Book of Canadian Wine | Priestley

With a history dating back to our early settlers, Canadian winemaking has truly come of age. Now more than 500 wineries offer highly praised vintages such as our famous icewines and recently developed exotic varietals:-- The world's most expensive new wine was a bottle of Canadian icewine: in 2006, Royal DeMaria released five cases of their 2000 Chardonnay icewine at a whopping $30,000 per half-bottle-- The first vineyard in Canada was planted by French settlers in Nova Scotia in 1633-- As of 2009, British Columbia had 19 vineyards and wineries with full organic certification- Ontario and Nova Scotia had one each-- Ontario's Niagara Peninsula, Pelee Island and Lake Erie North Shore regions supply 80 percent of the Canadian-grown grapes used in Canadian wine production-- When Prohibition hit Ontario in 1916, the province's winegrowers managed to convince the government to exempt wineries- the only catch was that customers had to buy at least a five-gallon keg or a case of 12 bottles at a time-- Canadian celebrities who own vineyards include Mike Weir, Wayne Gretzky and Dan Aykroyd-- The taxes Canada applies to wine are the highest in the world--over twice as high as the taxes in the runner-up, New Zealand.