Niagara Escarpment, relatively new AVA (2005) that borders Lake Ontario’s southern shoreline. Grapes are grown on benchland under the limestone escarpment which runs some 700 miles from Rochester, New York, through southern Ontario, Canada, and into michigan. The ridge traps air warmed by Lake Ontario and protects vineyards from drastic temperature swings. With 883 acres of vines and 17 wineries in and near the AVA, Niagara Escarpment is a small cog in the New York wine machine, although a maker of outstanding, unctuous ice wines, the majority of which are made from vidal blanc.
