Producer list for Ontario

Ontario

The Epitome of Cool Climate

Place is everything when it comes to wine. It’s where the sun, the rain, the air and the soil all meet – one special and unique place, like nowhere else on Earth. Cool climates are said to produce the most elegant and exciting wines in the world. Our place is Ontario, and it is the epitome of cool climate.

Latitude | A Cool Climate Wine Region

While you might think Ontario is too far north for growing grapes, Ontario’s wine regions actually share the same latitude with other well-known wine regions including Tuscany and Oregon. Ontario’s angle to the sun allows us to soak up every drop of sunshine needed to ripen classic grape varieties. The fluctuations in daily temperature over the course of the growing season create conditions critical to achieving a fine balance between acidity, alcohol and fruit expression. Wines from cooler climates are more aromatic, lighter in body and higher in acidity than those from hotter areas, providing refreshment, harmony with food and good aging potential.

Lakes | Great Lakes System Profile

Stretching across the southern part of the province, Ontario’s vineyards are located near three of the Great Lakes – Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Huron. The lakes moderate cold winter temperatures and cool the vineyards during Ontario’s hot summers. The Great Lakes have shaped Ontario’s wine regions and play a major role in moderating the extremes of the region’s continental climate. During the winter the lakes do not freeze, their warmer water helping protect their shoreline vineyards against vine-destroying deep freezes. During the summer their cooler waters moderate heat extremes; 30ºC temperatures are not uncommon.

Limestone | Glacier & Soil

Through the ages Ontario experienced glacial events that shaped and eroded the layers of sedimentary rock and ancient reef structures, creating the Niagara Escarpment, which forms a spine across southern Ontario between Lakes Huron and Ontario. Where it runs along the south shore of Lake Ontario – forming the Niagara Peninsula – there are very complex soil structures. There are gradations and pockets of sand, gravel and clay over limestone bedrock packed into a band between the lake shoreline and the crest of the escarpment. Supporting Niagara’s vineyards and orchards this band runs about 50kms east-west at varying widths. The same glacial events affected Prince Edward County but left a virtual island of limestone bedrock exposed in Lake Ontario, with topsoil less than a metre deep in some places, while on the shore of Lake Erie the limestone runs deeper below mixed sand and clay soils.

The soils in the Great Lakes basin vary from sand to clay to rock, with a high concentration of limestone from an ancient seabed that was exposed over a long period of glacial activity. Limestone is the same basic soil type also shared by Burgundy and other regions of northern France. Some of the vineyards lie flat on former seabed areas, while others are perched on hills and benches that formed the ancient shoreline. The topography is ideal for water drainage (too much moisture can dilute flavours), and provides nutrients and minerality to the grapes.

VQA Appellations

The majority of Canada’s wines come from Ontario’s appellations, where approximately 17,000 acres of wine grape vineyards are planted. These lie in the south of the province between 41° and 44° North latitude, with cold winters and hot summers moderated by the proximity of the Great Lakes.

Ontario has identified primary grape-growing regions, or “appellations,” where the soil and climate create unique growing conditions. (It’s the same principle that makes Vidalia onions, Georgia peaches and Malpeque oysters so special.) “Terroir” is the name for the sum of these conditions: Meaning “sense of place,” it expresses a wine’s relationship to the soil, climate and natural surroundings. When you understand an appellation, you can begin to understand the unique characteristics of its wine.

Ontario has currently identified three primary Viticultural Areas (VAs) or appellations of origin: Niagara Peninsula, Lake Erie North Shore and Prince Edward County. In addition, within the Niagara Peninsula appellation, decades of grape growing experience and extensive geographic research has identified 10 distinct growing areas. These sub-appellations include areas on the plains close to Lake Ontario and the benchlands of the Niagara Escarpment. The Lake Erie North Shore Appellation has the newest of Ontario’s sub-appellation: South Islands.

• Lake Erie North Shore
  • Ontario’s southernmost region benefits from warm temperatures and a long growing season
  • The increased sunshine and the warm, shallow waters of Lake Erie, afford excellent ripening conditions for more full-bodied wines
  • This appellation includes Ontario’s most recently established sub-appellation, known as the South Islands, which includes well-known Pelee Island
• Niagara Peninsula
  • Ontario’s oldest wine region draws its cool climate character from winds off the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario
  • The diverse soil types are perfect for a wide range of grapes
• Prince Edward County
  • Lake-effect temperatures, a limestone base and stony soil create concentrated fruit with a uniquely crisp minerality
  • Ontario’s northernmost region is a virtual island at the eastern end of Lake Ontario with more than 800km of shoreline, including renowned Sandbanks Provincial Park

Sub-appellations are smaller areas within an appellation, such as Niagara Lakeshore and Beamsville Bench. Grape growers adapt to the soils and microclimates of these smaller zones, finding the best combinations of grape variety, location and wine style to create wines that reflect the essence of where they’re from. The Niagara Peninsula appellation encompasses 10 sub-appellations:

• Lincoln Lakeshore, Vinemount Ridge, Creek Shores
• Beamsville Bench, Twenty Mile Bench, Short Hills Bench (when grouped together form a regional appellation called the Niagara Escarpment)
• Niagara Lakeshore, Four Mile Creek, St. David’s Bench, Niagara River (when grouped together form a regional appellation called Niagara-on-the-Lake)
• The Lake Erie North Shore appellation includes the sub-appellation South Islands.

VQA Ontario also sets the standards for the wine that’s made here. When you see VQA Ontario and an appellation name on a bottle of wine, you can be sure that what’s inside has passed through a strict quality-assurance and label-integrity program, and is made entirely from grapes grown in Ontario.
 

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