Niagara on the Lake wine tours

If you travel like we travel, you're all about drinking in the local culture - and then some. The wineries of Niagara on Lake - 28 of them in fact - invite you to slake your thirst for the good stuff with them this winter. To sweeten the buzz, they've paired premium wines with gourmet chocolate for a month-long event aptly named, "Days of Wine and Chocolate."

Days of Wine and ChocolateEvery weekend in February, 28 wineries from the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) will be hosting wine and chocolate tastings. Each winery has been assigned a gourmet chocolate and tasked with finding complimentary wines. Whether they've succeeded or not is up to you.

Winery TastingsNiagara-on-the-Lake pastry Chef Catherine O'Donnell of Willow Cakes & Pastries will be making more than 50,000 chocolates during the month. Our tasted buds are quivering in anticipation already...

• Milk chocolate cashew brittle
• Dark chocolate with dried cranberry and sage
• White chocolate with hickory smoke

The wine promises even more fun. While we don't want to give away all the secrets, picture brawling reds that tempt and tease the chocolate to bloom.

The members of Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake are:

• Wine samplingCattail Creek Winery
• Château des Charmes Winery
• Colaneri Winery
• Coyote's Run Winery
• Diamond Estates Winery
• Hillebrand Winery
• Hinterbrook Winery
• Ice House Winery
• Inniskillin Winery
• Jackson Triggs Winery
• Joseph's Winery
• Konzelmann Winery
• Lailey Winery
• Maleta Winery
• Marynissen Winery
• Best of Niagara RegionNiagara College Teaching Winery
• Palatine Hills Winery
• Peller Estates Winery
• Pillitteri Winery
• PondView Winery
• Ravine Winery
• Reif Winery
• Riverview Winery
• Southbrook Winery
• Stonechurch Winery
• Stratus Winery
• Strewn Winery
• Sunnybrook Farm Winery

Friends or Girlfriends ??"Days of Wine & Chocolate is the perfect excuse to whisk your honey away on a mid-winter romantic weekend, to get all the ladies together for some ‘girl time' and everything in between," remarks Stacey Mulholland, chair of the Days of Wine & Chocolate committee.

Tickets are available for purchase from Niagara Wine or by calling 905-468-1950. Passes are $30 per person (plus applicable taxes.  Just for fun, visit them on Facebook or Twitter and share your experiences.

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