Brock Press

Issue date: 9/23/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Dario Ayala

Calling out to all connoisseurs, amateurs and pretty much anyone else over the age of 19: get your glasses ready, the Niagara Wine Festival has returned.
From now until Sept. 28, locals and tourists alike can head to Montebello Park in St. Catharines and see what the Wine Festival is all about. Vendors line both sides of the park distributing varying types of wine and food, and a few other vendors are there providing different souvenirs for those in attendance.
Throughout the Niagara Region, one can find numerous vineyards, many of which are home to award-winning wines. The Niagara Wine Festival, now in its 57th year, is the perfect chance to enjoy all of these delicious wines in one place.
The festival also offers seminars to patrons looking to learn more about wine and the wine-making process. These seminars are hosted by Christopher Waters, editor of VINES magazine, and wine writer for the St. Catharines Standard and Niagara Falls Review. These seminars will also provide you with the chance to meet some of Niagara's most renowned winemakers, many of which are graduates of Brock University's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute.
At the end of the park is the Festival's musical stage, which features great performers from all across Canada. This weekend found performances by Crash Parallel, Faber Drive and Sarah Slean lighting up the night sky. The remaining evenings will find one of Canada's premier Tragically Hip cover bands, The Wheat Kings, on Wednesday, a Beatles' cover band, The Caverners, on Friday, Juno-Award winning Tomi Swick on Saturday and The Philosopher Kings ending out the festival on Sunday.
"Our focus is obviously the fantastic VQA [Vintner's Quality Alliance] wines brought to the festival and bringing tourists into the region," said event manager Alison Scarlett. "That being said, the entertainment can be what brings people in […] we like to say that sometimes people come for the music but leave wine lovers."
Easily the most impressive line-up of the week goes to the Big Ticket Night. Canadian icon Daniel Lanois' performance will be preceded by other fantastic Canadian acts in Danny Michel, Neverending White Lights, Oliver Black and Joe Lapinski. The event is Thursday night and is a great opportunity to catch some of Canada's premier songwriters.
"We knew that we wanted to do something for Big Ticket Night that tied into the theme this year, which is 'Celebrate Niagara'," said Scarlett. "So we knew we really wanted to highlight such people as Joe Lapinski … We knew we wanted to celebrate people like Oliver Black … We also wanted to promote that we were presenting a night that is really diverse."
Whether you're a music aficionado, a wine connoisseur or someone who always enjoys spending a day in the sun, this year's Niagara Wine Festival will have something for you.
The Niagara Wine Festival runs from Sept. 19 - 28 at Montebello Park in St. Catharines.

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