As we enjoy fall and get ready for the holidays (are they really that close?!?) we have the opportunity to choose from many events:

• November 19 – Aleksander Winery’s Harvest Winemakers Dinner – Enjoy a harvest meal paired with Aleksander wines at Per Bacco; check out their website for details
  
• November 21 & 22 – Sanson Estate Winery Holiday Open House – complimentary food and wine tasting in the events hall; live cooking demos; see their newsletter
• November 28 – Southwestern Ontario Vintners Association (SWOVA) Holiday Open Houses – Celebrate with 12 local wineries; each winery celebrates in a different way so check out SWOVA’s site for details

There are more events to choose from so check out my calendar for those that are related to local food and spirits.

Other news this week:

• The Kildare House closed it’s doors – I am very sad!
• WindsorEats launches their Wine Trail Rides website (after winning the culinary tourism experience award!) …[scooped from Bike Windsor, be sure to check them out if you are interested in lots of cyling info in the area]
• Walkerville’s Holiday Walkabout is this weekend; check out their website for details and be sure to stop at Taste Bud for a local focus on prepared meals
• Richard of Thibert Farm mentions that he will try to grow oats in 2010/11 – I can’t wait!
• MIT releases a study that links local food with aiding the obesity epidemic; eating local helped me lose a lot of wait so maybe people will believe this study if they don’t believe me

Kildare House, SWOVA, Sanson Estate Winery, Thibert Farm, Windsor Eats

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There is so much going on that it is hard to keep up! We are in a very busy time of year for life in general, but especially for locally grown produce.

Hopefully you have been stopping in at the downtown market. Despite the rain, the vendors were still out there this weekend and I got my bread and cookies from Thibert Farms and some amazing peaches from another vendor.

SWOVA’s Annual Vintage Tasting was also this past weekend; let me know if you made it out and tell me how it was. $50 for a ticket would have been wasted on me as I cannot drink yet (8 weeks to go, but who is counting?)!

The highly sought “Bird Dog Red” is back at Sanson Estate Winery. Bird Dog has been missing for the past 3 years so fans are eager to try out the new pup. It is an ‘05 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet France and Merlot. Grab a bottle while you can! It is hard to fall in love with a wine as they may sell out or some winemakers do not make the same wines each year (this happened to me when I went to Aleksander and they were sold out of their Baco). Make sure to find a few local faves and cross your fingers that supplies last.

Stop in at the Leamington Tomato Fest this weekend for loads of family fun. A new feature this year is the wine tent with several local wineries participating. Check out their website for details.

There are loads of other events coming up so be sure to check the food calendar.
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Aleksander Estate Winery, Downtown Windsor Farmers Market, Leamington Tomato Festival, SWOVA, Sanson Estate Winery, Thibert Farm