Until the 1980s
Canadian wine
was something of a joke. The
industry's most popular product
was a sticky, fizzy concoction
called Baby Duck and other
varieties were commonly called
block and tackle wines after a
widely reported witticism of a
member of the Ontario legislature:
"If you drink a bottle and
walk a block, you can tackle
anyone." This state of
affairs has, however, been
transformed by the
Vintners
Quality Alliance , the VQA,
who have, since 1989, come to
exercise tight control over wine
production in Ontario, which
produces eighty percent of
Canadian wine. The VQA's
appellation system distinguishes
between - and supervises the
quality control of - two broad
types of wine. Those bottles
carrying the Provincial
Designation on their labels (ie
Ontario) must be made from 100
percent Ontario-grown wines from
an approved list of European
varieties of grape and selected
hybrids; those bearing the
Geographic Designation (ie Niagara
Peninsula, Pelee Island or Lake
Erie North Shore), by comparison,
can only use
Vitis vinifera
, the classic European grape
varieties, such as Riesling,
Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.
As you might expect from a
developing wine area, the results
are rather inconsistent, but the
Rieslings
have a refreshingly crisp, almost
tart, flavour with a mellow,
warming aftertaste - and are
perhaps the best of the present
Canadian range, white or red.
Over ten wineries are
clustered in the vicinity of
Niagara-on-the-Lake and most are
very willing to show visitors
round. Local tourist offices carry
a full list with opening times,
but one of the most interesting is
Inniskillin , Line 3
(Service Road 66), just off - and
signed from - the Niagara Parkway,
about 5km south of
Niagara-on-the-Lake (daily:
May-Oct 10am-6pm; Nov-April
10am-5pm; tel 905/468-3554, www.icewine.com
). Here you can follow a
twenty-step self-guided tour or
take a free guided tour, sip away
at the tasting bar and buy at the
wine boutique. Inniskillin has
produced a clutch of award-winning
vintages and have played a leading
role in the improvement of the
industry. They are also one of the
few Canadian wineries to produce ice
wine , an outstanding sweet
dessert wine made from grapes that
are left on the vine till December
or January, when they are
hand-picked at night when frozen.
The picking and the crushing of
the frozen grapes is a
time-consuming business and this
is reflected in the price - about
$50 per 375ml bottle.
