Parents of competitive athletes understand—those perpetual travels to picturesque towns across the country and around the globe where all your ‘tourist’ photos end up being from the inside of an arena or stadium.

The clock is always ticking. Wakeup call, breakfast, practice, play. Don’t be late.

Consider the summer of 2011, when Colleen Petrick flew to France with daughter Charlotte—then a 14-year-old burgeoning tennis professional, now a high-performance coach at the Ontario Racquet Club. “I drove through Bordeaux on our way to a huge junior international tournament in Tarbes in the Pyrenees in the south of France—and never stopped,” Petrick relates. “The ultimate wine country. I mean, what the heck, eh?!”

As the manager of the brand new restaurant at Megalomaniac Wines in Vineland, Ontario, the expansive patio of which takes full advantage of its inspired views from atop the Niagara Escarpment, Petrick will, by vocation alone, routinely exhibit traces of alcohol in her bloodstream.

But it’s actually the tennis in her blood that has most shaped her path.

TheLushLife: I understand you and your husband Frank were both tennis-a-holics when you met.
CP: “Frank went to all four Grand Slam tournaments the year before we got together. We actually got married on a tennis court—1997 at the Oakville Club. There was a seniors tournament going on, and every point seemed to take forever. And our guests are arriving while this is still happening. But when the game finally ended, all the players and those who were watching put chairs on the court and created this tunnel to walk through, holding their racquets overhead like swords.”

One of your guests was Michael Bonacini (co-founder of Oliver & Bonacini Restaurants). How did that connection come about?
“We became good friends when I worked for him. My husband had opened a restaurant in Oakville, Biondo Pazzo, in 1995. I came to work with him there, but he decided I wasn’t good enough to run the restaurant, so kicked me out to find another restaurant job, which I did at Canoe (owned by Oliver & Bonacini).

“That was a launching pad. Canoe had just opened in September of that year and I joined in November, and it was busy. I started as a host—I think that’s how you learn the business the best, talking to your guests. When I got pregnant with my daughter, I went back to our own restaurant and Frank let me work there now that I had some experience.

“We ran Biondo Pazzo for eight years, then co-managed another Oakville restaurant, Trattoria Timone. I also had contract work with Baton Rouge and other places, and, most recent, I was at the Pillar and Post (in Niagara-on-the-Lake) for three and a half years. But I was out of the restaurant biz for about 10 years while Charlotte was travelling and I was coaching her. We left Oakville when she was 12 and moved to Florida—she was training at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton. Then we came back when she was 18 and we moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake—Old Town, one street over from the golf course. It’s an amazing place to live.”

I understand it has sort of come full circle for Frank.
“Frank has been in hospitality his entire life, starting as a bus person at Prince of Wales in Niagara-on-the-Lake when he was 18. And now he’s a career server there, having returned a couple years ago.”

He travelled the tennis circuit with Charlotte too?
“Yes. He did the South American tournaments—Bolivia, Chile. He got to Mendoza in Argentina too, and would bring wine back from different regions.”

Speaking of wine, you became a sommelier later in life. How come?
“I felt like I’d worked on wine lists my whole life, so I wanted to become a sommelier. A few years ago, I enrolled in CAPS (the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers) at Niagara College. Graduating was a spectacular day—I felt like I’d given birth to my first child. Then the next week I got in the car with my husband and went to the Somm360 conference in Montreal and was part of about 300 sommeliers being lectured by Master Somms, Masters of Wine and winemakers, and tasting these lineups of 16 wines every four hours. I couldn’t believe I got to sit there and do that.

“I also graduated as a Certified Sommelier through CMS (Court of Master Sommeliers) in 2019, with hopes of pursuing the Advanced program. But that’s all been delayed due to Covid.”

You have four children, but it was your youngest who was a key contributor to your initial sommelier studies?
“Yes, my 22-year-old son Nick became my main tasting guy. He’d do the flights for me, and I’d taste blindfolded. If I missed one, he’d give me the same wine in the next flight, and go. ‘Mom, you’ve gotta get this!’

“To be honest, I really don’t enjoy tasting wine during the day, but I trained myself to do it at 9 a.m. every Sunday for a full year. But it’s at the end of the workday that I absolutely love to open a bottle, pour a glass and sit down, whether it’s by myself, with family or just with my English bulldog dog Lola Merlot—it’s such a treat.”

I love your dog’s name! So you’ve also been part of the CAPS Ontario board since 2018?
“I’ve been involved in some important events, such as Best Sommelier of Ontario and Niagara College CAPS Information Nights. As a sommelier, I was also fortunate enough to win the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Cocktail Competition in 2019.”

So what’s your personal cocktail of choice?
“A gin and tonic. I’m a gin freak, but The Botanist from Islay, Scotland, is my favourite. It can be a really hard gin to find at the LCBO, though.”

What are some of your recommendations of Niagara wineries and wines that might be under the radar for most people?
“For me, number one is Pondview. I love their Bella Terra Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. And Domaine Queylus—their wines are spectacular. And their winemaker, Kelly Mason, often works with ours, Chris Frey, on some projects. I love the Honsberger Cab Franc Rosé too, Vineland Estate’s Bo-teek Cab Franc, Greenlane’s Sur Lie Chardonnay and Reif’s Cab Sauv Reserve, which is just ripe enough to please American palates.”

And what about your own winery, Megalomaniac?
“I was introduced to Megalomaniac at Vintage Hotels through our partnership with them. Now that I’m working here, I get to experience all of their wines. Their Bubblehead rosé, which is a traditional-method sparkling Pinot Noir—is wonderful. Their Frank Cab Franc is a Winealign Top 10. One of the perks of the job is having winemaker Chris give me 30 barrel samples of Cab Franc and say, ‘Taste them and give me your notes.’ Then he brings me another 30. I felt pretty honoured to be part of that.

“The specialties here are probably Riesling, Cab Franc and Pinot Noir. But I’m a Chardonnay person, and one of my favourites anywhere is our My Way Chardonnay. It’s not heavily oaked—a nice lemony citrus. And we just released Unspoken, a Chablis-like unoaked Chardonnay. And we have a fantastic new Sauvignon Blanc as well, called Savvy. I could go on.”

OK, now tell me about the new restaurant there.
“The views, of course, are spectacular. Owner John Howard’s daughter Erin, who is now president of the company, is doing an amazing job with her marketing and business expertise. We didn’t have a food program, but she decided to take advantage of all the unused outdoor space we have here and use it for hospitality. So now we’ve created a 150-seat, all-weather patio that wraps around the building. We now have a restaurant program from Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are wines by the glass and a huge sparkling cocktail program and locally sourced fruit infusions from Hamilton’s Bar Sazerac. And we have an amazing menu catered by Yellow Pear, one of the top restaurants on Open Table, and who are part of the 100 km food program. Almost everything is from gardens and farms in the area. But we have also have oysters, a seafood tower, charcuterie. You can have a brunch beef brisket, eggs benedict, ceviche, a crab dinner… It’s going to be a pretty great place to be!”

You sound pretty enthusiastic about your new job.
“I’m a restaurant girl at heart. I like to be on the floor, to open and pour wines, to talk to guests and to help make that experience special. I want the guests at every table to leave saying, ‘Wow, it’s not just the views here—it’s the experience that was great.’”

You’ve been around wine for so many years now. Are you a collector?
“I don’t have much of a cellar, but I do have a small vintage Champagne collection. Recently I drove around Ontario on a six-hour road trip to find a couple bottles of Dom Perignon 2008. It’s a really great vintage.

“Charlotte is expecting a baby this year, so we might have to open a bottle then!”