Burning Kiln Winery is a beautiful winery in Norfolk County, on the same property as Longpoint Eco Adventure.
The Burning Kiln Winery barn has been re-purposed as a vineyard but used to be a tobacco pack barn. All of the surrounding land used to be tobacco land back in the day. Cool, huh?
Tobacco is still grown here but not as much. The region also grows ginseng that is mostly shipped to Asia. As tobacco fell out of favour, growers began to plant grapes. Luckily, the area is perfect for growing grapes. The land is on 100ft of sand which is good for drainage and because the grapes are European, they are used to growing in rocky soil. When the grapes were planted in the sandy soil, they took off. Burning Kiln has 28 acres and they grow 8 varieties of grapes: 4 reds and 4 white.
The above tobacco kilns have been re-purposed and the racks are used to dry the grapes. Grapes dry from 5 days to 2 months, depending on the type of wine being made.
Because Burning Kiln is in an area that isn’t an official wine growing region, they have to use 50% of grapes from other vineyards in Ontario. These grapes usually come from Niagara and are hand-picked.
The wine is aged in oak casks from France, Hungary and America. Oak casks can absorb up to 10% of the wine. The wood changes the flavour of the wine. For example, American casks give a more oaky taste to the Chardonnay. Now it’s time to taste some wine! Here are some of my favourites.
This wine was my favourite- Sweet Leaf Riesling. I took home 3 bottles! It tastes of peach and lime with a sweet medium-dry finish. It’s a German late-harvest wine.
Horse & Boat Riesling 2012 This Riesling wasn’t as sweet as the previous wine, but had a crisp citrus palate with a hint of fresh, green herbs.
Broken Needle Rose definitely isn’t a sweet, soft rose. This 100% Cabernet Franc-VQA is a rose for people who don’t like rose. I loved the colour of it. It tastes of strawberry and rhubarb, and has an acidic finish.
I don’t usually like reds, but I did like Kiln Hanger the Sequel. All of the fruit in this wine spent 8 days drying in the kiln. It was stored in Eastern European and American oak for 31 days. It tastes of coffee, chocolate, blueberry and vanilla.
All of Burning Kiln Wines can be purchased online and shipped in Ontario. If you are in Norfolk County, or are staying at Longpoint Eco, then you need to visit!
Burning Kiln Winery
1709 Front Rd, St. Williams
Ontario, N0E 1P0
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