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the good earth food & wine co. F A L L 2 0 1 4 | w e s t w o r l d 35 Estates, Peller Estates, Trius and irty 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, per- fect-pour carafes and special-edition pucks for the hockey-loving oenophile. We decide it's warm enough for scoops of pistachio and fig gelato from Nina's Gelateria and Pastry Shop, then head to the local gazebo, five minutes away. e pretty, white-painted structure was built for the David Cronenberg film e Dead Zone, then donated to the town. Peckish again by noon, we head to Trius Winery at Hillebrand – one of the largest pro- ducers of VQA wines in Ontario – for its Farm- er's Market Brunch. Executive chef Frank Dodd was a regional winner at Gold Medal Plates, the Canadian Culinary Championship. His restaurant feels Zen, with leafy plants, oak floors, floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a par- tition wall encasing neat towers of bottles. is style carries over into the clean geometric arrangement of his charcuterie platter, which comes with smoked salmon, soft-yolked duck egg, golden beet pickles and charcuterie, all either sliced or moulded into perfect disks. Chef Dodd doesn't just treat wine as an accompaniment to dishes, but as a key ingredi- ent. He adds icewine to jelly, onion marmalade and beets; he makes parfait with sparkling white; he even blends Trius red into the butter served with our bread rolls. After brunch, we head upstairs to the Loft – a charcoal-walled space with its own bar, just above the more traditional and open tasting room with its barrel tables and oak cabinetry. We're wrapping up this weekend with a guided bubbly tasting. is feels fittingly celebratory, yet our wine consultant (a.k.a. Sparkler God- dess) Rahzia Neufeld wants us to rethink spar- kling wine's reputation as a toast drink. "ere are certain days I'd not be in the mood for red or white, but I'm always in the mood for bub- bles," she says. "It's light and easy to sip with almost everything." e light catches Neufeld's crystal earrings and two crystal necklaces as she pours spar- kling tasters, moving from the lightest to the heaviest options, via pink. She offers samples of Trius Brut Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc. "Our winemaker, Craig McDonald, is Australian, so he likes working with Sauvignon Blanc," Neufeld explains. A local couple we've been chatting with signs up for the Trius Wine Club. Every month for the coming year, they'll get a bottle of both red and white delivered to their door with tast- ing notes from the winemaker and recipes from the chef. It's the perfect souvenir – and confirms my parting theory: the pleasures in Niagara-on-the-Lake's wineries only begin in the tasting room. winecountryontario.ca W • A $27 Winemakers' Selections Tasting Pass allows you to try one glass, from a curated selection, at each of Niagara-on-the-Lake's 27 wineries. wineriesofniagaraonthelake.com • Register for cooking demos and the Good Girth Supper Club at The Good Earth Food & Wine Co. goodearthfoodandwine.com • Check the October 2014 calendar at Southbrook Vineyard for harvest tours with brunch from farm-to- table food truck The Yellow Pear. southbrook.com • Book a cheese and wine tasting on weekends at Ravine Vineyard. ravinevineyard.com • Complement your sparkling tasting session with a guided tour of the vines and sparkling wines cellar at Trius at Hillebrand. triuswines.com OLD TOWN MuST-DOS • In the cocoa-scented boutique storefront at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, watch staff pour chocolate and snap toffee brittle. rockychoc.com • At Kurtz Culinary Creations, sample dips, vinegars, mustards, icewine syrup and other arti- sanal winery goodies from the Niagara region and pick up cookbooks by local chefs. kurtzorchards.com • Catch a play at Shaw Festival Theatre, which stages works by George Bernard Shaw and the playwrights he inspired. Until October 26. shawfest.com WHERE TO STAY Book the two-night Whirlwind of Wine package at Harbour House: it includes a half-day professionally guided wine tour. No designated driver required. niagarasfinest.com/properties/harbourhouse –V.H. Top picks from the Vines