Niagara Peninsula is the largest and most productive viticultural area in Canada, located on the Southern shores of Lake Ontario. It stretches roughly 55km (35 miles) between the eastern limits of Hamilton city in the west and the left bank of the Niagara River as it flows into Lake Ontario. The VQA covers over 13,000 acres (5,200 hectares) oand produces mainly cool Climate varieties such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc. It also produces a large Volume of ice wine.
Indeed, 90 percent of Canada's ice wine is made here, which makes the region the biggest producer of the style on earth. Needless to say, most other styles of wine are covered in Niagara Peninsula, from rosé and Sparkling wines, to Central-ranges/orange">Orange wines and Pét-nats (Pétillant naturels).
The region boasts nearly 100 wineries, producing over 10 million litres of wine annually.
The geographical Niagara Peninsula appears within the strip of land that runs west-to-east between Lake Ontario in the North and Lake Erie in the south.
The "peninsula" is formed by the Niagara River that flows northwards, between the two lakes. The river also marks the international boundary between Ontario, Canada and the US state of New York.
The viticultural zone is confined to the northern half of the Peninsula, however, between the southern shore of Lake Ontario and the land just south of the Niagara Escarpment. The Escarpment, a 650-mile-long (1050km) limestone ridge that runs from upstate New York through the Great Lakes region, has a profound effect on the Terroir here.
Intraspecific crossing between the saint laurent and the limberger realized in 1922 and in Austria by Fritz Zweigelt (1888/1964) who named it rotburger. Very well known in Austria, it can be found in most Eastern countries, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, the United States, etc. In France, it is not very well known and yet this variety has interesting qualities when vinified as a single variety for both red and rosé wines. - Synonyms: rotburger, klosterneuburger, zweigelt blau, blauer-zweigelt in Germany, zweigeltrebe in Austria, Great Britain and the Czech Republic, blauer zwelgetrabe in Hungary, etc. (for all the synonyms of the grape varieties, click here !)
The 0.27% of entries awarded Best in Show at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards reflect the inspiring world of wine and quest for quality among winemakers globally, with 50 wines expressing the best of their categories. An all-time record for wines tasted at the world’s largest wine competition, it’s quite possible that Decanter World Wine Awards 2022 marks the largest-ever wine competition to be held in history. And of the record-breaking 18,244 wines tasted, just 50 were ...
An electronic dart was tossed at us recently by Decanter reader Tim Frances from Kent. It landed on the screen of our magazine editor Amy Wislocki; Amy lobbed it across the virtual room to me, suggesting a column-length reply. ‘Here’s a poser,’ Tim began. ‘How do your experts grade a wine that they find intellectually well made, but that they truly madly deeply dislike? I’ve tasted wines I can admire dispassionately, but would stab my feet with forks rather than drink them. Must be a conundrum f ...
Niagara’s summer? It’s hot, and sticky. I tried a walk near my hotel in mid-July but could only find a large retail mall. It was early; the shops were still shut. Even so, I had to dodge from awning to awning, avoiding the prosecuting sun. I’ve been there in autumn, too, which happened to be mellow and easeful – though it can also be wild, wind-whipped, rain-drenched. The ‘shoulder seasons’ are feared here: you never know what’s coming. The first time I went it was deepest winter. That made an i ...
