Day Trippin'

June 2020 - Niagara Region ON

Welland ON
Niagara Wine Region Part 1
St. Catharines
NIagara Wine Region Part 2

Continuing from St. Catharines, we set out for some wineries, our original intent.

Covid 19 note - this region will be allowed to move to Stage 2 as of this Friday. That means they can open their patios for food and wine with many social distancing rules in place. No tastings as yet. But this is being treated by the wineries as a good experience. No crowds as there won't be any bus tours (yeah) so it will be more of an experience without the crowds.

We named the winery Henry of Pelham after great-great-great grandpa’s son, Henry, who we think had a pretty dry sense of humour, nicknaming himself “Henry of Pelham” after a British Prime Minister. He was quite the entrepreneur, building an inn and tavern on the property and operating a toll road. He raised sheep. And grew grapes—some of the first to be planted in Canada. Our tasting room and wine store are in Henry’s carriage house.

In 1984, when our parents decided to replace Henry’s concord and Niagara grapevines with old world vinifera grapes, the Niagara wine scene hardly existed and there were a lot of naysayers—but we had done our homework. Heat scans proved we had the right conditions, and we bettered our chances by contouring the hills and installing drainage. At the time, we were one of only a few Niagara wineries to make premium wines from our own grapes.

One door in and another to exit. Hands were sanitized by an employee on entrance. Directional lines on the floors.
AND we were allowed to use the restrooms.

HERNDER ESTATES

A natural progression of events began after Gottfried Hernder emigrated from Germany to western Canada. In 1939, the family moved to the “Grapeview” area of St. Catharines, Ontario, to a mixed fruit farm that included acreage of indigenous grapes.“Fred” Hernder’s boyhood chores would become the foundation for future skills. After the passing of his father, Fred purchased the family farm in 1968, and began the acquisition of others. His success was heralded when he was crowned as the youngest Niagara “GRAPE KING” in 1977. Forever the entrepreneur, Fred began selling not only grapes & juice, but also winemaking supplies to the growing home market as well as wineries.

With the advent of the free trade agreement between the United States and Canada in 1988, local wine producers faced the very real threat of dramatically declining percentages of Ontario grape juice in Ontario wines to imported grapes. This prompted Fred to make 2 important decisions: to replant his acreage with classic Vitis Vinifera & French Hybrid varieties and also to purchase the Victorian cattle barn (circa 1867) on 8th Avenue Louth ~ this, to launch his newest endeavor, that of his own winery.

Lovely spot for a wedding.

This winery did not want you to touch anything, they would bring your items to the cash.
I also bought a bread dipping sauce and a sherry vinegar along with a bottle of wine.

All Hernder table wines are produced from 100% Ontario grapes, and all have attained the V.Q.A. (Vintners Quality Alliance) status.
$15 for 1.5 liter.

13th St. Winery beautiful grounds but their website doesn't give any information about their history.

Part of the vision for 13th Street Winery is to provide our guests with a unique experience that stimulates all the senses, not just taste. With this in mind we designed the grounds surrounding the winery to feature a permanent exhibit of spectacular sculptures. We invite our guests to take a moment, perhaps with a glass of wine in hand, to explore our art collection featuring the works of Karoly Veress, Floyd Elzinga, Dan Solomon, Ken Hall, Ronald Boaks and Ilan Averbuch.