The Niagara Wine Region

Between the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario lies a strip of benchland where the lake moderates the winter and the escarpment traps warm air, which is the only reason vines survive at this latitude. It is Canada's largest wine region and the world's largest producer of icewine, made from grapes left hanging until they freeze hard on the vine, usually in December or January, and pressed while still frozen so that only a concentrated syrup comes out; a whole vine may yield a single glass. Riesling and Cabernet Franc are the region's most convincing dry wines, with a growing reputation for sparkling. Niagara-on-the-Lake anchors the eastern end with a preserved nineteenth-century main street.

What you actually see

• Icewine - the frozen harvest the region leads the world in.
• Riesling and Cabernet Franc - the serious dry wines of the benchland.
• Niagara-on-the-Lake - the preserved main street and theatre festival.
• The Twenty Valley - the quieter western half of the region.

When to go

May to October for cellar doors at their fullest, with harvest in September and October. The icewine harvest happens on a few nights in deep winter and is announced at short notice; a January icewine festival marks it for visitors. Summer weekends are busy with Toronto day-trippers.

Honest expectations

Tasting means driving, and Ontario enforces impaired driving law hard, so use a driver or a tour. Tasting fees are standard and add up. Quality is uneven, with serious producers alongside operations selling sweet blends to bus groups. Icewine is expensive for a small bottle and much of what is sold cheaply is not icewine at all but a chilled imitation.

Nearby

Niagara Falls is twenty minutes; Toronto is ninety minutes northwest.