What better day to share a walk than Humpday? A long time ago, our friend @tattoodjay started the #wednesdaywalk movement and it matches well with the Make me Smile Collaboration challenge lead by @elizacheng.
This week, I take you on a #Wednesdaywalk through a winery in Niagara!
Welcome to Konzelmann Estate Winery! It came by recommendation when I said I was heading to wine country with my better half to earn some WifePoints© We booked a tour and happened to arrive on the perfect day with a big blue Autumn sky. I am only noticing how the flag appears upside down and wonder if it had anything to do with the strange happenings during this tour.
Only kidding the tour was delightful as was the drive in. Besides dozens of wineries dotting the landscape, there are plenty of fresh peaches, cherries, pears and apples and the roadside stands are some of the best whole foods you will ever eat. Straight from the farmers.
From this angle, the classic arched doorway suggests ties to the old world and details like the heavy wooden doors were all so deliberately considered.
It is an Estate Winery which would suggest some opulence. The formidable front wall and soaring towers may pale in comparison from the castles in the old world but is a nice touch on one of the southernmost areas in Canada.
It was neat to learn this is the only lakefront winery in the whole region. Sure the whole eastern border is a river down an unfarmable cliff but there is also a 50 km / 30 mile shoreline on Lake Ontario. On a clear day, or with a better camera, you can see Toronto and the CN tower across Lake Ontario just to the left of the round tree in the middle of the picture.
We had a great young tour guide who not only knew the history, but presented it with an entertaining personality.
Here is a neat billboard showing the origin story of Konzelmann Estate Winery which started in Germany in 1893.
Fast forward to the 1970s and the founder's great grandson is scoping land for a vineyard and the winery officially opens in 1988. Such an embarrassingly short history when you compare it to European wineries but you gotta start somewhere!
I love when you get to walk among the vines, almost, on these tours. I love to see the grapes on the vine and behold the unique grape that makes up the soul of the wine. As mentioned in my post in @galenkp's #WeekendExperiences post, I go against the grain as a #beerologist when I prefer a winery tour over a brewery tour. These grapes, the decades they have to throw down roots in order to access the water and one-of-a-kind mineral profile, and the brewing process seems to be so much more special than buying a bag of malt, hops, and brewing it perfectly for a beer. Plus the origin story of a brewery is usually some hipster boldly striking out with a couple plucky friends when these Konzelmanns started 130 years ago on their quest to produce world-class wine.
When looking at the lineage, the guy in the lower middle sure looks like he was a star on Friends
After the tour and tasting, we opted for a few more steps into the tower of the main building. Plenty of oak staircase led to a superfluous level with a more elevated view of the grounds. I paid for the tour and I am gonna see all it has to offer!
You can almost see the far shore from the top window but it does give you a view right out to Lake Ontario which is about as close as we came to the shore.
Spinning the camera around and shooting straight down from the top level gives me an appreciation for the woodworkers who made this happen and those with vertigo who read this blog. Dizzying in person and photo.
Out last stop was the bottle shop as my #beersaturday friends might identify as my favorite stop. Nothing like seeing all there is to offer to take back home for the fridge and enjoyment later. We opted for a little peach wine because the peaches preceded the grapes and were a big part of the income before newly grafted vines produced their first grape. Sweet history!
How about a Winery tour for a #wednesdaywalk!?
