Harvest 2025 in Niagara has begun with first Pinot grapes picked at Henry of Pelham

By Rick VanSickle

Under brilliant blue skies, the 2025 harvest began in earnest today at Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery in Niagara.

The Short Hills Bench winery hand-picked its first estate Pinot Noir early today (Wednesday) for one of the largest sparkling wine portfolios in Ontario under perfect conditions. It was Henry of Pelham’s 37^th harvest.

After a cool start to the 2025 season, a hot, dry summer and timely rain balanced the harvest and paved the way for what many feel is going to be an excellent season for grapes. The 2025 harvest began five days later than the 2024 harvest.

“We are excited to start harvesting a very promising vintage,” said Matthew Speck, senior vice president of operations at Henry of Pelham. “We had a cooler than usual spring followed by a very hot and dry summer which is perfect for grape vines. The early fall has turned to cool nights and warm, dry days which is ideal for ripening the fruit while retaining the bright fresh fruit characters that Niagara is famous for. We expect the crop size to be fairly typical in quantity with amazing potential.”

A robust year for grapes, or at least typical, is good news for Ontario grape growers as demand will be high for grapes considering the “Elbows Up” movement and growing thirst for local VQA wines. With Premier Doug Ford vowing to keep the ban on U.S. wines in Ontario indefinitely, wineries are upping their production and scrambling for grapes. This follows a glut of grapes in 2024.

Henry of Pelham, always among the first to pick vinifera grapes in Niagara, began the harvest by hand-picking Pinot Noir for its Cuvée Catharine traditional method sparkling wines and charmat method sparkling wines. This will be followed by Baco Noir and Chardonnay for the sparkling wines.

“We had a cooler, slower start to the 2025 growing season but with a very warm July and August, we are back on track for this early September start,” said Henry of Pelham winemaker Lawrence Buhler. “With ample heat and well-timed rains, the vineyards produced a balanced crop with small clusters and plenty of flavour. Similar to 2024, you can expect strong varietal character in all our 2025 wines.”

Wines from Henry of Pelham’s 2025 vintage will be available in the market starting in early 2026 led by Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, and Riesling wines.

While Henry of Pelham is among the first to harvest the first vinifera grapes, many wineries have already begun to bring in some of the early-ripening hybrid grapes.

With a normal, healthy harvest looming it’s good news for Ontario winemakers. For VQA products — wines made with 100 per cent Ontario-grown grapes — the increase in sales this year since President Donald Trump announced his punishing tariffs has been more than 65% between Feb. 9 and May 24.

That includes more than 80% growth in VQA red wine and more than 60% in VQA white wines. VQA sparkling wine is up more than 30% and rosés more than 25%.