Coffin Ridge Boutique Winery — The Basic Bitch Blog

Ok, so the name may sound a tad scary but their wine, cider and stunning view are the furthest thing from being scary. I stumbled upon this winery when looking for things to do on our family vacation in the Grey County area and I have to say a winery was one of the last things I expected to find. When you think of a winery, you tend to think Niagara on the Lake, not Grey County! No surprise they are the first, possibly only, winery in that area.

The unique spooky name of the winery comes from the fact the property looks over “Coffin Hill”, apparently this hill is supposed to resemble a coffin but we didn’t see it. Our tour guide, Zak, had some other stories to share on why the hill is called Coffin Hill but I’ll let you learn those stories directly from him when you experience a tour for yourself! My impression for the “boutique” part of their name is because they operate on a small scale staff, are a smaller winery in the grand scheme of wineries and make just a handful of delicious wines and ciders. Think of them more as the “mom and pop” of wineries versus the franchise of wineries, if you catch my drift. They are also super creative with the names of their wines and ciders and make sure they fit the “spooky” theme, for example Back from the Dead Red.

They offer 2 tour packages, the Social Affair Package which is a tour of their vineyard and wine production area. This package includes a sampling of their wines and ciders and at the end of the tour a generous selection of cheeses, breads and meats, all locally sourced, while you enjoy your favourite wine or cider you sampled on the tour. This tour has a minimum of 5 guests to book at a cost of $30 per person. If you have 10 or more guests you can save $5 on the tour. We only had 4 people, well 4 adults as the babe obviously wasn’t going to partake in any wine tasting - ha, so we went with just their vineyard tour for $10 a person. Actually the minimum for the vineyard tour is 5 people but Zak was kind enough to allow us to tour as 4 and squeezed us in pretty last minute too. Not something you come across very often and I was pleasantly surprised by the accommodation. During the tour we got to sample their Into the Light White, Back from the Dead Red and Resurrection Rosè. Zak also kindly let us try a cider given two of our participants can’t drink red wine. I tried their Forbidden Pink cider and oh. my. goodness! Not overly sweet which is perfect for me and, well being a “basic bitch”, I loved the fact it was PINK! After the tour was over we ordered our favourite drink from the day and shared one of their Vintner’s plates while enjoying the stunning scenery this winery has to offer. Hello, Instagrammer’s dream for pictures! They have a pretty sizeable outdoor patio overlooking the winery, some Muskoka chairs to sit and enjoy your bevy and the views, an indoor space for those who want to beat the heat or rain, as well as a covered outdoor area for when you still want to enjoy outside but not directly in the sun or to escape rain.

Zak was very informative on the tour but I honestly don’t want to repeat everything he shared with us because I really want you to visit this gem of a place. If you’re staying in Blue Mountain it’s less then a 45 minute drive, the general Collingwood area or if you’re staying in Sauble Beach are both less then an hours drive away, Owen Sound area is less then a half hour and Port Elgin is just an hour away. Regardless of the drive a visit to Coffin Ridge is so worth it! If you aren’t in any of the above areas and are looking to visit from Toronto or the GTA they do have two places onsite to overnight. The Resting Place, which is an entire house, so would be great for a big group of people or for a romantic getaway for two there is the smaller Writer's Haunt.

Book your tour now and let them know Meg sent ya!