I have to say I have mixed feelings about this post…maybe that’s why I have delayed posting. 🙂 I loved this place and want to tell everyone about it, but the selfish side of me always wants to be able to book a room when I come to Niagara!
When we decided to make a quick wine excursion to the Niagara area late last year, I recalled seeing that Di Profio Wines has advertised a Bed and Breakfast (Among the Vines B&B) on their web site. I quickly checked and sure enough – they had decent-looking rooms at a reasonable rate, right between Jordan Station and Jordan Village. A few emails later and we had confirmed reservation, and had even made arrangements for a late night arrival on the Friday night.
We managed to make good time on the trip down and actually arrived shortly after 10 PM. We were greeted by Joe Di Profio and Carollynn Desjardinas and given a quick tour and showed to our room (the Riesling room, of course!).
Carollynn offered tea and within minutes the conversation turned to wine and Joe had pulled out the plans for the winery. Over the weekend, we learned a lot of the background of the Mia Cara Vineyards (including where the name came from) and even more about their vision for the winery, and how, as grandparents, they had decided to get into the wine business. They also told us about their sons Joe Jr. (who runs the the twitter account, does a lot of their web work, and is their sales agent in Nova Scotia) and Fred (their winemaker who also happens to be the winemaker at Pondview).
Unfortunately, due to licensing issues, we were unable to buy the wines that they have sold to restaurants in Nova Scotia and Ontario. In fact they were already sold out of their 2010 Sauvignon Blanc and supplies were already dwindling on their 50ml bottles of Vidal icewine (great size for restaurants BTW).
We had arranged for a relatively early breakfast at 8am the next morning. Carollynn is an amazing host and cook, and made sure we were stuffed to the gills both mornings. A combination of juice, fresh fruit, main course, and dessert (both days) meant that we never had to stop for lunch either day. Carollynn chatted both mornings with us and we learned that the B&B was kind of a last minute idea of how to use all the space in the largish bungalow that they had purchased with the overgrown vineyard. In fact, not only did they have no experience with running a B&B, they had actually never even stayed in a B&B before! As for the accommodations, they offer three great rooms (one with a private bath), and full use of the main floor rooms (Living room with TV, dining room, etc.). The rooms are clean and efficient and the shared bathroom was spotless.
Despite the lack of “experience” the treatment by Carollynn and Joe is first class and you truly feel like you are visiting with old friends for the duration of the stay. And being an operating winery, there’s always something interesting going on. We’ll definitely be back to visit.
Hello Shawn:
Thank you so much for your kind words and many compliments about your stay at ‘Among the Vines B&B’. We were so happy to have you stay with us and look forward to your return!
Looking forward to your article about the pressing of the Cab Franc!
Keep up the good work you do for Ontario wines!