Weekend

Tasting the County’s Bounty

By Alexa Leon

Long celebrated as the agricultural jewel of southern Ontario, Prince Edward County still has lots to offer once the harvest is over.

We were standing inside the impressive modern tasting bar at Huff Estates winery when we first started to understand the pride Prince Edward County residents take in their special limestone soil. 53.8 pounds was the number we overheard triumphantly repeated, as beaming locals toasted the County 4-H Club’s champion cabbage, the blue ribbon winner at the latest Royal Winter Fair. Technically an island, this unique slice of southern Ontario, just two and a half hours from Toronto, has long been a summer vacation spot, famous for its remarkable sand dunes and beaches. But more recently, it’s gained notoriety among gourmands as a source of great wine and food: Eating high-end local produce in Toronto often means eating the County’s bounty.

We were there to find out what the area’s restaurants and wineries have to offer once the mercury dips. Led by our Taste Trail booklet – a self-guided tour dedicated to showcasing local produce – we explored wineries, restaurants and small independent farms. The County’s economy has always been rooted in agriculture, but is now catering more and more to niche markets and attracting restaurateurs and chefs in search of quality ingredients. And the small wineries that have been popping up all over the County in the past decade – like Closson Chase, which was one of the region’s first when it opened in a repurposed barn in 1999 and is now famous for its chardonnay – are further reinforcing this emphasis on specialization and artisanal products.

Waupoos Estates Winery, where tastings are held in front of floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a stunning view of the vineyard against Prince Edward Bay, is another such producer. Responsible for the County’s first VQA-approved icewine, Waupoos is credited with establishing one of the County’s tastiest specialties. For a wine to be labeled icewine, the grapes need to be picked in 10^oF to 18^oF temperatures. This often requires the pickers to venture out in the middle of the night to ensure that the grapes are frozen through. Allowing the grapes to freeze on the vine concentrates the sugars – that’s what makes icewine such a decadent dessert drink. The crop is much smaller than the regular-season harvest, so it can usually be picked by a small group – in the case of Huff and Waupoos Estates, family and friends do most of the work. Waupoos offers a bona fide Vidal Icewine, as well as two sweet whites, Honey Ice and Maple Ice, all of which are currently available in the 2008 vintage. Huff’s VQA 2007 First Frost, while not technically an icewine, has a similar bouquet of honey and apricot notes, but has a much lower rating on the Brix scale used to measure sweetness.

Winter Wanderings
The cool temperatures in PEC are good for more than just icewines. The Bay of Quinte, for instance, is renowned for its walleye trophy fishing. The walleye (also known as pickerel) migrate from Lake Ontario into the bay for the winter, making them much more abundant in the colder months. If you’re interested in landing a few of your own, book a trip with the Quinte Ice Fishing Team and spend a day out on the ice with an expert angler.

Another great way to enjoy the island’s diverse landscape is to head to the beach. According to Carlyn Moulton, co-owner of the beautiful Oeno Gallery, which sits adjacent to Huff Estates (keep an eye out for events co-hosted by the winery and the gallery), the tranquil beach is one of winter’s best-kept secrets. In addition to rolling, frozen sand dunes, the phenomenon of ice volcanoes – towering, windswept mounds of snow and ice – is apparently a sight to behold. (“Just don’t try to climb one!” Carlyn warns.) Sandbanks Provincial Park also offers groomed trails for cross-country skiing.

Warm Up

Our stay luckily coincided with the Countylicious festival, so we took full advantage. At East & Main Bistro – a warm, inviting newcomer to the PEC culinary scene – my three-course meal started with a beet caprese featuring Fifth Town Cheese chèvre, the perfect complement to the velvety, core-warming, handmade sage and ghost-squash ravioli with candied pecans. Dessert was a mouth-watering pot de crème made with Vader’s Maple Syrup, an ingredient that would show up later in my delicious (and sticky) exfoliating treatment at the Claramount Spa. Food-wearied, we welcomed the beyond-cushy bed in one of the two new, green-designed additions at The Waring House. And the following evening’s meal at The Bloomfield Carriage House Restaurant was no less spectacular. The meal opened with a vibrant yellow butternut-squash purée with chanterelle bread pudding and house-cured boar pancetta followed by a succulent applewood-smoked Tamworth pig assiette. Our second night brought us to the Claramount Inn, which recalls the region’s Loyalist heritage with its charming colonial decor. Our room featured an antique four-poster and a giant soaking tub looking out onto picturesque Picton Harbour. We left the County feeling relaxed, but also excited to have tasted the fruits of Ontario’s most vibrant agricultural region.

Alexa Leon is a freelance writer and foodie-in-training based in Toronto.

DINNER TABLE: iStockphoto.com/webphotographeer
VINEYARD: Courtesy Huff Estates
WARM UP: Courtesy Fifth Town Artisan Cheese