Guide to Canada’s Best Wines 2020 – Top Sparkling
Announcing Canada’s Top Sparkling Wines
Many of these wines can be easily purchased by clicking on the wine and then the Buy a Case Now button.
Category Overview by John Szabo, MS
If a single category of wine could be said to unite Canada’s best from coast to coast, and attract significant international interest, sparkling wine is it. It’s the single most improved style category over the last decade, and now the most consistently excellent. And it has attracted the greatest number of new players, now numbering well over 200 (over 25% of all wineries), as producers across the country recognize potential. Production in Ontario alone has tripled in the last decade. Most importantly, dollar for dollar, Canada’s top sparkling wines are among the world’s best values.
I’m referring specifically to traditional method sparkling wines; Canadian Charmat or tank method wines, on the other hand, rarely compete on quality/price with similar wines from around the world, most notably prosecco. Production costs are too high. But with suitable cool climate pockets from BC to Ontario, Québec to Nova Scotia, essential for top quality, and growing technical expertise, Canada hits the sweet spot with traditional method bubblies.
The vast majority are made with the classic varieties: chardonnay, which in still, table form would be my other top pan-Canadian category, and pinot noir, which too, reaches the sublime from east to west, albeit with less consistency. Three years on the lees seems about average, with many examples spending five or more, far exceeding the minimums stipulated in all the world’s great sparkling regions, Champagne included. The extended ageing allows wines to soak up those complex toasty-biscuity-brioche flavours in a process called yeast autolysis, the backbone of all great bubblies in the traditional style.
Return to the complete Guide to Canada’s Best Wines.
The top 10 sparkling wines in Canada:
Summerhill Pyramid Cipes Ariel 2000, VQA Okanagan Valley ($115)
Road 13 Vineyards Sparkling Chenin Blanc 2016, BC VQA Golden Mile Bench, Okanagan Valley ($46)
Lightfoot And Wolfville Blanc De Blanc Brut 2014, Annapolis Valley ($45)
13th Street Grande Cuvée Blanc De Noir 2013, VQA Creek Shores ($60)
Lightfoot And Wolfville Brut Rosé 2018, Annapolis Valley ($45)
Blomidon Cuvée L’acadie, Annapolis Valley ($35)
Mirabel Blanc De Noir 2016, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($48)
Thirty Bench Sparkling Riesling, VQA Beamsville Bench ($39)
Blomidon Brut Reserve 2011, Anapolis Valley ($45)
More top sparkling wines:
Cave Spring Blanc De Blancs Brut Sparkling, VQA Beamsville Bench ($30)
Leaning Post Zero Dosage Traditional Method Sparkling 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench ($45)
Kew Vineyards Blanc De Noirs 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($30)
Cave Spring Riesling Brut 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench ($25)
Summerhill Pyramid Winery Cipes Blanc De Blanc 2012, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($46)
13th Street Blanc De Blanc 2018, VQA Creek Shores ($30)
Trius Brut Rosé, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($33)
Rosehall Run Pet Nat 2019 ($32)
Megalomaniac Bubblehead Pinot Noir Sparkling Rosé, Traditional Method, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario ($35)
Malivoire Bisous Brut, VQA Beamsville Bench ($35)
Rosehall Run Ceremony Blanc De Blancs Brut, VQA Prince Edward County ($35)
Westcott Vineyards Brilliant Methode Traditionnelle 2013, VQA Vinemount Ridge ($40)
Noble Ridge The One Sparkling 2015, BC VQA Okanagan Falls, Okanagan Valley ($40)
Tawse Quarry Road Spark Rosé 2017, VQA Vinemount Ridge ($30)
Backyard Vineyards Reserve Blanc De Noir, BC VQA Fraser Valley ($40)
Flat Rock Cellars Crowned Rosé 2015, VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($45)
Westcott Brilliant Sparkling Rosé 2018, VQA Vinemount Ridge ($33)
13th Street Premier Cuvée Sparkling 2014, Traditional Method, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario ($40)
Niagara College Teaching Winery 2016 Balance Brut Rose 2016, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake ($29)
Cipes Brut Nature Zero Dosage Organic, VQA Okanagan Valley ($30)
Trius Brut, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($30)
See Ya Later Ranch Sparkling Brut, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($22)
Peller Estates Ice Cuvee Classic, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($36)
Niagara College Teaching Winery Nv Balance Brut, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake ($23)
Fitzpatrick Fitz Brut 2016, VQA Okanagan Valley ($33)
Arrowleaf Wildblume 2019, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($23)
Fitzpatrick Fitz Brut 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($33)
Redstone Limestone Ridge Sparkling 2017, VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($25)
Lunessence Riesling Brut 2019, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($29)
Peller Estates Signature Series Ice Cuvée Rosé Sparkling, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($37)
13th Street Cuvée Brut Rosé, Traditional Method, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($30)
Unsworth Charme De L’ile Rosé, VQA Vancouver Island ($25)
Gray Monk Odyssey Rosé Brut 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($30)
The Foreign Affair Sparkling Rose 2019, VQA Ontario ($25)
Noble Ridge The Pink One 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Falls, Okanagan Valley ($46)
Greenlane Saffron Sparkling Rosé 2019, VQA Ontario ($24)
Rathjen Cellars Sparkling Rosé, Vancouver Island ($35)
Château Des Charmes Brut Sparkling, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake ($26)
Colio Lily Sparkling, VQA Ontario ($18)
Tawse Spark 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($26)
50th Parallel Blanc De Noir 2017, VQA Okanagan Valley ($98)
Kew Amalia 2015, VQA Beamsville Bench ($35)
Moon Curser Moonlit Frizzante Roussanne, Viognier, Marsanne 2019, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($26)
Niagara College Teaching Winery 2016 Balance Brut Riesling 2016, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake ($27)
Greenlane Severine Sparkling Riesling 2019, VQA Ontario ($22)
Pentâge Fizz Blanc 2019 ($23)
Chateau Des Charmes Blanc Des Blanc 2016, VQA, Niagara On The Lake ($35)
Steller’s Jay Mountain Jay Brut 2016, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($27)
Jackson Triggs Okanagan Entourage 2016, Okanagan Valley ($33)
Gray Monk Odyssey White Brut 2018, Okanagan Valley ($30)
Arrowleaf Cellars Summerstorm 2019, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($23)
Howling Bluff Faux Paw Frizzante 2019, Naramata Bench ($25)
indicates the wine received a 5 star value rating from at least one critic.
Return to the complete Guide to Canada’s Best Wines.