Wonders of Wine and Food

Beamsville, Ontario

Beamsville is in the heart of Ontario's wine country and contributes greatly to the wine industry in the Niagara Peninsula. Ontario is the largest wine grape producing province in Canada, in terms of acreage, tonnage and wine grape salespersons are the most valuable fruit in Ontario in terms of farm gate value. Grapes comprise 35% of the total farm value of Ontario commercial fruit crops. Over the last few years, grapes have been one of the few growth areas in Ontario agriculture, and represent increasing farm revenues. That increase can be directly attributed to the switch in acreage to higher-valued vinifera, which are in strong demand by Ontario wineries and consumers.

The Niagara Peninsula is the portion of Golden Horseshoe, Southern Ontario, Canada, lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario, in the west. The most prestigious wine region in Ontario.

When entering from the west Grimsby is the first community along the route. The next community is Beamsville. It is about a 65 minute drive from Toronto. Over twenty wineries call Beamsville home.

The Beamsville sub-appellation runs from the creek gully just west of Cherry Avenue to Park Road west of Beamsville, is the narrow plateau sloping gradually from the cliff of the Niagara Escarpment northwards to Regional Road 81, marking the bottom of the crescent-shaped Lake Iroquois Shore Bluff. To the west, the Bench rises into the moderate slopes of the Bell Terrace, where many of the area's vineyards are located, on steep slopes above deep, wooded ravines and on the sides of small ridges and slopes of the numerous streams that cut through the landscape.

This appellation reaps the benefits of the bench topography which provides the continuous air circulation that moderates temperature and results in consistent growing conditions. Soils are generally deep and well-drained and numerous streams provide seasonal water supply. Although a relatively small appellation, the Beamsville Bench exhibits a unique set of conditions that provide a natural complexity to the wines that are grown there.

Cave Spring was perhaps the first of today's current wineries to plant a vineyard on the Beamsville Bench.

Among the wineries located in Beamsville are Angels Gate, CornerStone Estate, Fielding Estate Winery, Hidden Bench Estate Winery, Malivoire Wine Company, The Organized Crime Winery, Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery and Thirty Bench Wine Makers

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