Wine terminology flies around the room faster than I can grab onto. It’s not just tasting notes and tannins, which I can usually guess my way through. We’re talking technical — yeast inoculation and dozens of other things I don’t understand. I’m a wine “enthusiast,” let’s say — I love to drink wine, and I want to understand why I like what I like. But I’m in way over my head as the only journalist amongst a group of wine professionals today.
How do you picture a group like this? I’m in Niagara observing the Grapes & Growth Wine Camp, a program for sommeliers, beverage experts and hospitality professionals who are looking to expand their knowledge and delve into the world of winemaking — and everyone here is BIPOC.
The camp is hosted by Vinequity, an organization that advocates for equitable treatment for all BIPOC individuals working in any area of the wine industry, including those who identify as LGBTQ2S+ and people who are living with a disability. Wrapping my head around technical jargon is just one of the barriers to entry, not just for BIPOC but for everyone — including consumers.
“It’s like a secret language meant to keep people out”
“The language of wine, in general, is exclusionary,” says Brittany Sabourin, a participant at the camp and the co-founder of SommWise, a beverage education company in Ottawa. “We use words that the general public doesn't understand — it's like our own secret language that's meant to keep people out instead of allowing everybody to be in the conversation. One of the biggest problems in this industry is that we're all speaking a different language, and we can't communicate with each other. We're trying to sell wine to people using a language that those people cannot understand.”
A participant at Grapes & Growth, Brittany Sabourin is a sommelier and the co-founder of wine education company SommWise
At SommWise, Sabourin and co-founder Timothy Ouellette aim to remove the pretension from wine education and make it accessible to everyone. Nabilah Rawji, a co-founder of Vinequity and the founder of Vinopath, a wine consulting, curation, tasting and cellar management service, is aligned in that mission.
“Removing the pressure to decide on the correct vocabulary is so important,” says Rawji. “If you're truly skilled as a sommelier, if you're truly skilled as a wine person, you should be able to meet the person in front of you wherever they are.”
Vinequity’s Grapes & Growth Wine Camp is a place where people can come as they are. The 12 participants are all from different backgrounds — some are sommeliers, wine importers or restaurant workers, and everyone has had different experiences with wine.
During the Grapes & Growth wine camp, participants tour wineries and taste dozens of wines to better understand the winemaking process
Mona Mousa
The five-day program starts with two-and-a-half days in Prince Edward County, visiting big names like Closson Chase Vineyards, Rosehall Run Vineyards and Lighthall Vineyards, before moving to the Niagara region. But the camp isn’t just about cooing over delicious Ontario wines (though there’s plenty of that). We get a full-blown lecture about pests and disease control from Dr. Wendy McFadden-Smith, the tender fruit and grape IPM specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. My mind boggles at the lengthy list of fungi and other factors that pose a serious risk to grape growing. Looking around the room, everyone is enthralled — they’re taking down notes as fast as they can, and asking all the right questions. This is the next generation of Ontario wine producers. Programs like the Grapes & Growth Wine Camp are exactly what Ontario’s wine industry needs.
In addition to the hurdles of making wine, there are also the barriers between consumers and producers. Wine in Ontario is restrictive in the language used, but also in the way it’s marketed. “It's just exclusionary, and it feeds into the idea that people of colour are not consuming wine, but they're a huge part of the consumer base, and they shouldn't be completely disregarded,” says Sabourin. With all the challenges the Ontario wine industry is facing, it can’t afford to leave out an entire demographic.
Sommelier Nabilah Rawji is a co-founder of Vinequity and the founder of Vinopath
“There is a trend in the industry right now of young people drinking less,” says Sabourin. She explains that currently, the wine industry in Ontario is very rooted in tradition, but that needs to change.
“Diversity in the wine industry and representation in the wine industry will help to fuel innovation,” says Sabourin. “Having different perspectives, different ways of thinking and people who have lived different lifestyles, is the way forward for us to have a less homogenous industry. We need to be able to accept new ways of thinking and be a little bit more fluid.”
Sabourin had always dreamed of becoming a sommelier, but because she didn’t see people who looked like her, she didn’t think she could do it. “The industry is diverse, but you don't see a lot of representation in the upper echelon, in the decision-making positions,” she says. Now, Sabourin is a sommelier who, through her company SommWise, created and provides Acts of Service, an in-person AGCO board-approved retail liquor sales training program. It’s incredibly important right now in Ontario as convenience and grocery stores can sell alcohol to the public for the first time.
Sabourin offers inclusive and approachable beverage education through her company SommWise
During a workshop and tasting at Cave Spring Vineyard, vice president Thomas Pennachetti and winemaker Gabriel Demarco impress upon us the importance of diversity and innovation in the industry. They’re experimenting with technological advancements in pest control that could replace the need for harmful sprays and chemicals.
“If you have a very homogenous industry like the wine industry has been for a long time, where you only have one perspective and one form of knowledge that informs the industry, that industry doesn't grow,” says Nupur Gogia, another co-founder of Vinequity and the founder of Island Vines. “Having people from diverse backgrounds, from different histories, from different cultural viewpoints will only help the industry in terms of bringing new voices, new ways of looking at things, to the fore, and also expanding the wine industry to a greater amount of people. If people feel shut out because they don't see themselves reflected, that industry remains limited.”
Steve Byfield, the founder of Nyarai Cellars sits down to dinner with the Grapes & Growth Wine Camp participants
Mona Mousa
Along with Steve Byfield of Nyarai Cellars, Gogia is one of the only BIPOC winemakers in Canada; her label, Kush Wines, which is available at Grape Witches in Toronto, is a nod to her South Asian heritage. Gogia was a big part of creating the Grapes & Growth Wine Camp, where we get to taste Byfield’s Nyarai Cadence red blend and Nyarai Folklore Sparkling over dinner. Byfield tells us about his difficult journey in the industry, but both of these beautiful Ontario wines are now available at the LCBO.
“[Wine] was really white and there was a real bro culture”
There was nothing like Grapes & Growth or Vinequity when Byfield and Gogia first entered the wine industry. “It was really white, and there was a real bro culture … I was very intimidated to speak because I didn't have the language, and I felt like an outsider, and that's what we want to change,” says Gogia.
“We wanted to create a supportive environment where people that reflected the diversity of this city, of this province, of this country, could come together and learn about wine in a really supportive and nurturing environment,” says Gogia. That’s exactly what they did in creating Vinequity’s Grapes & Growth Wine Camp.
The Grapes & Growth Wine Camp participants form lasting bonds after once being isolated in the Ontario wine industry
Mona Mousa
“I've been to my fair share of wine events, education events and wine tours, but never have I had the opportunity to be a part of a group that was so passionate, so educated and asked such thoughtful and conversation-provoking questions,” says Sabourin. “It was truly an incredible experience, and it also brought together a community of people who may have been isolated in their respective roles.”
Vinequity and its Grapes & Growth Wine Camp are breaking down the barriers to the wine industry, inviting new voices into the fold and inspiring innovation — all things that the Ontario wine industry needs. The camp educates participants on the obstacles and the victories of winemaking in Ontario, but it also shines a light on what may be the biggest hurdle that the industry faces: the perception of Ontario wine.
Flat Rock Cellars winemaker Andrea Perez Castillo is originally from Mexico
Mona Mousa
At Flat Rock Cellars, during another workshop and tasting, business development manager Jacob Glantz poses a question to the group: “Do you think Ontario is capable of producing some of the best wine in the world?” It’s the first question I’ve heard this week that really stumps the entire group.
“At first my thought was, ‘The best wine in the world? I don't know,’ says Sabourin. “But the [Grapes & Growth Wine Camp] changed my perspective on that. We tried about 100 wines on this trip, and the quality of wine just blew me away. I think as Ontario invests more and more time, effort and finances into market research, like vineyard mapping, and into the industry, you can truly picture how far we're going to go.”
While Sabourin has high hopes for the future, Gogia believes that Ontario is already producing world-class wine.
The Grapes & Growth Wine Camp participants attend various workshops and tastings at wineries in P.E.C. and Niagara
Mona Mousa
“Our wines are winning platinum at Decanter and are doing really well on the global stage. Our wines show up in Master of Wine exams now. That’s one of the highest levels of wine certification in the world. Last year, they put an Ontario pinot noir on our exam. When we become testable as a wine-producing region, we've arrived. We're there,” says Gogia.
For Carolyn Hurst, founder and co-owner of Westcott Vineyards and the chair of Ontario Craft Wineries, the quality of Ontario wine isn’t the issue.
“That's not our problem. It's that nobody's heard of us, or they think, ‘I'll spend $1 less in order to get a less expensive wine.’” Hurst laments that the same people are willing to spend a little more in other areas: They shop from farmers’ markets, buy bread from local bakeries and say that they care about what they put in their bodies, yet “they buy an inexpensive wine from who knows where. Who knows how it's been made? Who knows what's been added to it in that process?” she asks. “Why are you not buying a local product first?”
Carolyn Hurst, the chair of Ontario Craft Wineries, and the founder and co-owner of Westcott Vineyards, takes pride in the quality of Ontario wine
Perhaps it’s the inaccessible language or label confusion, but both Hurst and Gogia suggest that international blends have led to a distrust of Ontario wines. “Someone, somewhere down the line, drank one of those international Canadian blends that you get at the lowest price rung of the LCBO, and that's what they think Ontario wines are, which, ironically, are not even Ontario wines,” says Gogia. International blends are deceiving because they can include a high percentage of cheap, low-quality wine from another country that’s blended with a splash of Ontario wine and bottled in Canada.
The quality of Ontario wine has also significantly improved in recent years. Rawji explains that there’s more knowledge in the industry now, and Ontario wine growers have spent more time discovering what works in their vineyards.
“Our vines now (on average) have been in the ground for a lot longer. We're turning the corner on when the vines are considered mature and usually capable of a different kind of complexity,” says Rawji. “We also have enough winemakers who are exploring the nuances of Niagara terroir and P.E.C. terroir, where we can start to look beyond a [provincial] identity. What does P.E.C. wine taste like? What does Niagara wine taste like? We're able to start looking at the vineyard to vineyard comparison to see that we have genuine differences in terroir that are worth exploring.”
Westcott Vineyards, in Jordan Station in the Niagara region, has won a number of national and international awards
Given the current political climate and all of the growth in the industry’s quality, innovation and inclusion, Ontario wine is ripe for discovery.
“We're in the middle of a trade war with the U.S. We've got a window of opportunity here to open the hearts and minds of people in the province around trying things that are grown here,” says Hurst. She emphasizes that buying Canadian products, including Ontario wine, puts money back into our own economy.
“Our members [of Ontario Craft Wineries] grow their own grapes, buy grapes from local farmers and make wine. That is what I'm proud of: a 100 per cent Ontario product that's grown and made here in this province by a diverse workforce. That's what Ontario consumers should be supporting,” says Hurst.
The Ontario wine industry is changing, and with it, perceptions are starting to shift.
“People's willingness to be open to Ontario wines is wildly different than my experience prior to the pandemic … Then there's also the genuine shift in quality. Ontario wine has come a long way in the last eight years, and it's only going to continue getting better,” says Rawji.
With Vinequity and its Grapes & Growth Wine Camp leading the way in diversity, equity and inclusion, the Ontario wine scene is becoming less homogenous. New voices and innovation are driving the industry forward. Sommeliers are breaking down the language barriers and offering education for consumers. Winegrowers have more knowledge than ever and our vines are maturing. Ontario has the climate, the terroir and the people — a recipe for creating some of the best wine in the world.
Hurst urges consumers, “There's never been a better time to buy Ontario wines.”
