Villanovaestatewinery's Weblog

Jan 29 already? at Villa Nova Estate Winery

villanovaestatewinery — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:40:41 +0000

After our brown and green Christmas, we are really getting snowed on this weekend. We participated in a Lions fundraiser at Stratford last night and had a good time. The trip us was a little white-knuckle between Plattsville and Shakespear, but improved after that. We brought our Peach and Cherry wines, and our Aenigma 2010 red and Marechal Foche 2010 (red). It was good fun, for a good cause and we thank the Stratford Lions for inviting us. We met lots of new people at Stratford and at the London Food and Wine Show (January 12-14). We shared adjacent booths with other wineries in our new Association – Ontario South Coast Wineries and Growers Association, representing a growing agribusiness sector. There is lots to do if you should come to our area – We have a pancake house just up the road from us and they will start serving all day pancakes and sausage with maple syrup fairly soon. Local cornfields will have tundra swans as well as our Canada Geese. Port Dover restaurants serve great fish dinners with yellow perch, pickerel and whitefish. When the weather warms up, Hoover’s restaurant in Nanticoke serves a great fish dinner on their dock at the edge of Lake Erie. Friday the 13th sometimes (??) brings people into the area, The Lighthouse Theatre in Port Dover, operates year round and is just down the street from the Crepe House restaurant which serves ours, amongst other local wines. Did I mention Cornfest in Jarvis, the Mudcat Festival in Dunnville, July 1st .giant Calithumpian parade in Port Dover, Friendship Festival in SImcoe, Bayfest in Port Rowan, Pumpkinfest in Waterford, Dickens Christmas sale or the fantastic Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show in Simcoe? I never get past the fish&chips at the D&D Diner in Jarvis, or the pizza at the Barrel restaurant in Simcoe. Google the Haldimand and Norfolk County events schedules to help you plan your visit. . Last but not least is our contribution on July 14 and 15. We will have an open house, with tours of the winery, vineyards, and music on the grass with food, wine and ciders.We hope to attract some local farmers and artisans to display and sell their wares.

Well its time to buckle down and get pruning on 10 acres of vines. We have done some preliminary work to get budwood and rootstock and are about to start grafting and waxing new vines.It is great to see day length increasing as makes a difference to our workday.So far, the vines are holding up in spite of the variable and warm weather. The primary buds look good, so far. Keep your fingers crossed for another good vintage at Villa Nova Estate.

We get a lot of people who tell us that they have looked for us unsuccessfully at least once before. People look for us in Villa Nova. We are south of Villa Nova, at the end of the Villa Nova Road which runs north-south. At the T intersecton turn left (east) and come up the hill and see us at the top #1449. It is a little tricky to find us from Hiway #6. If you are coming from Hamilton, you can take the turnoff to Townsend. Take a right, and a left in Townsend, leave town via “Stone Quarry Road” and proceed west to #1449. From Hiway #3, you can come into Townsend and take Stone Quarry Road west as above. Alternatively, you can take O’Mahoney Road to the T interestion and turn right (east) to #1449. From the Cockshutt Road, turn east at Tyrrel Baptist Church and proceed to #1449. Google maps shows us in the right place. Yahoo and Mapquest show us in the wrong place, or not at all.

Basics of Grape-Growing & Winemaking in Ontario – Mohawk College

villanovaestatewinery — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:07:32 +0000

I wanted to pass on the info about the course and how to access it at Mohawk College’s website. It is listed under Continuing Education. I found it by searching under the word Grape.

Phil Ryan www.villanovaestatewinery.ca

Basics of Grape-Growing & Winemaking in Ontario

Of interest to farmers, horticulturists, backyard hobbyists, amateur winemakers and people in wine production and retail. Learn basic variety selection preparation & planting, vine care, winemaking, annual cycle, commercialization, VQA/QC.

Course Number: HORT 10025

Learn to grow Ontario grapes and make grape and fruit wines

villanovaestatewinery — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:07:00 +0000

“The Basics of Grape-Growing and Winemaking in Ontario” will be offered by Mohawk College at the Brantford Campus. It begins on Jan 18 and runs for 10 weeks. Classes run from 7-10 PM. The instructor is a partner in the Villa Nova Estate Winery. He has pioneered grape-growing since 1996 in Norfolk County, and established the first commercial grape winery in 2006. The course is not listed in the published Mohawk calendar for winter 2012, but those interested can read the course outline and enroll on line. It is “Hort 10025″ and is listed under the Brantford Campus, but does not seem to be linked properly today (Dec 3).

This course would be of interest to farmers, horticulturists, backyard hobbyists, amateur winemakersand people in the wine production and retail. You will learn to grow grape vines at low cost from cuttings and using organic growing techniques. One class will involve tasting local wines, and another will be a field trip to our vineyard and winery. Many of the resources for this course are freely available from websites, however a good basic text would be “The Grape-Grower, A Guide to Organic Viticulture” by Lon Rombough. During the course, we will often refer to Geoff Heinrichs “A Prospectus for Growing Grapes in Prince Edward County” which is available on-line . We stock a number of useful texts for growers at our winery: www.villanovaestatewinery.ca

Christmass at Villa Nova Estate Winery

villanovaestatewinery — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 19:35:26 +0000

The elves on Concession 13 have been busy, making gift packages of Sweeeeet Apple wine and gift baskets with wines, Jensen old cheddar, crackers, and Kernal’s white chocolate popcorn. We have released Aenigma Red 2010 which is our “big red”. We expect that our Peach (2010) and Aenigma White wines will be available before Christmass. Unfortunately, Pinot Gris 2010 and Norfolk Red 2007 (dry) have sold out.

We have extended hours – 11AM to 6 PM and are open Tuesday to Sunday for December. In January, we will go back to being open only on weekends. Call us to set up a visit for your group.

Bird List August 6, 2011 Villa Nova Estate

villanovaestatewinery — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:34:34 +0000

Last Saturday our neigbours Julia and Richard took a short birding stroll near the middle of the farm In spite of the heat, they logged 20 birds as listed below.

1) European Starling
2) Gold Finch
3) Red Tailed Hawk
4) Red Breasted Woodpecker
5) Barn Swallow
6) Eastern Phoebe
7) American Robin
8) Gray Catbird
9) Eastern Kingbird
10) Song Sparrow
11) Eastern Bluebird
12) Northern Flicker
13) Rock Dove
14) Ruby Throated Hummingbird
15) House Sparrow
16) Mourning Dove
17) American Crow
18) Blue Jay
19) Cardinal

After some further work, a Baltimore Oriole was added to the list.

There are always lots of barn and tree swallows in the area. There are some good opportunities to bird on the west side of the farm where the alfalfa allows easy walking along the field edges.

We will have some new wines to release on Friday: a Marechal Foche (not oaked) and a Chambourcin-Bianca Blush. Both are dry. You can buy a glass of these or any other of our wines, or a sparking pear cider to go with a ploughman’s lunch or burger, on Saturday at our open house.

Join us Saturday on the 13th for Doors Open, a vineyard walk or winery tour, some food and wine, and maybe some birding.

August – Counting down to “Doors Open” on August 13

villanovaestatewinery — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 01:54:56 +0000

I have not written much since we were overwhelmed by spring, and then underwhelmed by a wet May. The good news is that the grape vines have come thru this looking good and we are looking towards an earlier harvest.

We are inviting you to attend an open house at our place on August 13. With the support of Norfolk County,heritage sites and businesses have open houses for visitors, in the area of Wilsonvile – Waterford and Renton in 2011. We are providing opportunity to sample our wines, learn about winemaking and grape-growing by tours, and opportunity to relax and enjoy live music, wine and food in the shade of our walnut trees. Maybe there wil be some surprises like antique cars and tractors, or maybe just an antique winemaker.

Bring your binoculars if you are a birdwatcher. I counted 140 barn swallows sitting on our hydro line for flight school last week. We have those rare grassland birds like bobolinks. Check our birdlist on the website.

Jarvis “CornFest” takes place August 18 to 21st. Its a great event – music, rides, craft and trade show, silent auction and lots of corn! www.cornfest.ca Check the map at our website www.villanovaestatewinery.ca

April 23 – You can still get Pancakes this weekend

villanovaestatewinery — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 13:13:25 +0000

You can still get a wonderful pancake breakfast at Chambers this weekend. I made a mistake in an earlier post.

Closed Easter Sunday, Statutory Holidays

villanovaestatewinery — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:52:26 +0000

Dear Friends;
We are closed on Easter Sunday following the rules set by the LCBO. There are 3 other days – Good Friday, Christmass and New Years Day that LCBO directs us to be closed. We are also closed on statutory holidays following Norfolk County by-laws

We are open weekends year round, and open weekday afternoons during summer and around Christmass. If you call ahead, we can open up for you outside those hours.

Spring is Sprung; New Wines Released at Villa Nova Estate Winery

villanovaestatewinery — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:13:48 +0000

Its been an amazing month of weather since my last post, but today really looks and sounds like spring. The grass is greening up, and the birds are singing. Sadly, the Tundra Swans seem to have moved on. Lots of them were staying on the ponds near Townsend, and would fly over our farm en route to the preferred cornfield of the day. You can still get a great breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup at Chambers Pancake House on Villa Nova Road, just north of us.

We have bottled a dry Frontenac Rose and a blush version of Pinot Gris. Try them at the winery or at the “Eat and Drink Norfolk” event being held at the “Aud” on the Norfolk County Fair Grounds in Simcoe, April 15 & 16.

We have lots of pruning ahead. It looks like we can have have a good year, because of good bud survival, so far but there are lots of other worries like frosts ahead.

We are producing new vines and hoping to have a number of table grape (Concord, Brianna, Himrod, Sovereign Coronation) and wine grape vines available for sale in June.

Iced Apple Wine, Maple Syrup and Tundra Swans at Villa Nova Estate Winery

villanovaestatewinery — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:22:52 +0000

Its a geat time of the year to live on Concession 13. We have seen our first Tundra Swans (March 4) and we expect to see them on local cornfields. The Chambers have opened their pancake house and are serving their wonderful maple syrup with pancake breakfasts (8:00-2:30 weekends). The winery is open 10:00-6:00 at 1449 Con 13 (519-443-8787) . We have 3 fruit wines, 3 whites and 3 reds available to sample. Our newest fruit wine is the “Sweeeeeet Apple Wine, which is an “Iced Wine” product, made with fruit from the Johnston family orchard (Norfolk County). We hope to release 5 new wines in April – Bianca, Dore Blanc, Riesling, an oaked Prairie Star, and Frontenac Rose.

Our neigbours have added to our bird list over winter, sighting Rusty Blackbird, Lapland Longspur and Snow Bunting ca. Feb 8. We have flocks of Snow Buntings on the roadside over much of the winter. They also saw a Bluebird and a Common Grackle ca Feb 21.

http://www.villanovaestatewinery.ca Phil Ryan, Villa Nova Estate Winery