Kremlin museums tap into taste for modern

A new show displaying the works of 20th century French couturier Paul Poiret turns the dark chambers of the Kremlin Museums into a colorful showcase of popular modern culture alongside the regal clothing and objects of Russia's past.

The rich and colorful silk and velvet dresses created a century ago by Poiret, a revolutionary designer who is credited with freeing women from the confinements of the corset, opened the autumn season at the central museum in Moscow on Wednesday.

Poiret took his clients out of restrictive 19th century clothes by designing practical sheath dresses and tunics, many of which the explorer of world cultures and lover of Russian ballet created for Russian actresses and ballerinas.

A white tunic-like evening dress embroidered with gold and bright silk flowers, one of many Poiret created for Russian actress Vera Karakhan, stands by his Russian-inspired hats in a gallery filled with dresses, shoes and perfume bottles.

The modern-looking costumes, mimicked around the world since, could easily make any of today's haute-couture fashion shows. They take up two of the Kremlin bell towers usually given over to historic artifacts and icons from the Middle Ages.

"Most traditional museums in the world are trying to incorporate exhibitions of modern conceptual art, and our museum is not an exception," Elena Gagarina, director of the Kremlin Museums, told Reuters ahead of the exhibit's opening.

As if taking up the torch from Moscow's Pushkin Museum, which has just taken down a lavish fashion exhibit of Christian Dior gowns in July, the Kremlin has stepped up the expansion of its modern art and popular culture activities.

"I hope in the future we will hold even more radical modern art projects than we have so far. No museum can develop without incorporating modern art and art forms, and without touching on the pressing issues that emerge with the changing lifestyle, and fashion is part of that lifestyle," Gagarina said.

The next contemporary art exhibit planned for the museum in the heart of Moscow will show abstract works by British 20th-century sculptor Henry Moore in the Spring of 2012.

Over the summer, the Kremlin Museums displayed gem works by Russian jeweler Carl Faberge, a contemporary of Poiret. Gagarina said that exhibit beat all previous attendance records and credited a growing interest in modern art as the reason for its popularity.

Around 2 million people visit the Kremlin museums yearly.

The Poiret exhibit commemorates the 100th anniversary of the couturier's first and only visit to Russia, which inspired many of his creations including linen dresses, boots for women and evening hats with the traditional local tablecloth ornament.

Some pieces, sold by the Poiret family at an auction in 2005 to France's Musee Galliera, which donated 20 costumes, are on show for an international audience for the first time at the Kremlin, said Musee Galliera's Sophie Grossior.

The exhibit, on display in Moscow from Wednesday to January 15, 2012, also has pieces from France's Grasse perfume museum, Britain's Victoria and Albert Museum, St Petersburg's Hermitage and several Moscow libraries.

Although the exhibit offers many magazine and newspaper excerpts, book and booklet pages to see aside from the dresses on display, organizers expect plenty of interest from a public which is developing a taste for museums.

"Now, that women have been freed from hard household labor and people stopped working at their dachas as much as they used to, visiting museums has become a proper thing to do. Lifestyles have changed," said Elena Mikhailova, exhibits assistant at the Kremlin Museums for the past 25 years.

 

High-priced travel not for many travellers

One of Canada's biggest newspapers recently devoted almost an entire page to lush images and near-orgasmic prose about "the world's coolest hotel," a Paris creation where rates start at nearly $1,100 a night (780 euros) and soar higher than the Eiffel Tower.

Supporting the "world's-coolest" claim, the writer noted each guest room comes with a custom-made guitar. Why, she didn't explain, but if that sort of amenity plucks your strings, you'll be delighted to know lessons are available.

A big spread a few weeks earlier carried the headline "Eat like royalty in London's elegant hotels."

At one of the four famous hostelries profiled, the author described a nine-course meal that took four hours. In another, he observed that guests are treated to a "never-ending parade of dapper tuxedo-sporting gentlemen and beautiful women in couture gowns."

No prices were mentioned, but, as we all know, if you have to ask you can't afford it.

All this was just too, too precious for someone who took decades to upgrade from B&Bs with a bathroom down the hall, and who still winces at paying more than $125 for a place to sleep.

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't say no to a swank suite. Or a nibble of a famous chef's wild rabbit terrine.

But articles like those reflect a trend I've noticed in travel writing -- too much geared to a tiny minority at the top of the economic heap, too little to the vast majority of leisure travellers.

So I've vowed to try to make more mention of places to eat and sleep that offer good value -- and whose tab doesn't require taking out a second mortgage.

They'll be ones I've checked out myself or have come recommended by other travellers or by insiders in the tourism and hospitality industry.

You're welcome to chip in. Just e-mail me -- my address is at the bottom of the column -- with the name of the lodgings or eating place, its location and why you liked it.

In the meantime, here's the latest batch:

LODGING

* Rideau Rendezvous, a B&B on the Rideau Canal, 20 minutes' drive north of downtown Kingston; phone (613) 387-3927; bbcanada.com/9607.html."The best B&B we ever had," says a honeymooner from Toronto who loved the waterfront setting and being able to use their canoes and kayaks.

* Manoir Victoria ( manoir-victoria.com/index/php/en)and Auberge de la Place d'Armes ( aubergeplacedarmes.com),in the old part of Quebec City, recommended by two Quebec City tour operators. If the rooms seem pricey, remember you're paying for a prime location in one of Canada's most popular destinations.

RESTAURANTS

* My wife and I had a devil of a time several years back finding a decent restaurant in Sault Ste. Marie. So when I was up there in June I asked people involved in local tourism for their picks. All are Italian, reflecting one of the Soo's main ethnic groups: Arturo Ristorante, 515 Queen St.; Cesira's, 133 Spring St.; Giovanni's, 516 Great Northern Rd.; and Muio's, 685 Queen, for breakfast.

* ChezPiggy, 68PrincessSt., indowntown Kingston. Cited by two couples who mentioned how much they'd enjoyed the courtyard.

* TheBuccaneer, 128WilliamSt., Port Stanley, satisfied my craving for Lake Erie yellow perch.

Doug English can be reached at denglishtravel@gmail.com.

 

World's most unique movie watching

You've heard of drive-in movies. How about sail-in movies?

This summer, the Toronto Port Authority sponsored a five-day floating film festival to fete the authority's 100th anniversary. The screen was set up on a barge in the Inner Harbour just east of the Redpath Sugar building and viewers watched films from their boats or from land at Corus Quay. That event -- and the start of the Toronto International Film Festival tomorrow (Sept. 8-18) -- got me thinking about unique film experiences I've encountered or heard about on my travels.

Here are a few worth checking out:

-- Oscar films with bubbles in London: Movie buffs may want to check into The Arch hotel on their next visit to England. Guests at this chic 82-room hotel on a quiet street near Marble Arch, have complimentary access to every Oscar-winning film (Best Picture) since the 1930s. That's more than 60 films from which to choose including On the Waterfront, Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, Slumdog Millionaire and The Hurt Locker. Take DVDs to your room to watch on the flat screen TV from your comfy bed or, if staying in one of the 17 rooms with a bathtub, unwind with a bubble bath and watch the movie from a screen above the tub! (Grab a complimentary beverage from the mini bar first though). Rooms also feature complimentary Wi-Fi, flat-screen HD TVs, Nespresso coffee machines, and Internet radio with over 10,000 channels. The Arch, a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, is located near Hyde Park. See slh.com/thearchlondon.

-- Star in your own film: If you've ever pondered making a film, a Florida hotel wants to turn your dream into reality. The Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate has a Picture This package that allows guests to capture special holiday moments. If travelling as a family, each member could play a different role: Either as director, cast, crew or editor. You'll get a new, handheld video camera along with a luxury suite equipped with editing equipment, tickets to Disney Hollywood Studios, VIP seating at the resort's dive-in screenings, a full-day cabana rental, complimentary in-room popcorn and movie, a Take-Home DVD and more.

The luxury 6-hectare resort makes an ideal movie set where your camera can capture kids sliding down the 38-metre corkscrew waterslide or floating on the 258-metre Lazy River. Available through Sept. 30 from $485 US/night. Contact 1-800-The-Omni or omniorlandoresort.com.

-- Beyond Popcorn in Arizona: Seeing movies is an upscale experience at Scottsdale's new iPic theatres. Even before you enter the screening room, several visual clues hint this isn't a typical movie house. There are chandeliers in the lobby, a swanky lounge, a restaurant with a wine tower, and contemporary mixed-media paintings depicting various movie icons in the hallways.

Moviegoers can opt for Premium seating (large leather chairs with small tables for in-cinema dining) or Premium Plus (reclining chairs, pillows and blankets, popcorn and food and beverage service for the first 20 minutes). All seats have unobstructed views of the screen. Complimentary valet parking is also available.

Watch the movie while enjoying a beer or cocktail from the Salt Lounge, or glass of wine from iPic's wine towers. Hungry? The Tanzy Express stand has a selection of freshly prepared items such as beef filet sliders, and lemon grilled chicken skewers. (Sure beats hot dogs!)

As the theatre's name, iPic, suggests, moviegoers can select the type of experience they want -- just come for the film or combine it with a drink or meal before, during or after the show.

As you might expect from an upscale cinema, it's equipped with the latest technology: Online reserved seating, all digital projection, state-of-the-art sound, automated ticket pick up at site or print at home, studio-preferred 3D technology and the latest technology for both the hearing and visually impaired.

Admission (to the movie) starts at $15 US. You can also sign up for a free membership and get discounts and invites to special events. Check ipictheaters.com.

-- Movies on the Beach: From Beach Blanket Bingo to beach blanket movies, the Gimli International Film Festival has free nightly screenings on the beach every summer. What makes this event unique is the films are projected over Lake Winnipeg onto a 10-by-10-metre screen erected on a sandbar surrounded by water.

The family friendly screenings attract hundreds of moviegoers every night, who bring their own blankets, cushions, and folding chairs. Also worth noting at "Manitoba's largest film festival" is a chance to see the aurora borealis -- the northern lights -- which sometimes appear in the night sky over the lake, competing for spectators' attention with the entertainment onscreen.

Gimli has the largest Icelandic community outside Iceland, which is reflected in the offerings at the festival. The films emphasize new and recent work by Canadian and Icelandic filmmakers plus works from other Nordic circumpolar nations. About 80 films (full-length features, documentaries, short documentaries and narrative films) are shown during the festival, which also includes indoor screenings (ticketed) at three Gimli theatres. The annual event, which takes place in July, attracts more than 5,000 visitors. The complete festival lineup for next year will be announced in late June. Check gimlifilm.com.

writer@interlog.com

SUN readers' crazy flight experiences

A recent article from VirtualTourist.com on the craziest passenger flight experiences certainly stirred some conversation amongst online Sun Media readers. Our users from across the country weighed in with their own crazy flight experiences. Here are the top 10...

1. "Toronto to Fort Mac in July, passenger in front of me reclined his seat all the way back for the entire flight. Had to be told twice at meal time to move ahead so that I could access my meal tray. But what ruined my trip was having the video monitor not six inches from my face for the whole trip, and being unable to even cross my legs. Flight attendant felt bad, but said he was within his 'rights'."

- Beverley Bell

2. "On an old Canadian Pacific DC-10 out of Calgary back in the 80's. Completely empty aircraft except for myself, six RCMP officers, and Clifford Olson. He was in the back of the aircraft and they stuck me five rows in front of him. CP in those days was offering free booze to all on board regardless of what class you were in. If ever I needed a drink it was then but I was refused because it was before 11 in the morning. They would not even let me change seats. I was a lot younger then and CP is out of business."

- Anderson Davies

3. "On my first WestJet flight from Ottawa to Calgary, years ago, the pilot announced that one of the male flight attendants had danced with Riverdance, and if we behaved ourselves and played the games the other attendants proposed as entertainment, he would dance for us. Wouldn't you know it, 45 minutes before landing in Calgary, the captain came back on the intercom, congratulated us on our sporting behaviour and introduced the dancing flight attendant. Wow, he did a complete Riverdance up and down the aisle of the plane. I didn't know the floor could shake that much. Although none of my other WestJet flights featured dancers, they're still the only company that greets me (correct pronunciation) by my first name. It's a riot."

- MyOpion

4. "Flying into Dominican we are told one wing flap won't close so we will be having a "hot" landing, trust me when I say the refreshments were aplenty when we landed, same Captain took us home a week later...right through an electrical storm, needed another vacation after."

- c1ndy

5. "A woman with long hair in front of me kept throwing it up in the air and scratching her scalp...she would then make a pony tail, sit for a minute, take it apart and repeat the whole thing in a cloud of dandruff....later I was eating pasta when she threw all of her hair over the back of her seat and I was picking hair out of my food...the lady across was horrified... what did I do? I pick up the pasta which I now couldn't eat...gently took her hair in my hand and soaked it in the tomato sauce...then I threw it back over the seat splatting all over her...I thought the woman across was going to die trying to suppress laughing out loud. Funny how people don't realize there are others in back and in front.... "

- Tim Devlin

6. "Got on the plane in Hong Kong. Someone's in my seat. Canadian Airlines had double-assigned it. No other seats available. So they sat me in a spare jump seat (where the crew sit for takeoff and landing). Not very comfy. The crew thought I was a mechanic or something. When they found out, they brought me the best food and booze and kept chatting with me. Heard a lot of good insider stories. When I transferred planes in Japan they bumped me up into 1st class."

- Al_Dente

7. "Had one women on flight back from Bahamas who decided to do her nails....yep you guessed it nail polish remover and all... that was before they banned such stuff but imagine the stink in a closed-in space... no class."

- Randolph Demone

8. "Just as we were leaving the gate in Toronto, the passenger directly in front of me freaked out. He started yelling "Help, I'm going to die", then got on his cell phone (which was supposed to be turned off) to call his mother and tell her he loved her. Naturally our flight was delayed while they offloaded the young man."

- alpage48

9. "All hell broke lose on a flight I was on from Brussels to Dakar, Senegal. Soldiers entered the plan and forcibly removed some very angry passengers. Seems a fellow passenger was crying as he was being extradited back to his home country of Gambia."

- Teach1984

10. "Was on a flight and I think it must have been a [toupee] convention, all the men had on hair pieces of some sort. One guy went into the can and did not lock the door. Was he surprised when a lady opened the door and there he was changing his wig. I laughed so hard when he came came out he asked what I was laughing about and told him you."

- torontoron

Sweden's fictional murder capital peaceful

"This is a very peaceful place," says police inspector Charlotte Lindh as families head flock past toward an open-air flea market on a bright Saturday morning. "I am happy I can bring up my children up in Ystad."

At the other end of Stora Ostergatan, the main street through the southern Swedish port and market town, milling shoppers halt on the main square to applaud parading military bands and Scottish pipers, in town for an annual festival.

The bookshop just off the square, Stortorget, is crowded as are the cafe terraces around it with waiters threading through the tables balancing trays with coffees and pre-lunch drinks.

Just like any small provincial European town in the seasonal sunshine on the first day of a warm weekend?

Perhaps, but Ystad, with its 17,000-odd regular inhabitants, is different. For millions of thriller fans around the world, the medieval idyll of brightly painted thatched cottages and "olde worlde" -- but with all mod cons -- hotels is the murder-and-mayhem capital of Scandinavia.

Around its narrow cobblestone streets, the thoroughfares of the modern suburbs and the port, stalk the shades of the police heroes and heroines -- as well as the villains -- of the 11 "Wallander" novels of 63-year-old Swedish writer Henning Mankel.

Three series of Swedish television films, eagerly snatched up by broadcasters across the globe, have added many more mystery stories to the canon -- all with plots approved by the author if not written by him.

And Irish-born international star actor Kenneth Branagh has played the key role in British television versions -- also popular in Sweden -- of three of the novels, with more being shot around the town this autumn.

First launched into the world by Mankel in 1991, the gruff, introspective Inspector Kurt Wallander of the Ystad police has tracked killers and other assorted villains through the town and the picture postcard countryside beyond.

The death rate in each novel runs at an average of four.

Right there on Stortorget (Old Square), the unathletic, fast-food addict inspector has a fight to the death to stop a criminal master-mind wrecking the world economy in an intricate international operation to be sparked from an ATM machine.

In one of the films, a suicide bomber seizes the minister of defense on the square and in another a hostage-taker blows himself up there when he is cornered by Wallander and his team of male and female detectives.

In leisure moments, the inspector frequents the bookshop and the cafes. But a street away he finds the murdered body of a police colleague and just outside the square the crooked local member of parliament is shot dead despite a heavy police guard.

"One could say it is a pity that our quiet town has to become known for all this fictional violence," says hotelier Peter Schonstrom, whose "Anno 1793 Sekel Garden," built into a medieval tannery, features in two Wallander books.

"But I am not complaining. It certainly brings in business."

His hotel offers, without fanfare, a Wallander suite.

Tourist officials say thousands of visitors are drawn to the town -- at the center of the largely rural Skane region where locals are said to speak Swedish with a Danish accent -- every year, mostly because of Wallander.

Germans and Poles come on the regular ferry services across the Baltic. Others from further afield -- and Japanese Mankel fans are among the most enthusiastic -- fly to Copenhagen and cross by train across the Kattegat sea arm to nearby Malmo.

"Our beaches are great" -- and indeed they are -- "but I think only the Norwegians come for them," says a town guide. There are nearby pre-historic sites and Scandinavia's oldest medieval fortress, which also figure in Mankel's novels.

Are the locals bothered by the town's criminal reputation? "Not at all," says Andreas, an assistant in the bookshop -- which stocks, but discreetly, most of the Wallander novels in German and English, as well as Swedish.

"It gives a bit of spice to life around here."

The Ystad police, in their familiar -- to Wallander film fans -- dark blue uniforms and folding caps, are happy with their fame, posing willingly for snap-happy tourists.

"We love Wallander," says Ewa-Gun Westford, spokesperson for the 120-strong local force. "In fact, we named our canteen the Cafe Wallander. But of course life here is nothing like the books," she adds.

"Since 2009, there have been two murders -- one in a family row and another when some card players got into a fight. Most of what we have to handle are everyday things like burglary and theft, and we do have a bit of drugs too."

Mankel, who has a house outside town but lives mostly in Mozambique where he runs a theater company, placed Wallander's home in the early novels at Mariagatan 10, a two-floor ochre-painted apartment bloc in an eastern suburb.

As a visitor stops to take a photograph of the building which featured in many of the Swedish films, a police car appears and the driver, with a grin, slows down so he can be in the picture. Then, waving, he moves off.

Despite the worldwide fame of Ystad, there is little sign of any local effort to cash in on the Wallander name -- not a Wallander t-shirt, tea-towel or baseball cap in sight, nor, beyond the police station, a Wallander cafe or bar.

But "to meet demand from our visitors," the tourist office issues a detailed small guide to the Wallander sites and runs an hour-long tour twice a week on an ancient red fire engine.

"Making money out of Inspector Kurt?" sniffs a shopkeeper. "That would be cheap."

 

Visiting Canada's first wine region

It's a perfect summer day on the patio and the sun is warming my glass of Cabernet Merlot as it reflects the blue water before me and the expanse of vineyards on the shore.

But this isn't Bordeaux or Tuscany or even the Niagara peninsula.

It's Essex County, where the north shore of Lake Erie has become home to a fast-growing cluster of wineries that are working hard to gain recognition with both wine connoisseurs and casual travelers looking for a new destination.

Colio, Pelee Island and D'Angelo are well-established Essex wineries familiar to consumers.

But in recent years the number of wineries in Canada's southernmost peninsula has soared to 15 with several more set to open soon.

Most of the new wineries are small family operations where the people behind the counter are often the ones who pruned the vines and bottled the wine.

Although Niagara has been Ontario's dominant wine region for decades, Essex was Canada's first wine-growing region with the first commercial vineyard established on Pelee Island in 1866.

Now that the old industry is undergoing a revival in Essex, the wine makers are reaching out to draw more visitors from London, Sarnia and even the Greater Toronto Area.

"Our growing seasons and soils are different from Niagara. We want people to come down here, bring their kids and enjoy our great wines and the region," said Tom O'Brien, head of the Southwestern Ontario Vintners Association and owner of Cooper's Hawk, the latest winery to open in the county.

The new Essex wineries are far more than small shops. Many feature elegant tasting rooms, tours, indoor and outdoor venues for weddings and other events, playgrounds, ponds, patios and picnic grounds.

"You can't make money just selling wine. You have to be a destination. Making wine is fairly easy. Selling is the hard part," O'Brien said.

The south coast of Essex and Chatham Kent is on the same latitude as Europe's finest wine regions and all the extra heat and sun allow for an earlier harvest and give the wines a unique flavour.

From the London area, Highway #3, also known as Talbot Trail, provides a quiet, scenic route directly to Essex wineries with Smith and Wilson Estate Wines along the way near Blenhiem.

The Essex county roads are marked with Wine Route signs to help guide visitors. On Thursday the annual Shores of Erie International Wine Festival kicks off at Fort Malden in Amherstburg. The four-day festival features 18 wineries and 30 restaurants. Monthly bike tours of the wineries are available through the summer and fall through windsoreats.com. When you're not sipping wine Essex County boasts some great beaches, a bevy of roadside fruit and vegetable stands, the natural beauty of Point Pelee and Pelee Island and local attractions such as Colasanti's Tropical Gardens.

The county is dotted with more than a dozen B&Bs and historic inns such as Seacliffe Inn in Leamington and Kings Hotel Inn in Kingsville.

If you want a change of pace after a day in the country, Caesar's Windsor is just a short drive away offering Las Vegas gaming and glamour, world-class entertainment and sumptuous dining at Nero's Steakhouse.

The combination of attractions boost the confidence of people like Fabio Muscedere, who gave up a corporate career to help establish his family's winery.

He said Essex County has the right climate and the tradition to become a major wine-producing region and he believes it will continue to grow.

"It's coming along. If this region hits 25 wineries, that's a good number. Then people would say 'I've got to go check that out.'"

--- --- ---

Cooper�s Hawk Vineyards

1425 Iler Road, Harrow

www.coopershawkvineyards.com

Opened: 2011

Proprietors: Tom and Katy O�Brien and family

The newest winery in Essex is still a work in progress but has already produced its first vintages.

The winery is a retirement project for Tom O�Brien, a former PricewaterhouseCoopers executive. A temporary outlet is open and the main building is almost completed. The grounds feature Carolinian trees, ponds and wetlands, a small amphitheatre and a playground. Solar panels will help power the whole operation.

The retail area will feature a �hawk tower� a nod to the Cooper�s Hawk that fly over the winery and guard the grapes from other birds.

--- --- ---

Viewpointe Estate Winery

151 County Rd. 50 E. Harrow,

www.viewpointewinery.com

Opened: 2006

Proprietors: Dennis and John Fancsy

Viewpointe lives up to its name with a panoramic vista of Lake Erie. Brothers Stephen and John Fancsy sold their share in a family auto parts business to launch the winery which is supplied by three vineyards. The main complex is modeled on a historic hotel and casino in Kingsville built by whiskey magnate Hiram Walker with rooms for meetings and wedding finished using local woods. The lakeside patio is ideal for lunch. Try the sangria made with the 2006 Auxerrois VQA vintage.

�The north shore was missing a destination winery. We believe with this level of investment we can draw people to the region,� John Fancsy said.

--- --- ---

Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery

7258 County Rd. 50 W. Harrow

www.sprucewoodshores.com

Opened: 2007

Proprietors: Gordon and Hannah Mitchell and family.

Sprucewood Shores is another winery with a great view of Lake Erie. The elegant chateau-style winery building overlooks the landscaped grounds. Visitors can pick up a $25 picnic basket packed with cheese, deli meats, antipasto, fruit and a baguette and enjoy the view from the patio or beach.

The winery fulfills a long-held dream for Gord Mitchell, a former Chrysler Canada executive who bought the 52-acre lakeside farm almost 40 years ago with the intention of establishing a vineyard. Sprucewood Shores Lady in Red wine will hit 60 LCBO stores in the VQA section later this month.

All four Mitchell children help out with the winery. Stephen Mitchell, a former automotive engineer, is now Sprucewood�s director of sales.

�I got into something a little more quiet. It�s a lot more work but a lot more fun,� Mitchell said.

--- --- ---

Black Bear Farms Estate Winery

1137 County Rd. 20 W., Kingsville

www.blackbearfarms.ca

Opened: 2008

Proprietors: Jerome, Madeline and William Rondelez

Just about anything grows well in the rich soils and warm climate of Essex County. That created an interesting problem for the Rondelez family who had a surplus of berries and other fruit on their farm. �What do you with it? You make wine!� said William Rondelez, the family�s head winemaker.

Black Bear is the only winery in the region to make fruit wines exclusively and the selection includes strawberry, blueberry raspberry, peach, plum, black current, elderberry and gooseberry.

The farm has 50 acres of berries in production as well as orchard fruit. It�s all picked by hand and then frozen, crushed and fermented.

Rondelez said most fruit wines are not sweet, contrary to popular myth and provide an alternative to grape wines.

�The wines have a nice dry finish. It�s a nice change,� Rondelez said.

--- --- ---

Muscedere Vineyards

7457 County Rd. 18, R.R. 4, Harrow,

www.muscederevineyards.com

Opened: 2006

Proprietors: The Muscedere family

Muscedere Vineyards is a big comfortable country home with a great little family winery tucked inside.

Mario and Pat Muscedere (pronounced Moo-shed-er-ray) live in the house and their four grown children tend the surrounding vineyards and make the wine.

Visitors can sit outside under the covered patio and lunch on one of Pat�s wood-fired pizzas.

Fabio Muscedere worked as a manager for Gillette in Boston before coming back home to help establish the winery. He recalls frequent family trips to Italy where his grandfather managed vineyards. The Muscederes all work together, including the annual mid-winter harvest of ice wine grapes, completed in the middle of the night.

�We will always be small but we will always be focused on quality,� Fabio said.

--- --- ---

Aleksander Estate Winery

1542 County Rd. 34, Ruthven

www.aleksanderestate.com

Founded: 2003

Proprietor: Alex Bemben and family

After 25 years working in the wine industry in Europe and Canada, Alexsander Bemben decided to strike out on his own.

Bemben, an emigrant from Poland, not only tends the vineyards, he also made fabricated many of the tanks and wine-making equipment.

It�s a true family operation with his son, Lukasz and son-in-law, Mark pitching in at the winery, and his wife, Genny doing the books. Daughter Izabela, a graduate of Brock University�s viticulture program also helps out.

Aleksander Estate Winery produces grape wines and some fruit wines. Bemben is especially proud of his Chambourcin VQA, an award-winning medium-bodied red made from grapes not easy to grow in Canadian climates.

--- --- ---

Other Essex and area wineries

Colio Estate Wines www.coliowinery.com

Erie Shore Vineyard www.erieshore.ca

Mastronardi Estate Winery www.mastronardiwines.com

Pelee Island Winery www.peleeisland.com

Sanson Estate Winery www.sansonestatewinery.com

Colchester Ridge Estate Winery www.colchesterridge.com

D�Angelo Vineyards Estate Winery www.dangelowinery.com

Smith & Wilson Estate Wines www.smithandwilsonestatewines.ca

Wagner Orchards & Estate Winery www.wagnerorchards.com

--- --- ---

Shores of Erie Wine Festival www.soewinefestival.com

Cycle tours windsoreats.com/wineride/

Tourist info www.visitwindsoressex.com

E-mail hank.daniszewski@sunmedia.ca, or follow HankatLFPress on Twitter.

Adventure in Israel's hidden caves

You'll need a headlamp, a tight waistline and no fear of the dark in order to enjoy one of the most extreme, yet lesser known, archaeological wonders of the Holy Land.

Still, even with the proper equipment and intestinal fortitude, it is easy to lose your cool when crawling through the expansive ancient tunnel systems dug by Jewish rebels to fight the Roman empire.

The hundreds of hideouts, ranging from just a few metres deep to seemingly unending labyrinths, are popular among Israeli archaeologists and adventurists. But the subterranean mazes, which date back as early as the first century BC, are virtually unknown to foreigners.

Even if you go looking for them, as designed, they are easy to miss.

The systems were often reached through trap doors in Jewish villages, some of which are now archaeological sites, others have been completely destroyed. Today, they may be no more than an indistinct, shoulder-width opening in the ground or hillside.

You may have to crawl, even slither, for a few minutes through a pitch-black burrow -- too cramped for a fully armed Roman legionary. Turns can be so tight you may have to back up to a spot where you can flip from head to feet first in order to continue.

Your headlamp will illuminate niches where oil lamps once lay and other carvings in the rocks. And suddenly you may come to an expansive columbarium, with hundreds of holes in the wall once used to raise pigeons, or perhaps a decorated storage room.

From there, the system may tunnel off in different directions, giving the sense of how the Jewish rebels lived and fought during two revolts against the Romans -- the first around the time the great temple was destroyed in Jerusalem in 70 AD, and one decades later under legendary leader Bar Kochba.

"Crawling inside a hiding complex is a thrill. We always expect the unexpected," said Amos Frumkin, a professor at the Geography Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who heads the school's Cave Research Unit.

For decades he and his team have explored and mapped newly discovered systems, passing many days each year underground. They have found ancient weapons, trap doors and olive presses during their surveys. Their findings are published in an obscure journal called "Niqrot Zurim," or "Caverns in the Rocks."

The foothills of Jerusalem around the ancient city of Beit Guvrin are like an ant farm and best tell the story of the guerilla tactics used in the Bar Kochba rebellion. The rebel strategy worked for a while, but the Romans eventually defeated them.

Earlier caves have been found farther north in the Galilee, where team members were called to explore a tunnel system found just a few months ago. Archaeologists had uncovered what they thought was a standard, eight-meter-deep water cistern, but later noticed it had narrow crawl spaces shooting off its base.

The team rappelled to the lower level, the first people in 2,000 years to tread there. With a metal detector and laser measurer they spent hours mapping just a fraction of the tunnels.

Researchers have also mapped many of the nearby cavern hideouts that dot the cliff side of Mount Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Roman historian Josephus described in his writings how King Herod lowered his men in chests from the cliff to the cave openings and, using fire, overtook the rebels.

It is easy to lose your way in these underground mazes. Only a handful are well-marked and maintained, and it is best to hire a guide to take you around. And with proper climbing equipment, the extremely brave and experienced can repel even deeper if they come upon massive subterranean cisterns and chambers.

"These tunnels are an amazing secret that tourists unfortunately don't know about," said veteran guide Asael Lavi. "It's possible to spend an entire day or two crawling in the different systems and experience the fear, grief and even excitement that the rebels must have felt."