Exploring Ontario’s Niagara Wine Growing Region

Based in Toronto, Andrew Sommerhalder provides client-centered financial management services with the Arrowsmith Program in Toronto. A wine enthusiast, Andrew Sommerhalder enjoys sampling bottles from Ontario and beyond. One of the province’s most prominent wine-growing regions is Twenty Valley, which encompasses the VQA appellations Niagara Peninsula and Niagara Escarpment, as well as several sub-appellations.

Launched on Pelee Island, commercial wine grape growing has been ongoing in Ontario since the 1860s. It was not until the 1970s that an industry that had fallen from 60 to a half dozen operations was resurrected. Founded in 1974, Inniskillin Winery created a following among connoisseurs, establishing 75 wineries over the next three decades.

The Niagara region benefits from complex, glacier-churned geology and a location that receives constant breezes from Lake Ontario. At the same time, the cliff formation Niagara Escarpment rises to 177 meters and creates a sheltered microclimate. What the “lake effect” essentially achieves is a lengthening of the warming process in spring, as well as a moderating of autumn cool temperatures.

The sedimentary soils that inhabit this belt are rich in fossils and not dissimilar to France’s Loire Valley and Burgundy regions. This influences the grapes grown, with the VQA sub-appellation Twenty Mile Bench known for exceptional cool-climate Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Among the vintners worth visiting in the area are Megalomaniac Winery, The Good Earth Winery, and Tawse Winery. The latter family-operated estate is close enough to civilization that Toronto’s skyline can be seen distinctly in the distance to the east, as weather permits.