Meet 3 Canadian natural wine producers who go wild for a hands-off approach

These Canadian wine, cider and honey wine producers use an organic or low-intervention approach to serve up bottles that are a true labour of love. They exude passion for their own creations — but were also happy to tell us about some of their favourite international brands, with whom they share agricultural values and a love of keeping things natural. 

Scout Vineyard

Similkameen Valley, B.C.

When friends Murray and Maggie Fonteyne, and Carly and Aaron Godard started making wine in 2018 on a mountain-flanked piece of land in the Okanagan that used to be an apple orchard, they decided to go the organic route. They focused on what they love to drink: Syrah grapes for reds, and Riesling in the white department. 

Thankfully, those varietals responded well to the locale's granitic grounds, and to the hot days and cooler nights that keep acidity thriving in the final product. Vines happily took to the microorganism-rich soil full of life-supporting fungi that the growers maintain through permaculture — the land management approach that banks on biodiversity and cover crops, which help with water retention and the ability to stay resilient in the face of increasingly erratic weather. B.C. has been no stranger to the latter, especially in the last five years, the winemakers said, with extreme heat putting stress on vines one month and huge amounts of rain that can lead to mildew the next. "Having resilient plants that have a lot of diversity of different microorganisms, we think that translates the same way to the wines.… The idea is that you have wines that are still alive with organisms," said Aaron Godard. 

Their small-batch chemical-free vinification production also allows them to age in qvevri, which are traditional earthenware vessels from the country of Georgia. The handmade (but pricey) receptacles don't transfer flavour and are perfect for skin-contact wines produced in a method that has remained mostly the same for thousands of years. If that taste of history appeals to your palate, they have wine agency reps in Alberta and Ontario, or you can check their website to see if they ship to your door. 

International discovery: The B.C. producers befriended Maria and Alexander Koppitsch of Weingut Koppitsch from Neusiedl am See, Austria, during last fall's Raw Wine fair in Toronto. They love the brightness and minerality of Koppitsch's whites, qualities the Canadians search for in their own wines. The Scout team was most impressed by their fun and fruity pét-nats (short for pétillant naturel): effervescent wines bursting with strawberry, raspberry and pomegranate notes that make them dangerously drinkable. Plus, they happen to have the same Ontario distributor, so you can put together a two-in-one order over at Grape Witches. 

Revel Cider

Guelph, Ont.

Since 2014, Tariq Ahmed has been letting things go a little wild in his barrels of cider and wine inflected with southern Ontario's flavours. "We're trying to represent this time and this place, where we live, the things that live here, and that includes the microbiome," said Revel's founder. "Every year, we're discovering new flowers and plants that contribute to that holistic picture of this place." Ahmed sees his divergent approach, what he calls full-spectrum terroir, as contrasting with how many traditional wineries see their land: "They've always spoken about viewing terroir through monoculture, through grapes alone, which [means] you're ignoring 99 per cent of the biodiversity in your region." He compares it to taking a panoramic photo rather than a zoomed-in close-up. 

Ahmed's approach also involves reconsidering fruit beyond its capacity to deliver acidity and sweetness. He cherishes the tannic profile of wild apples and pears — a quality that is difficult to get from farmed fruit beyond the mighty grape. The Chicago-born and Brampton, Ont.-raised producer who studied plant science at the University of Guelph has always loved the huge diversity of flavours available in the wild, recounting how he'd stop and taste clovers full of citric acid on his way to school as a kid. He often gets inspired by traditional processes and then tweaks them so they burst with wild and local flavours, like the foraged spruce resin he used to line barrels as they do in Greece to make retsina, a white wine flavoured with Aleppo pine resin. 

For Ahmed, making his ciders, wines and vermouths has turned into one big experiment. He tinkers with extracting botanicals and creating tinctures of ingredients to let them express their full potential. All that testing has paid off — his unique, jewel-hued drinks are available throughout most of the country. 

International discovery: Cider maker Nika Carlson, who's behind Greenpoint Cidery in Hudson, N.Y., shares plenty of Ahmed's views when approaching biodiversity in a glass. They met at a wine fair in New York, and her ciders — infused with plants like mugwort and dandelion — have become the sort of drink that sticks in Ahmed's mind. Though she does ship to other U.S. states, the best spot to try Carlson's wild ferments is on your next trip south of the border, at bars and shops such as Fresh Kills and Dandelion Wine in Brooklyn, as well as or select stores in the Hudson Valley where Greenpoint's apples take root.. 

Desrochers D

Ferme-Neuve, Que.

For Géraud Bonnet, making an experimental type of award-winning honey wine, or mead, has been a sweet story from the start: an interest in beekeeping led him to visit Quebec where he met his future life and business partner, Naline Dupuis-Desrochers. She has been steeped in the honey world as far back as she can remember and now runs the beekeeping farm that was launched by her parents, Marie-Claude and Claude, in the late 1970s. 

The next-generation duo has developed honey-based beverages that defy categorization because of their experimental nature. Their unique spin on mead traditions that go back at least 8,000 years blends the flavours of their Hautes-Laurentides region into every glass. "You cut all ties, forget your references, and taste it and see if you like it," said Bonnet in an interview conducted in French. 

Their greatest collaboration, however, is with the bees who pollinate the area's plant life. Each season is like a new vintage, with flavours changing depending on if there's more raspberry flowers or linden blooming at specific times in a year, for example, and these changes are reflected in the products of the family's honey maker, Anicet Desrochers. "It's a bit like being a parent," said Bonnet. "You can have an idea of [your child's] character, but life makes them evolve in another way, too. As a producer, you can't force things into a single box. You have to be open to what the product is, taste it and guide it gently." 

Working with a few local foragers, including Arômes du Nord, Desrochers D releases seasonal experimental batches of Beezz — sparkling honey wines laced with rhubarb, haskap berries or blackcurrant, depending on what they're tinkering with. Find the happy-hour-friendly bottles that hover between five and six per cent alcohol on restaurant menus in Ontario and Quebec, in select bottle shops and the occasional LCBO. 

International discovery: Combrillac, from Prigonrieux in France, is run by Bonnet's longtime friend from agronomy school, Florent Girou, who took over his parents' winery. He now runs it with his wife, Thien Uyen Do, who dove into the world of foraging and transformed the vineyard into a rich ecosystem where they follow biodynamic winemaking principles. Bonnet loves the whites he brought back from Girou's winery last summer — fresh but still packing a little southern heat, making them a perfect pairing for crab caught by a fisherman friend from the Magdalen Islands. You can find Combrillac via its collective Les Équilibristes, through import agency La QV in Quebec (where its bottles also occasionally grace SAQ shelves) and in Ontario by way of the Living Vine.