Niagara Wine Region

Located between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, with shelter from the Niagara Escarpment, the warmer, more temporate, micro-climate allows the Niagara Peninsula to be one of the few fruit growing regions in Canada. You will find a wide variety of orchards (everything except for citrus), as well as a large number of vineyards. With over 100 wineries, this is the third largest industry here, following hydro-electric power and tourism.

Ice Wine

The specialty of the region is ice wine. Growers wait until the middle of the winter to harvest the grapes, when they are frozen solid at -10°c (10°f) or colder. They crush the frozen grapes, using more volume to extract the same amount of juice. The result is a more concentrated, flavorful, sweet specialty wine: "Dessert in a Glass".

Ice wine originated in Germany and is found in a few other European countries. But with the climate here of warm summers and cold winters, 70% of the world's ice wine is produced in the Niagara Peninsula.