We move on today to a new experience; we are visiting a winery and spending the night in the Villa, through the Harvest Hosts program.
Harvest Hosts is a program through which you pay a modest annual fee to be connected with farms, wineries, orchards, museums, and other sites which will allow you to camp overnight, for free; the unwritten rule is that you purchase something from your host. We had signed up several months ago, but this is our first opportunity to take advantage of it…
So we are headed to the Burning Kiln WInery, in St. Williams, ON, about 100 miles south of London, ON, on the shores of Lake Erie.
This trip entailed driving through the greater Toronto area. There is a lot of construction going on, (Local joke: there are only two seasons in Toronto – Winter and Construction…) busy morning traffic, and, of course, rain. Lots of rain. Heavy rain. Sudden rain. Sudden sun! It was a bit nerve-wracking, but eventually we left the freeway, and within two minutes we were in the countryside, with nary another vehicle in sight. The rain stopped, the skies lightened, and everything was beautiful. As we drove further south, towards the lake, the vehicles, towns, and building got smaller and further apart. By the time we reached St. Williams we were in what seemed like a very remote area. The crops on the farms were either corn or some other odd, large-leafed plant that we could not identify.
Eventually we reached the winery and parked the Villa in the large gravel lot. We headed to the winery to check things out, and to do a little wine tasting…
We had a delightful time at the wine tasting. We learned that the odd, large-leafed plant that we could not identify was tobacco. But this tobacco farmer has converted his farm to grapes. However, he uses the tobacco drying racks to dehydrate the grapes, much like they do in parts of Italy. Drying the grapes allows water to evaporate, concentrating the flavor of the juice. (No, there is no residual tobacco to impart flavor from the drying racks…)
So we tasted several wines, and bought a few:
We needed to get a little exercise after our hard day, so we walked about one mile down the little country road to another winery – Inasphere. These wines were not as good, and, besides, we didn’t want to carry them back on our one mile return walk, but we were tempted by their farm stand:
Back at the Villa, we enjoyed the view out our door; the vista over the vineyards was also quite nice…
We also looked around the vineyards:
That evening we returned to the winery for dinner. They have simply cleared an area in the winery, brought in tables and chairs, and set up a gourmet food truck on the property. While it was a little cool in the winery, the food was excellent! I even ordered a steak, which I haven’t done in years… It was fabulous! Maybe I should eat steak more often!
After dinner, as we walked back to the Villa, the sky was beautiful! (It stays light late up here…!)
We retired to the Villa. Tomorrow we will leave before first light again…
Adventures in the Villa 