The iYellow Wine Club boasts thousands of members; located
in Toronto, iYellow throws the hottest events sampling the most delicious
wines. Throughout the year they travel
throughout Ontario’s wine country tasting and experiencing our best
wineries. These tours included chartered
bus, a delicious lunch and all the wine you can drink! On June 20th 2015, I was lucky
enough to be a part of their Niagara Wine Country experience.
I woke up that morning grumpy as my “date” had cancelled due
to a family emergency. As a Chef I am used
to working weekends yet I am totally spoiled in that my hair, make up and
pretty clothes are not usually required for work. But on this Saturday morning
I left my kitchen around 7 and headed back home to re-shower and get dressed
up. Feeling pretty, I headed off for coffee and a sugary treat to pad my tummy
as the invite I received said to eat breakfast in advance of arrival as we
would be commencing an adventure to Niagara at 11am.
I arrived downtown shortly later to see workers busily
setting up for Toronto’s annual MMVA festival taking place that evening. I
parked and wandered over to the meeting place on Queen West feeling drained and
sucking back my coffee as quickly as possible.
As I turned the corner I saw friendly faces with iYellow Club t-shirts
holding cute yellow gift bags filled with info about our destinations and
snacks for the ride to Niagara. I boarded
the bus where I noticed lots of couples, families and groups of friends
chatting and giggling, so as an introvert I headed towards the back of the bus
to sit alone.
As these wine-day-retreat-tours are quite popular my solo
seat was requested by the gorgeous host Angela Aeillo and I was moved next to be
social next to a charming man named John. Coincidentally his family was from
the same town as mine on the east coast and he also worked in Africa and knew
plenty about African cuisine so we had plenty to chat about. He was brought on the tour by two other beautiful
and entertaining ladies who were iYellow Club veterans and therefore, were
familiar with adventures like these. On
the ride up we were served a delicious Shiraz Rose and champagne cupcakes which
along with the pleasant conversation made the hour long commute seem like only
moments.
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| Fabulous Faith at Rockway Glen Golf Course & Winery |
Our first stop was a combination of golfing lessons and a
wine tasting in the Museum cellar of Rockway Glen Golf Course and Winery. We sampled several lovely wines and then
ventured out into the sunshine where we were taught both putting and driving on
the scenic golf course. It was an
excellent bonding experience for the group as novice golfers we laughed at our
stumbling and could chalk-up any faults to the wine we had just enjoyed. After a little while we piled back onto the
bus and headed a short distance to our next destination chatting of our time
golfing.
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| Fabulous Faith in Jackson Triggs Cellar |
The second stop was at a much the much larger complex of
Jackson Triggs where we were immediately lead into their ginormous cellar
packed with barrels and reminiscent of Europe.
We were seated to our choice of wine and a buffet style lunch of pulled
pork sandwiches with numerous condiments and local mixed green salad with
in-house red wine vinaigrette. After
lunch I slid out from my seat and slipped into the kitchen to chat with the
chef who filled me in on his garden out front (he used his own rhubarb for
dessert!) and the local farmers who provided his ingredients. Not sure if he could see how jealous I was of
this (LOL) but for Chef’s this is the ultimate luxury and for “eaters” basically
dream come true. Lastly he utilized the
rhubarb from the garden and served up an exquisite strawberry-rhubarb tart. After the wine and food we were taken along
for a tour of the facility.
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| Fabulous Faith with the Chef at Jackson Triggs |
As a wine lover it was very interesting to take in the steps
from grape to awesome and learning about the processes that create the heavenly
beverage we all know and love in such a hands-on way. We finished off with a tour of the garden and
had a few more samples and picked up some bottles to take home.
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| Fabulous Faith at Jackson Triggs Winery |
Up next we were in for a surprise a tour of the trendy
hipster Oath House Brewery! Just around
the corner, craft beer was been produced in mass quantities and we were brought
into the barn like brewery and shown the processes before being able to taste
some of their beers. I don’t generally enjoy craft beer, the strong flavours
are overwhelming to my palate but the rich, savoury flavour of their dark ale
had me thinking of meat pairings and reminded of summer nights out on the patio
downtown. A must try!
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| Fabulous Faith at Oath House Brewery |
Our final stop was at Vineland Estates Winery which was closed but
the iYellow Club had the “hook-up” so we got a VIP private tour. As the venue is beautiful we arrived to find
a wedding take place which kind of adds a pleasant feel, maybe love was in the
air? Possibly I drank too much wine at this point or a mixture of both hoping for the air-love though.
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| Fabulous Faith at Vineland Estates Winery |
We walked through production and down a large tunnel to find
their private cellar (on a personal note if you are reading this please call me
about that bottle xoxoxo) featuring a collection of beautiful bottles from
decades past sat nestled in a brick cove, visually something out of a romance
movie (although wine is romance in itself though.) After my tour (ok total
bottle worship) we got more delicious wine and cheese and I pouted to myself
about not being able to get the original bottle. I stepped out into the vineyard and stared out
into the forest; it was quiet no cars, no street lights, no neighbours and
enjoyed a peaceful moment to myself. In
the city or really just in the hectic lives we create for ourselves there are
too few of these moments so for this alone I am grateful for the experience.
The ride home passed in a flash and before I knew it I was
saying goodbye, jumping into my car and heading back home to my frenzied
life. An experience like this is kind of
what the soul needs, new friends, great wine, great food and the opportunity to
experience good energy with like-minded individuals. Everyone who goes to an iYellow event comes
out to have fun, to let loose and to try something new. So if this sounds like
something you would like to do iYellow Wine Club is definitely for you.
For more information about upcoming tours or iYellow’s
amazing wine school visit:
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