Is there a better pairing than wine and cheese? I think not. We were super excited to take a bus load of enthusiasts to visit The Great Canadian Cheese Festival (@CheeseLoverG) in Prince Edward County last weekend to indulge in this timeless coupling of bouquets, textures, flavours and visual delights. Our agenda for the day started with an ooey, gooey breakfast grilled cheese from CHEESEWERKS (@CHEESEWERKS) and coffee.
Ooey gooey grilled cheese from CHEESEWERKS
With tummies satisfied, we boarded our comfy ride on our way to visit not only the festival, but also two amazing wineries – Rosehall Run, and Karlo Estates. It is wonderful to have a luxury ride and professional driver to chauffeur us to and fro – really lets you sit back and enjoy worry free.
The bus and driver really lets you relax and enjoy!
The drive to PEC is just over two hours from downtown Toronto, and that includes a rest stop. I love the county because it feels very ‘grass roots’ and rustic. Outstanding scenery, friendly people, lots to do. Our first stop was the very scenic Rosehall Run winery (@Rosehall_Run). Run by Lynn and Dan Sullivan (@sullywine), this award winning winery has stunning views and one of the best cask cellars in the county. We were met by John and Sasha Squair (@threedogwine) and given a private tour and a great lunch by Seed to Sausage from Ottawa (@SeedtoSausage). The tasting room has a lovely balcony where you can enjoy the view of the vineyard while sipping some wine. I really loved the chandelier in the winery, made from their pinot noir vine branches. So creative!
We were treated to a tour of the winery by Sasha. We visited the cask cellar which is carved out of the limestone bedrock and maintains perfect cellaring temperature nearly all year. Here we learned about the wine making process and some of the really cool technology that Rosehall Run embraces to complete their bottling. Of course, we had a glass of Chardonnay to sip while we got our lesson!
Lunch was waiting for us after our tour and tasting. We were treated to some bbq sausages and portobello mushrooms with a nice salad. After eating it was time to say goodbye to Rosehall Run and continue our journey.
We arrived at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival about 1 pm. The day was perfect, warm and sunny with a light breeze. The festival was busy but not overly crowded. We had heard that Saturday was absolutely packed with lineups for everything in the heat of the day, so we were really pleased that we chose Sunday to visit. Festival organizer Georgs Kolesnikovs met our bus and boarded to greet everyone and give us our wristbands. It was really nice to get the VIP treatment! We each received 10 tasting tickets and were treated to an extra glass of Lighthall Vineyards (@lighthallvyard) sparkling (100% vidal and delicious!)
The festival is in Picton and laid out in two buildings at the Crystal Palace grounds. Between the buildings is some green space with more exhibitors and cute animals to enjoy. It features award winning artisan and farmstead cheese from across Canada, craft beers, ciders and wines, and lots of really great artisan products such as jams, honeys, oils and the like. There is plenty to do including: over 125 cheeses to taste, shopping, tutored tastings, cooking with cheese demos, and county food tours. We spent about three hours (which wasn’t enough) tasting, chatting, shopping and having an absolutely great time. The gallery of pics below is a selection from the festival including my favourite products and many of the ones I brought home. Enjoy!
The festival was so much fun…but we weren’t done yet! We still had one more stop at Karlo Estates (@KarloEstates) for another series of award winning wine tastings. Winery owner and Master Winemaker Richard Karlo was there to greet us at the barn – a renovated 1880’s post and beam structure, chalk full of character and old stories. There is an additional built-on sun room that serves as a tasting room in the mild months and this is where we were treated to a very extensive tasting of about eight different wines and Karlo Estates port (a first for the county).
After our marvellous tasting, which we thoroughly enjoyed, we were led out to the back of the vineyard to visit the dry stone bridge. This is an incredibly scenic spot – green grass and trees, babbling brook and amazing dry stone bridge. Perfect for taking a few pics of the group to end a truly wonderful day.
This trip was the first of several the Culinary Adventure Company is planning to PEC this summer. We embrace the warmth, beauty and culture of the county and are excited to introduce it to visitors. John Squair from ThreeDog Wine, the county’s newest winery, will be joining us as our county expert and guide. Consider coming along on one of our expertly guided tours from Toronto to PEC this summer to ‘Uncork the County’ (@UncorkTheCounty). You will fall in love……..
Back soon…..princess.
Categories: Culinary Adventure Company Event, Prince Edward County
The Chef and the Princess 
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