For my birthday, we went to Niagara on the Lake for some wine tasting but we ended up leaving Toronto much later than we planned and arrived at Niagara in the mid-afternoon. Because of this, we only managed to visit two wineries at Peller Estates and Jackson Triggs.

Also, because we rushed over to Niagara we didn’t have a proper lunch so we were starving by 4pm! Unfortunately, the restaurant at Peller Estates was not open until 6pm but they recommended that we visit Grill on King which is located on 233 King, Niagara on the Lake. The lady at Peller Estates mentioned that the place made excellent steaks! Mmm… Driven by our hungry stomachs, we rushed over and was lucky to have the entire restaurant to ourselves (because we were so early!). It was a lovely setting though.

Muscles: these were soooo delicious. I couldn’t get enough of the tomato sauce that these were cooked in. It was so tasty and the muscles were cooked to perfection!

Grilled Calamari: this was another lovely tasting dish.

This is my shrimp skewer with roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and zucchini. I loved the peppery seasoning they put all over this. So yummy!

Check out the size of Elliott’s steak.  It’s gigantic! The potato mash was smooth and creamy and the steak was cooked perfectly and was nice and juicy! The vegetable side was cooked very similar to the way mine were.

After we filled up our bellies with so much food, we drove over the border to the U.S of A for some shopping! Look how rainy and depressing it was outside though :( We made it over to the Coach outlet, bought mummy a bag and then went back home to Canada :)

On my birthday at Niagara on the Lake, Jackson-Triggs was the second winery we visited after Peller Estates, which we thought was beautiful with a lovely range of wines. As we approached Jackson-Triggs, we were disappointed by the boring factory look of the winery especially coming from Peller Estates!

Jackson-Triggs at Niagara-on-the-Lake

Jackson-Triggs is a Canadian winery with vineyards in Okanagan Valley, British Columbia and the Niagara Peninsula. It was founded in 1993 when Donald Triggs and Allan Jackson began producing the wine in Mississauga. In 2006, Jackson-Triggs won the Gold Medal at the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) for the best Shiraz/Syrah, which was the first Canadian red wine to be recognized by the IWSC. Jackson-Triggs kept up their reputation and in 2010, they won their seventh Canadian Wine Producer of the Year trophy and have now been awarded more than 50 medals at 3 competitions.

We got to taste a wide range of wines here as well, from the Sauvignon Franc to various Icewines. Wine tasting here will set you back approximately $1-$3 a pop (depending on the type of wine).

Here are some of the wines at Jackson-Triggs.

I saw this and thought it was really cool, I had to take a snap! Maple Infused Wine Vinegar? How interesting.

We accidentally went down the wrong way and caught a glimpse of where they store the wine! Very cool.

Here’s me and Elliott.

Here’s what it looked like outside. So wet and rainy! It was unfortunate because this part of Niagara Region is so beautiful!

And here’s us in the car :) Hehehe.

For my birthday, Elliott took me to Niagara on the Lake for wine tasting. The weather was awful, but it didn’t stop us in going and getting some wine-on. I enjoy wine tasting a lot and have been recommended by quite a few people to visit Peller Estates so we made this our first stop.

Peller Estates at Niagara-on-the-Lake

Peller Estates began in 1927, when Andrew Peller first arrived in Canada from Hungary. He had the dream for Canadians to enjoy premium-quality wines and to share them with family and friends. He then opened a winery in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley and then later on purchased a winery at Niagara on the Lake, Ontario in 1969.

Peller Estates has won many prestigious awards for their signature products, such as the Icewine, Chardonnays and Rieslings. Most recently, they been named Best Canadian Winery of the Year at London’s International Wine & Spirit Competition.

We ended up each trying about 6 of their wines and took home a really nice bottle of Merlot. :) The ice wines they had available were incredible! I loved them, but they were damn pricey! The one that I enjoyed the most was $70 for the bottle!

If you’re ever in Niagara Region, you must make it to Niagara on the Lake and definitely Peller Estates to try these wines. They’re fantastic, and I (as an Aussie, and a lover of wine) couldn’t believe the quality of wines here in Canada (even though most of the reds here weren’t really too much to my liking but was surprised by that Merlot).

Wine tasting here will set you back aproximately $3 a pop, however if you like to try a pre-set of wines for just $7 (for example you can try the Peller Estates Signature Collection which includes a white, a red, and an icewine – Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Vidal Icewine).

We were hoping to try the restaurant here, but it was only open from 6pm and it was 4pm and we were absolutely starving! We knew all the wineries would be closing soon, so we made a quick rush out of here and onto our next before we had dinner. I hope to be back here for dinner some other time!

The wine tasting room itself was gorgeous with so many products on offer!

These wines (especially the rosé) looks divine.

Mmmm Icewine truffles. It was incredibly difficult to resist these!

Here’s me sipping on some lovely wine.

Here’s me and Elliott at Peller Estates.

Peller Estates

(John St E, Niagara On The Lake, Ontario, Canada)

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Today is my 24th Birthday (ANZAC Day) but we celebrated last night at my place with some drinks and some cake. By the way, Mai says to ignore the cake writing because the lady who did it seemed very new and missed the “Happy Birthday”. Haha!!

Then some of us went to Club XS up at Entertainment District for some HIP-HOP AND R&B. YEAHHHHHH! The music was banging. Totally loved it!

Special thanks to Mai and Louise for helping me set up. Mai especially for the cake and helping me clean up! The place was an absolute mess afterwards!

Thank you to everyone for coming!! Means a lot to me. :) :)