Latest OWR now online

Michael Pinkus has the most recent issue of Ontario Wine Review online. This issue discusses the new higher-end (that is, more expensive, although not necessarily better) wineries that have been opening in the Niagara region lately.

In a recent discussion with a member of the Ontario Wine Society, we found ourselves chatting about the new wineries opening up in the Niagara region. The member lamented, "it seems, with the exception of Calamus, that the newcomers are high end and expensive." This was said to me on the heels of opening day at Niagara's newest winery, Hidden Bench (June 2) where policies for visiting and tasting were set out thusly: "due to the size of the tasting room we do not do groups of more than 8 persons . . . require an appointment for groups larger than 4 . . . tastings are $10.00 for our flight of four estate wines." Prices for wines started at $18 (for a rosé); $22 (for Riesling); $30 (Chardonnay) and $40 (white meritage).

What my OWS friend is referring to are the Tawses, the Hidden Benches, the Strati, the Ice House, the Alventoes, and the soon to be, new Southbrook that all seem to be a opening up with wine prices that seem to be priced out of this world; a world that’s more California-centric then Niagara-based. In a recent interview I read in the North York Mirror, Brian Kroeker, of the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival, was quoted as saying (jokingly I think), "we're Napa-North, or as we like to say Canapa." It would seem that some are taking this to heart.

I remember meeting the winemaker for one of these new "premium" wineries at a wine tasting about a year before the winery opened its doors to the public, and being treated to a long, ear-bending discussion about the winemaker's goal to produce only $100+ bottles of wine. I thanked him for the samples I'd tasted and quickly moved on . . . I was very much not his target wine-consuming audience!

I mean, good luck to him and his winery, but I have to hope that this isn't the direction all the wineries want to take: I enjoy my wine, but I don't want to have to take on a second job just to support my cellar!