Ontario's Grapes: Riesling, Vidal

Riesling

Riesling is probably the most misunderstood and mispronounced grape variety, despite being widely acknowledged by wine critics as one of the world's greatest grapes. Riesling is the noble grape variety of Germany, known there as the King of Grapes! Riesling ripens early and is best fermented cool. It should be bottled early with as little interference as possible in the processing - no oak-ageing or malolactic fermentation is required. As well as delicate dry to off-dry wines, Riesling produces some fine late harvest wines.

Vidal

The white grape Vidal is a French hybrid, more properly called Vidal Blanc, which produces wines with fruity, floral characteristics. Its parents are Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano) and a parent of another hybrid, Seyval Blanc. The thick-skinned grape is well-suited to cold climates due to its mid-season ripening and its ability to produce good crops from secondary buds in the event of late spring frosts. As a result, it�s widely grown in Canada and the eastern United States. Vidal has high, natural acidity, making it suitable for a range of wine styles from light and crisp with racy acidity to slightly off-dry as well as sweet late-harvest wines and ice wine, for which it is famous in Canada.