There's a version of Prince Edward County that visitors know: beach days, patios full by noon, a line at every tasting bar in July. And there's the version the people who live here quietly prefer. It starts around the first week of November, when the last of the long-weekend crowd goes home, the vines drop their leaves, and the County exhales.
If you've only ever been in summer, this is the post that talks you into coming back in November.
Yes, the wineries are open
The most common question we get in the off-season, usually by phone, is whether we're open at all. We are. We're at 1774 Danforth Road in Hillier, open Friday and Saturday from 11 to 6 and Sunday and Monday from 11 to 5 through November and December, with the Cellar Tasting Room heated and the Covered Wall Garden running through the end of November. Plenty of our neighbours stay open too, often with shorter days, so check before you drive. But the idea that the County shuts down after Thanksgiving is a myth, and it's a myth that keeps the good weekends quiet.
What November actually feels like
The vineyard in November is bare and honest. You can see the shape of the vines, the rows, the work. The light comes in low and gold in the afternoon. From the Covered Wall Garden, with its cedar and mint, you're sitting under a roof with the whole vineyard in front of you and nobody at the next table. The pace of a tasting changes completely. Staff have time. Conversations go longer. You'll learn more about wine on a Monday in November than on any Saturday in August.
Mulled wine and Caribou season
Every November we launch our mulled wines and Caribou, and if you've never had a Caribou, this is your excuse. It's a traditional Québécois winter drink, red wine warmed with spirit and a little sweetness, the kind of thing built for a cold day outdoors. Ours is made with our own wine, which is the point. The mulled wines are the same idea with the spices doing the talking.
They follow our October fall drinks, and they run through the cold months. A mulled wine on the covered patio with a bowl of red lentil dal from the kitchen is, for our money, the best single thing you can do in the County in November.
Do the things you skipped in summer
The off-season is when the bookable experiences come into their own. The Cellarmasters Barrel Tasting ($49.95, about 45 to 55 minutes) is a guided tasting straight from the barrels, and in November it comes with cellar-season context: what's fermenting, what's resting, what's going into bottle. Stemware Sensation ($39.95) is the same wine in different glasses and a genuinely fun way to spend an hour with people who think they don't care about glassware. Both book on the website.
Kids and dogs in the off-season
Both still welcome, both still catered to. The kids' menu (hot dogs, fries, cheesecake tacos) and the juice slushies run year-round, and we keep card and board games inside for the whole family. Leashed dogs are welcome inside and out with pet beds provided, and the Covered Wall Garden keeps them dry into December. A wet November dog on a warm patio bed while you drink mulled wine is a very specific kind of contentment.
Build a November day
- Late start. Nothing opens before 11, and the light is best after 1.
- One or two wineries in the Hillier and Wellington pocket, with a booked experience at one of them.
- Lunch on a covered patio. Red lentil dal, mulled wine.
- Wellington main street for a walk and a coffee, or Picton if you want more shops.
- Home early, or stay the night. Off-season accommodation is easier and cheaper, and the County at night in November is very quiet and very dark and very good.
For what else is on, from studio tours to markets, Visit The County runs the region's calendar and is the place to check.
Come when it's quiet
We love a full patio in July. We also love a Monday in November with three tables, a dog asleep by the bench, and time to actually talk about the wine. Both are the County. Only one of them has a lineup.
Call 1-877-403-4224 to check hours on the day you're coming, and we'll tell you which spaces are open and what's warm.
Good to know before you visit
Where: Traynor Family Vineyard, 1774 Danforth Road, Hillier, Prince Edward County, Ontario K0K 2J0. Five minutes from North Beach, 10 from Wellington, 15 from Bloomfield, 25 from Sandbanks, 30 from Belleville, about 2.5 hours from Toronto. Free on-site parking.
Hours and booking: Late fall hours: Friday and Saturday 11 am to 6 pm, Sunday and Monday 11 am to 5 pm, closed Tuesday to Thursday. Closed Christmas Day and New Year's Day, and closed in January and February. Current hours are always shown at the top of traynorvineyard.com. Walk-ins welcome for groups of five or fewer; reservations recommended for six or more and required for ten or more. Call 1-877-403-4224 or email retail@traynorvineyard.com.
Food: Street food made fresh daily: gourmet all-beef hot dogs (kimchi dog, pocket dog), adobo pork and pulled chicken tacos, kofta sandwich, red lentil dal, roasted beet salad, street corn nachos, whipped feta, house-baked cookies, plus a kids’ plain hot dog. Four vegan and four vegetarian dishes on the fall menu, and every wine is vegan.
Drinks: $10 wine flights (three pours), $11 wine by the glass, $10 wine slushy (not in December), vermouth cocktails, $7 non-alcoholic peach slushy for kids and drivers. Bookable experiences include the Cellarmasters Barrel Tasting ($49.95) and Stemware Sensation ($39.95).
Family-friendly: Kids welcome. Card and board games inside for the whole family, juice slushies, kids’ menu, strollers welcome, all patios wheelchair accessible. Kids combo (slushy, popcorn, hot dog, cookie) at the counter. Free Friday Family Movie Nights run in spring and summer.
Dog-friendly: Leashed, well-behaved dogs are welcome inside and out, with pet beds provided.
What’s on by season: Summer: Friday Family Movie Nights, DJ sets on the Vineyard Patio, Happy Hour Après Beach Sunday to Thursday 4 to 6 pm. Fall: the WineLab Holiday Series (PSL pumpkin spice wine, Spiced Apple, Mulled Wine, Mulled White) launches; Family Movie Nights return in spring and summer 2027. Winter: mulled wines and Caribou, Cellar Tasting Room heated.
The wine: Small-batch natural wine, wild fermented and vegan, family owned since 2008. Estate vines in Hillier farmed without synthetic pesticides since 2018, plus fruit from partner growers in Prince Edward County and Niagara-on-the-Lake. Pet-nat, piquette, skin-contact whites, vermouth, and fortified wines. Ten wines are listed at the LCBO.
