norman hardie winery and vineyard

My wife & I had visited Norman Hardie last August, we loved the wine but found the staff member who hosted us not at all engaging about the wines we were sampling. We returned yesterday with my mom on a wine weekend in the county & couldn't be more pleased with our experience. The staff member hosting us was very knowledgeable about the various wines & even got us some wines we had previously purchased that were not on the current "menu". On both of our visits we were never charged a "tasting" fee, though we did buy a case each time. We've heard great things about the pizza but haven't had the time/opportunity to try it yet. Great wines, and this time an amazing tasting experience.

like a prior reviewer, drove up had no idea where to park or enter, people eating food and drinking all over the place, really felt like I was intruding into someone's home, rather then a warm greeting at a public tasting area. The tastings were twice the price everywhere else, $2 a shot, we tried the Pinot Noir & Gris, both were just so-so, maybe they are better recognized for other wines, but we stopped tasting at that point as it seemed that we were mostly just an inconvenience to the staff... too bad as this spot seemed amongst the more promising of the 40 wineries to visit, would not return.

driving in to this place the grounds were covered in grape pulp swarming with hornets. Pulled up to the winery and there was no signage to direct us. So we entered the building to see staff eating their lunch in the processing areas, with a dog running around. Finally a small chalk board directed us to "wine tastings upstairs" and when we went up it was the tiniest place, not at all capable of handling more than 8-10 people. Certainly saw no place for pizza. Came outside from the upper level and there were open crates of grapes all around that anyone could tamper with if they wanted. No one said hello to us, stopped us from approaching equipment, etc. Not at all a good experience so won't bother going back.

We thought we were going to taste wine, but instead found an authentic pizza over, delicious thin crust pizza AND a wonderful pino noir. Worth the trip to PEC just for this one experience!

We recently toured several wineries in Prince Edward County. While I was putting together the route, I wanted to make sure that I put this place on the list, based on other reviews. We arrived around 2:00 pm on a Saturday in late August - I thought the lunch crowd would have moved on- Boy was I wrong! It took us about 45 minutes to get seated, but I understand why. First, we went to the tasting area where the guy behind the bar was very friendly and helpful. He gave us a few names of other places to go as well (one of which was Hinterland, which was well worth the visit. My wife and I were impressed that this small community supports each other - it reminded us of how Niagara used to be before it exploded in popularity.The wines here were very good, my wife and I preferred the Pinot Noir, my daughter was more a fan of the Riesling.The lunch was worth waiting for. Yes, the menu is limited, but how can you not be happy with fresh salad and wood oven pizza on an outdoor patio in the sunshine with a nice glass of red?! Simple pleasures to be sure, but well worth the wait. The service was very friendly, relaxed and the food was very good. For me, the pizza rivaled the Neapolitan pizza at Bruno in San Diego, really tasty. Honestly, is there a better way to spend a sunny, late summer afternoon?

I have visited here three times in the past year; once as part of the Sandbanks wine tour, once with my family over a long weekend, and most recently with my boyfriend when we were in the area. Each time I have been impressed with the friendliness of the staff and the quality of the food (and the wine, of course!). The patio has a great casual vibe and good music. Be prepared to wait for a table on weekends, it's a busy spot but it's a good excuse to pop upstairs for a flight of tastings before a delicious lunch of wood-fired pizza. Can't wait to visit again next year.

I was very surprised to see any poor reviews of this place, because it is such a welcoming vineyard with friendly staff, including "Norm" himself. The pizza was really, really good, and I would recommend the wait. We've been there twice now, and would return again - I don't even drink wine. A nice added bonus, as there were tomatoes and beans being harvested, you could buy small bags of produce on location.

We visited on a Wednesday and were sooo disappointed to have come on night they were not offering pizza (Thursdays to Mondays, I believe). The wine tasting area was packed with people, and as a result was not equipped to offer space and service as timely as I had hoped. We waited patiently, perusing the delicacies they sell (coffee, spreads, sauces, etc) and the kids played in the trampoline on site. They wine was well worth the wait! My personal favorites were the chardonnay and the pinot noir. I hope to visit again when they're serving pizza, and stock up on my already depleted collection of their excellent wine!

OK. We picked this place to stop on our biking tour really because we'd heard it had a brick-oven pizza. We're not wine connoisseurs so I won't even pretend to try to talk about the nose and all those other funny terms the in-the-know crowd spout about ...Few of the wineries we passed really had that much to offer in terms of looks and decor. Mostly just barns if you ask me. Same with this place. But it does have great pizza. Thin crust. Just like Italy. Staff was friendly. The eating area was very busy. Don't expect a quiet lunch at a table by yourself -- is bustling and you'll share a table unless your party can fill it.We had a delightful time chatting with an older couple....Price: $36 -- 2 pizzas with 2 wine tastings.

I am a fan of several Ontario wines, and I am now happy to add some Norman Hardie's to that list, including the very fresh, crisp, and rather unique Calcaire, which won me over to the white side for a while. The two Pinots available this year were very nice as well, and quite different from each other.The pizzas are fantastic, and the perfect pre-tasting lunch. I have to say the iced tea is brilliant, too! And the joy of lunching while looking out over the vineyards, dogs running around, kids playing was considerable. The restaurant staff and Norman Hardie himself were charming, friendly, and helpful. The only exception to the general perfection was with the tasting experience, which made my two friends and I feel a bit as though we were intruding on the counter person's day. She was informative enough, but just enough, and i have to say that was the first time I have ever done a tasting and had 5 very different wines poured into the same glass, and not had even water on offer for cleansing the palate. The wines are all quite distinctive and the ones I bought (wish I had bought more!) certainly held to what I expected from the tasting, no harm done, but not as much fun as it could have been.

This was originally a 1st choice destination while visiting Prince Edward County this month. Pleasant area and a bit on the rustic side compared to most wineries that offer tastings and food, wonderful to see the wine maker, Norman Hardie present and greeting people. However, the menu is quite limited, offering a couple of salads and pizza only. Granted, the homemade pizza is pretty good and there were fresh oysters shucked as ordered. There are 2 areas for tastings, one upstairs and one on the main deck area outside. Surprisingly, tastings are $2 each, meaning per person per wine which is pretty pricey and no consideration given to buying bottles of wine. Considering this winery has been around for 10 years, there is limited seating in the eating area, limited menu, limited wheelchair access (gravel lot and uphill to tasting rooms/restaurant) and I was overall disappointed in our visit. Granted it was a long weekend and quite busy, there was no place for visitors to wait except for outside in the hot sun. If you want to sample wines and/or eat, plan on at least an hour. If you really like Norman Hardie wines then you might enjoy a visit to the winery for a tasting and possibly meeting Norman Hardie, but otherwise it's a huge miss for me.

We stopped on our recent wine tour for a wine tasting. We ended up walking through what appeared to be an new-age experience for wine. Pizza looked good

Usually you walk into a winery and the staff are fun and chatty, the miserable blokes behind the wine counter had nothing to say till we tried to push them to get tell us some info about the winery, when asked what the one grape was they had as a red, he was very quick to tell us in a pompas was that it is "French for Limestone" blah blah blah! After that we ate downstairs and the Pizza was excellent and the service was good, I wish they had their other Chardonnay on the menu but we had the Pinot Noir which was excellent. My issue with a lot of the Wineries in PEC is that they are over-priced at $13 a glass of wine for something local, there is no value, issue is Canadians will pay for it! Overall I wont rush back here when I am in the area and would rather give my business to other wineries who pride themselves on everything they do.

We headed upstairs to sample some excellent Pinot Noir, Calcaire, and Riesling at Norman Hardie Winery last Sunday in Prince Edward County. I have not raved about many Ontario wines but there was something memorable about the Pinot Noir 2010. We saw Norman Hardie, he was friendly and attentive to everyone. This place is beautiful, cool, and trendy. The staff was easy-going, busy, and helpful. The CX also included some great tasting pizza which we could not stop talking about on the way home to Toronto. We had oysters and enjoyed four delicious pizzas. I had a wood fired Margherita pizza on the patio which has an amazing view of the vineyard. We all know Kids Say the Darndest Things so there was only one complaint from a 5 year old with a not so well-developed palate. When the pizzas arrived and he saw that there were no pepperoni pizza, he was not happy so he asked the waiter for his pizza. Later another one of the friendly staff asked if we were enjoying everything and we told her that he said that Pizza Pizza [they sometimes have this at his day-care] is better. She assured him that she will not mention that to the chef :). Guess you can't please everyone but he happily ate a slice of Margherita pizza in the end. All's Well That Ends Well.

We regularly stop here to pick up some of their excellent wine, and for the last few years we also make sure to enjoy some wood-fired pizza on the patio - spectacularly good! And happily, the also had freshly shucked oysters as a special this visit. A busy place but efficiently managed, so waits are minimized.