Wine tour by bike: Niagara

I recently experienced the Niagara wine scene by bike – a pretty cool experience.

I took my mom on a wine tour with Grape Escape bike tours for her birthday. This company appealed to me because it married being physically active with wine…I mean what doesn’t sound good about that?

Our tour was on a Sunday afternoon and promised to be about 20km with four wineries stops. The beginning of the bike tour was beautiful, as we wound through tall forests along a canal. It was a beautiful sunny spring day with just enough warmth to make biking enjoyable, but not hot.

Our first stop was Inniskillin where we had a tour and tasting. This was our longest stop on the tour including background on making ice wine and the winery. The other three stops on our tour were relatively close together and an easy bike ride to each. One stop included a cheese pairing, which was a nice addition. I enjoyed biking between these wineries because they were small and off the beaten path. We biked on back roads past wineries and farms. After the fourth winery we continued biking through the country and about 30 minutes later returned to Niagara on the Lake.

Overall, I would recommend this tour company. The guides were friendly and made sure we had a great experience at every stop. This gave us a more in-depth experience than if we showed up at each winery on our own.

The afternoon took about 5 hours with 3-4 small tastings at each winery. I would recommend this tour in the spring or fall when it is cooler and the groups smaller.