Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/370921
34 g o i n g p l a c e s | F a l l 2 0 1 4 trius winery We share our second charcute- rie platter of the trip, and it won't be our last – these carefully curated offerings speak volumes about the wineries and their chefs. Harber (a fifth-generation farmer) and his staff raise and cure their own Black- worth pigs on-site; they grow the cauliflower for their piccalilli in the kitchen garden, as well as the yellow and red beets, which they serve with hard-boiled eggs from Meg's Eggs, a free-range farm just down the road. The crusty baguette is baked in Ravine's own wood oven. Our server pours Ravine caber- net rosé to go with our platter. It's a dry wine and the acidity works with pickled vegetables. Somehow I squeeze in crispy-skinned duck after this smorgasbord; it comes with red cabbage, sweet and regular mashed potatoes. And for dessert: apricot and blackberry sorbets, made from Niagara fruits and bal- anced by salty sponge toffee. Ravine's menu is creative and gives a sense of place – not unlike the winery's events calendar. You could come here for an indie fash- ion show; Halloween supper and ghost stories; or wood-oven pizza and ping-pong by the vines. On Sunday morning, we wander through Niagara-on-the-Lake's Old Town where we browse boutique stores with painted window boxes and bakeshops with cherry cakes and iced buns on display. is place was a safe haven for Loyalists flee- ing the U.S. after the American Revolution and has held onto its British identity and charm. We pop into Wine Countr y Vintners, an off-site tasting room serving Wayne Gretzky Estates, Peller Estates, Trius and Thirty Bench wineries. As well as offering bottles you can't find in the liquor store, they have unique gift items such as wine-barrel candle holders, Wellington County rib-chop with buttermilk onion rings is a menu favourite at the Trius Winery Restaurant at Hillebrand.