Page 34 - Wine Spectator (January 2020)

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W I N E F O C U SI N E F O C U S

After the Gold Rush

Canadian producers are ushering in a new era of quality north of the border

BY BRUCE SANDERSON

Ontario’s wine regions of Niagara Peninsula, Lake Erie North Shore
ver the past decade, the wines of Canada reached a new level and Prince Edward County benefit from the cold-mitigating influence
in terms of quality, style and consistency. Chalk that up to in- of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, which decrease the severity of winter
vestment on the part of talented, passionate vintners, who are weather in the area. Combined with the limestone and sedimentary

Oplanting more vinifera grape varieties and exploring vineyard- soils of the old lake beds, these conditions set the stage for high qual-
designated reds and whites. ity viticulture.
This evolution was borne out in my recent blind tastings of more than The Niagara Peninsula is further divided into 10 subappellations un-
100 wines from Ontario and British Columbia. Overall, 40% of the der the VQA. The cooler areas in the western and southern parts of the
wines earned outstanding ratings of 90 points

or higher on Wine Spectator’s 100-point
scale—an impressive showing compared with
our previous reviews of Canadian wines, dat-
ing back to the 1990s, only 20% of which

rated outstanding. Furthermore, ice wine, the
sweet dessert wine made from frozen grapes,
no longer dominates the top-scoring bot-
tlings. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and
red blends are showing comparable success.

“I truly believe in Ontario and, in particu-
lar, our very unique vineyard on the Niagara
Escarpment bench,” says Flat Rock Cellars
president Ed Madronich, whose Gravity

Twenty Mile Bench 2015 (92 points, $35),
made from Pinot Noir, is one of this report’s
top-scoring wines. “The combination of
Mother Nature—soil and climate—and a
talented group of passionate individuals al-
lows me to know we can not only stand out

among my colleagues here in Ontario, but Martin’s Lane Naramata Ranch Vineyard in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley
on a global scale.”
Although most of the wines included here are available in the United region are home to Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Cabernet
States, I also reviewed a handful of wines that are not imported, in or- Franc and Pinot Noir, while the warmer northeastern section is capable

der to cover benchmark producers in Canada’s most important wine of ripening Cabernet Sauvignon.
regions. All of the wines, however, meet the standards set by the Vint- Cave Spring Cellars, an early proponent of vinifera, planted Riesling
ners Quality Alliance, the regulatory agency in both provinces respon- obtained through Hermann Weis of St.-Urbans-Hof in Germany’s Mo-
sible for guaranteeing quality and authenticity of origin. The VQA sel Valley as early as 1978. Its Riesling Niagara Peninsula Icewine 2017
system ensures that the wines come from the appellation on the label (93, $60/375ml) is one of the highest-soring wines of this report. The

and enforces winemaking and labeling rules. (A free alphabetical list 2017 vintage was challenging, with a cool and wet spring and summer,
of scores and prices for all wines tasted is available at WineSpectator yet ideal conditions in the fall benefited the late-ripening Riesling.
.com/CanadaAlpha022920.) “Because Lake Ontario is so deep and temperate, it tends to allow for
In total, there are 30,000 acres of vines planted in Canada. Ontario Riesling, our grape of choice for making ice wine, to ripen gradually and

boasts more than half, with 17,000 acres, mostly found in the Niagara completely,” explains Cave Spring managing partner Tom Pennachetti,
Peninsula, while British Columbia claims another 10,500 acres, the who serves as vice president of marketing and sales.
majority of them in the Okanagan Valley. Togther, the two provinces “By cooling the vineyards throughout the growing season at the lake-
make up 92% of Canada’s entire vineyard acreage. shore sites [the VQA-designated Lincoln Lakeshore] where we grow our
A significant impetus for the upswing in quality has been the steady Riesling for this wine, the lake prevents overripening in the late season,”

increase in plantings of Vitis vinifera in the country’s cool-climate areas. Pennachetti continues. “This allows the clusters to survive the harvest
The first vinifera plantings in Niagara occurred in 1952, and by 1986 window and endure intact, if desiccated, through the freeze-thaw cycles
there were 629 acres of Chardonnay in Ontario. After that, Chardon- of late November and early December.”
nay acreage increased to nearly 6,000 acres by the year 2000 and is the Another top-scorer comes from Mission Hill, one of four estates owned

most widely planted variety today. Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Merlot by entrepreneur Anthony von Mandl (Checkmate Artisanal Winery,
and Pinot Noir are also gaining ground. During the same period, plant- Cedar Creek and Martin’s Lane are the others). The Oculus Okanagan
ings of Vitis labrusca and hybrids decreased, with the exception of Vidal, Valley 2016 (93, $100) is a Bordeaux blend based on Merlot (56%), SHAWN TALBOT
grown primarily for ice wine. Cabernet Sauvignon (27%) and Cabernet Franc (17%), whose grapes

32 WINE SPECTATOR • JAN. 31 – FEB. 29, 2020