Canada makes more wine than it can reasonably drink, in more styles than any single guide can carry. This almanac is our reading of it. 45 regions, ranked the way we'd visit them; the houses our critics keep returning to; and a short list of restaurants where we'd spend the evening.
Canada
Canada
45
1,367
1,031
The country, in numbers and adjectives.
The terroirs, by hand.
9 regions worth the trip first — chosen by the Femente desk for the houses we’d open with, the variety of styles within each, and the cooking that grew up around them.
British Columbia
British Columbia's vineyards split themselves between desert heat and mountain cool, pulling taut wines that taste of ripe fruit but keep…
Ontario
The wines pivot on freshness and restraint: cool-climate reds with visible tannin structure, whites that snap with green apple and…
Okanagan Valley
The Okanagan splits its ambition between Old World restraint and New World ripeness, producing reds of genuine structure alongside whites…
Niagara Peninsula
Riesling and Cabernet Franc stake competing claims to Niagara's cool climate, while icewine remains the region's calling card—a singular…
Quebec
Quebec's cool climate forces its winemakers into a daily negotiation with ripeness: whites lean bright and mineral, reds stay lean and…
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake mastered Riesling and icewine where others saw frost as obstacle, then pivoted to prove its reds could age with…
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia's cool Atlantic climate pulls minerality from glacial soils faster than ripeness arrives, forcing winemakers to choose…
Similkameen Valley
Similkameen reds lean toward bright tannin and savory earth—Cabernet Franc and Merlot shaped by desert heat and glacial soils that refuse…
Naramata Bench
Naramata Bench whites balance ripeness against acidity in a way few benchland vineyards manage —producers here chase minerality as hard as…
The country’s house grammar.
The 8 styles Canada makes most of, ranked by bottle count on Femente. The bar beneath each cell shows that style’s share of canada’s production.
1,166
Canadian Chardonnay — the country’s most numerous bottle.
958
724
660
648
561
558
504
The houses that keep showing up.
9 Canada estates the prestige critics have agreed on — ordered by the count of 95+ scores across Vinous, Decanter, Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator.
Where to spend the evening.
12 rooms across Canada our editors keep coming back to — chosen for the cooking and the wine list, in that order.
Oriole
Barbecue · European · Traditional — Toronto
96
Restaurant Pearl Morissette
Modern · Farm To Table — Lincoln
96
ABURI Hana
Grill · Japanese Fusion · Modern — Toronto
92
Restaurant Mastard
Fusion · European — Montreal
92
Shoushin
Traditional · Japanese Fusion — Toronto
92
O S T E R I A G I U L I A
Pasta · Italian Style — Toronto
92
Kappo Sato
Grill · Traditional · Japanese Fusion — Toronto
92
EDULIS RESTAURANT
European — Toronto
92
Hexagon Restaurant
Grill · European — Oakville
92
Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto
Modern · Japanese Fusion — Toronto
92
ARVI RESTAURANT
Traditional · European — Quebec
92
Quetzal
Grill · Barbecue · Traditional — Toronto
92
Add Canada to your cellar journal — or pick a region and start walking.
A short note in your inbox when we add a new region, find a winery worth crossing town for, or open a tasting we’d send you to. No noise. Just the ones we’d book ourselves.