Category Archives: Niagara

Wineries of Niagara – part 1

Wineries of Niagara

My Mom makes wine. Her wine was the only wine I got to drink for a long time till I got hooked to the taste of Chilean wine served on Emirates flights. I am not a connoisseur of fine wines and I may not be able to differentiate red from white if blindfolded. But ever since I tasted the real thing, I tried to convince my Mom that what she makes is not wine, but fermented grape juice.

A wine Checkerboard.

Today after tasting wines from many of the picturesque wineries strewn over the Niagara region, I learnt many new things about the art of winemaking. I am more or less sure my Mom’s sugar syrup tastes not so “winey” not because of the grapes of Thrissur being different from the grapes of Ontario or the hot humid winds from the Athirappilly waterfalls being different from dry cool winds from Niagara falls. I have some theories and some suggestions for the “mallu” winemakers.

Wine stored in oak barrels

But first, let me summarize what I learnt today: Aroma contributes to 40% of the taste. So next time smell it before you gulp it down. The taste of the wine depends on the climatic conditions during harvest. The 2012 wines are the best lot in Ontario. The wine gets its fruity flavour from the oak wine barrels. Canadian oak is hard and not suitable for this purpose. So here they get it from US or France. Both give distinct flavours. When you smell the wine, it may remind you of some fruit based on your experience or “your memory database”. Do you know which fruit it reminded me of? Will be back with this soon.

Read the full series here.