St Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries have theirs selected as Queen’s Park 2022 Official Wines

St Catharines | Niagara | Niagara on the Lake | Ontario | Community | Success Stories |

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Published October 28, 2021 at 10:54 am

The day after Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch stood up at Queen’s Park to urge the government to show more support towards locally-grown grape producers, two Niagara Region wineries were selected as the Official Wines of Ontario’s Legislative Assembly for 2022.

At 42nd Annual Wine Tasting event at Queen’s Park yesterday (October 27), Niagara-on-the-Lakes’ Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery saw their 2019 Meritage chosen as the red wine while St. Catharines’ Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery saw their 2020 Chardonnay selected as the white.

That means those two Niagara Region wineries will have those two wines served at every Queen’s Park legislative functions for all of 2022.

They were up against wines produced by Vivace Estate Winery out of Amherstburg (Windsor area) and Broken Stone Winery out of Hillier (Prince Edward County area).

The annual event is hosted by the Grape Growers of Ontario, who later offered their congratulations to both.

“Congrats to Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery and Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery on being selected as the Official Wines of Ontario’s Legislative Assembly for 2022,” said the group. “These wines and the others showcased at the tasting, are a testament to the dedication, hard work and vision of grape growers across the province.”

The event, certainly considered one of the more enjoyable ones of the year, was co-hosted by Ted Arnott, Speaker of the Legislature and Wellington-Halton Hills MPP and was done online following COVID-19 protocols.

The Grape Growers of Ontario also singled out Burch for standing up for them at Queen’s Park on October 26.

“This has been a challenging harvest for our growers. Thanks Jeff Burch for supporting the local grape and wine industry at Queen’s Park today,” the group said. “Our growers have made significant investments in our vineyards and we need to invest in and support 100 per cent Ontario grown.”

(Photos of Ted Arnott, the panel of judges courtesy of Grape Growers of Ontario Facebook as is video of Jeff Burch speaking at Queen’s Park.)

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