By Wines in Niagara Let’s show the great 100% Ontario grown wines a little love this November, shall we? After a three-year hiatus, #openlocalwine, an international celebration of local wine (wherever local is for you), will return on Nov. 9, 2024. And you are all invited to the party. Co-founded in 2020 by Gina Shay... The post Everything you need to know about Open Local Wine on Nov. 9 appeared first on Wines In Niagara ..read more

By Rick VanSickle It’s another stinkin’ hot day in Niagara and Paul Speck is running around collecting bottles of this and that to pour over a long lunch on the new patio. It’s not hard to spot the Henry of Pelham Estate Winery president and CEO. He’s always the guy with the loudest shirt (see above), on this day a multi-coloured Bayou Wear Hawaiian-style masterpiece honouring the 1970 New Orleans Jazz Festival. I did not ask him if he was there in 1970 (he would have been about three years old) but do know Speck loves his music. And sports. And wine. And when I say wine, I mean he loves sell ..read more

By Rick VanSickle Honsberger Estate Winery has a farming history that dates back more than 200 years, but it’s only been the last 20 that grapes made it into what it is today. The sixth generation of the Honsberger family, led by Barbara Honsberger Condotta and husband Robert Condotta, ripped out the cherry trees in 2002 and planted Cabernet Franc and then the apple trees were removed to plant Riesling. A plan for the future of the farm, founded in 1811, was clear in their minds but it would be a slow and methodical labour of love to get it where it is now. Honsberger Matt Smith surrounded wit ..read more

By Rick VanSickle After 25 years of success, the Featherstone Estate Winery on Niagara’s Twenty Mile Bench is beginning “a new chapter.” Louis Engel (below) and her winemaker husband David Johnson have gone from owners to employees after selling the popular estate to Toronto’s Rayla and George Myhal last February. While both Engel and Johnson will help in the transition of Featherstone to the new owners, Engel says she is looking forward to retirement. “This retirement thing is a really good gig,” she tells me as we taste the current portfolio of wines on the back veranda, just as we have done ..read more

By Rick VanSickle When the Vintners Quality Alliance of Ontario was first envisioned in 1988 (and later proclaimed into law on June 29, 2000), it rendered hybrid grapes Public Enemy No. 1. In that pivotal year, it was more lucrative for growers to accept the government’s offer for an extensive grapevine pull-out (hybrid grapes) and replacement program (vinifera) than to continue fuelling the wine industry that at the time was producing some pretty awful Canadian wine by a scant few large mega-wineries. Up until that point, Ontario (mainly Niagara) was planted to a sea of labrusca grapes blend ..read more

By Rick VanSickle In a rather startling letter to the LCBO, the provincial government has clearly expressed that it wants the Ontario booze monopoly to fix the historically low market share of 5.1% for VQA wines on their shelves. Ontario finance minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, below, sent a detailed letter to Carmine Nigro, chair of the LCBO, listing several bullet points that point the way to increased market share for Ontario wines — and he wants it done this summer. “With marketplace expansion around the corner and increased consumer demand for local Ontario products and those of other small ..read more

By Rick VanSickle It’s been whispered about in Niagara wine circles for years, but now the first sparkling wines from York Vineyards are about to make a very loud debut this August. York Vineyards is the pride and joy of Martin and Rachael Werner (below), a 20-acre site nestled against the Niagara Escarpment in St. Davids. Half the land is designated as Escarpment Natural Area and part of the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve. It is also where the Werner family lives in the historic Silver Spring Farm home originally built in 1818 and renovated over three centuries by several familie ..read more

By Rick VanSickle Well, now that the LCBO union, for the first time in its history, has gone on strike, it’s time for consumers to map out their booze-buying for the foreseeable future. The LCBO has announced that no wine, cider, liquor, coolers or beer will be available at its stores for at least two weeks and there will be limited sales beyond that at only 30 stores in the province. But, of course, that does not mean you won’t have access to alcohol in the messed hybrid retail system that Doug Ford has created. You can get anything you want through local bottle shops, grocery stores, agency ..read more

By Rick VanSickle If history is any indication, a threatened LCBO strike in Ontario starting at midnight this Friday will never happen. Also in this Ontario wine report: A release of wines is scheduled for Saturday at Vintages stores, but it will depend on if there is an LCBO strike or not. Regardless, we have our picks from the Niagara wines, including a sparkling rosé from Westcott (new review), a Chardo from Malivoire, Henry of Pelham Pinot Noir, and a rosé from the Tragically Hip. In all likelihood, the two battling sides will come together as one, as they have done so many times before ..read more

By Rick VanSickle For a glimpse of what Niagara can be (and will be) in 10, 20, 100 years from now, you need look no further than the beacon of goodness on the Beamsville Bench that is the Hidden Bench Estate Winery. Harald Thiel, left, and Alex Baines. No disrespect meant, but owners, winemakers and viticulturists will come and go, yet it is the terroir, what the three estate organic vineyards are intrinsically aligned to, that will be giving more and more for generations to come at this premium producer for what Niagara can and does best. Hidden Bench owner, or as he prefers, vigneron, Haral ..read more