Ep. 979 Map 16 Canada | Jumbo Shrimp Maps

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Canada is a vast country, the second largest country in the world, but when it comes to wine production, it's pretty small in terms of its contribution to global wine production. Canada doesn't even crack the top thirty wine producing countries, but it actually is a top producer of ice wine. We'll talk more about that later. Canada's history of making wine is relatively short, but there have been large shifts recently to propel Canada into quality wine production. Early vineyard plantings in Canada, mainly focused on native North American vine species, instead of the European vine species that we all know so well, Vitis Vanessa. Those native grape species were ideal for jam and juice production, but not as ideal for quality wine. The next step towards quality wine production was with the use of hybrid varieties. We can recall that a hybrid grape is the product of parents from two different vine species. Until fairly recently, hybrid varieties dominated wine production in Canada. But there's been a big shift since the nineteen eighties. When grape growers were motivated to rip out North American species and replant with Fitis Fenifera vines. However, the grape Vidal was one of those hybrid varieties that had a significant impact on the Canadian wine industry and continues to be important today. It was popular because it is hearty and can withstand the cold winter temperatures that can harm many bittish vanilla varieties. Fidal is in a popular choice for dry wines because it lacks character, but it does have high acidity, making it a good candidate for Icewine production. Icewine is Vidal's claim to fame here in Canada. We'll talk more about Icewine right after we introduce the two main wine producing regions in Canada. The provinces of Ontario and British Columbia are the two biggest sources of quality production here in Canada. Each of these provinces has designated viticultural areas that could be further broken down into regional appalachians and sub appalachians. Let's look at Ontario first. Ontario has three of these d v a's, and the most significant one is the Niagra Peninsula. Here in Ontario, the climate is cool continental, which means summertime temperatures are very warm. And winter temperatures are very cold. Winter temperatures often dip far below freezing for extended periods of time. Vidus Finifera varieties would have difficulty surviving the cold winter temperatures say for one very important factor, the lake effect. The huge lake, Ontario has a major moderating influence on the surrounding lake areas. Let's look at how this moderating effect works. Lake Ontario is a vast and deep lake, deeper even than the surrounding lakes. Because of this, lake Ontario takes longer to cool down when the summer's over. Since the lake water stays warmer, the surrounding area stays slightly warmer too. This allows grapes to have extra time for ripening. This moderating lake effect also creates a protected area for vidus vanifera vines to survive the cold winter temperatures. In the spring, the lake is slow to warm up again. This is great for vines because as the lake warms up later, vines have bud burst later. So if there are no buds until later in spring, growers don't have to worry about damage from early spring frosts. There is yet another benefit from vineyards being in close proximity to Lake Ontario. There is greater airflow in the vineyards because of the way the land is shaped here, and this airflow helps to reduce the presence of moisture while also reducing the pressure of disease on grapes. Thank you for listening to Italian wine podcast. We know there are many of you listening out there, so we just want to interrupt for a small ask. Italian wine podcast is in the running for an award, the best podcast listening platform through the podcast awards, the people's choice. Lister nominations is from July first to the thirty first, and we would really appreciate your vote. We are hoping our listeners will come through for us. So if you have a second and could do this small thing for us, just head to Italian wine podcast dot com from July first to the thirty first and click the link. We thank you and back to the show. Now let's talk about which grapes are planted here. As you can guess, grapes here are selected for their ability to withstand cold winter temperatures and to ripen adequately in this environment. Shardonnay is widely grown and expresses cooler apple and citrus flavors, but can have some stone and tropical fruit character if planted in warmer areas. Riesling is also grown successfully due to its hearty nature. It is made in dry to off dry styles as well as sweet ice wine. The hybrid Vidal is the other significant grape for ice wine production, as was mentioned earlier. So let's take a moment to briefly discuss ice wine production. Canada is the world's largest producer of ice wine, mostly made here in Ontario. It is a difficult wine to make since it depends on climate factors to be successful. Grapes are left on the vine and picked in the winter when temperatures dipped at minus eight degrees Celsius or below. The harvesting of frozen grapes can happen in the dark of night when temperatures are at their lowest. Then, the frozen grapes are pressed immediately before the ice inside the grapes has a chance to melt. The frozen water stays behind so that that small amount of rich liquid can be made into ice wine. As you can imagine, only a small amount of liquid is released, so only small amounts of wine are made. High prices for Icewine reflect the difficult winemaking process and small yields. Icewine made with riesling can result in even more aromatic intensity and complexity than Icewine made with Vidal. Ice wine is usually matured in stainless steel to highlight its pure varietal characteristics, but occasionally extra complexity and flavors can come from oak maturation. Ice wine is very sweet. But it is high acidity to counterbalance this richness and sweetness. In addition to white grapes grown in the Niagara peninsula, black grapes make up almost half of wine production. Cabernie Fronk is the most planted, followed by Marlow, Cabernie sauvignon, and pinot noir. Red wine styles can range from elegant and fresh to easy drinking styles or can be made in a more serious oak aged style. Let's now shift over to the western side of Canada, to the province of British Columbia. There are five DVAs here, with the largest production coming from the Oconoggin Valley. You'll notice that vineyards here are further north than Ontario's wine growing regions. The northern tip of the Oconoggin Valley stretches beyond degrees latitude. It is relatively cooler at this northern end. And as we move southwards towards the United States border, temperatures get warmer. The climate is continental here, and temperatures often exceed thirty degrees Celsius in the summers. And can even reach forty degrees. Winter conditions are cold, but temperatures do not drop as low as in Ontario. This is a lake valley with smaller lakes in the southern half and a longer lake in the northern half of the valley. These lakes are quite small though compared to Lake Ontario, so they have less of a role in moderating temperatures on the surrounding areas. The Oconoggin Valley is notably dry. This is because the valley is located in the rain shadow of the cascade and co still mountains. In fact, the Southern Oak and Valley can be characterized as a semi desert. These dry conditions make irrigation essential for many vineyards. Let's now look at another factor for Viticulture in this warm to hot area. Tempatures tend to warm up later in spring, so budburst can happen as late as May. And harvest can start as early as August. So the growing season is short here, but being this far north in latitude, days are relatively longer. And longer days, add some ripening time to the short growing season. Now let's see how these climate and location factors influence great growing and wine styles here. In the hot southern part of the Okinawa Valley, The climate is better suited to black grapes, like Merlo, Cabernet, Cabernet sauvignon, and Sarah. Wine can be full bodied and are often characterized by high alcohol. Nights in the semi desert can be cool, and allow the grapes to retain some acidity, but generally the fruit is generous and ripe. The northern part of the valley is relatively cooler, and it focuses more on cooler climate black and white varieties, like Pino green, riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir. These wines can have high acidity from somewhat cooler conditions while also being characterized by ripe fruit flavors. Ice wine is also made in the Oconoggin Valley. Mostly with riesling or Vidal. So touching on labeling practices here, wine labels in British Columbia and Ontario can be labeled as V QA wines, short for Vintner's Quality Alliance. This designation regulates the percentage of grapes that must come from the indicated appylation on the bottle. Essentially, a VQA wine verifies that the grapes are sourced from the province or appylation indicated. So here we have it. Some basics about wine production in Canada. Let's recall some key factors that makes great growing possible in Ontario. The very large lake Ontario has a big moderating effect, where cold winter temperatures would otherwise threaten the survival of vines. In NBC, the Okinock Valley is located very far north, but is still quite warm and also quite dry. Canadian wine production is small in terms of global statistics, but is very focused on quality production. Thanks for listening to this episode of Italian wine podcast brought to you by Italian wine Academy. 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