By Richard Reichert

In 2000 I took my first trip to Prince Edward County. I had been wanting to do this since I read an article about an emerging wine region on this island which juts out of the north shore of Lake Ontario. Since that time we have visited "The County" as the locals call it, on a regular basis and have watched it grow and mature (as far as wineries opening up) into Ontario's fourth wine region. It is now our favourite day trip.

Our last excursion in June 2006 had mixed results. We wanted to attend a few wineries that have been kind of difficult to visit because they were closed on our previous visits. Specifically we had wanted to visited Long Dog Winery, Closson Chase Winery and Sandbanks Estate Winery. We did manage to actually visit Long Dog on an earlier visit but were unable to purchase any more than one bottle of wine because they didn't have their electronic payment terminal working and could only accept cash. Closson Chase was closed on several occasions when we drove by to check and see if they were open and their website did not give any indication of specific hours or a call first warning. We drove by Sandbanks but were not sure if it was the right location or even if they were open to the public (we saw no indication of this when we drove by on previous occasions.)

On this occasion we were out of luck with Long Dog as the wine shop was closed when we visited. We did manage to catch Closson Chase and Sandbank Estates. In this column I'm going to discuss our experience with Closson Chase, they treated us very well and they were very honest with us. We also took some decent pictures of their property.

Behind the winery in the vineyards

Closson Chase is owned by a number of individuals some of whom have ties to the entertainment industry. Of note are Sonja Smits (who I remember as the lawyer Carrie in the CBC series Street Legal) and who had a major role in the series Traders, and Michael McMillan CEO of Alliance Atlantis Communications.

Debra Paskus arguably one of the top Canadian winemakers and current winemaker at Tawes Estate Winery in Niagara will be joining Closson Chase full time in December 2006. Part-time she has been active with this winery for years.

The wine shop and production facilities are housed in a renovated 130 year old barn which has been converted for this purpose. The property was owned by original settlers to the County who were named the Clossons.

When you enter, you walk down a hallway that opens up at the end. The wood board walls are not seamed together and have very noticeable gaps which lets sunlight in. This leaves the visitor with a first impression that it is pretty drafty. Upon further examination you discover this couldn't be further from the truth as all the walls are lined with glass to keep the elements out.

The staff were very friendly and led us into the tasting room to try the wines they were offering. To our our surprise they only offered a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay both made from Niagara grapes. It was explained to us that their vineyards were devastated by severe cold in the winter of 2004/2005 and they essentially had no County crop to make County wine with. It was obvious now that they were only open occasionally because they don't have a lot of product to sell. This is a perfect example of making a small fortune with a winery when you start with a large fortune.

The lounge area where visitors are encouraged to relax and enjoy their tasting sample

The staff encourage visitors to sit down in the central lounge area to and take their time with the wine samples they are given to enjoy the ambiance. I liked this touch. The staff were very down to earth, friendly and very knowledgeable about the general events going on in the County and of their winery concerns in Niagara. We purchased both wines offered because we liked the end product made by Debra Paskus.

The vineyards out back

Out back you get a great view of the vineyards. The only downer was that the tasting fees were high and were not credited on the purchase price of any wine purchased, shades of Tawes winery and rightly so because the winemaker for Closson is the current winemaker at Tawes until December 2006.

On balance I very much enjoyed the experience at Closson Chase Winery. Don't plan a trip to the County with a specific plan to visit this winery because as the staff openly admitted their opening is very much a hit and miss situation. [Editor's Note: The store now has regular hours (seasonal) Tuesday to Thursday 11-4, Friday 11-5 and Saturday to Sunday 10-5.] That being said though, if you're in the County anyway and you can fit this winery's location on your driving route, then drive by and stop in if they happen to be open. It is worth the effort!

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