Discover the hospitality and warmth of Green Gables Vines Winery
Green Gables Vines Winery is a boutique winery nestled on five acres at the border between North Grenville and Edwardsburg Cardinal. The winery’s winter hardy vines flourish in the unique microclimate of the area, producing reliable hand-crafted small-lot wines.
“In Prince Edward County or Niagara, they have to bury their vines and do a lot of work for the vines to actually survive and be fruitful. I don’t have to bury any of the vines, I just leave them there and they can survive in -30C temperature,” explains winemaker Richard Deslandes.
Owned by MBA graduate Marie Chinnatamby, with Deslandes, a computer engineer by trade, as the silent wine making partner this small winery focuses on the guest experience.
“I like the way they do their wine tasting, in that there’s some explanation of the grapes they use, and why those particular grapes create a certain type of wine and flavour, versus some of the other wineries we had toured, we didn’t get the same amount of education that we got from Green Gables,” says Carla St-Germain, Barrhaven resident, customer and volunteer.
Not a Vintners Quality Alliance member Green Gables is not catering to the high flying connoisseur looking for oak barrel aged wines. As Deslandes explains they simply don’t have the room to age wines for five years or more. Instead Chinnatamby and Deslandes are focusing on creating a unique, and enjoyable experience while offering trustworthy wines.
“It’s just a very hospitable place and their wines are consistent. They have a series of wines that they make every year and some that they make every other year and they do a good job of keeping the flavours consistent,” says St-Germain who has been a regular customer since 2018.
Longtime friends Chinnatamby and Deslandes purchased the winery in 2013. The original hardy vines were still there but they had been abandoned, and all the wine making equipment had been sold.
“It took us two years to get the fields back to normal, because a vine left alone just runs amok. The first year it would take me a day for every row, now I can do it in an hour,” says Deslandes
The partners have invested considerable capital into the venture, and it’s paying off.
“Our income was $400 the first year of production, the second year it went to $4,000 and then $7,000 in the third year and now we are in the double digits,” says Chinnatamby.
“We’re at a phase now where we want to make this a bit more of a destination, where people come and spend some time, and maybe enjoy some music and that sort of thing. We’re going to introduce wine tasting with a bit of a food offering, we’re going to keep the food very simple and it will be a very limited selection” says Deslandes, who has spent the last two years renovating the building on the farm, creating a commercial kitchen and washrooms off a patio that can accommodate groups of up to 30 guests.
Connect with Marie & Green Gables Vines:
Green Gables Vines - Facebook
