Robert Bell's

Wines of Canada

Since 1992

Ontario South Coast

Located along the Ontario's Lake Erie North Shore between the Lake Erie North Shore AVA(dark green in map) and the famous wine region the Niagara Peninsula ( also dark green). The region benefits from the moderate temperatures from the lake. Hot dry summer, excellent for maturing grapes. Winter conditions are moderated by the lake as long as it remains ice free. Winter and summer conditions produce a Carolinian climate and the Carolinian forest succession.

The central area of the region is dominated by the Norfolk Sand Plain, while loams and clays surround it, to east and west. Glaciation produced sandy landforms including moraines, eskers and drumlins. The prehistoric Lake Erie was larger and created a clay lake bed in Haldimand and extending underneath the Norfolk Sand Plain.

The regions heritage reaches way back to the first European explorers, French Missionaries Dollier and Galinee! In 1669, Dollier and Galinee travelled along the Lake Erie shoreline and arrived in Port Dover where they established their ... winter camp and discovered the local grapes. They made wine that was described "as good as vin de Grave".

Quai du Vin Estate Winery (pronounced "K dew vañ"), is the oldest winery in the region With vineyards first planted in 1970. Redi and Roberto Quai drew on their European heritage to establish their scenic country estate. Roberto and his wife, Lisa, opened the doors of the winery in 1990.

The wineries of Ontario's South Coast

Lake Eine North Shore
Ontario Grape Varietal

Wineries of Canada