Oecological Treasure Found in Niagara on the Lake

The treasure to which the title refers is Frog Pond Farm, the only certified organic winery in Ontario, where the use of all insecticides, herbicides, synthetic fungicides and chemical fertilizers is strictly verboten. In case that detail alone is not quite enough to impress you, there is even more. Frogpond Farm is "bullfrog powered" with 100 per cent green electricity. All of Bullfrog's power comes from clean, renewable wind power and low-impact water power, rather than any carbon-intensive sources.
We found this little vintage treasure trove almost by accident this past weekend during a mini-vacation to the Niagara on the Lake region. Since the whole weekend was being washed out by an unending downpour, we decided to pass a little time in driving along the route that follows the Niagara river, toward Niagara Falls. We saw the sign for the winery and decided to investigate because we liked the unusual name. Neither of us had ever before heard of the place. When we left, we both knew we wanted to spread the word about this little gem of the winemaking world, to make sure more people had heard of it.
We drove onto the property and parked beside the little poultry palace, in front of which several turkeys were strutting their stuff, quite oblivious of the rain that pelted us when we got out of the car. Less then amused by our intrusion on their peaceful afternoon, much fowl utterance was followed by two of them flapping their way up and over the fence to the safety from which they could keep a beady eye on us.
It was a perfectly charming introduction to a perfectly wonderful business.
The young lady behind the counter spoke to us of the winery being truly a family business, and of small enough scale that they do not meet the needed volume of output for their products to be carried by the LCBO. More shame, that. She was so ready to answer each and every question we had while we sipped the sample of Riesling she poured for us. Having come from a morning visit to the much, much larger Peller estate, where we had also sampled some Riesling, I would say without reservation that any time I have a choice, the offering from Frog Pond would win out over the one from Peller, hands down.
One final fact supplied by our charming hostess that I should pass on to you is that the winery is ready to ship their products to your doorstep for an added $10.00 fee, anywhere in Ontario. Does that leave other provinces out in the cold? I don't think so, since the order form at their website says, "For other provinces, please contact us."
If you enjoy imbibing the fermented beverages of Bacchus, and would like to know that your doing so leaves a limited carbon footprint, click on the link above. Better yet, if you can, visit the winery in person. Just keep an eye out for the perturbed poultry!