The guided tour was great - funny and knowledgeable. The staff made some great tasting recommendations, even for a complete wine novice like myself. It's one of the bigger wineries - complete with a restaurant and an inn. There's also an artwork garden if you want to take a leisurely stroll after your tasting.
Huff had a good variety of decent wines with some quite nice in fact... The personnel and the surrounding made the entire tasting delightful. Bought some Chardonnays :-)
This trip I had planned for my GF's birthday (stayed there Fri Nov 1 2013) started with lots of e-mails to Pam at Huff estates because I wanted things to happen without a hitch, went there from Ottawa. She was patient and answered all my questions (very specifically) The Hotel was very clean and staff extremely courteous and helpful, even with my request for a king bed slight additional cost to the deluxe room package. Although we did have an incident with a power outage in Picton which caused our dinner reso originally for Blumen to be rescheduled later in the evening to East & Main a little disappointing but not their fault. We had a choice from the 3 course $35 menu we both had strip loin for the main, small 5-6oz steaks but delicious, nice restaurant. Went well with local bottle of Pinot Noir. No issue getting to the restaurant with cab voucher but we waited close to an hour after our dinner for a cab, very very awkward sitting in the restaurant after a meal for that long, I was choked, left at like 1030pm. Next morning, great self serve breakfast buffet at Huff, the croissants were made fresh in house (lots of juices if you have a bit of a headache)We did the PEC half day wine tour with our guide Gill who is extremely knowledgeable and actually pretty funny too. Great tour, worth the money. You'll get your fill of wine, no doubt about that. I can drink and I was turning down samples near the end. Make sure you eat lunch before the tour, maybe that was our mistake, starved by the time we ate dinner at 8pm. We went to:SugarbushCairns (I think that's how its spelt?)Rose HallCasa Dea Sandbanksalso did Huff sampling on our own time with voucher included in package. You get roughly 3 white & 3 red samples at each place (1-2oz depending on person pouring) My favourite was Sugarbush a small independent place run by Rob, he was awesome. Generous with the samples and even though it was essentially a basement with a bar held up by barrels very cool vibe looking at the vineyard. Second fav was Rose Hall, nice tasting room/ building. We took Friday off and thank goodness, we were in a small group -8 people in a limo, felt like high rollers! We bought one bottle at most wineries at roughly 18-20 bucks each so that added up. Spent roughly $600 in that 24hr period for everything but great experience, worth it. Looking forward to going back in the future to check out wineries went didn't get a chance to see because of additional fees- Karlos - Norman Hardie. Going to bring more cash for tipping next time also. Girlfriend loved it! now going to eat KD now for the next week lol.
Huff Estates Winery was our first top on our way into PEC. We had a guided tour and got to ask a million questions (my favourite part). Sampled some lovely wines (purchased a couple of bottle before leaving.) The tasting area is upscale and impeccably clean. Staff is very knowledgeable about the product.We enjoyed lunch. The chef uses local ingredients. Desert was by far my favourite (Napoleon). You look over the vineyard, but it didn't really have that warm and cozy feel. We sampled three more wines with our lunch -- a nice option.We walked around the Oneo art gallery afterwards. The gardens are meticulously maintained. The art throughout the property gives the estate and upscale feel.
Upon the arrival we received tickets to visit five local wineries and a map to get around.The first day of our two days stay we visited three wineries and tasted their wines, also have gone fishing in lake Ontario. The room at the Huff Estate Winery was comfortable, quiet, as we expect and enjoy restful night sleep. We received a free bottle of wine, and a very adequate size of cheese tray with delicious, fresh biscuits. The bed was comfortable, the television on the opposite side of a generous size room was a bit too small but we have enjoyed watching a movie while joking we needed theatre like binoculars. The next day we visited other two wineries, each sampled 5 different wines ( free of charge as a part of our two day package deal, else wineries charge a small fee to sample their products, or waive the fee if you purchase their product(s).The wines come from the locally grown wines and sometimes from the grapes from the Niagara region. Unfortunately the wines are all priced over $ 20 even $ 30 while I can make similar product at a Wine Butler at the cost of about $ 3/ 750 cc when purchasing a carboy to fill 28 bottles. never the less we purchased several bottles of the locally grown products to bring some memories back home. The Huff Estates has a beautiful, well maintained property, with walk paths into different areas of the Estate, even an Art Gallery with locally crafted figurines, glassware and paintings.
Did a quick wine tour, with 3 tastings on June 14, 2014. Very nice winery and our tour guide "Brian" was super. I was not much for the white wine we tasted, as Reisling, but the Rose and the Merlot were nice. We had lunch at the restaurant, I had the special roast beef and brie on a bagel with dijon mustard, it was very good. My husband had the buckwheat crepe, he did not overally enjoy, said it was bland, not a lot of flavour, my friend had the burger on gluten free bun and she said it was very good and my other friend had the roast beef like myself and she enjoyed very much. The winery is very pretty but they definitely cater to tourists, it is not your "old winery" style, it is more commercialized but lovely non the less. I would definitely go back.
Huff estates offers a great experience. We stayed one night and the room was large and well appointed. A cheese board awaited, to accompany our complementary wine which we enjoyed in the courtyard. We had lunch at the winery, and I recommend it very much. Imaginative and delightfully prepared and presented food that reflects the local agriculture, on a patio, with adequate shade if needed, set in a vineyard. The art gallery features interesting sculptures an exhibits and adds to the experience.We did the local wine tour, enjoying the free tastings. Our trusty GPS took us up a few gravel tracks as we got to know the surrounding area well. An excellent stay.
A very hip and cosy winery with high quality wines, within a cool contemporary style structure. Look for an activity day with band or other special events, take advantage of the onsite art gallery, and know that if things go too well they also have some very attractive accomodation so you can rest overnight and let it all hang out.
Has the "county" charm with the scenery and friendly staff mixed with a modern (& elegant) exterior. Being off season we went just to taste the wines. The night before we had their premium Merlot at a great restaurant (Agrarian) and we wanted to try it again, we did and it was amazing and we purchased a few bottles. Overall a good selection of wines (red and white) but not so many as to overwhelm your senses. Highly recommended for your wine tour !!!
I love this winery, a great selection of masterfully crafted wines topped off with the best bubbly available in the region. A must stop!