Wine Tour

July 16, 2011

A group of Toastmasters from different clubs along with their guests were on hand for a trip to the vineyards of Niagara on this spectacularly beautiful Saturday.

Our first stop was at the gorgeous Chateau des Charmes (pictured above).

Upon arrival, we were warmly welcomed and treated with glasses of light white wine.

While touring the magnificient estate, we had an opportunity to take a group photo beside the Chateau's patio area.

Pictured, left-to-right, are Nathalie Xian Yi YAN (Access Toastmasters), Sandy (Ken MacKinnon's guest), Nathalie's mother, Dan (Mark Zdiebko's guest), Ken MacKinnon (Valley Town Toastmasters), Mark Zdiebko (Ambitious City Toastmasters), Beverley Featherstone (Valley Town), Richard Parrish (Valley Town), Trudy Featherstone (Beverley's daughter), Grace Trushinski (Hamilton No. 1 Toastmasters) and Tony Bratschitsch (Valley Town).

Paul, our Chateau des Charmes host, is shown in centre of the photo on the left as he is instructing our group on the proper tasting of four different wines, including ice wine.

Our next stop was at the nearby Konzelmann Estates (pictured from the rear side view), located right beside Lake Ontario.

Our Konzelmann host, Geramy, took us on a descriptive tour of the estate's wine making process from how the rows of grape vines are arranged through the collection and fermentation process and to the bottling process, as shown in the left photo.

After partaking in another enjoyable wine tasting session, our group indulged in a fantastic beef and chicken dinner buffet in a private dining room at the estate.

From there, we drove to lovely Niagara-on-the-Lake for some casual sight-seeing and shopping.

What a day!

What a great tour!

Everyone in our group was ecstatic with our adventure to Niagara's vineyards.

The success of this trip is the result of good planning from our Wine Tour Committee even though all of them could not attend.

Viola Mueller provided the creative art work and, along with Allyson Wenzowski, provided advice and ideas during the committee meeting.

Most importantly, it must be acknowledged that this memorable adventure would not have happened without the commitment and dedication of Richard Parrish (right in the photo alongside Ken MacKinnon).

Richard ensured that every facet of the tour was well planned and executed - even to the point of driving the route and visiting the tour sites earlier in the week.

Thank you, Richard - from all of us who enjoyed this fantastic event - for being an excellent Toastmaster and a great friend!