Ontario winemakers hope warm, dry autumn means bright days ahead

Production of new wines grows to make up for summer’s cool, wet growing conditions

The spotlight is on Ontario wines at the LCBO as domestic wineries are busily working to produce their new crop of wines.

The tag line used in promotional displays at liquor stores is A Labour of Love, which seems more appropriate than usual given the cool and wet growing conditions winemakers faced this summer.

A special feature release at Vintages outlets sees a selection of 20 wines on the shelves, including limited-production wines from boutique producers like 2027 Cellars and Leaning Post.

The annual harvest — winemakers call it “crush” — is a good time to reflect on the growth of the industry, which now counts 165 wineries actively picking grapes in the province.

The average harvest sees 35,000 to 45,000 tonnes of grapes picked and processed — this year looks to come in toward the high end. That translates to 30 million bottles of wine produced in an average year.

The unseasonably rainy and cold weather experienced over the summer put pressure on grape growers, but it’s the weather in the weeks to come that truly impacts the quality of the finished wines.

Winemakers in Burgundy often say September makes the vintage. The same goes for Ontario, where dry and warm conditions in September and October can yield impressive wines no matter how many golf games were rained out in the summer.

Optimistic winemakers such as Thomas Bachelder who makes wines for his Bachelder label in Niagara, Burgundy and Oregon and Paul Pender from Tawse Winery recently drew comparisons with the 2013 harvest where challenging summer conditions gave way to an unseasonably warm and dry autumn.

The fact that both vintners produced some stellar Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs in 2013 gives their hopes more weight.

“The vintage is what gets into the bottle,” Bachelder says.

In other words, it’s too early to judge how the wines from 2017 will stack up.