Visiting this pretty little town in a couple of weeks. I know they do mostly whites and make some decent ice wine, but I have no idea who the best producers are.
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You will hopefully love the area! Have been there many times and it is very enjoyable. If you are into theater try to get tickets to a local Shaw Festival production. They get folks from Toronto and the talent level is high.
For wineriesâŠyou will get three general categories of producers.
- Fairly slick, well funded, corporate medium sized wineries with fairly good products. Drinkable stuff but nothing worth jumping up and down about. In this category best examples in NOTL are
Jackson Triggs
Peller Estates
Trius
Chateau de Charmes
The best of the bunch, overall is a relative newcomer Two Sisters. Slick products with a tasting room not out of place in Napa. Good local restaurant attached that is difficult to book. Very pleasant atmosphere. The whites, including their Sauvignon Blanc are well made and not overdone. Out of this group I think they do the best job with their Bordeaux Varieties. You will find that in this latitude and climate, getting the pyrazines out of the reds is the biggest challenge, along with the crop loads. Cab Franc is really the red that does best in the region overall. With age they can be very nice.
Group two, the families. There are several small, family owned wineries that have been plugging along for years and mostly staked their claim on icewines. Frankly many of them struggle with their reds although the prices are reasonable. Whites in general are much more consistent, chardonnay wines are much more restrained cool climate examples and I think they can be a steal for value. In this group;
Konzelmann
Pilliteri
Strewn
And the best of this group is probably Ravines, located in St David. They also have a nice restaurant with a view of the vineyards. Very competent winemaker. Reds are more Loire Valley than Bordeaux like. I really like the small vibe of this place.
Now for the third group. The best way to visualize the NOTL area is that in NOTL vineyards, that is where they make the money.
In the Beamsville Benchland/ Jordan area (about 20km away) that is where they make the WINE!
Short drive away is Jordan. Not to be missed in this small winery area are ;
Pearl Morrisette. The wines are highly idiosyncratic and unique. You can book a tasting and will likely get Melissa who is a treasure to lead you in a tasting. The Cab Franc is first rate, vintage specific and will age well. Donât be put off by the Loire like profile, I would stand these up to Jouget, Raffault and others in the Loire (OK not Rougeard). The black ball Riesling and their Chardonnays are really great value and really satisfying. He also dabbles in a lot of unglamorous grapes and the vinification techniques are a mad scientist approach to winemaking. Amphoras, concreate eggs, barriques, stainless steel, huge old foudres, you name it Francois probably has done elevage in it. He apprenticed in Burgundy and has a vision, but is a great experimenter. I am hoping he finds the magic sauce for Pinot Noir, but this may be too much to ask.
If I have not bloviated enough, the Restaurant at Pearl Morrisette is (not exaggerating) the French Laundry of Canada. Only dinner is less than half what you will pay at the FL. Rustic setting, wildly changeable menu, local ingredients, many of which are sourced in the gardens on site. It is a terrific dining experience that is informal and just like gourmet camping. Get a reservation if you can. I went twice this summer, and will go again this fall.
30 Bench. Emma Garner is the winemaker. She is really, really good. The Rieslings are spectacular. Emphasizes vineyard specific wines and you can really taste the difference in the products. If they threw walls around the vineyards, had a bunch of Cistercians plant the vines 500 years ago, this would be a world heritage site. The reds are also very well made, especially the Cab Franc. Small, friendly, country tasting room is like what Napa used to be 25 years ago. They do charge a modest tasting fee but it is worth it.
Tawse. The Burgundy connection is here, as in Marchand Tawse. Sadly their winemaker died abruptly this year, not sure what direction they will go. Lovely little tasting room, and they are sort of unique in that they have caves here. Quality stuff.
Queylus. Tiny, but the winemaker who founded it Thomas Bachelder is kind of the Andre Tchelistcheff of Niagara (0nly not as crazy) Well funded by Canadian investors it has great potential. The usual suspects, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir. This is really the French stuff the whole area should be concentrating on IMHO (but I am just an idiot berserker!) Off the beaten path but worth a look.
OK there are others, but I welcome my Berserkers from above the 49th parallel to jump in.
Hope you enjoy the area. And donât forget to get a peek at the falls. Despite the commercialization, it is still a wonder of the world. I like to go early, REALLY early, at about dawn before the hordes of bored teenagers, stroller crowd, and selfie stick tourists show up. It is magical. I have been there a hundred times and never get tired of the view.
Cheers,
Dennis B
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WowâŠ
That is a great response. Thanks so much.
Thank you, Dennis! This is fantastic. We moved to the FLX area a few years ago, but have not ventured that far yet. Your recommendations are going to come in very handy. Cheers.
The biggest difference between the FLX and Niagara-on-the Lake is one of travel and compactness. The FLX is really advancing in quality and is close to the NOTL wineries. The biggest disadvantage in the FLX is the time it takes to get between locations. NOTL is quite easy to navigate, everything within about 50KM. I like it for bike touring also as the area is mostly flat except for the escarpment, and the drivers actually seem to understand that they do not have exclusive ownership of the roads. (except for the Americans from the states of course!)
Hope you all can get up there. Really charming place.
As a local who has done this circuit many times, @Dennis_Borczonâs summary is a great one. Really accurate. I tend to spend more time in Beamsville Bench/Jordan than NOTL. NOTL is more commercial, with generally, larger wineries.
Generally speaking youâll find lots of producers doing Riesling that is really nice and well well priced. The âtypicalâ style is about 10% alcohol with a little RS (10 - 20 g/l). Also sparkling which I think has really emerged as a strength of this region.
Itâs been a few years, but I do recall Ravine doing some of the better reds in NOTL.
If you do make it to the bench, a few thoughts.
Pearl Morissette is the high water mark for me in terms of reds from Ontario. Fully agree that the Cab Francs, specifically the CuvĂ©e Madeline, Iâve tasted from 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 have been awesome and I think would show really well in a tasting of classic Chinon. The value prop is perhaps not the best however. At $58, youâll be paying more than you would for the other benchmarks for Loire Cab Franc (Baudry, Olga Raffault). Other wines range from solid, traditionally made stuff, occasionally veering into the natural and unusual (skin contact whits/orange, concrete eggs, etc.). Getting a tasting here is unlike every other place in the region (where you can simply drop in), you need to book in advance. Slots fill up fast, and IIRC tasting fees are way higher than the norm.
Tawse is the high water mark for me on Chardonnay. If you like a lean, mineral, reductive style, taste their lineup and donât miss the Quarry road. Pretty good single vineyard Riesling here too.
Looking at Dennisâ other recommendations Iâve enjoyed wines from Queylus if occasionally Iâve found them to be in a bit âbiggerâ style than some others I like. I remember liking what I had from 30 bench in reds and Riesling but itâs been a while.
One final recommendation. On the whole I enjoy Leaning Post. Theyâre geographically closest to me and furthest from NOTL. They can be a little hit and miss especially in reds, but Iâve had some good value RosĂ©, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir from them. In fact Iâve noticed their RosĂ© on many local wine lists as an afforable BTG option. Unlike many RosĂ©s from the region theirs is bone dry. It shows more fruit than what you might find in Provence, but with solid acid and a similarly pale color, lightly extracted.
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Iâll add in as Iâm also close by and do the circuits every once in a while. LIke Chris, highly prefer the bench area over NOTL, but thatâs because I prefer Pinot, Gamay, Chard & Riesling. NOTL in general is perhaps still a bit too attached to the Cabs/ Merlot and icewine genre, which can be more spotty with our climate vintage to vintage. NOTL Chards tend to be a bit richer than bench versions, partly due to higher clay on the plain vs. limestone of the bench and being a somewhat warmer climate.
In Jordan/ Beamsville.
2027 cellars - you can taste at two wineries here (Calamus the other which I donât have experience with) as they share the barn, via separate entrances. Great chards, very good sparkling & cab franc and Pinot.
Cloudsley (Pinots & Chards) small producer which sources great fruit.
Leaning Post. I think as theyâve grown exponentially recently some quality has been lost in some wines. Not as consistent as 8 years ago.
Still some winners.
NOTL & St. Catherines
13th Street. A bit closer to the NOTL type of operation as the two owner families have created a large winery with an art installation, gallery, shops and small bistro. The hidden gem is the winemaker JP Colas whoâs been in Ontario for 20 years, but was winemaker at Domaine Laroche for the 10 years prior and is Chablisienne to the core. I admit heâs become a friend, but his wines are different (not in a quirky/ non-intervention) way, but a less is more approach. Lots of wines made here. So, a tasting is comprehensive vs. some places mentioned that may not have or make much wine. Winners here are the various sparkling, gamays, Chards and cab franc, but almost everything that grows here is made.
Five Rows (tiny operation) - started by the Lowreyâs who are generally known as having the most sought after NOTL fruit. They kept the best 5 rows for themselves (sell the rest) and sell via online release. They do book tastings in advance. If you want to know what NOTL can do with mature fruit, this is a place to visit, with the understanding you may not be able to buy much (I actually donât know). Remarkably, their Sauv Blanc is the most sought after wine, along with their old syrah & pinot.
I admit to be less a fan of Pearl Morrisette. Not the resto , which is rightly acknowledged to be top 5 in Canada. The wines to me have been very hit & miss (more miss), but Iâm one to call out flaws vs. calling it character.
I mention Lowrey above. If you see a winery using âLowreyâ fruit, thatâs worth a stop. Also, âWismerâ Both acknowledged as best of best farmers with great location and suitably old fruit.
If you really want to go down the Niagara/ Beamsville wormhole, sign up for Thomas Bachelders website, then once added you can book a âtaste & buyâ at his Bat-Cave (only website members can book, no cost). Iâm not completely sold on his approach to be the one man to parse out the best or differences in Niagara Terroir in a burgundian way, but a tasting with he or his wife will tell you a lot about differences of soils and climate in many spots. Heâs very highly regarded and while I do have a fair number of his wines, Iâm not sold on his near pious status among many locals. Heâs the flavour of the day, so the locals appear to pad scores somewhat, as there is still lots of nepotism in a small burgeoning industry. Regardless, if youâre looking for something on the opposite end of a tasting at a place like Peller or Inniskillin, a tasting here will give you that. He makes a good amount of wine from all over (including Lowrey, Wismer & Grimsby Hillside, but owns no vines himself). Pinot, Chard, Gamay dominates. Iâd add this as a to-do if youâre visiting and have the time. Small near one on one experience.
Iâd add Tawse and 1 or two others previously mentioned if it were me and wanted a good overview of the area over a few days.
Oh, for meals, lots of places, but include Treadwell. Pearl may be a tough book as they use Tock and two weeks out youâll be reliant on a cancellation/ re-book
Enjoy your visit.
Itâs been a couple of years since Iâve made the short trip from Buffalo, but I was really impressed with Flat Rock. Great Pinot Noirâs and beautiful vineyards.
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We went in June (the second time Iâve been up there). I went to eat at Restaurant at Pearl Morrisette for my fortieth birthday:
Pearl Morrisette is probably impossible to get into at this point, but they are making some of the best Chardonnay Iâve had too. It was markedly better than the previous time I went years ago.
All of the best wineries follow The Bruce Trail close to Jordan. The big ones are Tawse and Cave Spring. Smaller wineries making amazing wine are Cloudsley, Walters Vineyard/Bachelder (they share a production facility), and Megalomaniac. We also visited 13th Street Winery and was impressed with their méthode Champenoise and Cab Franc. Read good things about Leaning Post, but it was too far away. Closer to town, we actually loved the dirt cheap Team Canada Cab Franc from Pillitteri. It was a great pizza wine.
Have fun. Cloudsley, Pearl Morrisette, and Bachelder are making Chardonnay as good as anywhere.
Iâve been very lucky to live in the Toronto, Canada area which is only 60 - 90 minutes away from the Niagara wine region of Ontario. The easy and frequent access essentially allowed me to accelerate my wine growth far more quickly than a normal wino would be able to concurrently with membership on the WB board. I essentially grew up with the area over the last decade.
Assuming you are traveling east as I would to access the area, you would hit the Jordan/Twenty Valley/St. Catherineâs wineries first in an hourâs time. These are located on an escarpment so you will see many varied vineyards at different slopes and heights. Another 30 minute drive east lands you in the Niagara on the Lake wineries which are all located on flat land that is long and expansive and blessed with plenty of sunshine and the moderating effects of Lake Ontario and the Niagara River.
Let me give you my personal recommendations below first and then Iâll give you a bonus chat about the area itself and the specific wineries. I have visited all the wineries below personally and speak from firsthand experience. First, the recommendations:
JORDAN/TWENTY VALLEY/ST. CATHERINES WINERIES
SPARKLING
- Henry of Pelham
- Westcott
ICEWINE
- Henry of Pelham
- Kacaba
- Vineland
- Cave Spring Cellars
- Tawse
- Westcott
REDS
- Kacaba
- Creekside
- Thirty Bench
- Hidden Bench
- Flat Rock Cellars
- Tawse
- Westcott
- Queylus
- Bachelder
WHITES
- Creekside
- Thirty Bench
- Hidden Bench
- Flat Rock Cellars
- Vineland
- Cave Spring Cellars
- Tawse
- Queylus
- Bachelder
NIAGARA ON THE LAKE WINERIES
SPARKLING
- Kew Vineyards
- 13th Street
ICEWINE
- Inniskillin
- Pillitteri
- Peller
- Jackson-Triggs
- Riverview
- Caroline Cellars
REDS
- Colaneri
- Two Sisters
- Stratus
- iCellars
- Pearl Morisette
- Leaning Post
- Stratus
WHITES
- Southbrook
- Stratus
- iCellars
- Pearl Morissette
- Stratus
BONUS RECOMMENDATIONS: RESTAURANTS
Two Sisters
Ravine
Trius
Vineland
Redstone
Pearl Morissette
Strewn
Treadwell (in NOTL town itself, not a winery)
BONUS RECOMMENDATIONS: FRUIT WINES
Sunnybrook Farm/Ironwood Cider House
Caroline Cellars
BONUS RECOMMENDATIONS: CIDER
Sunnybrook Farm/Ironwood Cider House
Small Talk
Tawse
BONUS RECOMMENDATIONS: BEER
Oast House
BONUS RECOMMENDATION: CHEESE
Upper Canada Cheese Company
BONUS RECOMMENDATIONS: VINEYARDS AND FACILITIES
Flat Rock Cellars
Jackson-Triggs
Inniskillin
Frogpond Farm
Westcott
Vineland
Megalomaniac
Ravine
Pearl Morissette
Colaneri
iCellars
Westcott
Malivoire
The Niagara wine region was actually established in the late 1800s with the still standing Pelee Island Winery being the first. The grapes planted were also the grapes used for making commercial food products such as grape juice, jams and jellies (i.e. red Concord, white Niagara, etc.) with wine being an afterthought. This continued all the way into the mid-70âs and is the reason why Canada is renowned for the infamous Baby Duck style of sparkling wine which is essentially just alcoholic sparkling sweet grape juice. Donât get me wrong, thatâs actually fun to drink but I donât think anyone would consider it real wine. Trivia fact: Baby Duck is still made and sold today and is even available in the LCBO. Itâs marketed as a fun throwback nostalgia wine.
Real wine grapes were brought to the region in 1952 by Brights Wines. They got the license for a winery but they essentially just grew the wine grapes in many different vineyards and sat on them for two decades. Though one could argue this was shortsighted, it was also fortuitous because a lot of the prime vineyards in Niagara are way older and more mature than people realize.
In 1975, the late winemaker and horticulturist Karl Kaiser and businessman Donald Ziraldo met by chance while the latter was buying flower splints to grow for a small plot of land in Niagara. After a bit of an argument at Kaiserâs flower nursery between the two men as to what would be appropriate to grow on the land that somehow brought up the topic of wine grapes, Ziraldo dared Kaiser to grow wine grapes in Niagara and the latter agreed if Ziraldo would let him do it on his land. This led to them becoming business partners and establishing Inniskillin winery in 1975. They were the first new winery in the region in over 50 years at that time.
In 1982, Hillebrand Estates produced the first ever Canadian icewine. This caught the attention of the few other wineries in the region and Inniskillin, Reif Estates and Pellee Island Winery all agreed to give it a shot the next year. Unfortunately, everyone involved forgot about the Canadian wildlife who happily munched on the frozen grapes during the winter of 1983 leaving only Hillebrand and Pellee Island able to produce a miniscule amount. Thus, the practice of netting vineyards in winter was introduced in 1984. Icewine production was plentiful as a result. And thatâs when the region really took off.
A steady flow of icewine, international sales, and Ziraldoâs excellent salesmanship eventually resulted in the 1991 Vinexpo Le Grand Prix dâHonneur for Inniskillinâs 1989 icewine in Bordeaux, France of all places. This resulted in unprecedented demand and growth in the region as wineries continually sprang up all throughout the 90âs and 2000âs. Wine tourism for the region also sprang up and reached an all time high in the 2000âs.
By 2010 when I first started getting into wine, things were taking an interesting turn. Icewine was still very much in high demand, but most of it was international. Here at home, it was starting to gain the reputation of the pricy wine you always buy and give as a gift but never drank yourself. Further, the region was finding that the fame and acclaim from icewine was also a double-edged sword. It couldnât shake its reputation as an icewine only maker and wineries trying to craft serious table and sparkling wine were chafing that there was neither respect nor purchases of their other wines. Even many Canadians wrongly think our wine region is only 40 years old because of icewine when both it and the original vines and vineyards are much older.
The restrictive LCBO monopoly and lack of shelf space on their stores wasnât helping things out, either. The romance of owning and operating a Niagara winery was clashing head on against real world economics of high costs, long work and little payoff. Smaller family run wineries were particularly suffering. Unless there was a money founder behind the winery or the owners had other jobs, a Niagara winery was an extremely precarious way to make a living. Still, a few new small and large wineries were successfully established. So it wasnât all bad but the signs of change were there.
And then just to make things worse, the international demand for icewine dropped during the 2010s. Both the local and international markets were now saturated. There were still sales, of course, but nowhere near the high volumes wineries were used to from the 90s and 2000s. The one guaranteed moneymaker for Niagara wineries couldnât be counted on any longer. For many wineries, the honeymoon and the romance was long over. This was now a matter of survival. It was clear that many wouldnât. A number of wineries were sold off to other owners and corporations with more money as their owners threw in the towel and retired. In the late 2010âs when cannabis was legalized in Canada, the few smaller wineries that were still holding on finally saw the opportunity to get back on their investment and leave the wine business altogether by selling their vineyards off to cannabis growers. Real estate developers also saw prime land for homes and grabbed up as much as they could, causing conflict between the food and wine farmers in the area and themselves.
All this said, the foresight the region showed in tackling the serious production of high quality table and sparkling wine has been paying off as we enter the 2020âs. The late 2010s finally saw many wineries gaining international acclaim for both their sparkling and table wines. Icewineâs declining demand and reputation was being replaced by a much improved outlook and sales of other wines. Many suspected that cannibis sales in the region would increase and wine sales would decrease over the years but in fact the exact reverse has happened. The large and small wineries that held on saw increased demand and sales, somewhat ironically helped out by the recent pandemic. To be clear, nobody in Niagara operating a winery is going to get wealthy off of it â many still just break even â but they are in a much better place going into this decade than they were leaving the one before it.
The best thing I can say about the Niagara wine region right now is that both Canadians and international visitors now think of it and refer to it as a wine region in general. Not just the place where they make the icewine that all the Chinese and Japanese tourists seek out by the busload, but a genuine wine producing region where you go to visit and buy no matter what kind of wine you like. There are actually more non-icewine producing wineries now than there are ones that still make it. Thereâs something for everyone now. And thatâs really the best possible place for it to be in right now.
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Great notes!
It will take more than one visit to do the area justice
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I would be remiss if I did not place a tasting note for a 2010 Stratus Cabernet Sauvignon opened last night. From a relatively warm vintage in this cool climate region, this is what Bordeaux used to taste like in the 80âs and 90âs. With age the pyrazine notes have completely integrated into this wine. What is left is moderately deep, tobacco leaf, dark cherry, earthy wine with a medium plus finish. Pleasantly spherical in presentation with tannins, fruit, and acidity all in balance. If you care for that sort of thing this is a solid 93 on the Parker/Vinous/Jancis etc scale of things. Too bad no one will ever write it up formally in a big publicationâŠbecause itâs, well, Canadian. And it took ten years to come around and fully integrate. No one has the patience for these kinds of wines anymore, we all want it big, bang, boom up front. I would bet the winemaker slipped in a bit of cab franc in this lovely wine to give it the polished finish.
Oh well, if a tree falls in a Canadian forest, will anyone seek it out? The Stratus whites are probably even more consistent. I for one am glad these old school reds are still being produced somewhere. Fits me like a well broken in pair of jeans. They ainât exactly cheap, but if you are coming from the US the 25% discount takes the sting out of the price. As a footnote, Stratus makes the best damn Cab Franc icewine anywhere! Not cloying, just lovely balance between fruit and sweetness but not over the top. I can drink a whole 375 of this. If you go make sure you get a taste!
PS Everyone makes a deal about how much you can bring back to the US, driving over the border. In my experience, (although I am not an international trade lawyer), the average border guard on the US side just doesnât care. As long as you are not bringing a U Haul full of Cubans back with your wine, they have always nodded pleasantly and waved me through. They could fill out reams of paperwork for every bottle over two a person, and assess you a tariff of something like .50c a liter for going over the limit. However these guys and gals (rightly) have lots of better things to do than probably waste 2 hours to collect $10.00 in tariffs. I have made the crossing dozens of times and the biggest annoyance is the long lines when traffic picks up!
Surprised you omitted the âBat Caveâ (unless I missed it). Thomas is one of the best advocates of Niagara wines by word and by bottle.
The other people who have chimed in have done a great job - Iâd say Pearl Morissette, Tawse, Stratus, Leaning Post, Cloudsley, and Bachelder are my top picks.
Chardonnay for most, but I really do like Leaning Postâs reds, especially their Syrah - they manage to be the only folks who really capture the meaty/peppery side of the grape here.
Sorry to be reductive (and butt in) but I have a friend going there this week and she wonât be able to dedicate as much time as Iâd hope.
Am I more-or-less good with telling her to go to Tawse, Stratus and 13th Street? Those seem to be the consensus must-doâs.
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Those sounds good and are varied in attitudes, terroir and specialties. Great threesome actually.
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I mentioned it in my post, but as Iâm sure you know, booking takes some planning.
Shame on me for forgetting Thomas âThe Silver Foxâ Bachelder! 
Especially since I was one of his earliest visitors when he first opened up and have met up with him twice more at other wine events. I have added him to the list of my recommendations.