Continuing alphabet series representing 2025, P is for Peller Estates Winery. My girlfriend & I…read morevisited Niagara Falls & Toronto in June 2025. We drove up to Niagara-on-the-Lake as I had good things about that area. I asked a local what wineries recommended and was told about Peller. There are about 40 wineries to choose from in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Peller Estates ended up being an excellent one. We drove up to a large estate with fields. Bartender was friendly. We asked about wine tastings. Bartender mentioned how Canada has ice wine, which American wineries don't have. She let us sample it to see if we liked, which we did and opted to just get the ice wine. Wow, that was a delicious white wine! I wish we had that in the US. But in general, much of the US climate is too warm for ice wine. The grapes are out there to freeze solid. Ice wine needs to be picked below 18 F (-8 C). In Maryland where I live, winter can get cold, but it's inconsistent, some years barely any days below 18 F in Baltimore. Ideally, you want multiple days in a row for a more sustained freeze instead of rushing out for the few hours it might get down to 15 F. On the flip side, it can be too cold in northern Minnesota (where it easily gets below 5 F or -15 C often, which is the lower temp limit) or upstate NY. Also, heavy lake effect snow like that often occurs in Buffalo is problematic. It's a specific microclimate of the Niagara peninsula near Lake Ontario, where it gets cold but not extremely cold too often, not many heavy snowfalls. In the US, near Lake Erie is the sweet spot for ice wine in southwest NY, northern PA, & northeastern OH. Also, northern Michigan near Great Lakes as well as the Finger Lakes region of NY. The lakes moderate the temperatures in the winter if winery is positioned south of the lake, but needs to also be in an area not prone to be slammed by heavy Lake Effect snows like Buffalo. We wanted to sit on the outside, but there was a private event being setup. We sat at a nice table inside the beautiful estate. Afterward, we brought our glasses back to the bartender thanking her and saying the ice wine was excellent. She took the glasses back and said here are 2 clean glasses to take with you thanking us for our visit. This was an excellent experience. Highly recommend a visit to Peller Estates!

Start with price. $48 per person for a four stop tour. About twice the going rate for wine tours in…read morethe region. Tour Stop 1. Conference room where we got a short history from the guide. Sampled a champagne style wine. Stop 2. Balcony overlooking vineyard. the guide told us one type of grapes on the left another type on the right. Two more types behind the building. Sampled a white wine. Stop 3. Barrel room. Short discussion of barrel aging and coopering. Sample cheap blended red wine. Pretty underwhelming so far. Stop 4. Ice room, set to -10 degrees. Room furniture is made from ice. Room is cool, literally and figuratively. Probably the justification for the high tour price. Small sample of cheapest ice wine they sell. Tour ends in the store, what a surprise. I asked to try a different version of the ice wine, tried it, liked it, decided to buy a bottle. Note this was a bit more expensive than the cheap wine we tried. I asked to try a Gamay red wine, tried it, liked it, decided to buy a bottle. Note this was a more expensive than the cheap red wine we tried. I asked to try a different version of the red wine, but this time a different lady said I had to pay $7 for the 1 ounce sample. She also seemed to want to charge me for the previous two 1 ounce samples. I did try it and liked it, and decided to buy a bottle. Note this was even a bit more expensive than the previous wine i bought. Two issues with their sampling pricing. 1. It works out to about $35-40 a glass for a normal glass. that's a lot. 2. Why does the customer have to pay to try a wine they might want to buy. The tour only shows cheap wines so it does not show off any really good, or more pricey, wines. Seem like short sighted marketing to me. Conclusion = over priced tourist trap.

Our family of 5 just enjoyed dinner. Our waitress Hope was definitely the nicest waitress we have…read moreever had and made our entire family, including children, feel very welcome! We very much enjoyed walking in the vineyard and overlooking the pond. The savignon blanc was great. We didn't leave any food on the table. All great flavors.

We visited this winery while staying in the Niagara-on-the-Lake region and overall had a pretty…read moremixed experience. The property itself is absolutely beautiful--really well maintained, scenic, and a great place to sit and enjoy the surroundings. That part definitely stood out and felt very elevated. We originally came in for food, and while my meal was good, others at our table were pretty disappointed with theirs. Service was fine, nothing particularly memorable either way, but not a dealbreaker. We also planned to do a tasting, but were surprised to find the pricing was significantly higher than what was listed on the website, which was a bit frustrating and honestly impacted the experience for us. Overall, I'd say it was a decent visit with a gorgeous setting, but a few inconsistencies in food and pricing brought it down. I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars.

We had a private wine tour with Chris for two couples and it was outstanding. We were in a minivan…read morewhich was perfect for the 4 of us. He was so interesting, fun and gave us so much information about the area and the wines. He took us to three wineries and we had an outstanding dinner after that at The Cannery. I highly recommend this company and especially the private tour...it is well worth it.

where do i start…read more.. this was the best day of my life. first off, our guide, chris, was AWESOME. super knowledgeable and interesting -- we really enjoyed chatting to him. request this man. he's so dope. by the end of the tour i was #hammered. seriously. you get like 4-5 glasses of wine at each winery (there are three!), and the pours? they're solid. knowing i didn't have to drive made me throw these babies (glasses of wine) back FAST. especially because the van was super comfy too. i felt safe with chris driving. he's a great driver, i'm glad he has a license! overall, between the guide and the wine, this wine tour was a 10/10. i seriously debated just booking the afternoon tour immediately after but apparently you can't do that. fair! i love you grape escape!

Even if Aunt Jemima hadn't been cancelled a few years ago, I'd probably be officially switching to…read morereal maple syrup after this excursion. One of my cousins has a bit of an obsession with natural sweeteners and scheduled a trip to White Meadows for us last weekend. It was a bit of a drive from our Finger Lakes Airbnb that involved a literal border crossing, but honestly was worth the trek. I wasn't sure what to expect beyond a deluge of maple leaf signs/flags, but I definitely left with an appreciation of the insane amount of work required to make this without using mass-produced corn syrup. We'd scheduled a tour, subsequent syrup tasting and charcuterie board for a 1:30pm start time. Not knowing what drama we might encounter at the border (there was absolutely none - deliciously uneventful; this isn't the border anyone gets particularly riled up about), we got here super early and had ample time to look around the gift shop. I barely considered the implications of the tariffs and didn't bother buying any maple syrup - understandably when I went to the farm's website later, it indicated they're not shipping to the US right now. That decision will haunt me for weeks and maybe months to come. Our guide was Nathan, who was an absolute superstar. I can't recommend this guy highly enough. He was engaging and knew how to talk about the science and concepts behind maple syrup and its cultivation on the farm in a way that was easily digestible but also very in-depth and informative. We were in a pretty inquisitive group, and he fielded a myriad of questions ably; I also liked that once or twice, he didn't know the answer and just said that - sadly a rarity in this day and age. But that didn't happen very often; Nathan knows maple syrup. The tour consists of a 10 to 15-minute discussion in one of the prep rooms near the gift shop (where most of the equipment and technical terminology is broken down), followed by a 10-minute tractor ride to the woods on the other side of the property to the tree-tapping area where the majority of the tour takes place, followed by a ride back to the starting point and a five-minute tasting of the four syrups made on the farm. One piece of constructive feedback - there were several young children there who were honestly a bit of a distraction. This is probably school age kid friendly but there were some very antsy toddlers (and even an infant) who just weren't old enough for this. I'd put a disclaimer up on the website that this isn't really appropriate for pups that young so the parents know ahead of time not to bother booking it. It is really wild seeing how much goes into creating maple syrup on a mom-and-pop farm like this. The intricate weaving of the taps/tubes throughout the forest leading to a storage tank out of site, and seeing how aggressive you have to be to take advantage of the very narrow window that sap can be harvested? Had no idea. If nothing else, you'll definitely come away from this being blown away by the syrup trade and the immense work required. You just never think about this stuff when you're at the diner pouring (not real) syrup onto your pancakes. The tasting and charcuterie were really good too - if you're already here, I'd spring for the charcuterie so you can sample the syrups and assorted meats/cheeses on a grander scale than just the tasting. The only annoying part were the yellowjackets constantly trying to get in on the fun (which I found out in Canada are more commonly referred to as wasps). I honestly have no idea how they can fix or alleviate that issue since by definition you're putting sweet/sugary stuff out on picnic tables, but might be worth troubleshooting down the line. Absolutely would recommend if you happen to be in the general Upstate NY area and have your passport handy. But make sure you actually buy the syrup there - I have no idea when I'm going to get a chance to sup on the Golden grade of syrup again.

Had such a great experience here! We got the full charcuterie experience and we it was so good. The…read morestaff was sooooo friendly and such a cute little farm. Would highly suggest

100% recommend!! From locals to tourists this tour was extremely popular among everyone! The…read moreservice we received was so great. Our bus arrived promptly and in front of our hotel. We went to four different wineries and were given a bit 80 minutes to explore Niagara on the Lake! After each winery our driver put all our bottles in designated boxes so we didn't have to carry them around the whole trip- so beneficial! We went to Pellitteri Estates Winery where we tasted their award winning white ice wine (top 100 wine in the WORLD), their red ice wine, a red and a white. We received a tour of their wine cellar, vineyard and learned about history of the winery. This was my favorite of all the wineries we went to- the quality was super high and the prices were actually pretty inexpensive! I bought their Cabernet merlot which was amazing! Wish I bought another bottle. Our second winery was Caroline Cellars. Honestly I would say I liked this winery just as much as Pelliterri- Pelliterri just had a classier vibe to it. Caroline had so many different varieties to taste! My husband and I's factories were the Pinot Cherry and Plum! So obviously we got a bottle of each. Our third winery was so pretty! Konzelmann Estate Winery looks like a castle right out of a fairytale! We were given deliciously cured meats, cheeses, crackers, and DELICIOUS ice wine truffles to pair with each of our tastings. I would definitely say their Peach wine was the best! The star of this winery was definitely their ice wine truffles. I wish I bought some- big regrets! Our last winery was our driver's pick and honestly it was pretty disappointing to end with Between the Lines. None of the wines stood out to anyone in our group. It honestly tasted like very cheap wine. Everyone on the tour wish we could go back to the first two wineries! Suggestion- take Between the Lines off your itinerary!! The time given to explore Niagara on the Lake was just enough time! We got a quick bite to eat at a nice pizza restaurant, walked to Lake Ontario, and shared an ice cream at the Cow. Such a fun time! I would definitely recommend taking this tour!

I've never done a winery tour and I was visiting Niagara Falls for the first time. One of my…read moreCanadian friends recommended I see some wineries so I did my research and decided on Winery Tours of Niagara's evening beer and wine tour with dinner at The Ravine Winery at the end. I couldn't have made a better decision. Our guide, Brendan picked us up the day we arrived at the bus terminal. We were nervous we might miss the tour because there was an unexpected delay crossing the border at the Peace Bridge. But I called the office and they assured us we would make it on time probably and if not they would help us to meet up with the tour. We luckily made it. Brendan was a great guide. He has a lot of energy and is knowledgeable about the local wines and the winemaking process. And he went out of his way to make sure everyone was having a great time. He took us to a very nice brewery, Ouest and several wineries including some extra stops of his favorites. My favorite of the wineries was Jackson Triggs because the guide there was the most knowledgeable and they gave us a tour of the whole process. The dinner at The Ravine was amazing as well. All of the vegetables in the salad are grown on the farm in back of the restaurant. I really couldn't recommend this tour more highly. Whether you're a wine snob or a novice you will enjoy it. If you do it book a tour with Brendan.

I cannot thank Rich enough for the fantastic time he showed us (and a half dozen other pairs of…read moredrinkers) on our tour recently. I've been on quite a few wine tours over the years, and it does take a certain personality to be able to do it well - but Rich was able to entertain AND be personable. He was professional AND endearing. He was always engaged in what we thought of each stop, and his relationship with the people at the breweries/distilleries/wineries seemed genuine. And whether it was him or just the smaller size, It honestly felt like we were treated better, being a part of Rich's group, then being in a group of 50 coming off a tour bus.   The stops were all great. I had some reservations about a few, but was honestly able to find something I loved at each location. Not to mention, the price is extremely competitive with all of the other tours I was researching. The van we were in was even fancy and brand new. If you're looking for something just a little different than your standard wine tour, I cannot recommend them enough.

I booked a surprise tour for my husband's birthday and we had an amazing time. Rich was with me…read moreevery step, from choosing the stops of our custom tour, booking a package, working with me to keep the big surprise from my husband, right through to being an amazing guide on the big day. I would absolutely recommend Brewery and Distillery tours to my friends and family and I hope we get to do another tour soon!

I cannot say enough great things about Discovery Tours and our guide for the day, Tim…read more We stopped in the area for the day on our way to Toronto and decided to do the Undiscovered Winery Tour...we couldn't be more happy with our decision. Our guide Tim picked us up at the Fallsview Casino, which was convenient for us, before we picked up one more group of 2. The small group of us (4 plus Tim) was just the right size. Tim was very knowedgeable both about wine and the Niagra region. He took the time to get to know each of us and what tastes were like in wine. We stopped at 4 wineries (all were equally delicious, although I'd have to say my favorite was the red Ice Wine from Vineland) and each time Tim brought us inside, introduced us to the staff, and helped offer suggestions based on what he had learned about us. We also learned the proper way to taste at our very first stop. This was a welcome change from other tours we have done in the past where the tour bus simply stops in the parking lot while you go inside, sample, then come out when you are ready to leave. This was much more personable and made for an excellent tour experience. In addition to the 4 wineries we stopped at the Upper Canada Cheese company to sample their fine cheeses, as well as stopped mid-day in Jordan Village for lunch. The tour was well structured and you had plenty of time to shop after each tasting as well if you wanted to (although none of the wineries/staff were pushy in any way whatsoever.) Overall it was a great day, great experience, and I would certainly consider other future tours with Discovery.

I purchased a wine tour with Discovery Tours unlimited from Buytopia and the customer service that…read moreI received was beyond excellent. I had a few questions regarding the tour which I had emailed in, and I had received responses within an hour of submitting my question. Clear information was provided and I was even offered a pickup from my hotel. I am excited for the tour and am already impressed with the customer service.

My wife booked this tour, and she hit out of the park. Dave was our tour guide and he was a total…read morerockstar. He even took us on a side tour of Niagara On The Lake..... Shhh, don't tell management. We had plenty of samples, and each location welcomed us. If you want a great afternoon of alcohol sampling and don't want to drive then book a tour.

If you want to blow the socks off your friends, family or significant other than book with these…read moreguys. Steve is absolutely amazing. He answered all of our questions. Went above and beyond to make this day special for my boyfriend and I. All the beers were great and so was the food. I would absolutely recommend booking with them!