Ontario Chardonnay: 20 cool-climate buys from Canada

Telling people I was heading on a work trip to the Niagara Peninsula, in Canada’s eastern province of Ontario, the response was invariably ‘oh, for the Icewine’. Even friends from my birth city of Ottawa, Canada’s capital and a 5.5-hour drive from the heart of the winelands, were surprised that anything else would lure a wine writer across the pond.

Just as there are lingering outdated perceptions that all Sherry and German Riesling is sweet and old fashioned, it seems there’s still a way to go to convince the general public that Ontario has many (many) more strings to its winemaking bow.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores of 20 Ontario Chardonnay wines to try

While growers planted the first vinifera vines of the modern era in 1974, with the first winery licence post-prohibition registered in 1975, the Ontario wine industry didn’t really kick off domestically until the 1990s. The first wine (yes, an Icewine) didn’t hit British shelves until 2001, and by 2013 – only a decade ago – there were still only three Ontario wineries exporting still wines to the UK.

That number has since tripled, but boutique production coupled with high export costs mean that for many Ontario producers, keeping back an allocation for export, knowing it could immediately be sold to a captive domestic market, is just not a viable option. And, in a familiar vinous vicious cycle, this contributes to the lack of awareness of Ontario’s increasingly serious-quality wines, of which Chardonnay is the star, representing 9.4% of Ontario’s grape production in 2022 (data from Wine Marketing Association of Ontario).

To increase my own awareness, I recently spent a week in the Niagara region, about an hour’s drive from Toronto, getting to grips with its geology and geography, which is key to the elegance, structure, density and vibrancy of these ageworthy wines.

Niagara Peninsula – the lay of the land

Today, more than 190 wineries operate under Ontario’s Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) appellation system, with 100 of them in the Niagara Peninsula – the largest area under vine in Canada, with 5,500ha.

This is a terroir-driven region, and the winemakers regularly reference Burgundy when talking about villages, slopes, limestone bedrock and cool climate – perhaps natural given the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (both still and sparkling) they excel in. And like Burgundy’s crus, decades of grape-growing and research has identified 10 distinct growing areas.

Starting from the east is the Niagara-on-the-Lake regional appellation, under which sit four sub-appellations, with Four Mile Creek being the largest and St David’s Bench notable for its elevations of up to 180m. About 20km west, past the town of St Catherines and right along the shores of Lake Ontario, are the Niagara Peninsula sub-appellations of Creek Shores and Lincoln Lakeshore. Apart from St David’s Bench, all these other sub-appellations lie on the plain, the vines planted in a mix of loamy clay sand and silt. The area around the town of Grimsby, however, less than 1.5km from the lake, and whose limestone- rich hillside vineyards abut the benchlands, has a unique terroir and is in the process of seeking its own sub-appellation.

Rising above the plain, planted on a 30m fossil-rich limestone slope carved out by glacial activity and rising to 185m in elevation, are the benchlands of the Niagara Escarpment, home to three sub-appellations stretching across more than 25km, including the heralded Twenty Mile Bench and Beamsville Bench.

Finally, above them, just over the undulating brow of the escarpment, on a mix of limestone and loam, is Vinemount Ridge, whose east- and south-facing vineyards – the highest in Niagara at 200m – are unique.

Unique because all the Peninsula’s other vineyards face north, which might seem unusual in such a cool-climate wine region, but all possible because of Lake Ontario. In winters perfect for Icewine, the lake moderates the climate and also cools down the vines during the hot, humid summers here – the Peninsula shares the same 43°N latitude as Tuscany.

This moderating influence helps give Niagara Chardonnays in particular real grace and electricity through marked acidity. Winemakers are, in general, hands off in the cellar, preferring foudres and puncheons to barrels and tending to use less new oak in order to maximise sense of place and fruit purity. Long lees contact, but no stirring, tempers bracing acidities and also contributes to the wines’ texture.

County & Valley

Moving some 300km east, across to the opposite shore of Lake Ontario, you reach Prince Edward County, Ontario’s most northerly appellation and home to 29 wineries. Water surrounds its low-lying, low-yielding vineyards on limestone bedrock and stony soils, with cold winters and hot summers again moderated by the lake.

Burgundian varieties are predominant here, both still and sparkling, but Chardonnay has the edge, achieving ripeness at just 12% alcohol (12.5% in Niagara), but with similar concentration and nervy acidity, the best showcasing delicate florals and a distinctive flinty minerality.

If friends in Ottawa were unaware of the quality of table wines made along Lake Ontario, they will be even more shocked to know that impressive Chardonnays are being made on their doorstep. Some 250km north of Prince Edward County, the Ottawa River Valley is one of Ontario’s emerging wine regions, just a 30-minute drive from Canada’s Parliament. There are only a handful of producers, but the limestone-rich soils and warm summers are ideal for cool-climate varieties.

Ontario’s remaining VQA region, Lake Erie North Shore, and three other emerging regions produce good wines from a range of varieties but the terroir doesn’t suit Chardonnay.

I’ve spent a lot of time on terroir but, as every Burgundy lover knows, that’s what makes great wines. This was amply demonstrated at the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration, which marked its 13th year at its July event in Niagara, where more than 30 Ontario wineries stood shoulder to shoulder with others from across Canada as well as Burgundy, Jura, Italy, New Zealand, Germany and Chile.

Ontario Chardonnay, particularly those from Niagara’s benchlands, are world class – even if most of the world hasn’t yet had the opportunity to discover them. It’s only a matter of time before that changes. Until then, here are 20 to try…

Ontario Chardonnay: 20 top wines to buy

Related articles

• North & South America Pinot Noir: Panel tasting results
• Canadian rosé: Patriotically pink for Canada Day
• Discovering Canada’s Similkameen Valley