The Wines of Canada
Oxford: Infinite Ideas ‘Classic Wine Library’, 2017
Paperback £30
Also available as an e-book
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The Canadian wine industry is one of the world’s youngest. Wine was being made commercially by the mid-1800s, but the modern industry dates back only to the 1980s. At that time Canadian producers – most of them then in the Niagara Peninsula region of Ontario – began to plant more and more Vitis vinifera grape varieties and to adopt modern viticultural and winemaking techniques. The second major wine region, Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, began to emerge in the 1990s. Within three decades Canada, one of the world’s smallest wine producers, has gained a solid reputation for high-quality wines made from diverse grape varieties in a number of styles – table wines, sparkling wines, and the iconic Icewine.
The Wines of Canada provides a historical background, starting with Vikings who visited the east coast about 1000 and reported (perhaps mistakenly) finding grapes growing wild. Five centuries later, European settlers and missionaries brought wine and tried to make more from native grape varieties. When wine was eventually made commercially, producers used indigenous and hybrid varieties.
Turning to modern Canadian wine, The Wines of Canada surveys Canada’s wine regions, especially in British Columbia and Ontario but also in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. In each region there is information on climate, land patterns, the dominant grape varieties, and wine styles made. For each region and sub-region there is a list of notable producers, their best wines, and contact information.
There is also a chapter on the structure of Canada’s wine industry, including regulating authorities and the various provincial systems of selling wine – notably the mix of state-run and private retailing that prevails in most provinces. There is also information on Canada’s wine culture, such as wine consumption patterns, wine tourism, and wine festivals.
In short, The Wines of Canada provides a comprehensive overview of Canadian wine.
Reviews
“There are probably few people as well placed as Rod Phillips to write this book. Historian (specialising in the history of food and alcohol), wine writer and having lived in Canada for over 50 years, he’s got the inside and outside track of, and I quote, ‘a very big country with a very small wine industry’… This, as with all of Phillips’ books, is such a treasure trove of facts and interesting little nuggets of information that you could read it three times and spot something new each time. His wry humour never intrudes on the text, but you can spot it glimmering on a page here and there, as he quietly remarks on some irony or absurdity. The book… must surely be the most comprehensive, painstakingly detailed book on Canadian wine yet to have been published.”
“The Wines of Canada is a serious, detailed look at the history, regions and individual producers of wines … With Canada now playing host to more than 700 wineries nationwide, this is an essential guide.”
“In the end, it seems that this book deftly accomplishes multiple tasks. Tackling history, politics and geography in a single volume, Phillips gives us a book that is simultaneously an easy read and a desk reference. For anyone interested in exploring Canadian wine, The Wines of Canada, is an indispensable primer.”