Taste Ontario!

I attended the "Taste Ontario!" event at the AGO on September 21st and had a truly great night. It was a joy to meet and speak with many of the actual winemakers and to try those wines that I had not had a chance to. It seems that all the big wineries were present along with many of the smaller Niagara, Prince Edward County and Pelee Island areas vineyards. I had hoped many of the smaller wineries would also have been invited but obviously, being put on by Vintages, only those available in the LCBO would be present. Maybe those smaller wine producers could look towards this and hold their own event such as this one. Too many people still do not know the joys out there as they only consider Niagara area wineries worthy of a look, or stop searching once they reach the LCBO. Shame really.

Anyway, back to the event. I was impressed as to how well organized and run the event was. After checking in with our tickets, we were handed a complete program listing all the wineries present and their table numbers. I quickly hilighted those I HAD to try and after reaching the wine floor and picking up my glass, almost ran to the first table! No, I didn't push over any old ladies or elbow others out of the way, but I was one of the first to sample the Norman Hardie wines they had brought.

Each winery had a choice of 3 of their products, with some showcased not yet available to the public. You had opportunities where you could save up to 50% on pre-ordered show specials from many of the presenters. I did not take advantage of these offerings, (as I am still waiting to purchase a wine cellar), so had to hold off and just enjoy them at the show.

I will say that the booths were "very" generous with their tasting samples with many giving half glasses to patrons. The food was plentiful and delicious, constantly being refilled, making it possible to eat while enjoying the wines.

The layout of the show was also well done. Booths were all around the 3rd floor hall outside walls, with the remainder being back to back down each 1/3 of the room. A total of 34 wineries were in attendence, with most booths being in alphabetical order by winery, so it was easy to search out many of the names. There was a lot of room to mingle and taste the wines, with very little wait times to get a sample. Every booth I visited was friendly and willing to discuss their wines, with many writing down comments from people, to take back to the winemakers (that were not in attendence). Many had spec sheets on their wines along with order forms and price lists of others not at the event.

A personal thrill was to see actress Sonya Smits attend the event. She is an owner of Clossen Chase Winery in Prince Edward County who was also at the event. Still a striking beauty, and she visited many of the booths to sample or say hello.

It will take a few days to go through my program and see exactly where my travels took me and which wines I was able to sample. I only hope I can read my writing seeing as the night wore on it becamse less and less intelligable. I will review my scribblings and then add more event information regarding the hits and misses for the evening..