This weekend, I went on a girl’s trip with my family for my aunt’s 40th birthday. Our weekend consisted of one thing only: wine. We went to Prince Edward County, two hours east of Toronto, and they’re known for their wine tasting industry. So, of course, wine had to be a part of the trip.
Wine has never really been my thing. Being a young university student who likes to party, I prefer hard liquor and sweet alcohol. To be quite honest, I don’t enjoy actually tasting alcohol. Going wine tasting didn’t seem all too fun to me, but I thought I’d try it anyway.
The first stop on our tour was Kinsip. This was a distillery instead of a winery. At this distillery, the liquor was made from grain to grass, essentially meaning the liquor was handcrafted by only them throughout the process. We had a menu with 10 liquors and three cocktails. For the flight, which I learned was trying a bunch of different drinks at a time, we had the option of three liquors and a cocktail to try. I tried whiskey, rum and saffron liquor, as well as a cocktail called Dark and Stormy.
I was scared of trying the liquor. I already mentioned that I hate the taste of alcohol, even though the whole point of this place is to taste it. Turns out, the saffron liquor was not bad, a little strong but very smooth. The rum was way too strong for my liking, with no unique flavour either, and I accidentally took the whiskey as a shot. The cocktail was very good though. It had this ginger-like taste, just a little strong but not overpowering and consisted of rum as well. Overall, I enjoyed the rustic barn vibes of this place and how kind the people were. The highlight of this place was the random chickens walking around.
One of the most relaxing places we went to is Karlo Estates. Just like Kinsip, it had a nice rustic feel to it. It was very warm and comfortable. This was one of the only places that had food, so we decided to get a charcuterie board and salsa chips. This place is all vegan, which was a nice bonus. Here, I tried this white wine called Little Bug, named after a cat that lived in the winery. He had a split face, half white and half black, and liked to roam around the room. It’s too bad I am allergic to cats.
My favourite experience from wine tasting was at this winery called Keint-He Winery and Vineyards. Here, we got to try three wines of our choice. After we told the lady what we wanted, she walked us through her process of tasting. Instead of your typical way of going from white to red, she did the opposite. She also said she won’t tell us which glass was which wine. She wanted us to blindly taste the wine to really tap into our senses. One thing I thought was cool was how the glass of the wine can change the taste of it. The staff was super kind to us and they really care about the experience of their customers.
Going into this, I didn’t understand any of the terminology used to describe wine. What is a dry wine? What does acidity mean in wine? What even is a Pinot Grigio? Throughout the tastings though, I did start getting the hang of the “wine slang”. I came into this thinking I would hate wine even more, but I discovered a lot about my taste palate and the types of wine I like. I’m for sure a white wine person, I prefer a lot of wines that are more on the sweeter side and my favourite wine that I tasted was Riesling.
It’s good to try and venture out a bit and try different things. Whether you think you will enjoy it or not, you’ll only know if you try. Try everything that comes to you. It’s all a part of the learning process of who you are and what your interests are. I also recommend trying wine tasting at least once in your life. It was something I’ve never done before and I ended up enjoying it very much. Also, shout out to our tour guide John, who was super helpful and very kind to us.