Canada is the world’s second-largest country, and a respected new world producer of wines. Despite the northerly latitudes, the vastly different landscapes of mountains, prairies and verdant farmlands offer some excellent macroclimates for grape growing. The country is particularly famous for its lusciously sweet ice wine, and the consistently cold winters here mean that Canada now leads the world in ice wine production.
This vast nation enjoys abundant water resources, with lakes too numerous to number and the longest coastline of any country in the world. The 10 provinces and three territories of Canada are surrounded by the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, and the United States sits on the country's southern border. Despite Canada's geographical size, a relatively small amount of wine is made here: just 2 percent of that of the United States.
The Canadian wine industry exists primarily in four provinces: Ontario and British Columbia, which are responsible for 98 percent of quality wine production, and Quebec and Nova Scotia, which are emerging winegrowing regions and have a small but loyal local following.
Viticultural areas in Canada are unique in that they typically experience hot, sometimes humid summers and extremely cold winters. All the major Canadian wine regions are in close proximity to mesoclimate-moderating water sources that are critical to vines’ survival in freezing temperatures. The Niagara Peninsula, on the southern shores of Lake Ontario, is arguably the most famous wine region in Canada, although the dry, almost desert-like Okanagan Valley in British Columbia has made a play for glory in the last few decades.
The Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) is a regulatory body that represents an appellation-based approach to Canadian wine. Membership allows winemakers to use the VQA logo on their wine, and this provides a degree of quality assurance to prospective consumers. The VQA’s focus is on Vitis vinifera varieties, of which Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and the Cabernet family are popular. Selected hybrids such as Vidal and Marechal Foch are also permitted to bear the VQA designation. Canada produces an enormous range of grape varieties, wine styles and blends, with more regional specialties developing every year.
This system of quality control is not without controversy. Wines labeled as 'Cellared in Canada' are regarded by many as the most dubious exploitation of antiquated wine law. The classification allows foreign pre-fermented grape must to be imported and vinified in Canada. In British Columbia, 100 percent of the grape must can be imported, while in Ontario, a minimum of 30 percent must be locally produced.
Canada’s winemaking history may date back more than one thousand years. Around 1000 AD, the Viking explorers, led by Leif Eriksson (son of Eric the Red), encountered native grape-producing vines in great numbers during their journeys of discovery in Canada’s north-east. It is widely believed that this species, Vitis riparia, influenced the Norsemen to name the new land Vinland. It is unclear if Scandinavian settlers ever made wine from the native grapes they encountered in modern-day Newfoundland, but if they did, it would almost certainly make them the first winemakers in North America.
European settlers tried their hand at viticulture in Canada in the early 1800s but met little success with the Vitis vinifera they had imported from Europe. Canada’s extreme continental climate was unforgiving and the pioneering winemakers soon turned to the native species riparia and labrusca. The resulting wines were typically described as foxy or musky to taste, though ports and sherries carried the flavors more agreeably and helped to establish the winemaking industry in Ontario and the north-east. The tradition of sweet wine made from labrusca grapes persisted well into the 1970s.
Canadian Prohibition (1916–1927) had a mixed effect on the Canadian wine trade. Small areas like Pelee Island – where Vin Villa Estates had established the country's first commercial winery in 1866 – were adversely affected by the loss of their export market, but the overall wine community in Ontario actually grew during this time, thanks to a Government exception made for wine. Despite sustained growth in the industry, no commercial wine permits were granted from pre-prohibition until 1974, when Inniskillin opened its Riesling, Chardonnay and Gamay vineyard.
Perhaps the most significant year in the development of the Canadian wine industry was 1988. The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement offered opportunities to Canadian winegrowers and marked an ideological shift in the industry. Following the deregulation of trade between the two countries, the Canadian government recognized the need to adapt in order to compete, and offered an incentivized scheme to remove native vines and replant with Vinifera varieties. Finally, the VQA was established in Ontario in 1988, paving the way for Canada’s appellation system. British Columbia followed suit and launched its own VQA in 1990.
Wine is not Canada's only alcoholic endeavor: numerous ciders and beers are made in each of the country's provinces, and Canadian whisky has a cult following around the world.
