Niagara Peninsula | The Great Lakes Effect

(Madison, Ohio) The Niagara Peninsula has long been the Great Lakes wine region best known to wine lovers. But it’s not the only one. On the shores of Lakes Erie and Michigan, winemakers are now trying to make a name for themselves on both sides of the border.

It’s a quiet Sunday morning at Silver Crest Cellars in late July.

“It won’t last,” predicts co-owner Anne Poorman as she pours the first drinks of the day.

Visitors often line up outside the small winery in Ohio’s Grand River Valley region. So much so that the owners installed a traffic light at the gate to limit visitors.

Across the street, Laurentina Vineyards has more space to accommodate visitors. But its restaurant patio also overflows.

Ohio Grape Industry Director Christy Eckstein isn’t surprised. Grape growing is thriving in the state.

“Every month we have three or four new applications for wine production permits,” she says on the phone. “There are 426 active vineyards and we welcome more than 2.2 million visitors each year.”

It must be said that the Grand River Valley region is strategically located.

It is located between two major American cities, Detroit and Buffalo. The vines are planted about fifteen kilometers south of Lake Erie. This region is also nicknamed the “grape belt of Ohio” because of the favorable climatic conditions for growing wine.

Lake Erie is indeed the shallowest of the five Great Lakes of America. Its maximum depth is 64 meters compared to 405 meters for Lake Superior. This particularity allows the water temperature to increase more quickly in the spring and to warm the vines late in October.

“It can be up to 21 ^o“It’s October,” says Eric Cotton, winemaker at Silver Crest Cellars. “We have our best weather right around the time the grapes are ripening.”

In winter, the mercury can drop to -12 ^oC, an acceptable threshold for varieties vitis vinifera like Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay. Producers are not taking any risks. However, they cover the vines with earth in winter, so as not to be surprised by polar vortices like in 2014 and 2015.

While the weather conditions are ideal, the real challenge is the lack of grapes, Eckstein said. Vintners must purchase fruit from other states to meet demand.

Cars, corn and vines

On the Canadian side of Lake Erie, the road between Hamilton and Windsor, Ontario, is endless. In this kingdom of the automobile industry, factories stand side by side with cornfields as far as the eye can see. But at the tip of the peninsula, near Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River, some twenty vineyards are established on the north shore of Lake Erie, in Essex County.

“Our climate is definitely warmer than Niagara,” says Scott Wilkins, owner of Dancing Swallows Vineyard. “I never have a problem ripening my Cabernet Sauvignon.”

The Hydro One retiree planted experimental vines on family land in 2006. He was quickly convinced.

Soil is also a commonality among Great Lakes vineyards, says viticulture expert Maria Smith of Ohio State University.

Back in Essex County, the climate allows the Ontario winemaker to grow mostly Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Cabernet, as well as a hybrid called Baco Noir.

“Customers like rustic wines, with personality,” he adds, “that’s why I keep it.”

In the shade of his two-hundred-year-old maple tree, the winemaker offers tastings of his vintages. He admits, however, that visitors are still rare.

A four-hour drive from Niagara, where the number of vineyards is ten times higher, Scott Wilkins does not hide the fact that the region is still little-known to Canadians.

“We have more American customers, we are right next door,” he observes.

Downtown Detroit is indeed less than an hour’s drive away, but here, it’s Michigan wines that are the order of the day.

Huge distance

In the shadow of the General Motors towers, the Detroit Vineyards bar has been serving its house wine since 2016. What’s special about it: it’s produced with grapes from the state of Michigan.

“All of our grapes come from in-state growers,” says Michael Moyer, the winery’s manager. “They’re made right here in Detroit, in the old Stroh’s ice cream factory.”

To buy his fruit, Michael Moyer adds a lot of mileage to his car’s odometer.

Michigan has five appellations of origin, scattered along the right bank of the lake, over an area of ​​500 kilometers from north to south.

To reach the Lake Michigan Shore appellation, where 40 percent of the state’s wines are produced, Michael Moyer drives more than two hours across a vast plain. He then arrives at the Filkins estate, where the first vines were planted 22 years ago.

Zach and Lindsay Filkins have just purchased this family estate. They have big ambitions to stand out.

Michigan cultivates nearly 1,500 hectares, including twice as many varieties vitis vinifera than hybrids. At 920 feet deep, Lake Michigan acts like “an air conditioner,” says Steve Salisbury, creator of the podcast If Vines Could Talk.

“Michigan wines often have higher acidity, nuanced flavors and great aging potential, like those from Burgundy and Alsace, which gives them a lively and vibrant character,” the expert says.

As the sun sets over the Great Lakes, all winemakers are missing is exposure.

To drink

Winemaking has been practiced around the Great Lakes for over 200 years. Vin Villa Winery was the first registered winery in Canada in 1866. It is located in the heart of Lake Erie on Pelee Island. Since 1979, Pelee Island Winery has been growing grapes on the island. Its wines are the only ones available at the SAQ. Priced under $20, its Riesling is dry, crisp and perfumed.

Lola Riesling Pelee Island 2021 (13940561), $16.25

Consult the SAQ file