You can still travel to the Niagara region and visit the many wineries in the area, however Covid-19 precautions have taken their toll on the many wine festivals, including the winter's Niagara Icewine Festival which takes place in January. The festival takes place over three weekends in January.
From the Niagara Grape & Wine Festival website, "We’ve made the difficult decision to put the Niagara Grape & Wine Festival on hiatus. This was a tough decision to make – this festival is an important event for Niagara and our beloved wine industry - however, the safety and security of our guests, staff, volunteers, vendors, and community is of the utmost importance and one that takes precedence above all else. We hope to reopen in time for the 70th annual Grape & Wine Fall Festival in September. Finally, please continue to support our local restaurants and wineries during this period. We wish nothing more than to come out the other side of COVID with a healthy food & wine scene to share with you, and that can only happen with the support of those of us who live and love local. We look forward to raising a glass with you next Fall."
In 2020 these were the many wineries taking part in the festival; 13th Street Winery, Alvento Winery, Creekside Estate Winery, Ferox, Fielding Estate Winery, Flat Rock Cellars, Harbour Estates Winery, Henry of Pelham Estate Winery, Hernder Estate Wines, Inniskillin Wines, Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery, Kacaba Vineyards Winery, Konzelmann Estate Winery, Lailey Winery, Lakeview Wine Co., Legends Estates Winery, Lundy Manor Wine Cellars, Magnotta Winery, Malivoire Wine, Marynissen Estates Winery, Megalomaniac, Niagara College Teaching Winery, Nomad at Hinterbrook Estate Winery, Palatine Hills Estate Winery, Peller Estates Winery, Pillitteri Estates Winery, PondView Estate Winery, Redstone Winery, Reif Estate Winery, Riverview Cellars Estate Winery, Rockway Vineyards, Strewn Winery, Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery, Tawse Winery, Trius Winery, Vignoble Rancourt Winery, Vineland Estates Winery and Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery & Distillery.
I have been to a few of these fine establishments and always enjoy the trip into the Niagara-on-the-Lake and St. Catherines area to explore the area and pick up some wine. We just visited Wayne Gretzky Estates who are now a winery, distillery and beer company and this place, with or without a festival, is a busy place. You have to make reservations for tastings and the social distanced lineup makes shopping a little time consuming, but worth it. Weekend rain kept the skating rink and outdoor bars from opening up but it was nice to look around.
Gretzky wasn't there when we dropped by, I think he was celebrating the fact that his 1979 rookie hockey card from his time at the Edmonton Oilers sold for almost 1.3 million dollars.