On Valentine’s Day at Ravine Vineyard, reserved tasting slots kept staff busy through Valentine’s Day as a multi-weekend wine, chocolate and cheese passport began across Niagara wine country.
The self-guided program runs Fridays to Sundays from Feb. 13 to March 8, with tastings scheduled between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The Wine, Chocolate and Cheese Tasting Passport is one of several winter programs that aim to spread tourism beyond peak season in Niagara-on-the-Lake, with visitors booking timed stops at multiple wineries instead of planning a single, high-volume day.
The format also places more responsibility on guests to plan routes, arrange transportation and manage reservations, which affects traffic patterns for local roads and hospitality businesses.
Each passport provides eight food-and-drink pairings, one per reserved stop at participating wineries, with VQA wine matched to a small dish that features chocolate, cheese or both. A non-alcoholic pass is also available, with alternate drinks offered at some wineries.
At Ravine, the passport pairing lists braised mole negro pork stew with slow-cooked Ontario pork shoulder and a crispy tortilla, paired with 2021 Ravine Merlot.
Other participating wineries list pairings that range from cocoa-braised beef cheeks and polenta at Inniskillin Winery to a dark chocolate smoked pork shoulder slider at Chateau des Charmes, with each winery setting its own pairing and dietary notes.
Passes and day-of tickets must be purchased online, with a digital passport sent by email through SquadUP. Guests present their confirmation at each stop during their reserved time, with reservations available until 11:59 p.m. the night before a first visit.
Alex Harber, co-owner and sommelier at Ravine Vineyard, said the winery saw visitors from the Niagara region, Toronto, Buffalo and Quebec, along with other parts of the United States, during the Valentine’s Day weekend.
“This year especially, I think a lot of people, instead of going south of the border, are really focusing on traveling within their own backyard.”
Passes and day-of tickets must be purchased online, with a digital passport sent by email through SquadUP.
Guests present their confirmation at each stop during their reserved time, with reservations available until 11:59 p.m. the night before a first visit.
The passport runs across multiple weekends to reduce pressure on wineries and on visitors who try to schedule too many stops in a single day.
“You’ll get people trying to go to 12 wineries in one day, and that’s not good for anyone involved at that point,” said Harber.
He described the passport model as part of a cooperative approach among wineries that compete for customers but benefit from shared tourism.
“With wineries, really the more that we have, the more that are fully focused, then we become a destination,” Harber said.
On the same Saturday, Ravine also offered regular tastings, lunch service and a Valentine’s prix fixe dinner, according to Harber. Executive chef John Vitiere also led a pizza-making class, which Harber described as part of a teaching focus that followed Vitiere’s work at Niagara College.
The passport continues Feb. 21 to 23, Feb. 28 to March 2 and March 7 to 8, with tastings available from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Groups of eight or more are asked to contact wineries directly ahead of a visit. Transportation is not provided by the organizing winery group, with guests expected to arrange travel between stops.
