Search for "wine tours Kingston Ontario" and the honest answer points west: Kingston's wine country is Prince Edward County. The County's 37 wineries start about an hour from downtown, the approach by ferry is genuinely beautiful, and its eastern wineries — the ones closest to Kingston — are some of its most scenic. Here's how to do it as a day trip or an overnight.
Getting there: take the ferry
From Kingston you have two ways in. Highway 401 west to Highway 49 is the fast, boring one. The good one is Highway 33 — the Loyalist Parkway — to the Glenora Ferry: a free, government-run cable ferry that crosses Adolphus Reach year-round and drops you at Glenora, right below Lake on the Mountain. The crossing takes about ten minutes, runs frequently, and turns your wine tour's opening act into a boat ride past limestone shorelines. Expect queues on summer weekends; a mid-week start dodges them entirely.
Plan it precisely: our tour planner has "Arriving via the Glenora Ferry" as a starting point — pick it, add your stops, and it calculates the drive legs from the ferry dock onward, including your return time to the crossing. The day-planner quiz can build the whole route for you first.
Guided Kingston wine tours
County Sips is the operator built for this exact trip: sommelier-guided County wine tours with shuttle pickup as far away as Kingston, so nobody in your group has to skip the tastings for the drive home. Sandbanks Tours & Experiences also runs private car-and-guide options with flexible pickup if your group is coming from the east. See our Wine Tours & Shuttles page for the full operator list with booking links — for Kingston pickups especially, book ahead.
The east-county day: closest wineries first
Day-tripping from Kingston, you don't need to cross the whole county — the eastern wineries alone make a full day, and they're the first ones you reach off the ferry:
- Lake on the Mountain — five minutes from the ferry dock, a lake improbably perched 60 metres above the one you just crossed. Free, quick, unforgettable — and there's a brewery at the resort for the way back.
- The County Cider Company — hilltop orchard, lake views, and the patio that converts wine people into cider people.
- Waupoos Estates Winery — the County's original winery, on a stunning site over Lake Ontario, with a restaurant for lunch.
- Amanda's Vineyards — small, family-run, minutes from the ferry route, pouring one of Ontario's few vermouths.
- Black Prince Winery — on the edge of Picton with its own cooperage, an easy last stop before you loop home.
Want to push further? Lighthall Vineyards in the quiet south adds sparkling wine and sheep's-milk cheese made on-site — worth the extra twenty minutes of pretty road.
Day trip or overnight?
A day trip from Kingston comfortably covers three or four eastern stops plus the Lake on the Mountain lookout. If you want the famous west-county names too — Closson Chase, Hinterland, Norman Hardie — stay the night: Picton is the natural base from the Kingston side, and our Stay guide covers everything from boutique hotels to winery inns. Two days lets you do east and west without rushing either.
The fine print
- The Glenora Ferry is free and runs year-round, but winter service is less frequent — check the Ontario ferries schedule off-season.
- There's no transit or rideshare in the County. If nobody's driving sober, book the shuttle.
- Most tasting rooms pour 11 am–5 pm; leaving Kingston by 9:30 gets you a full day.
- Tasting fees ($5–$25) are usually waived with a bottle — and the bottles are the souvenir Kingston's LCBO can't sell you.