Vintage Assessments Home Page

Recent Articles

Archive of National Post Articles

Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist - Michael Vaughan

Canada Day - Ontario Wines in he Pink

(Publishing Date: Saturday July 1, 2000  - Toronto Section)

It’s Canada Day. And it’s hard to believe that it was only 25 years ago that I packed my bags and traveled to London, England to try and convince the world’s wine authorities that Canadian (i.e. Ontario) wines were worth taking seriously. 

Isn’t naiveté nice? And what wines! At that time, the first Canadian winery to open since Prohibition was Inniskillin, circa 1974. And what were they making? Well according to the province’s horticultural station, as European vinifera grapes couldn’t be grown in our climate, French hybrids were the vine of choice. 

Now that may not sound like much of a transition. But in those days when labrusca reigned supreme, it was a definite improvement. You didn’t need to be a fortuneteller to guess that our sweet Concords and Niagaras wouldn’t capture the English palates. One of my favourite tales of the time was a press story about Hugh Johnson who swore upon taking his first sip of Canadian
wine that he thought his hand might fall off! On a BBC interview he added, "the foulness of taste is what I remember best - an artificially scented, soapy flavour. It’s not in my Atlas." 

So there I was, manned with my Maréchal Foch, Chelois, de Chaunac, Baco Noir, etc. slurping with the best of them - Hugh Johnson, Michael Broadbent, Harry Waugh, etc. And low and behold, what did the kings of wine pronounced the best to be the best - Inniskillin 1974 Maréchal Foch. It was a well made, fairly robust, Rhonish styled red that, if properly kept, is still delicious to this day! 

How much has changed. Today, classic viniferas abound and hybrids have been banished to the back of the closet, except by a small band of dedicated fans (me included). Instead of one new winery, we now have more than 70 in Ontario with new ones popping up every day. Better yet, the traditional male-only bastion of wine authorities has now been liberated by members of the opposite sex. And while Donald Ziraldo still is the master of Inniskillin, it now belongs to Vincor the eighth largest producer in North America! 

Most important, we now have a massive selection of much better wines. And I just don’t mean icewine which put Canada on the world wine map at the French Vinexpo judging a decade ago. Ontario’s table wines have improved by leaps and bounds. We also now have a quality control system called the VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) which hopefully will someday enable us to get our wines into the ultra-protective EEC marketplace. It’s remarkable to think that, to this day, we still can’t legally ship our wines to Europe. Why? Because Ontario’s VQA system is voluntary. 

But perhaps we are getting closer. On Thursday of this week, our own Bob Runciman (Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations) announced the VQA Act. This meant that our standards should be legally equivalent to those in Europe. So hopefully, we might soon see our icewines "landing" on the beaches of Dunkirk 

It’s is important to keep in mind that VQA wines still account for only 10% of all domestic wine sales. And there’s the rub. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper and more profitable to bring in vin de table from abroad and make import "knock-offs", than it is to use our own locally-grown grapes. And from here its gets worse - because while the VQA does provide a guarantee of authenticity, not all VQA wines schmeck! In other words, it’s not just possible, but in fact, very likely that you can find a cheaper, non-VQA wine that will taste better than some of its VQA cousins. 

Unfortunately, just suggesting this will be seen as heresy by those who carry the VQA torch. It’s a simple fact of life, however, that there are going some good and some not so good VQA wines out there. To suggest otherwise will simply discredit the entire VQA effort because the consumers aren’t fools. So diligence and critical comment is needed if the Ontario wine industry is to
thrive and have credibility. 

This means that it isn’t going to be all roses for VQA producers. Which brings me around to my Canada Day choices. I thought rosé might be worth exploring as it has recently been suggested that our homegrown selection is both overpriced and not up to European standards. 

Well after wading through a raft of rosés in several tastings, let me assure you that this "obit" is very premature. Of some two dozen tasted, my favourite turned out to be Malivoire 1999 ‘Ladybug’ which is an unusually tasty VQA blend of Chardonnay with some Gamay and Cabernet Franc. At
$14.94 it isn’t cheap, but it’s dry ripe plum and fresh cooked strawberry flavours have great appeal. It’s available from the winery directly and will be in next Saturday’s Vintages release. While the 1999 isn’t as enchanting as their delicious 1998 (now sold out), it should soothe the palates of those
who eschew Canadian pinks. 

Ironically, I felt exactly the same way about the older vintage of Colio Harrow Estates 1998 Blanc De Noir, which is a VQA vinted from French hybrid Villard Noir (which used to be the third most widely planted red grape in France). In our blind tasting, the mature but still lively ’98 just
squeezed out the ‘99. It’s slightly honeyed, just off-dry, fresh raspberry-plum flavours makes it a real crowd pleaser. Better yet, it’s very well priced - a steal at just $7.95 and conveniently available on the LCBO General List. 

One of the more unusual wines which really caught my personal fancy in our blind tasting (meaning that it couldn’t have been the producer’s special, but unrelated, name) was the reddish-coloured Thomas & Vaughan Vintners 1999 Cabernet Rosé with its spicy, dry, pomegranate-driven, plumy fruit flavours. A great VQA food wine with 12.5% alcohol, only 30 cases were produced and it’s only available from the Beamsville winery at $11.95 a bottle. 

Two traditionally well-received Ontario rosés also held their own against the French-Spanish-German competitors. The purple-coloured Henry of Pelham 1999 Dry Rosé ($11.95 now at Vintages) is a refreshing, light-bodied, cherry-crabapple flavoured VQA blend of Zweigelt and Pinot Noir. In a drier, much more European vein, is Cave Spring 1999 Rosé whose peppery, youthful, light plum, and Tavel-like flavours beg for the company of a freshly roasted chicken. This VQA blend of Gamay and Merlot is also available on the LCBO General List for only $10.95. 

Update: Ontario wineries present "Six Unforgettable Weeks" which kicks off today with more than 300 summer events running through August 6th. Their brochure is available LCBO stores, by calling 1-800-263-2988 or clicking on the link below. 

"Six Unforgettable Weeks" click here.