I’ve lived in Niagara my whole life – well most of my life, minus 6 years spent in Toronto – and I have just this year gone on my first wine tour. Can you believe it? I can’t. Why did I wait so long?! Although, I use the term “wine tour” loosely here, it was more of a “wine adventure.” Picture this…8 girls, bachelorette party, tandem bikes and wine tasting.

We kicked off the day with a picnic along the Niagara Parkway, fueling up on quinoa, guacamole, wraps, sangria and lots of dessert (borderline ridiculous amount of dessert). After lunch we made our way into downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake and a little place called Zoom to rent us some bikes.

Not going to lie, I truly despise riding bikes, so naturally I was quite nervous and apprehensive about this portion of our afternoon. I had successfully avoided cycling for years, and was now expected to ride while drinking, which was surely a disaster waiting to happen. However I’m a good sport and went along with it. We all selected our rides, 6 girls opted for tandem bikes and 2 of us decided on cruisers with nice big padded seats (thank goodness for those seats). Also, the bikes were equipped with bells… things were starting to look up.

We all took our bikes for a quick test drive around the parking lot, and then the Zoom employees released us out into the world, and traffic, which scared the begeezus out of me. Did I mention at this point we were all wearing fascinators? The bride-to-be is a wonderfully talented fashion designer, and super quirky to boot, hence the headwear. So off we went, first stop Jackson Triggs. We got a few honks along the way, thanks to our fancy fascinators, to which we replied with a cacophony of bell ringing and laughter. We sampled 3 wines and an incredible icewine at our first destination – which I will be going back to purchase by the way. I didn’t want to buy it at the time and risk dropping it while riding…and have to lick it up off the sidewalk. Just kidding…kind of.

First stop complete, back to the bikes, a little more relaxed. May or may not have had something to do with the vino. We successfully made our way around to 3 more wineries, Pillitteri, Joseph’s and Stratus. By the end, we were having such a good time that I completely forgot about how much my buns hurt and honestly could have kept going, which was a pleasant surprise.

Despite my lack of love for bikes, it was an amazing afternoon! I would absolutely recommend renting a bike, cruising around and tasting some wine. What better way to spend an afternoon in Niagara? It was tons of fun, and surprisingly cheap, $20 for a 3-hour bike rental, and tastings range from FREE to $3 per sample. Sunday Funday? Better believe it!