Back 10 Cellars

Cozy little tasting bungalow featuring super delicious wines, an extremely intelligent and friendly staff (lovely, lovely women) and you even get a complementary little bite to go along with your tasting flight. I have to say I surprised myself… or rather the wine surprised me. I have always said that I’ve never met a Chardonnay that I liked well Back 10 Cellars made me drink my words. Their Chardonnay is absolutely delicious… in fact out of the Reisling, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc that was also included with the flight, the Chardonnay was my favorite (mind blown) which is so bizarre because I usually stick with the reds. We also enjoyed a sample of the Sparkling wine which was sweet and creamy and bubbly and oh so good. I wanted to buy cases of everything but unfortunately they wouldn’t have fit in my suitcase so I opted for a bottle of the sparkling wine to enjoy tonight with the hubs to celebrate his birthday and our last night in Canada before it’s back to reality. If you are in the area, please support the local small businesses and make this a stop. You will not be disappointed. Cheers!

Winery building wasn’t fancy. I was actually hesitated to get in. I didn’t know what to expect.
When I opened the door, owner greeted me with smile. Modern and elegant tasting room was there. Some part of tasting room set up like a nice café in France. It was pretty.
They had 4 kinds of wines when we visited. They are small winery so makes small batches only. I didn’t need to open the long wine menu and pick.
Started with Resling, Chardonnay, pino noir and Cabaret Franc. The Big Reach Resling was very refreshing. Semi-​dry. Start from scratch Chardonnay was very interesting. It has buttery long finish after oaky note. It’s fermented with wild yeast, aged in Canadian oak.
Blood sweat & years Pinot noir was smooth. It was gold medal winner at international Pinot challenge. My husband loved it and purchased a magnum which they only bottled 18 of them. It was signed and numbered by winemaker. They Sell half of their grapes to Featherstone winery and use the other half for their own production. All handpicked grapes, small batch boutique wines.
Now this winery is in my new favorite list when I re-​visit this area. I want to experience their new wines since they will just make small batch seasonally.
And I hope others will love their wines too.

Not usually a riesling drinker but had to get a bottle. Very friendly cute ambiance. $ 5 flights. Small, but worth a stop!

This guy gets five stars simply for the level of passion, knowledge and experience he brings to his craft. I learned more in a half hour talking with him then in the last five years of visiting wineries.
We tasted four wines: standouts were definitely the riesling and the cab Franc. Both outstanding, both are in the $ 20-​$ 30 range. The Riesling was a dry Alsace style — very very racy with a high-​level of acidity and 9.5% alcohol. Completely unique, as was the cab franc.
This is an enjoyable must stop place in Niagara on the lake area — actually it’s on the Lincoln flat I think he said– close to the lake on red clay soil.

I found it hard to decide what to purchase. It was all so good! This winery is small, but I enjoyed their wines much more than any of the large wineries in the area. The Riesling is the best I’ve ever had.

The winery makes 3 wines and they are all spectacular (Riesling, Rose and Cab Franc). There is a new one coming out that we haven’t tried yet and we can’t wait to sample it. The winery has a beautiful tasting room and the whole experience is just perfect. Andrew is always amazingly nice — we go to the winery quite often and he always chats with us. Highly recommend as a small boutique winery with very reasonably priced wine.

Back Ten Cellars is a small ten acre vineyard and winery located along King St. In the heart of wine country just below the Beamsville Bench. It is less than a km from Malivoire, which is one of my favourites.
For a few years the vineyard has been producing grapes for Featherstone Winery, but has recently started bottling its own Riesling, Rosé and Cab Franc.
The space is intimate, yet inviting. You sit at high/​low tables instead of standing at a counter. The wines are all pretty good, though I found the Riesling most to my liking.
The husband and wife team that run this winery are very friendly and eager to talk about the wines.
If you are interested in trying something knew that you definitely won’t find at the LCBO, this is a nice find.

***From my mother and I’s self directed wine tasting tour of Niagara– 6 vineyards /​/​1 day***
I saved the best for last. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about my experience at Back 10 Cellars. In fact I liked it enough to add the business to Unilocal after finding out it wasn’t here yet!
The tasting bungalow only opened a couple months ago, and it was nothing like I was expecting. I though it would be quite rustic, and that everything would still have that ‘work in progress’ feel, with all the kinks still being ironed out. I could not have been more wrong. The tasting bungalow was clean, modern, yet still unique and cozy, and everything seemed to be running so smoothly it was like they’d been there forever. The décor was fantastic, and there was such nice light coming in through the windows. There was also some really great art on the walls that could only be descried as a mix of contemporary but also farmhouse like, which perfectly reflected the feel of the winery.
Upon walking in we were greeted by one of the winemakers himself– Andrew, and he walked us through the entire tasting. The tasting here is very different then any other you will experience in Niagara. For one it’s a sit down tasting. The bungalow is laid out with a variety of different tables– big and small, high top and booth and chair style. Each setting at the table consists of 3 wine glasses– the modern stemless kind (mixed feeling there) and a small sheet with information on the wines. They are a very small vineyard, only 10 acres (hence the name) so all the wine is limited production, and there are only a few different wines available at the time. Due to this the tasting is already decided for you– there were 3 wines available, so that’s the 3 you taste. A white, a rose, and a red (all winners of various awards). Andrew came by and poured the wines, and it was the most generous pour of any of the wineries we visited– about half a glass. He walked us through each wine and gave us details that you really couldn’t get from anyone but the winemaker themselves. He would then leave us for a bit to try each wine and come back as we were ready for the next. It was the perfect balance of attentive, but not hovering. The whole experience was so relaxed and we really felt very welcome. As well we didn’t feel any pressure to purchase wine, which was so nice. The tasting sheet was also quite perfect, it seems to me that they really cared about every little detail. Anyways I shall move on to the most important part– the wine!
The white was The Big Reach Riesling. I quite enjoyed it, although my mother did not– the expected outcome as I love riesling and she tends to very much dislikes it. It was very typical of what you’d expect from a riesling, nothing very out of the box happening with it, but still very good. I thought it had a nice balance of acidity and sweetness, which is always important with a riesling so it doesn’t become too sickly sweet.
The rose was Rose Coloured Glasses Rose. This wine was certainly the biggest surprise of the bunch. Neither my mother or I usually like rose so we didn’t have high expectations. We were both pleasantly surprised and very intrigued. It wasn’t nearly as sweet as your typical rose and came across as very food friendly-​in fact we were planning meals that would go well with it as we drank it. There were some distinct sour notes to me along with the strong strawberry taste, which is what made it so unique in my opinion. It also had quite an interesting nose, a very pungent and punchy smell of overripe fruit. We didn’t pick up a bottle as it was our first stop and we were pacing our purchases, but I really wish we had! Unfortunately they only ship a minimum of 6 bottles, and I would only be interested in ordering a couple.
The red was The Big Leap Cabernet Franc. This was the star in both of our opinions. It ended up being our only red wine purchase of the day. I am usually very underwhelmed by Ontario reds, and this one was FAR from underwhelming. The nose strongly reminded me of a fall sangria I make (red wine with apples, dried figs and dates, cinnamon, cloves, etc) and also had some notes of cedar. It was the kind of smell you want to turn into a scented candle or air freshener so you never had to stop smelling it, it was just so inviting. The taste was jammy and sweet and had the depth I’m always looking for, and never find, in other Ontario reds. A ⁹⁄₁₀ wine in my books. Highly recommended!
Overall it was just such a wonderful unparalleled experience, and I would say a stop here is a MUST for anyone touring the wineries of Ontario. Keep up the great work Andrew and Christina! You have 2 new big fans!