Last year I had the pleasure to visit Niagara Peninsula and the surrounding wine region. The Niagara Icewine festval was taking place with much of the attention centered around the famous dessert wine. However some of the most exciting wines are not sweet at all but quite dry. I was impressed with the Pinot Noirs, Cabernet Francs and Rieslings I tried. There were a few surprises like Aligoté from Chateau des Charmes in St. Davids Bench. Overall the wines are very good with old world structure, high acid, low oak, medium to medium plus body and their own unique terroir.
Getting to understand the subregions was always hard when I looked at blown up maps of Canada without any detail of the terrain. Niagara Peninsula is all about terrain, aspect and location. The influence of Lake Ontario and the escarpment that runs right along the entire coast line. I mapped out as best I could the subregions with a little help from Google Earth. I hope it gives you a better understanding of how and why they are divided. Toggle bbetween the Satelite, Terrain and Earth views.
View Niagara in a larger map
