Imagine taking a stroll through the vineyard with your best friend; your dog! The Hounds of Erie Winery is a dog themed winery owned and operated by Mat Vaughn and family.
The dog theme isn’t the only thing that makes the winery different. They are unique to Norfolk and a rarity to Ontario, in that they grow exclusively cold-climate hybrid vines to make their wines with. You might be asking what that means? A cold-climate hybrid vine is created through cross pollination and it’s done hundreds of times to grow new plants. The result are vines that are very resistant to cold and disease.
Vaughn grows eight different kinds of hybrid grapes, that need less spray and can withstand temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees. Vaughn was clear, that the only downside of using cold-climate hybrid grapes is that no one has heard of them. In addition to these unique wines they regularly release new products, including ciders and honey wine too.
High tech hybrid vines are not the only neat thing happening at the Winery though. On the low tech side of things, Vaughn has also begun to use an old school technique to bolster his crop; specifically birds to mitigate pests. The winery installed bird houses all around the property. First, to arrive was Blue Birds nesting in the boxes. Bluebirds are insectivores, so they leave the grapes alone and eat the bugs. Then a pair of falcons arrived and what a difference! Falcons prey on pest birds like starlings. When the falcons arrived last year, Vaughn immediately noticed that grapes were not being lost pest bird. He is incredibly grateful for they new birds and hopes the falcons will return this year.
If you’d like to sample the grapes, or see the bird boxes you can head out to the Hounds of Erie Winery and don’t forget to bring the dog.
Written by Jeremy Hall