niagara lovin' at the ice wine festival.

canadian winters can be crazy brutal. so cold that your nose freezes within minutes of being outside, your toes curl up like you're being electrocuted and you immediately want to turn around, and head back inside where you can warm up. however, when almost half the year is friggen' freezin', you can't hermit it up to rot in your house, only to become vitamin d deficient and paler and paler by the minute. sometimes you have to get your parka on, a couple pairs of socks, your waffle long johns and your toque, and brave the great outdoors. with the ice wine festival rolling through niagara this month, it's easy to stay warm outside with a glass of frosty riesling sparkling ice wine in your hot mittened hands. amazing how that happens.

this past weekend, i was lucky enough to enjoy the fun of the festival with my friend nataschia. she was asked to photograph the event (she is a fabulous photographer and can photograph the shit out of anything~love her here) and invited lil' ol' me to tag along and help her out. we made our way from vineland, to st. david's and then through niagara on the lake, stopping at some of my favourite tried and tested wineries, and getting to experience others for the first time. it always blows my hair back when i discover a little pocket of wineries i never knew existed before. living in wine country has its perks, and with over 75 wineries in niagara, i almost feel obligated to try each one at least once. it's a shit job i know, but someone's gotta to do it.

the ice wine festival kicked off this month, and with so much to do, see and drink, it's worth a few trips, even in the cold. each of the participating wineries offer some fun activities while you sample their wine, from roasting homemade ice wine infused marshmallows over a fire, to sampling wine at an ice bar in a vineyard. and if you want to be catered to, bus and limo tours are worth the money to have you and your friends drunk asses hauled from stop to stop. if touring from winery to winery isn't your bag, you can just make your way to downtown niagara on the lake, where the main street is chock-a-block with pop tents of the best vendors in the region sampling gourmet food, dessert and of course, ice wine. if you are local and in need of some winter fun, check out the festivals site, get your crew together  
and your long johns on.

roasting homemade marshmallows over the fire at flat rock cellars in jordan. 

ravine vineyard is my favourite winery in the region. 

the view is almost as good as the riesling. almost. 

some downtown niagara on the lake fun. 

loving the sunset at peller estates. 

the only pic i got of nataschia and i. i'll take it.