One of the best things about living in Niagara’s Wine Country is the abundance of 4-legged beauties that hang out at the local wineries. These images are part of a series of Niagara Wine Dogs that I’m working on, starting with the dogs of Twenty Valley wineries. I want to capture as many of my canine buddies as possible hanging at their favourite wineries. Jasmine comes from a double whammy wine family that is actually a triple-threat! Dad, Philip Dowell, is the winemaker for Angels Gate Winery and Kew Vineyards Estate Winery, and mom, Meg McGrath, runs the show at Hidden Bench Winery.

I dearly love this girlie, she is so full of love and spirit. Jasmine, Jazzy, Jazmerelda, call her by any of her nicknames, as long as you’ve got a treat, she’ll appear like magic! In fact, she has a touch of Disney about her. To me, the shot with the bee captures this perfectly. I love it when the element of surprise sneaks into a frame, it’s like an extra gift. The bee appearing and interacting with Jasmine isn’t necessarily immediately obvious but when you see it… what a fun find!

Jazz was recovering from a yeast infection on her throat, hence the lack of throat hair in most images, I retouched that on a couple of images and will do the balance when her family have made their picks. Thanks especially to Meg and Phil’s daughter Sophia for helping me with Jasmine’s shoot. It’s always a bonus to have an extra pair of helping hands!

Here are a handful of my favourite shots from Jasmine’s Wine Dog session. Enjoy!