After Picard's Peanuts, I wanted to bring A to Peller Wine Estates to sample the region's iconic ice wine and to chill out because although that place might seem super atas, it has beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, we were running behind schedule so we headed straight towards the town to start shopping. I had specific shops to go to and things to buy (items to add to JY's birthday hamper) so it was pretty straightforward from there.
Before we started shopping, A decided that she wanted to walk the whole street first before shopping. When I say 'street', the shopping in this town is quite literally only on that one street. Very convenient.
We parked at the Court House theatre..
The view of Queen Street from the side road we came out from.
The Bell tower in Town square
The entrance to the Town Hall
What's a small town without the quintessential horse drawn carriage rides?
A proud Canadian Institution - Niagara On the Lake edition.
As you can see, excessively sugary treats were available almost everywhere.
Fudge is cool to look at and we got to see a stage of it being made. Not a fan of it unfortunately, it is just a monotone of texture and sweetness.
This was pretty good though, the ice wine gave it something extra.
Candied Apples.
It is exactly what its name means. Now, you might be staring at this wondering who could possibly finish eating one of these. I mean, I have a pretty mean sweet tooth but even I get a little nauseous looking at this. (I have actually attempted to eat one in the past and I didn't make it past four bites. Fail.) Of course, right after I made this comment, two girls walked past happily munching on these. One each. HOW? /Barf
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The Pièce de résistance was this store called The Sixth Sense which sells all kinds of fruity vinegars and hot sauce. A foodie's haven I would imagine. This was the store I really wanted to bring A as you will see.
This sweet selection of fruit and herb infused vinegars and oils. Alas, too heavy an purchase for me to carry back. I was banking on the fact that my Dad had bought some when he visited last September.
They also have a pretty hilarious collection of novelty hot sauces.
This was my favourite.
An aptly named coffee.
This is their infamous sauce. If you try it, they make you sign a disclaimer stating that they were not to be held responsible for any mishaps or after effects that might happen to you as a result of the sauce.
A holding up the disclaimer. Despite the fact that she is covering her face, I can conclude that the sauce didn't really make an impact. I mean, she grew up on a chilli heavy diet. And she was my chilli tolerance coach. I should've known better. "I'm buying for novelty's sake." - A. Indeed.
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After the sauce tasting, I vaguely remembered that Peller Wine Estates had a store in town. I figured if we couldn't go to the Vineyard itself, we could still buy stuff that was made there. True enough, asking around led us to the Peller Store.
This was the discovery of the day. If you've tried ice wine before you'll know that it is very sweet and heavy and the taste can become overpowering after a while. I like ice wine but this is so much better. Late Harvest Ice Wine is basically made from the last batch of grapes harvested before the season ends. It has the most wonderful light and refreshing taste. Its sweetness is also subtler. I don't think I can go back to normal ice wine but unfortunately for me, I don't think they'll sell these outside of Canada. Or even outside of Niagara region.
I shall just have to savour the one bottle I *had* to buy.
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So this was beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake! I really wished we stayed for lunch but we just didn't have the time do that. Plus, the fact that the previous time I had lunch there our party sat there for 4 hours and missed everything else we wanted to do was weighing rather heavily on my mind. It's the food and the wine and the scenery that makes you...not want to move.
