Guest Author - M. E. Wood

A Motorcycle Trip to Niagara from Michigan

Monday morning we consulted various plans and made maps, and decided to leave after rush hour and go through Detroit. We left around 10am, and had an easy ride out past Ann Arbor and below Detroit to the bridge. The crossing was easy - despite our bringing along passports, they merely waved us through and we were on our way.

Canada was very flat, with many cornfields and easy roads. The heat, however, continued. We baked under the sun and in fact Bob finally broke down and took off his jacket. We continued onwards, watching the Red Winged blackbirds, converting K to M in our heads as we approached Niagara. Finally, around 4pm, we came into the region of Niagara, and pulled off at Exit 57 for Vineland Winery.

The land around here was now all grapevines and orchards. Very, very pretty, and quite interesting to see how various vineyards had different techniques for pruning their vines. Soon we went up the dirt road that ended at the very lovely Vineland restaurant and winery. In we went.

The tasting area was very nicely done in heavy woods, and a group of 3 people were currently tasting their normal selection of wines. Bob roamed around while I went over and asked to try the late harvest riesling and ice wine, both for a fee. My notes are still in the motorcycle on them, but they were both quite tasty.

Amusingly, they make a Meritage here and they pronounce it "Meritaaahge". I asked her about that, and she said they knew it was *supposed* to rhyme with "heritage" but that "because of their French roots" they chose to mispronounce it. I borrowed her phone and called Rowan, who runs wineward.com - a great site with information on all Niagara-area wineries. He agreed to meet us at Henry of Pelham, down the road.

The Meritaaaahge woman gave us easy directions to get there, and we were off again. Our backroads were deliciously curvy, through all sorts of vineyards and orchards. There was even a gun club near one! Eventually we hit Henry of Pelham, and pulled in. Again, I went right for the late harvest Riesling and ice wine, and soon Rowan came down, bringing along with him the owner.

We talked for a while about the various wines and, as it was getting late, decided to just finish up here instead of sprinting like madmen for another winery. We tried a few of the reds, including a Baco Noir which was very dark and tasty. Then Rowan invited us out for dinner, and we agreed.

He took us to a good Thai restaurant in St Catherine's, where we'd hoped to try a Konzelmann. Sadly, they were out, so instead we had a Ried Estate Gewurztraminer with our various chicken dishes. The Chicken Sate was served raw with a little flaming pot - I'd never seen it like this and promptly stuck the chicken in my mouth. Bob corrected me gently and I cooked the remaining pieces :). The wine arrived, with flavors of lychee and a good sweetness. We ended up sending the rest of the bottle home with Rowan, and continued on our tour.

We rode along the whole edge of Niagara, going past the (now closed) estates of Konzelmann and Ried Estate, as well as a ton of other wineries. Their vines and orchards were all along this area. We also saw many huge mansions and gorgeous scenery out over the river. Finally we got to the floral clock, the huge power stations, and then the bridges and the falls themselves.

We opened our visors and rode slowly past the gorgeous waterfalls in the sunset light, with the crashing of water and spray filling us. We went all the way down to the end of the falls area, then turned around and road back across the other way. We then crossed to the US side at the Whirlpool bridge and headed into New York. We merely had to declare our two bottles of wine from Henry of Pelham, and they waved us through.

One more bridge to get off that middle island, and then we drove through beautiful rolling hills along through Buffalo and into Rochester. We hit Rochester around 10pm and decided to call it a night, finding a room and falling promptly asleep.