“From Concord to Cabernet, The Ontario Wine Industry Celebrates 200 Years” From the Ontario Viniculture Association. Background Johann Schiller is acknowledged as the “father” of the Ontario Wine in…

“From Concord to Cabernet, The Ontario Wine Industry Celebrates 200 Years”

From the Ontario Viniculture Association.

Background

Johann Schiller is acknowledged as the “father” of the Ontario Wine industry. Schiller opened Ontario’s first wine

venture in 1811 in the area of Mississauga now known as Cooksville, where he offered to the public wines made

from wild labrusca grapes. From this humble beginning, the Ontario wine industry took root.

The subsequent story is convoluted, with periods of excitement, prosperity, political pressures, and virtual

abandonment. After prohibition ended in 1927, it took until 1975 for the first new winery to open in Ontario. The

success of Inniskillin and other 20th-century wine pioneers has fostered a lively industry in Ontario, and this no

doubt played a role in the evolution of fine wineries elsewhere in Canada. There are currently more than 160

wineries licensed in Ontario, including traditional wineries, fruit wineries, and meaderies.

The industry has also survived upgrades to its vineyards. Until the 1980s, Ontario vineyards were dominated by

labrusca grape species, including Concord, Niagara, Delaware, and Isabella. Vine pull-out began in the 1960s and

the majority of vineyards were replanted with cold-hardy hybrid grapes such as Vidal, Seyval Blanc, Baco Noir,

and Marechal Foch. Another replanting drive began in 1978, when growers replaced many of the hybrids with

European vinifera varieties: Chardonnay, Riesling, the Cabernets, Pinot Noir, and many others.

Ontario has always been proud of its best wines. A report from the Paris Exposition of 1867 heaped praise on the

wine entries from Ontario. This tradition of creating award-winning wines is firmly ingrained in the industry, and

Ontario wines bring home international awards year after year, and not just for its icewines.

Proposal

OVA requests that the Government of Ontario officially recognize this exciting milestone by declaring 2011 to be

the Bi-centennial of the Ontario Wine Industry.

OVA also invites Ontario wineries and wine organizations to join the celebration by helping to spread the

message “Ontario wine: 200 years and growing”. OVA also hopes to see wineries planning special events in

recognition of this achievement.

Ontario Wine Industry Milestones

1811: Johann Schiller, the father of Canadian winemakers, makes wine from local and imported North

American grapes and offers them for sale to the public.

1857: Porter Adams begins cultivating grapes in Southern Ontario.

1864: Canadian Vinegrowers Association is formed in Ontario.

1864: The Dunkin Act of Upper Canada allows counties to be "dry".

1866: Vin Villa is built on Pelee Island.

1867: Canada becomes a nation.

1873: George Barnes Winery opens in Niagara.

1874: T.G. Brights Winery opens in Niagara.

1894: John Sotheridge plants vineyards in Stoney Creek.

Page 2 of 2

1916: Prohibition begins. Ontario has 67 wineries producing medicinal and sacramental wines, and wines for

export.

1927: Prohibition ends. Alcohol jurisdiction is handed over to the provinces. Ontario implements a moratorium

on new winery licences.

1960s: Growers begin to rip out North American species and plant French-American Hybrids. Baby Duck is the

best-selling wine in Ontario.

1933 to 1974: After much consolidation in the industry, there remain only six wineries in Ontario.

1974: Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser apply for a winery license -- the first since prohibition -- and open

Inniskillin winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

1978: Ontario implements a pull-out program to remove native and labrusca grapes species, to be replaced by

hybrids. Wineries are allowed to import grapes/juice/wine to fill the gap until Ontario’s vineyards reach

production age.

1988: Ontario vintners create the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA).

1988: Canada signs Free Trade pact with the US. A massive grape pullout is initiated to wean wineries off

hybrid grapes, replacing them with vinifera varieties.

1990: VQA is adopted as BC’s wine standard.

1997: Cool Climate Vinicultural Institute opens at Brock University in St. Catherines.

1999: 100th winery licensed in Ontario.

1999: VQA is entrenched as Ontario law.

2000: Fruit Wines of Ontario is founded, and establishes the Quality Certified (QC) program for non-grape

wines.

2001: Ontario Wine Content Act becomes law.

2007: Prince Edward County is recognized as a vinicultural region.

2008: Niagara Region establishes a system of microclimates.

2009: There are 164 licensed wineries in Ontario, ranging from small family operations to factory wineries, fruit

wineries, and meaderies, with facilities in virtually every segment of the province.

2010: Prince Edward County emerges as Ontario’s second largest viticultural region.

2011: Ontario celebrates the Bi-centennial of its wine industry.

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Climate change worries Canadian farmers: poll

A poll released Dec. 11 suggests that Canadian farmers worry more about the impacts of climate change than they do about input costs and market prices for canola, corn, wheat and cattle. The poll of 858 producers from coast to coast determined that farmers rank climate change as their No. 1 concern. “When farmers and ranchers were asked an open-ended question—at the very beginning of the poll—about the top challenge for the agricultural sector for the next decade, climate change was the number one answer,” says Farmers for Climate Solutions, a group, that as its name suggests, is focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation within Canadian agriculture. The organization hired Leger, a market research firm, to conduct the survey. It was done by phone from Aug. 8 to Sept. 8. The headline question from the poll asked farmers to identify the top challenge for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years. The results? 17.9 per cent said climate change. Input costs were 17.2 pe

Livestock producers are warned to watch for a larval disease

A disease that lives off the flesh of living mammals has been confirmed in Chiapas, Mexico. New World screwworm (NWS) is a parasitic larval disease of warm-blooded animals where the female fly will lay eggs near an open wound and the larvae can infest the wound and cause significant infections. NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people. Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton said the confirmation comes on the heels of a report in October from Guatemala where the first case was identified. “This larva and the fly were identified at the Mexican border in cattle that were coming through in Guatemala and so this is a very significant concern of especially grazing animals but really of any warm-blooded animal,” she said. “It does cause destruction when a wound gets infected.” Animals can exhibit very painful draining wounds that don’t heal. It has a negative impact on production and can include mortality o

Durum Ending Stocks Tighter from November

Agriculture Canada has whittled down its 2024-25 durum ending stocks estimate from last month, although it remains up from a year earlier. Monthly government supply-demand estimates released Thursday showed durum ending stocks at 650,000 tonnes, down 150,000 from the November forecast but still well up from the previous year’s 407,000. The reduction reflects Statistics Canada’s Dec. 5 crop production report which put this year’s Canadian durum crop to 5.87 million tonnes, down from the federal agency’s previous estimate in September of just over 6 million. However, this year’s durum crop is still 44% larger than the 2023 harvest, 20% above average and the sixth largest on record. Ag Canada trimmed its domestic use estimate slightly to reflect this month’s downward revision in the durum crop, but left its export forecast unchanged from last month at 4.9 million tonnes, up from 3.558 million in 2023-24 but still below over 5 million in 2022-23. At $325/tonne, the average expecte

Alberta Canola Seeks Grower Support for First Service Charge Increase in 20 Years

Alberta Canola is urging canola growers to approve its first service charge increase in over two decades. The proposed change—from $1 per tonne to $1.75 per tonne—will be put to a vote at the organization’s Annual General Meeting on Jan. 22, 2025. The increase is critical to addressing financial challenges and ensuring Alberta Canola can continue supporting farmers amid rising operating costs, declining production, and evolving industry pressures. A Challenging Landscape “Alberta Canola was built by farmers, for farmers, and that hasn’t changed in our 35 years,” says Karla Bergstrom, Executive Director of Alberta Canola. “What?has?changed is the world we operate within.” Bergstrom highlights the dual challenges of reduced public research funding and increased regulatory demands. Meanwhile, consumers, increasingly removed from farming, are demanding greater transparency in food production. With over 90% of its operating revenue coming from its service charge, Alberta Canola has face

BMO underscores trends affecting Canadian agriculture

The Bank of Montreal has published an in-depth analysis of nine key trends. Here’s a topline of several economic indicators and what to expect in 2025. ???????

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service