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Step 1
Spend the night or weekend at Niagara-on-the-Lake. The picturesque, 19th century town of Niagara-on-the-Lake makes an ideal base from which to explore the Niagara wine country. The town offers a variety of historic, and cozy, bed-and-breakfast inns, traditional Scottish restaurants, antique shops and the annual Shaw Theater Festival each summer.
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Step 2
Follow the Niagara Wine Trail. The Niagara Wine Trail includes over 75 wineries, mostly small, family-run operations. Most of the wineries offer tasting rooms where you can sample their wines. It's not unusual to find the winery owners behind the tasting bar. Maps of the region's wineries are available from the Niagara Wine Trail website or from stores and restaurants in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
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Step 3
Sample the region's icewine. Perhaps the best known wine produced in this region is icewine, the sweet after-dinner wine, made from harvesting grapes after the first frost. The freezing process concentrates the flavors of the grape, with delicious results. The process of making icewine was developed in Germany in the 18th century, but today, no area makes it better than the wine regions surrounding the Great Lakes.
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Step 4
Attend a Niagara wine festival. The wineries of the Niagara Wine district host a full schedule of wine dinner, tastings and musical events. In addition, the region sponsors a fall harvest festival and a January Icewine Festival.
