Palatine Hills Estate Winery’s Prestige – Review

This is “POP or FLOP”, where we taste test sparkling wines so you don’t have to! This week we’re sipping Palatine Hills Estate Winery’s Prestige, a traditional method Blanc De Blancs. A sparkling coming from a winery connected to the War of 1812 that also happens to be one of Niagara’s oldest vineyards … let’s just say we were jazzed to pop this bottle! So, is this a bottle of bubbles you should POP? 💁 Or is it a FLOP? 🙅 Let’s see…

Palatine Hills Estate Winery is one of Ontario’s oldest vineyards, located among the historic hills of Niagara-on-the-Lake. This has also led to a number of awesome discoveries on the vineyard – including relics from the War of 1812! Now, we know this is a wine review and not a dissertation on Canadian History, but we can’t help but think that’s pretty darn cool considering it’s #Canada150 this year! The Neufeld family has been growing grapes in this area for over 40 years, and transforming them into a variety of wines, including well regarded ice wines and still wines. And luckily, their portfolio includes the Prestige which was the Gold Medal Award Winner at the Ottawa Wine Challenge in 2014!

What we love about Palatine Hills Estate Winery is that they embrace their terroir, including the gently sloping landscape, close proximity to Lake Ontario and soil composition, which gives their wines a vey specific aroma and palette. In the case of the Prestige, the terroir and winemaking choices (like the use of the traditional “Prise de Mousse” yeast and a few years of rest in the cellar) make for a very aromatic and expressive wine that Proprietor John Neufeld describes as “Poetry in a Bottle.” We couldn’t agree more!