Shawn and I started the day with   Caesars at the Mott’s
Clamato booth. It seemed like a good option for an early Sunday visit to the
show. For those who haven’t attended the Expo before, the samples are small so
you can try a few things without it getting too out of hand.

After our introductory Caesar we moved on to the wine. I
loved how the show had such an emphasis on Ontario wines and VQA this year. There was a
good showing from many wine regions, but Ontario
was front and centre with a large section of the floor reserved for
the Wine Country Ontario booth (featuring personal favourites like Vineland Estates
and Creekside Estate Winery) and other Ontario
producers could be found throughout the convention floor.

We started our wine tasting at Sandbanks Winery’s booth. I
love Sandbanks Rosé and was excited to try some more of their wines. John from
Sanbanks is a great Twitter friend, so it was also fantastic to finally meet
him in person.

I tried three of their wines over the course of the afternoon – Riesling,
LOVE, and French Kiss. I’ve had the Riesling before and enjoyed it – it’s a dry
white with a hint of citrus. LOVE was new to me, I’ve never had a Cassis
Aperitivo and I certainly enjoyed it. This is a blend of white wine and organic
Canadian cassis from Île d’Orléans. It’s a nice alternative to ice wine and a sweet, but not
too sweet, dessert wine option. I’d definitely buy that one. French Kiss
Cabernet Merlot is a lovely red – this is an easy-drinking wine and I have to
admit I was a little disappointed when my glass was empty.

I ran into Nadia Dubeau (another Twitter friend) in the
fine wine section of the show, where we sampled Lighthall Vineyard’s 2011 Progression
Sparkling and 2011
Lighthall Gewürztraminer – both of which I enjoyed. I wasn’t familiar with
Lighthall’s wines, but I look forward to visiting them the next time we’re in Prince Edward
County.

Other show highlights included finally trying Rosewood Wines Mead Royale, meeting Noteworthy Wine’s Bill Wittur (another Twitter friend) and
trying his Zantho Weine’s Sauvignon Blanc, as well as enjoying a sample of Forty Creek Whisky’s fantastic Cream Liquor. I also loved the chance to chat (and
sample) some of my personal favourites from Vineland Estates and Creekside Estate Winery.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s show.

A few more photos from the show:

Did anyone else attend the Expo? What were your favourites?

For another great review of the show, be sure to check out Ania’s Blog’s post!