As you drive through the Holland Marsh you can't miss the unmistakeable smell of green onions, but if you sniff very carefully, you might also catch a whiff of a fine bouquet.
These fields once produced onions, but for eight years now, the Nersisyan family has grown grapes to produce fine wine.
“We've got a little bit of everything, everything from cabernet, savino to Riesling, pinot noir, gammon noir,” says Norie Nersisyan.
Holland Marsh Wineries is in the heart of what some call "the Ontario salad bowl", surrounded by vegetable farms in Bradford West Gwillimbury.
“What a lot of people don't realize is that this patch of soil we're on has a lot of clay and sand in it, this offers the vine the optimum condition to grow and produce quality fruit.”
The Nersisyan family has been making wine for more than half a century and just like back home in Armenia, everything is done by hand.
“Certainly there's a lot of glamour in drinking it, but you do get a little messy in the process, but it's a lot of fun mess that's for sure,” says Nersisyan.
The winery only has about 11 acres of grapes and on a good year will produce close to 25,000 bottles of wine.
Holland Marsh Wineries is open almost every day and tours are by reservation only.
