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The WINE WRITER: George Medovoy
SOUTHERN ONTARIO HAS PRETTY DRIVES...AND NAPA VALLEY OF THE
NORTH!
By George Medovoy
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Canada -- Winston Churchill once called
the Niagara River Parkway the prettiest afternoon drive in
the world.
It's easy to see why he was right!
The parkway's canopy of trees is truly something to behold,
evoking everyones favorite image of Canada as a special kind
of place in the north.
You know, pristine scenery, red-suited Mounties on horseback
-- all the classic Hollywood images.
But more than that is the feeling best expressed by Canadian
writer Stephen Leacock, who once said: "Compared with the
rest of a troubled world, the North seems a vast realm of
peace."
On
one of those peaceful, lovely mornings, I drove south from
Toronto along Lake Ontario for Niagara-on-the-Lake, about
two hours away, recently named the "The Prettiest Town in
Canada."
This is also a region of a lot of other pretty towns in
their own right, like Waterdown, where I stopped to rest in
an old two-story house called the Village Tea Room.
There was a slight chill in the air. I ordered a cup of mint
tea, which warmed me up. Across the street, in the window of
a travel agency, I couldnt believe my eyes -- they had
posted a sign advertising sunny California beaches. Well, a
lot of Canadians do dream of warming up by going south.
When I got back in the car, I drove onto the Niagara
peninsula, which, believe it or not, is also a fertile wine
region full of spreading vineyards -- a sort of Napa Valley
of the North.
Ontario wines have, in fact, started to come into their own.
So much so, that a headline in the Toronto Star exclaimed:
Cheers! Ontario wine is the toast of France.
The peninsula owes its agreeable climate for grapes to the
Niagara escarpment, which rises above the landscape to
create a natural barrier against the wind.
The province of Ontario's agricultural region now has about
35 wineries, which offer tastings and tours.
To
find out more about this side of Ontario, I stopped at the
Inniskillin Winery tasting room. Outside, a field of grapes
basked in the warm sun.
Inniskillin produces Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and
Gewurtztraminer, plus a novelty wine called ice wine, an
extremely concentrated dessert drink made form winters
frozen Vidal grapes.
The white grapes are painstakingly picked by hand in their
natural frozen state, often in the middle of the freezing
night.
The wine produced from these grapes is intensely sweet and
flavorful, with hints of tropical fruits and overtones of
peach nectar and mango.
But the wineries are only one of the wonderful surprises in
this region of Ontario.
At
the southern tip of the peninsula is Niagara-on-the-Lake,
one of the best preserved and prettiest 19th-century towns
in North America.
The Canadian legislature met here for five sessions from
1791 to 1796, but following the War of 1812, the capitol was
moved to Ottawa in order to be further from the U.S. border.
Keep in mind that during the war an American force of 14
ships and 1,700 troops burned Niagara-on-the-Lake to the
ground.
The scenic Niagara Parkway, 35 miles of greenbelt also known
as Queen Victoria Park, parallels the Niagara River.
Along the way I found Queenston, where General Sir Isaac
Brock died a heros death while leading his troops to victory
over the Americans in the Battle of Queenston Heights during
the War of 1812.
You can drive the route, walk it, stop for picnics, or, if
you prefer, bike it.
Niagara-on-the-Lake has wonderful charm, especially along
Queen Street, including the restored Niagara Apothecary, The
Fudge Shop, where fudge is made right before your eyes on a
marble slab, and Greaves Jams, which has been making jams
since 1927.
Before I knew it, all that traveling made me hungry, so I
stopped at the Pillar and Pod, one of the nicest inns in
Niagara-on-the-Lake, for baked salmon and a piece of
delicious apple pie.
The inn was originally built in the early part of the 20th
century as a peach and tomato canning factory. It has 90
rooms, most with woodburning fireplaces, hand-crafted pine
furnishings and patchwork quilts made by local Amish
families.
Niagara-on-the-Lake is also home to the famous Shaw
Festival, where you can see a wonderful bill of plays by
Shaw and his contemporaries in three different theatres. The
Shaw is home to the second largest repertory company in
North America and the only one to specialize in plays by
Shaw and his contemporaries (1856-1950).
At
nearby Niagara Falls, legend has it that Jerome Bonaparte,
Napoleons brother, brought his bride from New Orleans -- and
started a trend. But honeymoon or not, an experience not to
be missed is a ride on the Maid of the Mist boat on the
Canadian side of the falls, assuredly the nicer side.
One afternoon, I joined dozens of Japanese tourists for the
short ride to within earshot of Horseshoe Falls, which is 34
million gallons of water crashing down every minute. We were
each handed a blue rain slicker for the ride, and with hoods
wrapped over our heads, we all looked rather like strange
creatures from another planet.
From wine to history, and from scenic beauty to wonderful
theatre, the Niagara region is a must stop when you find
yourself in the Toronto area.
For information on travel to Canadas province of Ontario,
call 800-ONTARIO. Air Canada has regular non-stop service to
Toronto from many gateways. In the U.S., call 800-776-3000.
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