It is the time of year when we turn our attention to food, friends, gifts and gatherings. Late fall offers the perfect time to drive to our region's many wineries, where we can enjoy an afternoon with friends sampling wine, attending events including gift shows and buying wine for drinking and giving. A display of wine selections and a soup mix in the tasting room at Long Cliff Vineyard & Winery.
When Long Cliff Vineyard & Winery (3617 Lower Mountain Road, Sanborn) hosts its annual Nouveau Night on Nov. 21, guests will not only celebrate the season, they will also hear how an unexpected threat from birds forced the winery to change course for the event. The winery typically uses the Leon Millot grape, a French-hybrid grown on its four-generation farm.
“The grapes we harvest in late August to early September for bottling in November undergo an accelerated fermentation, resulting in a wine that’s extremely fruity and zesty – perfect for the holiday season,” explained Danielle DeMaison Neglia of Long Cliff Vineyard. But this year, an unusually warm spring and summer led to early fruit set and ripening, which attracted large flocks of starlings, and the grapes paid the price. The normal methods for bird deterrence include noise cannons, set on timers to scare the flocks, founder Don DeMaison said.
Take a fall drive along the Niagara Wine Trail and enjoy samples at such wineries as Long Cliff Vineyard & Winery in Sanborn. “We hesitate to put these out too early out of re.
