This year’s Dig Our Roots wine tasting offered a unique experience to ticket holders. 

For the first time, the tasting was hosted in the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum. 

Brianne Hawley, the marketing director for Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake, said the inspiration to host the wine tasting inside the museum was a chance to explore the industry’s saga in this town.

“We thought it would be a really great synergy to talk about the heritage of winemaking, because Niagara-on-the-Lake is the birthplace of Canadian winemaking,” Hawley said.

She added that offering the museum as the night’s venue would garner community support for the museum’s campaign to fund the building’s expansion.

“We’re always happy to host various groups for rentals here at the museum. It offers a unique venue for Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake, I think it ties in nicely with the theme of the event,” said Sarah Kaufman, the museum’s managing director and curator. 

“With our expansion that’s going to happen, we’ll have a lot more room for them to expand and bring in more wineries and offer attendees a very unique experience,” Kaufman added. 

After expanding the museum, the museum will be able to offer more community support with space rentals and even more exhibits, she said.

Dig Our Roots featured two time slots from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. with samplings from 21 different wineries and live music from Josh Edwards and Caitlin Miller.