Searching for the Elusive Winery

Saturday August 15 was just about the hottest day I’ve experienced here, certainly the hottest day this year so far. Wendy had clipped an article from the Telegraph Journal about the Mott’s Landing Winery and decided this was a good day to make the journey. It was sinfully easy to convince Suzanne and Jack to join us. Jack even volunteered to drive.

We got onto Highway 102 and followed the Fiddlehead Route (Route des Fougeres) up the St. John River Valley. It’s not really the Fiddlehead Route, but the River Valley Scenic Drive is marked with stylized Fiddlehead signs.

Our first stop was MNO pottery. The shop was closed, but we found Darren and Alex at home, just getting ready to go to a wedding. We admired the wedding cakes they’d made, covered with brilliant green and blue buttercream icing and decorated with floral and fly tieing motifs.

Next stop was the Inn at Evandale where we had a wonderful lunch. The food was plain, but well prepared and they used real food. Real beef, real chicken and real ham for the sandwiches, not slurried meat and thickeners stuffed into a bag, The Inn has recently re-opened and they are spending money in positioning themselves as a resort. They are building a swimming pool beside the Inn. A number of boaters had stopped for lunch, but a group of motorcyclists drove on by.

We drove by David Eastwood’s pottery and then had to back up to go visit. I’m glad we did. Wendy found a beautiful yellow/orange lidded bowl and then bought me a wonderful mug with a whale for a handle. Suzanne found several pieces that appealed to her and dug out her chequebook.

Finally, we got back on the road and began to look in earnest for the Gagetown Cider Company. They make lovely apple wines and non-alcoholic ciders. This involved a trepidatious journey along a side road (yes, the dreaded side trip!) but Wendy’s fearless navigating got us to the place. We purchased wine for later refreshment and continued our journey.

Back on Highway 102 we followed the signs to the Gagetown Ferry (still working, hurray!) which was waiting to whisk us across the river. Wendy’s only direction to the M’LW was a newspaper article written by a wine expert, but someone not well versed in giving directions. We encountered a badly made handwritten sign pointing us to the winery. We followed the sign. Enroute we stopped at the Anthony Flower Historic Site for a quick visit. Mr. Flower was the only son of a wealthy English businessman who emigrated to Canada in 1812 where he become a farmer and painter. His reasons for emigrating were never discovered. A young man who’s headed to Dalhousie this fall provided us with a well presented tour.

Back on the road, we followed Wendy’s directions until she became unsure of herself. We retraced our steps back to the intersection with the sign, checked with a local, found that we were indeed on the right track and set out again. We simply hadn’t gone far enough. When we finally found the place we were treated to a friendly welcome and samples of four wines. A rhubarb/strawberry rose we’re having with our next turkey feast, a rhubarb that will go well with pork, a robust red to accompany red meat, and a very robust red that would be great with spaghetti sauce. We bought more wine.

We headed back across the Gagetown Ferry and into Gagetown to see the sights. Lots of middle-aged bikers in town. It was way too hot for biking and our air-conditioned Element was far more comfortable. On the way back we stopped at a roadside stand and bought a dozen corn and very tart apples.

The drive along the River Valley is full of spectacular scenery at nearly every turn. This has been a particularly wet summer so things are intensely green. With the sun in the past two weeks late crops are coming along rapidly. Too bad the sun was late for the blueberry crop. We had a great day, lots of laughing, lots of seeing things, and thanks to Jack for driving all those very winding roads.

We had Chestnut Farms organic vegetables in a salad, buttered corn on the cob, cheese and crackers, and pear cider for dinner. Wendy pronounced the corn probably the best she’d had outside Haldimand County. We were full and happy by eight o’clock.

Harvey