Niagra-on-the-Lake, Ontario – My wife and I are driving down a two-lane road bordered by vineyards, a scene you’d say was vintage Napa Valley. Except for one thing: We’ve just pulled off the Queen Elizabeth Highway after the hour-and-a-half drive from the north shore of Lake Ontario at Toronto and find ourselves in the storybook town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, where the vineyards of Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula spread out across a 30-mile plain.

Torontonians love to escape to Niagara-on-the-Lake when they crave a comfy stay in a bed-and-breakfast, great local wine and cuisine, boutique shopping, and the acclaimed Shaw Festival.

If ever there was a “complete wine country experience,” this is it, including recreational cooking classes at Strewn Estate Winery’s Wine Country Cooking School.

And if history interests you, there’s plenty of it here, too.

During the American Revolution, Niagara-on-the-Lake was a haven for stateless American refugees still loyal to the English king, and at the time of the War of 1812, the town was attacked and occupied by American forces, which later burned it to the ground. The earthen-and-log bastions of Fort George, off the Niagara Parkway, played a key role in the war and are easily visited just south of town.

The route extends from the edge of town to just north of Niagara Falls and parallels the scenic Niagara River between Ontario and New York State. The shoreline makes an ideal spot for afternoon picnics.

Our hosts were Michael and Erin Mitchell, the owners of Three Forty Gate Bed and Breakfast, a comfy two-story house they share with their lovable Lab, Trigger.

On our first full day in Niagara-on-the-Lake, we walked down historic Queen Street, whose quaint shops have the look of a Hollywood back lot but are all very real and feature everything from imported Irish clothing to Greaves Jams and Marmalades. Restaurants include the Shaw Café and Wine Bar, whose statue of George Bernard Shaw looks down at you with the eye of the social critic that he was.

The Shaw Festival, synonymous with Niagara-on-the-Lake, is where we saw “Saint Joan.”After the play and a restful night at the inn, we set off to visit some wineries, which are identified by official blue-and-white “Wine Route” signs.

Numbering around 50, these wineries specialize in cool-climate varietals like chardonnay,  pinot noir, riesling, and, of course, ice wine, whose tough-skinned grapes are harvested in the dead of winter and, through the complex freezing and thawing process, produce exquisitely sweet wine.

To someone used to wines from California, wine from chilly Ontario may elicit a bit of wonderment, but the Niagara region is ideally suited to growing cool-climate grapes, which tend to be fruitier and more aromatic than their warm-climate cousins.

And — what may come as a surprise — the Niagara Peninsula shares the same latitude with Northern California, and is even a bit more southerly than the vineyards of Burgundy and Bordeaux. But the real secret to its success seems to be the Niagara Escarpment, a protective ridge which creates microclimates, and Lake Ontario’s climate-moderating air flow.

Our first stop was Peller Estates Winery, whose large, modern building stands on a hillside above vineyards of chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.

Peller was founded more than 40 years ago by Hungarian immigrant Andrew Peller and in 2006 was judged “Best Canadian Wine Producer of the Year” by the International Wine & Spirits Competition in London.

We had lunch in Peller’s signature Four Diamond restaurant. Peller’s executive chef is Jason Parsons, whose resume includes six Relais & Chateau properties and two Michelin-star restaurants.

Our memorable lunch began with an aperitif of Peller Estates Oak-Aged Vidal Ice Wine. Our Heirloom Tomato Carpaccio featured goat cheese from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. This dish was paired with Peller’s Private Reserve 2004 Sauvignon Blanc, a dry, medium-bodied wine with refreshing flavors.The main course was a flavorful Lake Perch, paired with Peller’s 2005 Private Reserve Riesling.  

For dessert, we shared two dishes: a Vidal Ice Wine Chocolate Mousse Cone and fresh Niagara strawberries and mint crème anglaise, served with Peller’s 2005 Vidal Ice Wine, and second, a Valrhona Chocolate Souffle with crème anglaise and Niagara cherry sauce, served with Peller’s 2006 Cabernet Franc Ice Wine.

Home of ice wine

Inniskillin, another pioneering Ontario winery we visited was founded by Donald Ziraldo and Austrian immigrant Karl Kaiser, who was making pinot noir in the 1980s with Oregon pinots as his benchmark. Located south of Peller, Inniskillin has acquired considerable fame for its ice wine.

“We look at it as ‘extreme wine-making’ in extreme Canadian winters,” said Deborah Pratt, the winery’s public relations manager. “So we’ve turned what was originally a negative into a very good positive.”

People come to visit in January during the annual Ice Wine Fest to watch the harvest. “They simply don’t believe that we actually go out there in minus-8 degrees and pick the grapes,” Pratt said.

In 1989, Inniskillin won the Grand Prix d’Honneur for its ice wine at Vinexpo, in Bordeaux, France. George Riegl, at Donald Ziraldo’s urging, developed a special wine glass for ice wine.

Inniskillin’s boutique, the Gaelic-named Brae Burn Barn, was constructed in the 1920s from a design popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright. It has an open-beam structure with a demonstration kitchen and a wine bar.

From Inniskillin, we drove west of the Niagara River to Chateau des Charmes, a large winery surrounded by 280 acres of vineyards  founded by Paul M. Bosc in 1978.

Bosc and his family were Alsatians who had lived and made wine in Algeria for generations before moving to Canada. Chateau des Charmes is still the only large, family-owned winery in the area, and Bosc is still its principal winemaker. The winery produces cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, chardonnay, a lot of riesling and gewürztraminer, and a Burgundy-style, floral viogner.

Bosc also makes a unique gamay noir droit, a clone of the gamay noir. He has the exclusive right to the plant, which is the first vinifera grape created in Canada and is called Droit (French for “straight”) because the vine grows straight up.

After visiting all of these rather large wineries, we decided to investigate one of the region’s smaller ones, Coyote’s Run Estate Winery, which sits on a 58-acre vineyard north of the Niagara College Teaching Winery. This is where winemaker David Sheppard, a big fan of Burgundian and Alsatian wines, focuses on wines he calls “approachable and fruit-driven, with soft, ripe tannins, yet always showing true varietal character.”

About 25 acres of the property are planted with pinot noir, chardonnay, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, vidal and pinot gris.

Whether they grow on the edge of the Niagara Escarpment — recognized as a World Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations for its rare ecosystem — or spread out across the flat plain beyond, the vineyards of Niagara-on-the-Lake have taken their rightful place on the international wine scene.

For more information about travel to Niagara-on-the-Lake, contact www.Ontariotravel.net or call (800) 668-2746.

Information about Ontario wineries is available at www.winesofontario.ca.