Prince Edward County divides wine lovers. It’s a new Ontario wine region, recognized by the VQA in 2007. It’s Ontario’s northmost appellation, and its most youthful. The vast majority of the vineyards were planted in the last 10 years, which means many of the vines are still undeveloped and not yet at their best.
Residents and cottagers in the County love the wine and buy it up nearly as fast as the wineries can make it. Under their patronage, the number of estates in Prince Edward County has tripled in the last few years. The sense of enthusiasm and adventure has spilled over to many journalists, who lionize this new region. For example, Toronto Life’s superb wine critic David Lawrason recently moved to Belleville “to chronicle the rise of Prince Edward County.”
Other wine critics are not so sure. Although few want to tar a whole region, if you speak with them informally, they grumble about the County’s wineries. This discontent is not because there is no good wine in the County — there is plenty. The problem is that it is not particularly good value.
I have found this to be true in many Ontario-wide tastings that I’ve attended. The best Prince Edward County wines (especially Chardonnay) show well, but they are 150 percent to 200 percent more expensive than a comparable bottle from Niagara. Of course, even if they are overpriced, the PEC wineries don’t have much trouble selling their wares, so it is hard to blame them for squeezing what little profits they can from the notoriously impecunious wine business.
Prince Edward County is like a big fish in a small pond. The local wineries have a fanatically loyal fan base that will keep them buoyed no matter what any wine critic may say about their pricing. But this appeal is local. To break out into the larger stage (Canada, North America, the world) they will have to offer comparable value; if they are going to charge as much as a Premier Cru Burgundy, it better taste as good as a Premier Cru Burgundy. Are they up for this challenge?
Matthew Sullivan is a civil litigator in Toronto. He blogs weekly here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column also appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at matthew@lawandstyle.beta-site.ca. Follow along on Twitter: @shortcellar.
Photo by Catherine Bulinski