52 www.eatdrink.ca trAvel Prince Edward County (PEC), at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, is one of Ontario's newest wine destinations. The 104.8-hectare almost-island is filled with vineyards, eateries, artists' studios and galleries, scenic vistas, farm markets, beaches, and hiking and biking trails - in short, all the ingredients needed for an interesting week-long or weekend getaway. The county is steeped in history, having been established in 1792 as a haven for United Empire Loyalists following the American Revolution, and much of the original architecture has been preserved. Many historic buildings have been converted to B&Bs, bistros, boutiques, wineries, and tasting rooms. The county boasts more than two dozen wineries, which range in size from two to fifty acres. Local winegrowers say there is a unique terroir here, in part because many of the vineyards are sitting on a broad limestone plateau. "The county produces the best quality of wine because the roots have to work hard to get to the water table," say Brian Hanna, the sommelier at Huff Estate Wineries. Hanna has worked with wines for 47 years, and one thing he has noticed since coming to PEC is that "all the wineries in this area are making dramatically different products." The county is on the same latitude as northern France, Germany and Austria, but historically couldn't grow the grapevines found in those wine regions because any new growth wouldn't survive the harsh Canadian winters. Winegrowers here began experimenting in the early 1990s and pioneered a technique that has enabled them to grow Chardonnay, Pinot and other traditionally issue no. 24
On the Trail of
Terroir
Discovering the Tastes of
Prince Edward County
By Kym Wolfe Sommelier Brian Hanna, at Huff Estate Wineries. August/september 2010 European vines. "The trunks are only six inches high, and we bury all the exposed shoots in earth to keep them from freezing over the winter," explains Lynn Sullivan of Rosehall Run Vineyards. "In the spring we uncover them by hand. It's very labour intensive." Lynn and her husband Dan Doreen Pendracs in the planted their first Huff tasting room. vines in 2001, and by 2005 had produced their first award-winning wines, landing four medals at the 2007 Artevino County Wine competition, including gold for their 2005 Chardonnay. "Prince Edward County wines have a distinctive taste," says Lynn. "The soil is only about an inch deep, with solid limestone underneath. The grapevines are rooted in the limestone and pull the mineral taste from it." We visited two other wineries during our brief visit to PEC - the County Cider Company and The Grange of Prince Edward. The County Cider Company is a family-operated estate winery specializing in hard Lynn Sullivan in the Rosehall Run vineyards
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