International bias still a challenge for Ontario wineries despite rising sales

An award-winning Ontario winemaker is concerned about the future of the domestic market.

Ontario’s wine country has been, for a bit, one of the crown jewels of the North American wine scene. Now, with a major boost in domestic wine sales due to trade wars, one producer (with some recent accolades) is worried about whether the party will last.

Taking home seven awards at this year’s Ontario Wine Awards, the Featherstone Estate Winery in Vineland, a small municipality in the heart of the Niagara Region, has been making major waves in the local scene.

With these recent feathers in their cap, owner Rayla Myhal sat down to talk about the future of wine production in Ontario, its shelf life, and how its current upward trajectory can be used to give back to the community.

“I think right now, we are at a place where we can put our wines on the global stage,” Myhal told INsauga.com. “What these awards have given us is the chance to see and experiment with asking questions like ‘are we on the right track?’ and ‘does this meet my expectations?’”

Among this year’s winners, Featherstone’s 2024 Ruby vintage, 2024 Pinot Grigio, and 2023 Unoaked Chardonnay (to name a few) won all steps on the podium. As a result, Myhal was able to see how tastes are changing in the province, as there has now been steady domestic demand, clashing with a certain international snobbery.

“I could never figure out why people had no problem spending $80 to $100 on a bottle of red from Italy or France, but an Ontario red, with the same grapes, same process, and same artistry, for a fraction of the price, was off the table. These last two years have really been a show of force of what Ontario has to offer,” says Myhal.

[Featherstone’s tasting room. Courtesy of Featherstone Estate Winery]

This show of force has recently been quantified, with direct numbers from Ontario LCBOs showing that Ontario VQA wines have seen a 44 per cent increase in sales across the country.

Even with all the medals around Featherstone’s neck, Myhal isn’t letting her guard down, as there is a lingering fear that if victory laps are reserved only for the Canadian market, Ontario bottles won’t see the light of day on global tables.

“We need to start boasting about our wines, genuinely and enthusiastically, and showcase how special it is in contrast to something French, Italian, or South American. But unfortunately, our European counterparts — and by extension the market — are very tight; it’s hard to break into. So those LCBO numbers are all well and good, but we need to make a new space for our industry,” says Myhal.

Myhal further stresses that the fuel for launching domestic wines is unknowingly pumped by consumers, as every time a dinner party opts for local wines over those from across the Atlantic or south of the equator, winemakers grow more confident and are encouraged to experiment more.

[The ‘estate’ in the winery. Courtesy of Featherstone Estate Winery]

With this momentum, Myhal is also trying to give back to the Ontario community, as 20 per cent of all earnings made on certain Featherstone wines are being allocated to charitable donations in the Niagara area — such as the regional women’s shelter Gillian’s Place.

“My goal from the start was to make this winery profitable, and then help give some of that profit back to the community. I hope I reach a point in my lifetime where I can give as much of the profits back as possible.”

However, that isn’t a guarantee, according to Myhal, as unless regional winemakers and consumers continue to fire on all cylinders, the domestic boom will eventually spiral out.

“Do I see that it’s going to pull away from the domestic market? Inevitably yes. This high that we are riding, I don’t perceive that it will keep growing the way it is.”