THE WINERY 

Martin Malivoire founded his eponymous winery in the 1990s following several decades in the film industry, working as a special effects director. His work can be seen in such beloved films as A Christmas Story and Hairspray. In the winery’s early years, Malivoire hired Shiraz Mottiar to work in the cellars. A member of the first graduating class of Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, Mottiar was quickly promoted to head the winemaking team in 2005, and today he acts as Malivoire’s General Manager. Since 2023, Italian-born Elisa Mazzi has served as Winemaker.

Among the pioneering generation of Ontario’s small artisan wineries, Malivoire is recognized as the leading authority in Canadian Gamay, in addition to its excellent Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet France wines. They have also long been at the forefront of the region’s sustainability efforts, earning the Ontario Certified Sustainable Winemaking credential. Martin Malivoire enacts what he calls a “three-legged stool” approach to sustainability, with equal weight placed on the “three Ps”: planet, people, and prosperity. In addition to minimal intervention farming practices, with an emphasis on energy and resource conservation and biodiversity, Malivoire invests in a number community engagement partnerships and initiatives.

Malivoire is located on the esteemed Beamsville Bench appellation at the heart of the Niagara Escarpment. The first vineyard property, named Moira Vineyard after Martin’s wife, was purchased in 1995, followed by the larger Estate Vineyard. In additional to their own fruit, Malivoire works with a number of Niagara’s most experienced growers and lauded sites, including the Mottiar Vineyard, owned and farmed by Shiraz.

ONTARIO, CANADA

The history of viticulture in Ontario can be traced back to 1811, when Johann Schiller planted the province’s first vineyard, just outside of Toronto. Much of Ontario’s early winegrowing was similar to Schiller’s, cultivated from native American vine species or hybrids. This began to change in the early 1950s when Brights, one of Ontario’s largest wineries, planted Chardonnay, a variety of the predominant Eurasian vine species Vitis vinifera. Until then, winegrowers feared vinifera would suffer in Canada’s cold, northerly climes, unable to survive the harsh winters. By the late 1970s, a number of new winegrowers, including Cave Spring, would follow in Brights’ footsteps and plant their own vineyards with vinifera varieties. Today, Ontario and its largest wine region, the Niagara Peninsula, is a global leader in cool climate winegrowing, with a bustling wine and hospitality industry celebrating its world class wines.

On a stretch of land between Toronto and Niagara Falls, the Niagara Peninsula is defined by the Great Lakes. Lake Erie lies to the south, and the region’s vineyards crawl up against the shorelines of Lake Ontario to the north. The Niagara Escarpment slices through the vinescape and extends into New York. A long, north-facing slope, topped by a gentle plateau, the Niagara Escarpment is critical in creating the unique climatological patterns that allow grapes to thrive. Moderating breezes from Lake Ontario blow inland toward the Escarpment, which blockades the winds and forces them into a centrifugal motion. This “lakeshore effect” not only reduces disease pressure in the vineyards, it causes the skins of the berries to thicken, providing concentration to the wines.

Ontario’s appellation system is regulated by the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA). The VQA generally divides the Niagara Peninsula into two areas: the flatter Niagara-on-the-Lake and the Niagara Escarpment. From the two areas the VQA has carved out a further ten sub-appellations. Among them is the Beamsville Bench VQA, which occupies prime real estate on the far western limestone soils of the Escarpment.

Ontario and the Niagara Peninsula specialize in cooler climate grape varieties, such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Gamay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc. Hybrids and native American grape varieties still play an important role in the Ontario wine industry, and several varieties, such as Baco Noir and Vidal Blanc, produce wines of complexity and character. One notable specialty of Ontario is its icewines. A beloved (and expensive) dessert wine, most commonly crafted from Vidal Blanc, Riesling, or Cabernet Franc, icewine was first produced in Ontario in the 1980s, attracting international accolades the following decade. Icewine can only be harvested beneath -8˚ C. At this temperature, the berries are frozen, dramatically increasing the ratio of sugar to water in the juice when pressed. The resulting wines are not only decadently sweet, but also extremely pure, long, and nuanced.