Rome). With longer growing seasons than any other region in Canada, it has has less frost and is an ideal spot for growing round, ripe reds and whites.
The vineyards are on the Island, along with a hospitality Pavilion for tours and tastings, but the production facility is on the mainland. Because the ferry stops running from December to March, workers to pick Icewine are flown in on chartered planes, and the Icewine grapes, are crushed and the juice kept in tanks until the ferry picks up again.
As Canada’s oldest winery, Pelee Island Winery can’t help but be a pioneer: it was making sparkling wine as far back as the late 1800’s, was one of the first to make Icewine from red grapes, and uses natural pest control while honouring the considerable Island wildlife on their labels.
All Work and No Play …?
The moral of this story is, if you get a chance to explore Lake Erie North Shore and Pelee Island, we couldn’t recommend it more.
We turned our our wine investigation trip into a family vaykay on Pelee Island – a smart idea as we’re hard pressed to think of a more relaxing & happy place to be. Depending on how you like your r n’ r, the Island offers a ton of things to do — or a whole lot of nothing. Here’s a few snapshots from our play time. We’re planning to head back next year — maybe we’ll see you there!
After a nearly four-hour drive and 90 minutes ferry ride, we finally arrived at our destination on Pelee – a relaxing retreat with all the amenities sisters may need for three days on an Island.
With sand, surf and a BBQ — and a winery– all within a few easy steps, we hunkered down for some serious relaxation time.
Renting Beach Cruisers, we pedalled around the 10-thousand acre island taking in all the natural attractions – including black flies.
Pelee Island has a ton of things to do for both nature lovers and do-nothingers. Being from Toronto, we took to Island living like fish to water, marvelling in the wonder of the great outdoors.
And, of course, what’s a vacation with The Wine Sisters if there’s not a whole lot of eating and drinking to be had?
