Sideways

 
With all the charm and thankfully without the awkwardness of this Paul Giamatti flick, my weekend winery tour was lovely.  The Niagara region is stunning at this time of year. The backroads provide vistas of rollling hills dotted with ripe vines in perfect straight lines.  Long laneways lead you to equally stunning wineries, all ready to let you taste their wares before you put a bottle in your trunk to share with friends later (thanks to my dear friends, The Quinlan’s, for having me down to visit!).  To accompany the backroads adventure, something new from one of my favourites, Jesse Cook:  http://www.jessecook.com/#/home/

We visited 3 wineries on Saturday:  Vineland Estates http://www.vineland.com/, Ridgemont and the newly minted Tawes http://www.tawsewinery.ca/.  I’m enjoying a glass of the Vineland Estates Cabernet Franc from the picture above right now.  Forgive my spelling and sentence structure!  We also had one of the best suppers I’ve ever had at a very funky restaurant in Port Colborne that you should visit if you’re ever there:  http://www.thesmokinbuddha.com/

When on my way home I found an old abandoned antique shop in the village of Wainfleet worth snapping, before heading to Hamilton to check out Liuna Station where I’m fortunate to take a few pictures at a good friend’s wedding this coming weekend.  What a fantastic location for a wedding! – it is the old Hamilton train station downtown.  If you want to see more shots from this weekend, check out my web site at www.pattihenderson.smugmug.com/Travel/October-Backroad-Adventures/