New company, La Vida Local Food + Wine Tours, offers great trip south of Ottawa

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Disclosure: I participated in this trip as a guest of La Vida Local Food + Wine Tours, which neither reviewed nor approved this post.

Hands up, all of you who knew that there are at least three wineries within an hour’s drive south of Ottawa. Anybody?

If you were as surprised as I was, then you might enjoy one of the fun tours offered by a brand-new Ottawa company, La Vida Local Food + Wine Tours.

A few weeks ago, I boarded a bus in Ottawa’s west end for the company’s South Ottawa Wine Tour. After five hours of wining and dining with a group of seven strangers—plus company owners Iona Green and Ruth McKlusky—we’d all bonded to the point that we were trading business cards, restaurant tips and Instagram likes. It was a lovely way to spend a sunny Saturday, both for the wine and for the great conversation. Here’s where we went.

(P.S.: At the end of this post, I’ve provided information on how you can save 10% on a La Vida Local tour.)

Smokie Ridge Vineyard in Mountain

Our first stop was Smokie Ridge, an 11-year-old vineyard in Mountain—about 15 minutes southeast of Kemptville—run by ex-military man Paul “Smokie” Leblanc and his family.

Sommelier Julie Ricard and her husband Tony, who consult for several of Eastern Ontario’s growing number of wineries, introduced us to five of the winery’s wines, including a Riesling and a Sabrevois-Frontenac Noir blend.

In an intriguing test I’ve never seen on a winery tour, they encouraged us to try a white wine in a disposable plastic glass first, then try it again in a regular glass. The difference was substantial. The regular glass provided a much richer “nose” and taste, which may explain why wine at outdoor events often tastes more plonky than I expect.

The couple talked us through pairing wines with cheese, chocolate and even lemon slices, to help us understand which wines worked best with which sorts of foods.

“The goal is to find your favourite type of wine…because walking a vineyard without a glass of wine is bad luck,” Julie explained with a conspiratorial smile. I took the superstition with a grain of salt, but I happily sampled the wines and settled on the Riesling, to my surprise. (I usually find Rieslings way too sweet for my taste.)

Thus fortified with our glasses of wine, the group followed Smokie’s son Claude on a relaxing walk through a section of the pretty vineyard.

Soon, however—after a stop at the winery shop—it was time to hop on the bus to head to our second destination.

Green Gables Vines in Oxford Station

A 10-minute drive took us to tiny Green Gables Vines in Oxford Station. This is the first full year of operation for winemaker Richard Deslandes and his partner Marie Chinnatamby, but they already had seven wines ready for us to sample, including a white blend called Honey I’m Home and an unusual blend of wine and strawberries called Strawberry Swirl. The latter worked very well with the sharp cheddar crackers that were just part of a well-stocked table of charcuterie, cheese, sweets and fruit that Marie created for our visit.

I have to admit that I devoured more snacks here than I probably should have. They were really good, especially—again, to my surprise—a vegan havarti that I vowed to look for the next time I went to Loblaws, where Marie bought it.

Richard is an engineer by trade, and at this stop we learned about the science and mechanics of the winemaking system he built. The fermentation apparatus is in the same building as the small tasting room, so those who were interested in learning about the process and those who just wanted to sample the wine didn’t have to split up.

After another flurry of purchases, we clambered into the bus to head to our third and final stop.

Blue Gypsy Wines in Oxford Mills

Update, April 2020: Unfortunately, Blue Gypsy has closed its doors since this article was first published.

Fifteen minutes more and we were at whimsical Blue Gypsy Wines in Oxford Mills.

This was the only one of the three I had visited before, while writing an Ottawa Citizen story in 2012. Things have changed a lot for winemakers Louis Gaal and Claire Faguy since then. Notably, they’ve jumped through the many hoops required to get one of their fruit wines onto the shelves of the LCBO.

And before you ask—yes, grapes are indeed fruit. However, “fruit wines” refers to wines made from other types of fruit, such as blueberries, cranberries and cherries. Louis poured generous servings of five different beverages. In my third surprise of the day, my favourite was something I had never tried before: mead. Specifically, chocolate mead.

Mead is made by fermenting honey with water and, sometimes, other ingredients. Just the thought of a honey-based alcoholic beverage has long been enough to make my head hurt (see aforementioned dislike of sweet wines), but I figured this would be as good a time as any to try it. It wasn’t cloyingly sweet at all, and I liked it very well indeed. When Louis pointed out that it is best served with spicy foods such as chili, I was intrigued enough to buy. (In fact, I whipped up some chili when I got home that night, and my husband and I both agreed that it was a great match.)

Louis is a fun and congenial host—even the signs at the winery are laced with Louis and Claire’s sense of humour.

And the eco-conscious among you will be pleased to note that the winery is off grid (fuelled with a combination of solar and generator power, at the moment), the 62-acre farm is pesticide free, and the wines have no sulfites.

Touring tips

While wineries along the way provide nibbles to go with your wine samples, this particular route is focused more on beverages than on food. Iona and Ruth have a cache of snacks and non-alcoholic drinks on the bus, including granola bars and lemonade. However, if you get a bit spacey without sufficient protein, you might want to eat a hearty breakfast before heading out or to bring additional munchies.

Touring three wineries in five hours can also make you a bit lightheaded in other ways. If you suspect you’ll succumb to the temptation to overindulge, it’s a good idea to have a ride waiting for you at the end of the trip (or to take the bus to the start/end point, which varies by tour).

It’s a great trip for couples and groups of friends, but even if you’re on the shy side, don’t hesitate to go solo. I did, and I was soon chatting and laughing with the rest of the group. There’s nothing like sharing a country drive, wine and cheese to spark fun conversations.

If you go

La Vida Local currently runs four different tours—to the east, south, southwest and west of Ottawa. Depending on the tour, you might sample spirits or cider as well as wine.

Prices start at $125 per person, including all food, drinks, and transportation to/from the departure point.

And here’s a deal: If you would like to book any of the tours, use the code LVLtour10 at checkout to get a 10% discount.

The tour I took, the South Ottawa itinerary, is running on Saturday, August 18, if you’re keen!

Disclosure: I participated in the trip as a guest of La Vida Local Food + Wine Tours, which neither reviewed nor approved this post.

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