Jabulani
Welcome to
Jabulani
Vineyard & Winery
Jabulani is a Zulu word meaning happiness or rejoice and so this is the place of happiness. It was what Tom said he was feeling as we walked the property before buying it in 2006. When we bought it, it was just a fallow field – nothing on it – but we fell in love with it all the same. Tom had been making wine since he was a teenager back in Africa and we knew we would always be making wine, just never dreamed it would be from our own grapes! Tom has used methods that he learned while visiting the wine regions of the Cape Province of South Africa near to where his grandfather lived. This seems to have given our wines a unique flavour that is favoured by our customers and wine judges alike. To date we have eleven international awards and one All Canadian Championship award and intend on continuing to enter competitions to prove that Canadians can make world class wines.
We started planting vines in the spring of 2007 and our first harvest was in 2010. Jabulani opened its doors in 2011. It was a small venue at that time – a tasting patio with five barrels as tables and the store was run out of the bottom portion of our home.
Today we have eight different varieties of cold climate vines numbering just over 11,000 on 11 acres of the farm. We have expanded the winery to include a separate building from our home and it is there that we not only make our award winning wines but where we also host events such as weddings. There are three favourite locations on our farm where couples have chosen to have their ceremonies; by the pond behind our home, within the old orchard and the most popular has been in our crush pad. The winery can accommodate events of up to 200 people indoors and 100 people outside at our tasting patio. Our main focus is on our wines but this year we hosted fifteen weddings and are now booking 2019 as 2018 is fully booked.
The tasting patio and retail store are closed for the season. If however you would like to purchase wine during our off season, please contact us at info@jabulani.ca or call us as 613-454-5460 and we will arrange a convenient time for you to make your purchase.
Please note that the store will reopen for our annual Christmas event on December 9th, 10th, 16th and 17th between 11am and 4pm. Price of the event is a donation to the food bank – either monetary or food – when you arrive.”
Tasting sessions, happen Fridays through Sundays from 11am to 5pm, The sessions are free and you can taste up to six wines. If you have a group of 6 or more, please call us in advance so we can reserve a larger table for your group. Please note that we do not have a restaurant on site – you can bring a picnic but you must take your garbage with you when you leave.
Our tours will resume on the 3rd Saturday in June 2018.
The tour lasts about 2 hours and costs $20/person. It consists of a walk in the vines where you will learn about the viticulture side of things, followed by learning how we make our wines. After which, you will be sat down for a wine appreciation lesson where you will learn what you taste where and why on your tongue by sampling 10 wines. This is accompanied by cheeses, breads and fruit.
Note: charity tour certificates from prior years which state different hours and prices will be honoured.
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