Tuesday, August 30, 2011

ANOTHER GREAT DAY IN PEC!

The gang enjoying a lovely day in Prince Edward County.

This past Saturday I spent another lovely day in Prince Edward County. My third trip with Authentic Canadian Tours, and my second trip to this beautiful part of the province with the tour company. This time Rob and my girlfriend Anita joined me, making for an even better day!

The drive to the county is about 2.5 hours but passed quickly with all the friendly chatter on the mini bus and we soon found ourselves at our first stop of the day, Waupoos Estates Winery. Waupoos was the very first winery in the county, opening in 2001, and now, just ten years later, there are 36 wineries gracing the county.

The grounds of this winery are gorgeous. They overlook the Lake of Ontario and are surrounded by apple orchards and perfectly manicured vine-lands. Their best selling wine is called Honeysuckle, and what is most interesting about this wine is it's smell. It does not smell good at all, Anita said it smelt like stinky sweat socks! BUT, it tastes really good, and a bottle came home with me, along with a large bar of pairing chocolate from their Chocolatier Store.

Waupoos Estates Winery.

Grapes hanging on the vines of Waupoos.

The wines of Waupoos.

Next we were off to Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company, specializing in goat and sheep's cheese, and being very "Green". The tasting room was small, but it was worth the wait for all the samples and I purchased my three favorites from the tasting. They also offer a wine and cheese pairing at a couple different times in the afternoon and I hope this makes it into the itinerary for one the tours in the future.

The huge sunflowers on the grounds of Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company.

The cheese menu of Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company on Saturday.

Lunch was at "Lake on the Mountain Resort", located on the shore of Lake on the Mountain over looking the Bay of Quinte 200 feet below. The view was spectacular and the food delicious. I will definitely be visiting this amazing place again.

The Lake on the Mountain Inn, it was charming.

The group waiting for what turned out to be a delicious lunch at the restaurant of the Lake on the Mountain Inn.

The Lake on the Mountain, there are lots of legends as to how it got there.

We had a short stop in the charming village of Bloomfield, just long enough to enjoy a delicious homemade ice-cream from "Slickers" and have a peek in a couple of the boutique shops.

Waiting in line for a yummy home made ice-cream from "Slickers".

The next winery on our itinerary was "The Grange of Prince Edward County". This was my second visit to this picturesque winery. I bought a bottle of a late harvest dessert wine so freshly made the labels for the bottles weren't ready yet.

The picturesque Grange Winery.

Inside the large tasting room of the Grange.

This is how Rob spent most of his day, out on the winery grounds looking for wildlife and birds.

Our last stop of the day was "By Chadsey's Cairns Winery". Never have I visited a winery so full of character. With big old barns and a Pioneer Cemetery, this winery is full of uniqueness as well as great wines. I picked up another bottle of their 2010 Riesling on this trip, just like last time.

We had no idea what these ball things were lining the driveway of the winery, but we liked them!

The group sitting on the hay bales inside a large barn on the grounds that is used as an entertainment theatre.

Anita and I showing off our Riesling 2010 purchase inside the tasting barn.

Forty-Two rows of Riesling grapes.

Before heading back to Toronto we enjoyed a meal of Charnivore BBQ, who had set up shop on the winery grounds for the summer. It was the perfect ending to another perfect day in Prince Edward County.

3 comments:

Anita said...

I had an awesome time here! The area is more lush and rustic than the Niagara region...not better...just different!

I finally got to meet the mystery man, Rob!! The two of you are a hoot!

Anita

Teena in Toronto said...

Looks like an awesome and lots of fun!

Gord and I will check it out next year.

Rob said...

We love Owls Anita, so how could one not describe as being "a hoot". :) It was a pleasure meeting you too.