OK, so one good thing happened last year. The 2020 wine vintage is being heralded as one of the best on record in Ontario and Nova Scotia. The Okanagan in B.C. also reports top-quality grapes, though variable weather resulted in lower yields. And things are looking pretty good for Quebec, too. “The summer was hot and dry. The wines that normally have a cutting acidity are actually rounder, with very ripe flavours, and are fuller-bodied,” says Mackenzie Brisbois, a winemaker at Prince Edward County’s Trail Estate Winery. The last two seasons were challenging, notes Rachel Lightfoot of Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, but 2020 proved the warmest growing season she has experienced since planting vines 10 years ago. She’s putting that ripe fruit into more still wines, cutting back a little on sparkling production. Watch for rosés, whites and light reds, which are hitting bottle shops now.
—Jessica Emin

Photo Credit: Cave Spring

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