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Frozen grapes await harvest in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. Picture: Alamy
Opinion
The Corkscrew
by Nellie Ming Lee
The Corkscrew
by Nellie Ming Lee

Canada produces more than just ice wine – unusual grapes grow from British Columbia to Nova Scotia

  • In the North American country, a whole world of wines are waiting for their day in the sun

Canada isn’t a country that springs to mind when you think of wines. It is, however, famous for one type – ice wine.

Made from grapes that are frozen naturally at minus 8 degrees Celsius or less for a minimum of 10 days before harvest, ice wines can test a vintner’s patience. The winemaker hopes that the grapes stay on the vine long enough to freeze, and aren’t eaten by birds heading south to warmer climates, or by bears before they go into hibernation.

Looking beyond Canada’s famous ice wines

The grapes are harvested in their frozen state (try wielding sharp secateurs while wearing heavy gloves and winter gear!). They are also pressed while frozen because even though the water inside the grapes freezes, the sugar and other compounds do not. Each frozen grape yields just a few precious drops – only about 10to 20 per cent of the volume of the thawed fruit. Fermentation can take between two and six months. The grapes used to make Canadian ice wine are vidal blanc, gewürztraminer, riesling and cabernet franc.

For oenophiles willing to look beyond ice wines, Canada has a wide range of unusual grapes growing in a variety of regions.

Nova Scotia’s is the smallest (only 400 hectares) region, where two hybrids – l’acadie blanc and seyval blanc – are grown. Other unusual grapes here include geisenheim, marechal foch, leon millot, lucie kuhlmann, baco noir and castel. L’acadie blanc is a hybrid of cascade and seyve-villard created in Ontario in 1953. The flavour profile is close to petit chablis: bone dry, bracing acidity with flavours of crisp green apples and freshly zested lemons and limes.

When buying Canadian wines, look for the Vintners Quality Alliance label.

Seyval blanc traces its origins to France, where it was developed in the 1950s. However, the variety is not allowed to be grown in the European Union as it is a hybrid descended from non-vinifera American grapes and does not meet EU standards for “quality wine”. The flavour profile is comparable to that of a minerally sauvignon blanc.

Ontario, Canada’s largest wine region, with nearly 7,000 hectares and 175 wineries, produces most of the country’s ice wines. Many classic grapes are found in Ontario – chardonnay, riesling, pinot noir, cabernet franc and gamay noir – where more than 90 wineries produce sparkling wines, with about a third of them using the traditional methods of Champagne.

British Columbia has more wineries (278) than Ontario, but the area planted is only 4,150 hectares. The diversity of wineries means there is more experimentation with grape varieties. In addition to the grapes grown in Ontario, British Columbia also plants pinot gris, gewürztraminer, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and syrah. The bulk of the region’s vineyards are concentrated in the Okanagan Valley, where, since the 1990s, many fruit orchards have been replanted to grow grapes.

When buying Canadian wines, look for the VQA symbol on the bottle, which stands for Vintners Quality Alliance, the country’s appellation system. Like the European appellation system, VQA lays out rules on how each region is demarcated, and ensures that the grapes in the bottle are grown entirely in that area.

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