Icewine festival officials hopeful of strong attendance

Coyote’s Run Estate Winery president Jeff Aubry is serving sugar and spice during this year’s Niagara Icewine Festival and hoping everything will be nice.

Aubry is counting on the crowds to gush into his St. Davids winery for the 10-day festival to try his Sugar and Spice ... Oh, That’s Nice offering: a sample of 2007 Riesling icewine paired with Malaysian-style braised Stevensville pork on grilled Naan bread.

Despite a poor global economy, Aubry is expecting on doing plenty of pouring between Jan. 16 to 25. Coyote’s Run is one of 26 local wineries participating in the festival’s Discovery Pass, which offers visitors six icewine events for $30.

“I think in down times people like to do things a little closer to home,” Aubry said.

“I expect, weather permitting, a pretty good turnout from southern Ontario and just across the river. Instead of these folks jetting off to Vegas or Mexico or the Caribbean, maybe they’ll come out to the icewine festival.”

Wineries need the winter business. Even when times are good, the first quarter of the year is the worst of the year for wineries in terms of sales, he said.

But when the festival is on, “those two weekends are like weekends in July with the amount of traffic we get,” Aubry said.

“Without the icewine festival, it would be a whole lot worse.”

Barry Katzman, co-chair of the festival, is still counting on the crowds to come out for the 14th annual event.

Other festival highlights include the annual Xerox Icewine Gala at Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls on Jan. 16, the Twenty Valley Icewine Bar Jan. 17 and 18, and the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Classic Weekend from Jan. 23 to 25.

So far, tickets to most events are selling swiftly and festival corporate sponsorship remains strong, despite the downturn in the economy and softer sales of goods like icewine that are considered luxury items, Katzman said.

“I don’t think the festival will feel the same effect that icewine sales would because the festival is still excellent value for dollars spent,” said Katzman, president of Mike Weir Wines.

“I think that the dollars you spend in attending the icewine festival are pretty reasonable.... People are still looking to do things.”

Festival president Ken Weir said the event normally attracts “tens of thousands” of visitors to the region.

Weir said the entertainment has been enhanced this year for the key events in Jordan and Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Last year, the festival introduced a third weekend of events in downtown St. Catharines, called Winterfest in the Square, which charged $10 admission and featured 30 wineries.

This year, the event in the St. Catharines Farmers’ Market is free and has been reduced to one evening on Saturday, Jan. 17 and features 10 wineries.

Kimberly Hundertmark, the city’s tourism and attractions manager, said the event had low attendance last year and could not compete with Superbowl Sunday.

Matt Reynolds, brand manager for festival participant Palatine Hills Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, said people will likely still flock to taste icewine.

“I think (the crowds) will be the same,” Reynolds said.

“I think everybody just wants to come out for a nice day.”

For more information on the Niagara Icewine Festival, go to www.grapeandwine.com.

Tickets for the gala are still available and are $175 per person.