Explore Frisky Beaver Winery in Norfolk County — sustainable paper-bottle wines, award-winning reds, and a summer concert series that make wine country feel like your own backyard.
There’s a specific kind of golden hour that only happens at a winery in late summer — the kind where the light comes in sideways across the vines, a band’s set up on the outdoor stage, and everyone in a lawn chair is holding a plastic cup like it’s crystal. That’s Dover13 on a concert night. And it’s exactly the vibe the team behind Frisky Beaver and Smoke & Gamble set out to build: less “step into our retail store,” more “come sit with us for a while.”
The Part Nobody’s Really Talking About
Here’s what actually sets this place apart, and it’s not the label art. Did you know that in Spring 2023, Frisky Beaver became the first winery in Ontario to put a VQA-certified wine into a paper bottle — the “Dam Good” Red and White, built with 94% recycled content. That’s right! It’s a genuine first for the province, not a marketing footnote, and it landed the winery a segment on CHCH’s Morning Live for Earth Day. A wine you can trust enough to carry a VQA seal, in a bottle that’s mostly recycled paper. That’s a real bet on sustainability from a winery that spends most of its personality on jokes about crappy beer and cheeky beavers.
It’s not the only proof this isn’t just a punny label doing cute things. The Badass Baco has pulled a Double Gold, and the Frisky Beaver Red VQA took gold at the All Canadian Wine Awards. Underneath the humour, there’s a winery quietly stacking up serious wins due to their cool-climate growing, selective use of the Appassimento process, and now packaging innovation most wineries twice their size haven’t touched yet.
That contrast — award-calibre winemaking wrapped in a brand that names its wines Crappy Beer and Badass Baco — is what makes a visit worth the drive. The winery’s own tagline says it best: “It started as a dream… then some wine drinking, serious thoughts, more wine, and some outlandish plans. What were we thinking??? After learning that we can’t get there from here, we naturally had some more wine and voilà!” That’s Frisky Beaver in a nutshell — self-aware, a little ridiculous, and 100% Canadian.
Under one roof, Dover13 actually houses three distinct wine identities:
Frisky Beaver — the playful, everyday-drinking line
Smoke & Gamble — the “Private Club,” where barrel aging does the heavy lifting. Time in the barrel doesn’t just decorate the wine, it builds structure and softens the tannins into something richer — the kind of glass that smells faintly of cigar box and burning harvest leaves
Crappy Wine — the honest one
The Wine With the Best Story
If you ask what people always want to know more about, it’s Crappy Wine. The name alone gets a laugh at the tasting bar (guilty as charged!). The real story is even better: after producing Frisky Beaver and Smoke & Gamble, the winery was left with odd amounts of wine that didn’t fit neatly into either line. Rather than let it go to waste, they blended an experimental batch just to see what would happen.
And it worked! Crappy White, Red, and Rosé have been made the same way every year since — built from whatever’s left over after harvest, with zero pretension and, somehow, VQA approval to back it up. No tasting notes, no advice on what to pair it with. Just wine that works with food, without food, and with more Crappy Wine.
What to Actually Order
If you’re planning a visit, start with a tasting flight! It’s the fastest way to find your favourite among the lineup, and the Frisky Beaver etched glasses alone are worth the photo. You get three glasses of 2 oz tasting within the staff pick (The most generous winery I’ve been so far!) The Badass Baco has become something of a local legend: even people who swear they don’t like Baco Noir tend to come around on this one.
They also have merch that you can take home as souvenirs and be officially be part of the Frisky Swag! They offer a variety designs from shirts, hoodies, caps and etched glass!
The People Who Make It What It Is
If you ask me what makes Dover13 what it is, and the answer isn’t the wine — it’s the staff. The team said it themselves as well and it shows. Walk up to the tasting room doors and you’re as likely to be greeted by someone popping their head out from behind the door with a grin as you are by a formal hello.
That same warmth carries through at events, where the same faces pouring your flight are the ones cutting loose behind the bar at a summer concert.
Fridays bring their own tradition too, with a bacon burger and beer pairing that’s become a staple and some intriguing new things to try such as their Dill Pizza!
Whatever night you land on, the goal is the same one the team keeps coming back to: they want you to leave with a favourite, and a reason to come back. Whether it’s the Crappy drinks, the staff, backyard experience with music and smoke grill filling the air. This is a winery that you should try for it’s innovation, liveliness and friskiness!
Stay up to date with Frisky Beaver and Dover13’s latest craze on their Facebook page at Frisky Beaver Wine Co. and follow them on Instagram @friskybeaverwines
Have you visited Dover13 or tried Frisky Beaver? Let me know your favourite bottle in the comments.