iYellow Wine Club Harvest Wine Escapes | Toronto Teacher Mom

iYellow Wine Club Harvest Wine Escapes

Monday, November 11, 2013


On Saturday, I had the di-vine pleasure of participating in my first official wine tour courtesy of Toronto's own iYellow Wine Club. With my sister-in-law as my plus one, we met up with a wonderful group of wine enthusiasts and boarded a luxurious bus and were soon bound for Niagara-on-the-Lake. Our first stop was Diamond Estates for a cellar floor experience.


There we enjoyed a sample of their wines such as their Moscato, learned how carbon dioxide is emitted from the production of a single bottle of wine and how Dan Akroyd invested $1 million CDN in Diamond Estates back in 2006. Why do I feel like patting him on the back?


Later we headed into the Diamond Estates Wine Boutique for additional wine tastings and shopping before making our way to Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate.


We were greeted by sommelier and self-proclaimed 'cork dork' Graham who began our wine tasting with a little bubbly. He was very knowledgeable and provided in-depth descriptions of the process of harvesting grapes and wine-making, although his specialty lies in the consumption of wine as well as food pairings.


Once inside, we headed down into the wine cellar for an exclusive Bachelor-esque dining experience surrounded by walls of wine barrels. Our salad was dressed with an ice wine vinaigrette and the beef stew was prepared with a red wine. Both were delicious and paired with... yes, more red wine!


After our apple crumble dessert topped with delectable crème fraiche, we headed to SouthBrook Vineyards which I had first visited during the summer with Farmers Feed Cities. I was really excited to be back at this organic and biodynamic winery and ended up purchasing a bottle of 2009 Whimsy 'Renewed Vows' Cabernet Franc and a 2012 Triomphe Cabernet Franc Rosé.



We ended our iYellow Wine Club tour at a fourth surprise location - Vineland Estates, the very place where iYellow's own Angela Aiello developed a passion for all things wine while working in their restaurant for a number of years.


Upon arriving at Vineland, everyone noticed how beautiful the grounds were, even though it was very dark that evening. This is definitely a place to visit during the day to fully appreciate its beauty. We were still happy to be able to enjoy an after-hours tasting led by Angela herself and explore their beautiful two-level shop. Between my sister-in-law and I, we purchased a couple of jars of kalamata olive and fig tapenade, chocolates, cheese and crackers. The perfect snacks for our drive home!


On the whole, I was thoroughly impressed with the attention to detail, the organization and the great enthusiasm with which the tour was executed by Angela and her crew. With plenty of on-board snacks and water, prizes and wine-related trivia , the time we spent on the road seemed to fly by. For my first time on an official wine tour, I was pleasantly surprised and would highly recommend an iYellow wine tour to family and friends. 

For more photos, have a peek at my iYellow Wine Tour slideshow:


iYellow Wine Club tours range in price from $125 to $165 per person. Their Holiday Wine Jam is $60 and is a great opportunity to try 70 different wines from the world over. It will take place on November 28 from 7-10:30 pm in Toronto followed by an open bar after party. For an updated schedule of iYellow events, check out iyellowwineclub.com.



Disclosure: I received complimentary wine tour tickets to facilitate this review. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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16 COMMENTS

  1. Wow! Now, that is something I'd soo love to do one day. Not that I know a dang thing about wine, or tasting it, other then if it's real good keep pouring .. lol, but still it is something I would like to experience at least 1ce in my life.

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  2. Wine tours might be my new favourite thing. So glad you had fun!

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  3. Wow! What a fun experience! :) I really LOVE seeing how things are made.. Very cool :)

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  4. Oh wow, that seemed like a lot of fun. My sister-in-law loves wine.. maybe I should take her on a wine tour! she would love it i think

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  5. Sounds like a fun time! I am no a fan of wine so not sure how much I would enjoy it but I now friends that would so will tell them about this. (Judy Cowan)

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  6. My husband can be a wine snob. I have never actually gone on a tour and tasting. I think it is about time.

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  7. I'm on their emailing but have never checked out any of their events ... I think I should :)

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  8. Elizabeth Friesen (@emfriesen)November 19, 2013 at 3:29 PM

    Reading this post has reinforced my feeling that I need to go on another Niagara wine tour really soon!!! :D

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  9. That place looks straight out of a magazine! This would make such a great day trip.

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  10. Cork Dork! Now that's a good one! Winery tours are always so interesting and beautiful!

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    1. This was my first official tour. Pretty sure it won't be my last!

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  11. Didn't know there was such a thing but definitely on my bucket list now!

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  12. I love Niagara on the Lake wine tours!!! This looked like a fun day.

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  13. Love the idea of going on a wine tasting tour.

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  14. We used to take wine tours around B.C. Canada...it was some really beautiful trips

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  15. I live in Southern Niagara area of Ontario and we have a lot of wineries of which Vineland is a part of and they do tours etc. and this winery is really nice and I really love the old looking building

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