Villa Conti Estate Winery

Nestled in the rolling hills of Northumberland County, near the town of Warkworth.*Villa Conti is situated on a 100-acre property which includes 35 acres of vines and a natural pond. Just an hour’s drive from Toronto, Villa Conti is situated near the popular cottaging communities of Rice Lake, Lake Ontario and the Trent River.

The winery is owned by Tommaso Conti and Bambina Giannitti who bought the property in 2015 and harvested the grapes to produce their inaugural vintages the same year. They include Cabernet Franc, Baco Noir, Marquette and Frontenac Gris.

At Villa Conti, Tommaso recreates the life he knew as a child in rural Italy - with a Canadian twist. Born and raised in Pico, a historic town in the Lazio Region near Rome, Tommaso is the fourth generation of a farming and wine making family. He trained to be a chef in Italy and worked in the food and wine industries for 10 years before he first came to Canada. Tommaso has co-owned restaurants in Italy and Ontario, including Tommaso’s Trattoria in Toronto.

Bambina was born in Italy, in the Abruzzo Region, and moved to Toronto as a child. She started her career in the corporate world, but felt she hadn’t yet found her calling. It was Tommaso who introduced her to the hospitality industry 15 years ago. Since then, she has co-owned two restaurants with him, one in rural Italy and Tommaso’s Trattoria in Toronto.

My husband and I were looking for a place to stay and we found this place through Harvest Hosts. We were going to arrive around 8PM and I asked if the restaurant was open. The owner said no problem and we were so surprised!
Whether you are staying, visiting, or eating at Villa Conti, you are family. We were welcomed into the dining room and were amazed with the warmth of the space. We started with glasses of red wine and the most delicious bruschetta. It was so simple-tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, but the ingredients were imported from Italy. The tomatoes were ripe and seasoned and the crostini was toasted and crispy.

Absolutely amazing place! We stopped in here for the first time this past weekend while staying in Hastings, and boy are we glad we did! We did the wine tasting, where we were each served a glass of their red and white (they were both the best wines I've ever tasted; the red was full and yet had a fresh, crisp taste to it, and the white was almost sweet, but not like a Riesling, just sweet enough that you got a hint of the grape flavour, and also very fresh). The hospitality of the owners and staff was wonderful, they were accommodating of dietary restrictions as well as allowing us to sample wines we were considering buying. All the food was so rich and the pasta was clearly homemade with an authentic Italian recipe; just exquisite. Venue is gorgeous, we walked around with full bellies of delicious food and to top it all off, met their very friendly and adorable dog! Highly recommend!

As some of the reviews have mentioned this is a hidden gem. Owners are very friendly, food is excellent and the view of the property was beautiful! A very nice drive in the country to get there.

*Warkworth is a community in the municipality of Trent Hills, Northumberland in Central Ontario, Canada. Originally known as Percy Mills, the village of Warkworth was incorporated in 1857, and became part of Trent Hills when the latter was formed in 2001.