The Canadian wine industry is booming!

Cheers! Kippis! The Canadian wine industry has come into its own by transforming itself from a relatively low-key and small-volume to one that generates millions of dollars for the Canadian economy each year. And that is not just wine, it includes the tourist dollars that are poured into Canada's two biggest wine making regions: the Niagara Peninsula in southern Ontario and the Okanagan Valley in southern British Columbia. Canadian wine history is quite long, but not nearly as vibrant as traditional wine making countries like France and Spain.

Before we get started…

I am no wine expert, but I thought it might be important to define a few terms before I get started.

Oenology: (variant of enology) a science that deals with wine and wine making (Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary)

Viticulture: the cultivation or culture of grapes (Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary)

Now Canada is not really a country that is known for its wine making, but if you want to look into the history of wine making in Canada, you only have to go back about 200 years.

In the early 1800's European settlers made numerous attempts to cultivate grape yielding vines brought over from Europe, but had difficulties with hot humid summers and extremely cold Canadian winters. While grapes could be grown from the native varieties of Vitis Risparia and Vitis Labusca, their yield gave wine a taste that was described as "foxy". During the 1800's Canada actually had a healthy export market to England, mostly of sherry or port-styled wines.

The early and mid-1900's was not a good time for the Canadian wine industry. Prohibition, societal abstinence from alcohol and two World Wars hindered the development of the industry. In the 1960's things began to turn around. An appetite for drier and lower-alcohol content wines forced a shift in the market. Wine producers around the world responded by developing better grape growing technologies, opening wine R&D centres, employing better management techniques and having a stronger dedication to the art of wine making.

In 1974 Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser approached the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to grant them a licence to produce and sell wine. It was not long afterwards that Inniskillin Wines was established in Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario. In British Columbia, Harry McWatters founded the Sumac Ridge Estate Winery in 1979. With that, Ziraldo and McWatters became the driving forces behind the wine industry in Canada. At the same time much experimentation and research was taking place in B.C., Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia, with surprising results. Growing vines in cold climates was more successful than in the past and this was a sign of things to come.

The late 1980's were the real turning point for the Canadian wine industry with the signing of the free trade agreement with the United States, the establishment of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) and a major vine pull-out and replacement program. New trade rules forced Canadian producers to bear down and prove that they could compete in an expanded market. New vineyards were planted with fine quality grapes including Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and many others.

The 1990's were a decade of explosive growth in Canada. From 30 commercial wineries in 1990, the number grew to over 100 by the year 2000. Consumers responded by taking notice of the work of the VQA, who had worked hard to establish standards to increase quality assurance for the consumer and elevate the quality of Canadian wines. Canadian wines won a number of awards in the 1990's including the 1991 Prix d'Honneur at the VinExpo in Bordeaux, France for Inniskillin Icewine (1989). By 2000 the sales of VQA wines had grown to more than 10 million litres.

Today Canada's world class wineries are mostly located in British Columbia and Ontario. Export markets in the Unites States, Asia and Europe have been a boon to Canadian producers. In spite of aggressive competition from around the world, Canadian wineries and Canadian consumers have given life to the industry; which in the last 10 years has experienced immense success.

Money talks

According to figures from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, more than $16 million (CAD) of Canadian wine was exported worldwide in 2004. Canada's biggest export markets are the United States, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and China, which make up more than $13.5 million of the year's total. These numbers are up from the $11.2 million Canada exported in 2002. The biggest European export markets for Canadian wine are the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and Italy; though these only constitute a very small margin of total wine exports. So far in 2005, Canada has exported some $2 million worth of wine in the first two months of the year.

Canada's wine producing regions

The main wine producing regions in Canada are in Southern Ontario and southern British Columbia. According to the Canadian Vintners Association some 98 percent of Canada's premium wines are produced there. There are other areas of Canada that are coming into their own, including eastern Canada. You can find vineyards in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. In Quebec there are more than 30 wineries, with the Eastern Townships and Montérégie regions being the biggest producers. Go further east and you will find grape and fruit based wineries in Nova Scotia. In Newfoundland, the Rodrigues Winery near St. John's produces wine made from cloudberries. Prince Edward Island is also home to grape growing wineries. Vineyard tourism is Hot! Hot! Hot! If you ever plan to travel to the wine producing regions of Canada, be sure to make a vineyard tour part of your itinerary. See the end of this article for more information.

Wine research institutes aid wine R&D

In Canada there are several institutions that deal with oenology and viticulture in cool climate regions. One of these is the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) at Brock University in St. Catharine's, Ontario, which was established in 1996. Another of these is the Wine Research Centre in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of British Columbia, which is dedicated to pioneering research in the field of oenology and viticulture. Other research facilities can be found at Niagara College in Ontario and Okanagan University College in BC.

You can buy Canadian wine in Finland

In 2004 Canada exported more than $24,000 of wine to Finland, constituting some 19,400 litres of wine. One of Canada's biggest wine exports is "ice wine", and at more than €60 per bottle, it is not cheap! You can also find wines from the Niagara Peninsula and from B.C.'s Okanagan Valley. Take a look at your closest Alko and ask them to order in Canadian wines if they don't have what is listed in the Hinnasto magazine. You can also check the Alko website at www.alko.fi.

For more information on Canadian wine and some Canadian wineries see the following links:
www.canadianvintners.com (The Canadian Vintners Association)
www.brocku.ca/ccovi/ (The Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute)
www.agsci.ubc.ca/wine/ (The Wine Research Centre)
http://www.owfs.com/ (Okanagan Wine Festivals)
www.inniskillin.com/ (Inniskillin Wines, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario)
www.orpailleur.ca (L'Orpailleur Winery, Quebec - in French)
www.clos-saint-denis.qc.ca/ (Clos Saint-Denis Winery, Quebec)
www.tasteofnovascotia.com (Nova Scotia food industry, type "wine" into their search engine)
www.rodrigueswinery.com/ (Rodrigues Winery, Newfoundland)
www.rossignolwinery.com (Rossignol Winery, Prince Edward Island)

This time we have told you about wine, in the next issue of Vaahteranlehti look for more on cheese!

Carmen Boudreau-Kiviaho