Buyer’s Guide to Vintages September 13th Release

The Harvest is On and Ontario’s Outlook is Awesome

By David Lawrason with notes from Megha Jandhyala and Sara d’Amato

Vintages’ first September release has traditionally featured Ontario wines, a nod to the harvest and the beginning of a new wine year. This edition brushes up on some history and features Niagara’s wine establishment, fittingly as the years pass with Inniskillin now 50, and Cave Spring turning 40 next year. There is now a deeper confidence and consistency that only experience and vine age can infuse. We bring you some wines that nicely express this in our Ontario section below.

Meanwhile, the essential seasonal farm workers have been in the vineyards picking the less-ripe grapes, during one of the finest weeks of weather this summer. These early grapes with higher acid are destined for sparkling wine. This week they will move into the earlier ripening grapes for still, table wines — Burgundy varieties like chardonnay, pinot gris, pinot noir and gamay that are in Ontario’s wheelhouse. The 14-day forecast is looking smart — daytime highs around 20C-plus with modest rain and, fingers crossed, no tail-end hurricanes. If the pattern holds through mid-October, the later-ripening Bordeaux varieties — cabernet and merlot — should also do very well.

It has been a very good growing season so far, warmer and drier than normal. You may remember our cool spring lasting well into the May two-four weekend, which also meant a late start for the grapes. This shortens the growing season and creates less room for weather gloom during the summer and fall. But Mother Nature has actually dished up on a silver platter this year.

There was some concern during the sweltering “feels like 40” days of late June and July that vines would go into self-protecting drought dormancy and delay ripening. I discussed this with Cave Spring winemaker Gabe Demarco, who said their Beamsville Bench/Escarpment vineyards have ripened “slightly late, but pretty much normal. The berries are also a bit smaller, so quantity will be on the light side of normal.” This bodes well for quality and flavour concentration

“There should be no problem with phenolic (flavour) ripeness” he continued, and “we should be looking at another excellent vintage. The weather pattern has been very similar to 2024.” That was a large vintage resulting in a surplus, but the quality is excellent, with fine weather into October creating what has been called an “exceptional year for Ontario reds” by the Vintners Quality Alliance.

Business-wise the outlook for Ontario is very positive too. Sales of Ontario wine have skyrocketed since the Trump tariffs came into being in March, and U.S. wine was pulled from the shelves. John Szabo sized up the triple-digit percentage increases in his article attached to the August 2 release https://www.winealign.com/articles/2025/08/04/john-szabos-buyers-guide-to-vintages-august-2nd-release.

And on the governance front, the picture has also brightened for the Ontario industry. As recently recapped by NiagaraThisWeek.com, the government is spending $175 million over five years to double to 50% the quantity of Ontario grapes allowed in international domestic (non-VQA) blends, with the subsidy keeping the price of those wines low, in the $10 range. One hopes quality might also improve.

Meanwhile, the large Vintages release reveals that there is still lots of global competition. Of the 120 wines on this release, only 20 are from Ontario. That said, for context again, Ontario doesn’t grow enough grapes to supply the Ontario market if Ontarians only drank 100% Ontario VQA wine. Not by a long shot.

We have tasted many of the imports and present our recommendations below in ascending price order. Though not recently tasted or reviewed, I point you to a pair of five-star Ontario values — Thirty Bench Steel Post Vineyard Small Lot Riesling 2021 and Le Clos Jordanne Villages Chardonnay 2022.

Buyer’s Guide Vintages September 13th: Ontario

Cave Spring Estate Grown Chardonnay 2023, Ontario, Canada
$21.95, Cave Spring Cellars
David Lawrason – Tasted among other chardonnays from Burgundy at twice the price, this acquitted itself very well. It is ripe, substantial and flavourful yet well-structured and elegant. It is medium bodied, almost creamy and warming, with fine acidity.
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There are 21 other Vintages recommendations this week that are currently only available to our premium members. This complete article will be free and visible to all members 30 days after publication. We invite you to subscribe today to unlock our top picks and other Premium benefits

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And that is wrap for this edition. Tune in two weeks from now with a look at a release that features “Mature Wines.”

Cheers,
David Lawrason
VP of Wine

Use these quick links for access to all of our September 13th Top Picks in the New Release. Non-premium members can select from all release dates 30 days prior.

Lawrason’s Take – September 13th
Megha’s Picks – September 13th
Sara’s Selections – September 13th

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