Our team did a post conference dinner at Big Head Wines and it was simply amazing. They set up the tank room (it's literally massive life sized tanks of wine) with tables and chairs and made it a luxe event. It was cozy and modern at the same time. We were served some bread and a salad as an appetizer. We had preselected our entrees, mine being a steak with mash. The steak was a little bit over done for me but otherwise seasoned well. There were continuous pours of wine to go with dinner, which were all excellent. The meal ended with a chocolate mousse type dessert which was served in a wine glass. Service was absolutely spectacular at this private event and definitely recommend the space for small groups events! read more

Big Head Wines - Chocolate mousse - Wineries Near Me - Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

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Impersonal, corporatized and an underwhelming tasting and visit. Least favorite winery in the region for those reasons.

The raw wines at this winery will open your taste buds to a new taste on what wine should taste like. What a hidden gem. Can't wait to get back in the summer and enjoy the patio as well. read more

Big Head is one of the fantastic wineries in NOTL. Book a reservation if you can in case it's a busy day, but we were able to just walk in without a wait on a recent Saturday afternoon. Our wine tasting included 3 pours for a reasonable price - about $15 which is less than most other wineries in this area. We also purchased some wine bottles and t-shirts to bring back home. The space is expanding in the coming months from what we were told and can't wait to see it! read more

Big Head Wines - wine glasses on a wooden table - Wineries Near Me - Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

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Cool place was recommended to us by another winery. It was cool how they use different types of barrels. Wine was really good and so was staff read more

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Lovely wines, well priced. Knowledgeable staff. They label your wine glasses so that you know what you tasted. The tasting room has the concrete vats for the Chardonnay. read more

Simply amazing.. All natural fermented wine. Amazing process of a family operated winery. Very unique wines worth stopping in for. read more

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Occasionally you run across a winery that you know you will say "I was there when..." Big Head is such a winery. I've had the privilege of tasting wine at a wide variety of wineries around the world including names that are well-recognized today as top quality. Remember the name "Big Head" because if they keep that moniker this will be a winery that makes a name for itself. These guys are on a world class level and they're just getting started. Every single wine I tasted was extraordinary. Whites and Red both. While I'm always bullish on the small local guys, occasionally you find one that simply knocks you over with amazing flavor and quality - the guys that are playing out of their "league " so to speak. Lets hope that Big Head doesn't let there amazing wine production go to their head. Get it while you can folks. The stuff o' legend.... 18 bottles in the cellar. I'd buy more if customs didn't give me a hard time. read more

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Very nice upscale innovative winery. Dog friendly which is a plus. Make sure to make a reservation to ensure full tasting. They offer standup quick tasting if reservations are full. Very nice and courteous. Loved learning about their unique cement and terra cotta wine containers to make wine. read more

The red wines here are excellent and the RAW are particularly interesting (age in special vats not oaked or with any other taste imparted) so you are tasting the true grape flavor. Great tasting room experience. read more

Best winery we visited in NOTL. Highly recommend if you're more of a wine connoisseur. In addition to a cool tasting room vibe, they had a well informed staff and tasty wine offerings. Our host was a student at the local wine school and working retail was part of her curriculum, so she was friendly and also incredibly knowledgeable. read more

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Really enjoy this local favourite every time we are in the mood for a robust niagara red. There has never been a bottle we didn't like and Bighead's staff are true artists. We love that they love doing things a little bit different from the other big wineries and that its not all just 'show'....you can really taste the difference. Thanks guys for doing what you do so well! read more

I usually only buy my wines from agents. The price of the wines landed is awesome & people can't Google them. Canadian wines are too expensive because of logistics & labour. I am a lover of good wines & a collection of about 800 bottles are sleeping in my cellars. I only buy only Canadian wines made by 2 winemakers. One of which is Andrej Lapinski of Big Head . All the reds are great!! The only winery to serve the wine in proper glasses for tasting and not in plastic cups. Very classy!! read more

Chris was a very knowledgeable sommelier. We enjoyed our tasting very much. Very unique wines.

I've normally found Ontario wines as a general rule to be awful, this could be the first local wine I've enjoyed. Smooth with a pleasant after taste. I can't comment on the tasting experience, but if you want good wine (that doesn't instantly cause a headache), drop in to Big ahead. read more

Was recommended to go here. This is a no frills tasting room but I like that cuz it means prices are reasonable. Tasting was $10 and I bought a couple bottles so they waved the fee! The wine is pretty good. I was impressed. read more

For someone who doesn't know much about wine, the wine tasting was super educational. Our questions were answered thoughtfully. I love that they provide a notepad and pen so you can take notes during the tasting. Would definitely recommend! read more

Went here 20 minutes before closing and they turned us away rather than try to make us customers and fans of their wine. Very rude and not very customer oriented after we drove 15 miles upon the suggestion of another winery. Very disappointing. May be good wine but these 4 wine lovers will never know. read more

Experience a real working vineyard, passionate, fun staff and outstanding wines from a small vineyard. We had the blind taste testing - what a unique idea and so much fun to experience! This is a family owned vineyard focusing on wild fermentation and the appassimento winemaking method (kiln drying of the grapes). Big Head Wines is what they call in the biz "small-batch artisanal winery". We just call it fun!!! Try the bold, flavorful merlot and the blanc de blanc!! read more

Cute boutique winery. Tastings 4 for 10 waived with 50 purchase. Wines are tasty. Really enjoyed the whites. Well priced wines

An amazing boutique family run winery. They make you feel like family and they usually have cheese and bread which is a nice touch. The wines are unique and different so they stand out from the crowd. If you love bigger red wines this is your place. I love their bubbly too! read more

We've been to many wine tastings, Napa, Central Coast, Italy, and Spain-we loved our experience at Big Head Winery. The staff and owner set up a delightful 10 wine tasting experience, blind tasting, shared their knowledge with us and we found several wines that we were thrilled to buy and enjoy while in Canada and to take home. Their Pinot Grigio with a coppery color to the wine (they leave the skin on for the color) was delightful! We will be back and plan to buy more in the states. Thank you so much. read more

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This is by far Niagara's best kept secret. It's a family owned and run winery with exceptional wines. If he's around, ask Andzrej, the owner and winemaker, to do your tasting. He's a gem! Did our tasting with him and loved hearing about his story and his passion for wines. Cannot wait to go back. The winery doesn't supply LCBO so that's even more reason to go and buy some wines for home. Can't recommend this place enough. read more

Five stars because.... 1. Big Head has a unique, relaxed vibe for Niagara-on-the-Lake environs. It feels fun here. Definitely not faux-chateau. 2. Great tasting options. Yes, I almost lopped off a star for the high price, yet you have a choice of a 10$ tasting of 5 wines or a 25$ seated tasting with cheese and more presentation. They forgive the 10$ tasting if you spend 50$. 3. Service is excellent. Yes, with space constraints it can get a bit hectic. However the staff are friendly and focused. They were also gracious in recommending other wineries. 4. Surprisingly good wine. Everything was at least enjoyable, while I found the Pinot noir and dry Riesling to be favourites that I purchased. 5. The story. The people who own and run this may be gazillionaires by now for all I know. If so, they deserve it. I did learn that Big Head started out as a virtual winery. This is a testament to a lot of hard work that they put in to building their business to have the permanent space that they opened here only relatively recently. Great stop!! read more

Very cool place. Love the layout and enjoyed the wines. You pay for your tasting. I think it was 5 or 6 bucks. Pick a few to try and then if you send $50 one of the tasting fees will be waved. I liked the chardonnay and the ICE Wine. YUM. The staff here is very knowable and friendly. Really glad we stopped in here. If you have time, pls make sure you do to. read more

Probably the best wines I've consumed in Canada. Very welcoming and knowledgeable staff, bought multiple bottles and will come back every time we're in niagara. Truly impressed with this gem of a winery. read more

We did the blind wine tasting here which was actually quite fun!! Such a unique and interesting concept. They bring out the wines and don't tell you what they are and you have to try and guess. We met the owner, and his son, the place is a small family run winery which we loved! read more

Go! Drop everything you are doing and go! Right now! Amazing staff, amazing wines- just all around wonderful. Prepare to bring home some of the loveliest wines in the region. Cheers!! read more

Big Head wines embrace the art of drying grapes, appassimento, resulting in a concentration of "big" flavor. Tastings are 6 days a week [closed Tuesday] and run $10 for 4 pours - $10 fee waived with $50 purchase. Or they have a 'blind' tasting option. For $25 you'll get 10 tastings and a big old hunk of cheese with crackers. Budget Tip: we shared a blind tasting which was enough for both of us to enjoy each taste. *Disclaimer: must be willing to share! No spoilers here as most of the fun is not knowing, but we found the whole experience to be entertaining. Our sommelier was extremely knowledgeable, as one would expect, and took the time to review the winemaker's process for each taste. The wines at Big Head are good - like WOW good - and you can tell a lot of attention is given. The price point per bottle is around $35+ but the wines are interesting and not fully what you would expect, a result of using a tobacco kiln to dry the grapes and the introduction of wild yeast [wild fermentation] into the process. Worth the $$ in my opinion!! read more

Big Head Wines - Blind tasting at Big Head!! - Wineries Near Me - Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

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Cool little winery in Nigara area on the Canadian side. Owner and staff were extremely helpful. You could really tell that they appreciated their craft and very proud of the product. Picked up some really nice reds. What's with the no guest wifi! read more

Wine tasting was very delicious and was recommended by multiple other wineries in the area. Appreciate the education and enthusiasms from Sam but did not appreciate the French Canadian snobbery that permeated the walls from the other staff/owners. I can't discount the amazing product and would have purchased a full case if not for the overwhelming feeling of not being deemed worthy of their product. This is Canada, eh? Again. Superb product. Best I tasted all weekend. But some things cannot be overlooked. read more

Best wine in niagra on the lake. Wine is priced from 20 to 60 dollars. Staff was very friendly. One tip, if you want the full 10 wine tasting experience you must book 24 hours in advance or they won't let you do it. read more

Met the winemaker , tasted a nice selection of wines , bought a bunch of them ! What else can I say.. prolly one of the better wines in the region. I don't recall the winemakers name but clearly the guy knows his stuff and put out a good product to taste us from. Will definitely go back next visit to the area.. read more

Came visit this relatively new winery after getting a recommendation from another place (not going to specify). You can still do the regular 'pick your own wine' tasting style or you can taste their full menu "blind". You really appreciate the wine this way and not let the description on the menu bias you. It was way more educational than any wine tour or wine tasting. Admittedly, I don't like everything they got (hey, taste is subjective) but I liked most of their stuff. Their blend (big head) was absolutely awesome and for 19-20 bucks. It had Syrah and Merlot as the main components. Also, they gave you cheese and crackers while you do the blind taste. They give you time to figure things out yourself and give you space; very thoughtful. This is definitely a great educational trip for a group. I don't know where else in the region does this blind taste thingy. It costs ~15 bucks to try 12-13 wines. read more

I didn't know it was possible to get angry at a wine tasting, but I did. First off, the owner gave me an up and down check out, observed by my husband, which is super creepy. We sought out this winery because they had cheese with their tastings, which is unusual in niagara on the lake, for some reason. The tasting was very good. The cheese and crackers were delicious. The girl who helped us was very informative and explanatory. However, because we shared the tasting, we were charged $22 dollars, instead of $17! And might I add that the tasting was very stingy. Some of the wines we each only got one sip! Hardly enough to determine if you like it or not. When I realized that we had paid extra it was after we had bought $130 worth of wine. I could not believe that we had been charged extra to share a tasting that was hardly enough for one person..... Certainly not enough to share and be charged extra! When I brought this to the creepy owners attention he tried to explain (to which there was no explaining in my opinion), and then he refunded the additional seven dollars. I wish I hadn't bought any of the wine. read more

We went to a variety of wineries all day. While the wine here was ok, I was extremely put off by their pricing policy. I asked for a splash of a slightly different bottle than the one we selected and was charged $3, EVEN THOUGH I BOUGHT A BOTTLE. While I appreciate they don't want to give out freebies all day, usually when you buy a bottle they don't charge for the tastings. Not so here. Meh. read more

This was my favorite wine tasting experiences in Niagara on the Lake. We chose the 10 wine sampling with cheese and crackers for $25. It took an hour and a half and time flew. Our wine specialist was entertaining and quite knowledgeable of the different varieties of grapes and how they were a processed to make the wine. The cheese and crackers was delicious! The bottles are a bit more pricier, but they were about two or three that had a great unique taste that I've never experienced before. I strongly recommend making this part of your trip to Niagara on the Lake! read more

The BEST wine tasting experience EVER! Delicious wines discussed with very, very knowledgeable staff. We've been back several times and look forward to another tasting at Big Heads when we visit the region again next fall. Our tasting was like a private seminar on grape growing and wine making. Jakob is working on his Master Sommelier rating and shared some of his wealth of information with self effacing humor. As riveting as a play at the Shaw Festival! Oh, and they welcomed Oscar, our black lab. Life is good. read more

The wine is fantastic, one of my favourites but the experience at the winery has taken a turn for the worst after one year. I first visited Big Head in 2015 on a recommendation from a server a different winery, and I was so happy with the experience I wanted to coke back. Last year, we were greeted by the owners son, had great interaction with the servers, and purchased a 50$ bottle of wine that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was so excited to visit Big Head again this year however the experience included many drastic changes that ruined the visit so completely that I will likely not return next year. Upon entering, my group was welcomed with the conditions that groups of of 4 or more, must all choose the same tastings, that tasting fee would only be waived for purchases of 50$ or more. The remainder of the experience was below par, with the server attempting to push recommendations repeatedly (recommendations are great and welcomed, but not after an initial no or three), with memorized lines rather than organic conversation and just generally poor host attitude. read more