WINE SECRETS

Y E A R S I N C A N A D A - C E L E B R A T I N G - 20

Revealing Canada’s WINE SECRETS

The phenomenon of ice wine in the Canadian winters

O Canada, the land of poutine, polar bears, northern lights and of course, wine. Wait, did we say wine? We meant delicious wine. It might come as a surprise to many, but under that thick blanket of snow and heavy foliage of maple leaves, Canada has been hiding some of the most delightful wines and wineries.

The wine that is most commonly associated with Canada is, unsurprisingly, icewine. Legend has it icewine originated in Germany in the 18th century when a winemaker’s vineyard froze before it could be harvested for winter, and he decided to make wine anyway. Today, Canada is the largest producer of the variety in the world. To make icewine, grapes are allowed to freeze on the vines at temperatures under -8°C, and then the frozen grapes, hard as marbles, are put through a crusher to squeeze tiny amounts of sweet wine out of the grapes. And we mean seriously sweet wine. When grapes freeze on vines, only the water content in the grapes freezes while the sugars stay intact.

This means, a good squeeze releases nothing but the most concentrated, naturally sugary, wonderfully flavoured wine. Fermentation takes several months and sometimes years due to the high sugar content, but the result is precious (quite literally) dessert wine that is bursting with flavours of tropical fruits, citrus,

toffee, caramel, and crème brûlée. Like the forming of diamonds under intense pressure, icewines are a delicious gift of the harsh Canadian winters.

While Canadian wines have only started becoming popular in the last few decades, winemaking in Canada goes back 400 years. European settlers made several unsuccessful attempts to grow European varieties of grapes in Canada, but ultimately, only the native varieties flourished in the extreme weather.

There is an internationally recognised sweet spot of wine growing regions between the 30° to 50° North latitude. This is where all the famous wine growing regions of the world lie, from France’s Bordeaux, to USA’s Napa Valley. Canada’s major wine growing regions also lie within this spectrum and its wines give the finest Burgundy stiff competition.

Canada produces a range of premium wines, including red, white, rosé, sparkling, dessert and fortified, and Ontario is the largest winemaking province, followed by British Columbia. Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula, with its wonderfully fertile soil facilitated by a unique micro-climate, is the largest wine producing region in the country.

In British Columbia, the stunning Okanagan wine country is a hidden gem known largely only to the locals. The Okanagan Valley is home to 84% of the province’s vineyard acreage, breathtaking scenery, and a turquoisehued glacial lake with the legend of a Loch Ness-like monster known as Ogopogo.

The delicious, undiscovered wines of the valley are made from various grape varieties and rarely ever manage to leave the province. Over 95% of the wine is consumed locally, which means your best bet to taste the treasure is to visit a British Columbian vineyard.

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“While Canadian wines have only started becoming popular in the last few decades, winemaking in Canada goes back 400 years.”