What a crazy weekend!
Scott and I went to Ottawa on Friday for a mini Ontario wine fair in the parking lot of the beautiful new LCBO store in Orleans. There were 3 other wineries from Ontario there and the event was offfering folks a chance to meet Ontario’s talent and taste some local VQA wine. It was amazing how quickly the four hours passed and how well received the event was by all. It is so exciting to watch Ontario GO LOCAL.
Then it was back to the County for Taste A Celebration of Regional Cuizine while Maggie, Scott and Mike were at events in Toronto, Ottawa and Peterborough respectively. So it isn’t hard to understand why it really didn’t hit me until this morning as I sipped my second cup of coffee and listened to the rain hit the roof that Mike had called me Friday to say all three Grange wines we entered in the Canadian Wine Championships had received awards …… silver to the Cabernet Franc and bronze to the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir…….. Wow!
About The Grange
The Grange is a project I began back in 1999 when I started thinking about planting vines on the farm my father bought when I was a little girl. Today there are 60 acres of productive vineyards with an annual harvest of between 160 and 180 tonnes of fruit and a winery producing over 10,000 cases of wine. I began this blog as an effort to document our history in the making and offer those people interested in viticulture, the development of the Prince Edward County wine region and the agriculture of one small Canadian family farm an inside look at what is at least from my perspective a compelling story………..
Harvest is close
The bird bangers started this morning and at first I thought we were late (it’s funny the thoughts that run through your head at dawn) but then I realized it was the day after labour day which for as long as I have been farming grapes is the day the bangers start. It is a tradition that more than once caused my daughter Maggie to threaten leaving home not being much of a morning person….but this morning I realized that they have come to mean something more to me. They sound like sentinels diligently protecting months of work and worry, they are the harbingers of harvest. My promise that soon the waiting will be over.
