Harvest is coming, charging the air with sweet anticipation and making this the best time to visit wine country. Here’s your road map to the Niagara wineries to visit now, from small producers making spectacular bottles to a historic estate with panoramic views and excellent dining.
Leaning Post Wines
If you’re driving in from Toronto, Mississauga or Hamilton, begin at Leaning Post. It’s a three-minute drive off the Queen Elizabeth Way from Exit 78, and the gateway to Niagara wine country.
The space is small and charming. The hospitality is warm and unhurried. And the people pouring know the wines well. They share the technical details but leave the tasting entirely to you. No upsell, no theatrics.
Here is where you’ll find riveting wines at reasonable prices served in a room where no one is afraid to ask a question.
Founders Nadia and Ilya Senchuk are usually both on site. She runs the marketing and business side of things. He makes the wine. Both are affable, energetic and almost always darting around the winery — so say hello when you pop in.
First taste. Then browse. Alongside the bottles, you’ll find jars of preserves, sea salts and T-shirts you’ll want to wear.
What to do
Go for the Mood Tasting ($30 per person + HST). You’ll pick one of three moods on the menu — in September, they’re “fearless,” “nostalgic” and “relaxed” — and four wines will follow, poured blind.
“We created this tasting to offer visitors an ‘experience,’” says Nadia. “What we always hear afterward is, ‘Thank you! I love this wine. I never would have tried it.’”
That’s the point: Without a label, preconceptions drop away.
I chose “nostalgic” and landed straight in my mother’s kitchen with a slice of homemade apple pie, warm from the oven. baked Granny Smith, sweet butter, toasted pastry and cinnamon. All in a glass of traditional-method sparkling.
The next three took me somewhere else each time.
The standout wine
2020 Leaning Post Merlot, VQA Niagara Peninsula
Score 94
(Winery only, $50.20 incl. tax and bottle deposit)
Forget everything you think you know about Merlot and taste this wine. It starts with the fragrance of wild blueberries, blackberry and sun-warmed violet. Then, it sweeps in with a rich generosity that’s neither sweet nor heavy. The deep centre ripples with dark fruit, pink peppercorn, roasted meat, mushroom, ripe cherry and bittersweet chocolate. It’s a bottle with so much to say. (14.5% alc., 2 g/L sugar)
1491 Highway 8, Stoney Creek, Ont., leaningpostwines.com
Hidden Bench Estate Winery
Hidden Bench Estate Winery and its surrounding vineyards are situated on the Beamsville Bench sub-appellation of the Niagara Peninsula, famous for its terroir that produces expressive, minerally reds and whites of elegance and finesse. And that is precisely what wine lover Harald Thiel set out to make when he founded Hidden Bench here in 2003.
All Hidden Bench wines are made from estate-grown fruit rather than purchased, to control every aspect of the process. Using certified organic grape growing and winemaking methods, each bottle is a transparent expression of its terroir — terroir being the sum of soil, slope, climate and weather that gives a wine its sense of place.
The wines run about $25 to $65 and pack considerable value across the board. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find an average bottle in the whole portfolio.
What to do
Carve out two hours and book yourself the Root to Glass Experience ($85 per person, incl. HST), which starts at 11 a.m. daily. You’ll enter the winery with its vaulted cedar beams, iron chandeliers and floor-to-ceiling dark wood shelves that hold bottles like books in a private library. At the curved tasting bar, a glass of sparkling arrives — a chic invitation to what follows.
From there, you’ll tour the vineyard — either Locust Lane or Felseck — as well as the winery and barrel cellar. Then, you’ll move to the indoor veranda for a tutored tasting of six wines. All six will be worth the trip.
Book ahead though. Walk-in or same day reservations are not accepted.
The standout wine
2023 Hidden Bench Felseck Vineyard Unfiltered Chardonnay Organic, VQA Beamsville Bench
Score 95
(Winery only, $55.20 incl. tax and bottle deposit)
This Chardonnay shines star-bright and pale, swirling with pronounced aromas of graphite and flint. The entry is silky and luminous — a beam of light flooding the palate with broad yet vertical vinosity. Then, it cascades with flavours of smoked stone, white fruit, crushed oyster shell and citrus, moving in quiet succession. As each sip tapers off, gunflint and graphite persist on the long, cool, steely finish. A bottle to buy and tuck away for the right moment. (13% alc., <2 g/L sugar)
4152 Locust Lane, Beamsville, Ont., hiddenbench.com
Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery
Peninsula Ridge is a large, regal-looking property. Upon arrival, you’ll find a restored Victorian manor house with a turreted spire, arched windows and white-columned veranda. That building is the restaurant. On one side of it is a sweep of manicured lawn and beautiful gardens, while the another side overlooks vineyards.
Also on site is a Coach House, an elegant space that hosts weddings and private events for up to 80 guests, and the winery, which is a converted post-and-beam barn. The handsome restoration makes the barn-turned-winery feel cosy but posh.
Once a tender fruit farm in the 1800s, the property was bought by Norm Beal in 1999. He planted vineyards and built what is now a smart culinary and wine destination. And the wines range from easy-drinking refreshment to weighty slow sippers. It’s a broad selection always made to a high standard.
What to do
The restaurant at Peninsula Ridge is a leading place to dine in Niagara for discerning palates. And it’s open for brunch, lunch and dinner.
Book a table inside the mansion for a posh, white tablecloth experience that’s upscale in every way except the prices. Or sit on the outdoor terrace edged with an iron railing and shaded by terracotta umbrellas for a long, leisurely meal with vineyard views. I highly recommend the Blue Bay mussels poached in Pinot Grigio, dashi, garlic butter, lemon and herbs, available at lunch or dinner ($24 + HST) and the 2024 Reserve Fume Blanc noted below.
The standout wine
2024 Peninsula Ridge Reserve Fume Blanc, VQA Twenty Mile Bench
Score 92
($29.95 incl. HST and bottle deposit)
Fumé Blanc tends to mean oaked Sauvignon Blanc, sometimes with a splash of Semillon. When done well, which is the case here, it offers real pleasure. This pure Sauvignon Blanc from the Wismer Vineyard, known for its high-quality fruit, shows delicate damp herb and almond aromas before a tight-fisted whip of vinosity follows. Taut mouth-watering acidity hems in “ample fruit stuffing, while gentle notes of vanilla and nut, butter and brioche underpin the fruit. Long. (12.5% alc., 3 g/L sugar)
5600 King St. W., Beamsville, Ont., peninsularidge.com
Westcott Vineyards
At Westcott Vineyards, a large tent stretches over the spacious patio, dotted with dining tables. It’s an inviting scene, anchored by a large, rustic stone kitchen with a wood-fired oven and hardwood grill working through whatever is on the menu — chicken skewers, wood-oven cauliflower, the butcher’s cut of the day.
Just to the left of the patio is the chef’s garden growing all kinds of herbs, fruit and vegetables that end up plated with the grilled fare. Beyond the patio, the vineyards stretch in perfect rows. It’s a place to go to unplug and to let the afternoon go slack under the serenity of a good meal and a great glass of wine.
Inside, the tasting room is built from a reclaimed, 200-year-old timber frame barn sourced from a few kilometres up the road. It opened in 2014, is dim and cool — and comfortably unfussy. What is poured here are expressive, serious estate wines.
What to do
Book Taste this Place—The Westcott Experience ($45 per person, incl. HST). In doing so, you’ll discover the story of the winery and experience Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from each of the estate’s two vineyard sites: the Home Farm vineyard on the Vinemount Ridge — which has been continuously farmed since 1834 — and Butlers’ Grant on the Twenty Mile Bench. Both sites are situated on the Niagara Escarpment.
The hour-long tasting can be taken in the winery or under the tent outside. And it begins with bubbles to prime the palate: I tried the bone-dry, bracing 2020 Westcott Brilliant Traditional Method VQA Vinemount Ridge.
The standout wine
2022 Carolyn’s Block Pinot Noir, Butlers’ Grant Vineyard, VQA Twenty Mile Bench
Score 95
($60 incl. HST and bottle deposit)
“You can’t rush this wine,” says Westcott’s co-founder Carolyn Hurst. “It takes patience to make and patience to let it come to you.” She’s right. The nose opens with tart cherry and small red berries, then keeps moving — dark fruit, licorice, violets, raw mushroom, coffee, a touch of blood orange. The palate is sheer and layered, bright but quietly glowing. Smooth and well-balanced. Open this bottle when you have the time to give it attention. You’ll want to enjoy its evolution in the glass because it’s a soft-spoken, eloquent wine. (12.5% alc., 2 g/L sugar)
3180 Seventeenth St., Jordan, Ont., westcottvineyards.com
13th Street Winery
Wine aficionados will know the winemaker’s backstory: Jean-Pierre Colas spent years at Domaine Laroche in Chablis, France, when one of his wines took Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year and another earned 99 points from Wine Enthusiast. That was in 1998. His passion for crisp, almost crystalline whites continues in his wines made here at 13th Street Winery. Even his reds come out crunchy and fresh.
The wines are high calibre. And, of course, the winery is famous for its butter tarts that could win awards at country bake sales — and probably have.
Over the past decade, the winery has grown enormously. The bakery and farm store now turn out four kinds of butter tart alongside prepared foods. Beyond that, you’ll find the Vineyard Kitchen Bistro, live music, an art gallery with a steady stream of exhibitions and a sculpture garden. And you can stay overnight at The Farmhouse, a three-bedroom cottage on the property.
What to do
Come for the Chablis-esque precision (and obviously the butter tarts). Then, discover the rest.
At 13th Street Winery, plan to poke about. Start at the winery for a 30-minute guided tasting of four wines ($20 + HST per person) and select your favourites to take home.
From there, maybe take in some art by perusing both the gallery and the sculpture garden. In August and September, Canadian artist Lynn Cecil’s work is featured. She works with alcohol ink on canvas and is showing her From Water to Sky collection.
Then drop, by the bakery and farm store. You’ll be tempted to load up your basket immediately, but don’t. First, buy a butter tart and eat it on the spot. You’ll feel like a kid in a candy store. Then, load up on goodies and gourmet treats. Christmas is coming.
The standout wine
2025 13th Street White Cabernet Sauvignon, VQA Niagara Peninsula
Score 91
($21.95 + HST and bottle deposit)
Leave it to Jean-Pierre Colas to have the confidence to create a white Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet grapes, with their dark skins, usually make red wine, but removing the skins right after pressing prevents the colour from transferring to the juice, resulting in a white wine. And Colas’s expression here is excellent — retaining Cabernet Sauvignon flavour within a crisp white wine structure. The scent exudes fresh blackcurrant and white cherry. That introduction leads to a refreshing attack of white cherry and lemon cream with an attractive mineral undertow that recedes toward a slow, grapefruit finish. Very much a crowd-pleasing style that is fun to serve blind and have them guess the grape variety. (12.5% alc., 4.7 g/L sugar)
1776 Fourth Ave., St. Catharines, Ont., 13thstreetwinery.com
