By Rick VanSickle
As we start cheering on our athletes participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics today, why not toast them with Canadian wine made just for the occasion?
Niagara’s Pillitteri Estate Winery is the official partner of the Canadian Olympic team, a relationship that began in 2018 and was extended last year for a further six years. The renewal means the family owned, Niagara-on-the-Lake winery, will continue as the Canadian wine supplier through 2030, and remains the one and only Canadian wine partner in Olympics history.
The 2026 Winter Olympics take place from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. As the first official co-hosted Winter Games, events are spread across Northern Italy, including Verona, Livigno, Bormio, and the Fiemme Valley.
The partnership features three Canadian co-branded licensed wine products from Pillitteri: Team Canada Red, Team Canada White and Team Canada Icewine. Pillitteri donates $3 of every bottle sold to the Canadian Olympic Foundation, which goes directly to helping athletes train. So far, the partnership has raised over $300,000 through royalty donations to support Team Canada athletes. These funds, managed by the Canadian Olympic Foundation, help athletes at every stage of their Olympic journey providing the high-performance services needed to propel them over the finish line.
The partnership also allows Pillitteri to have exclusive rights to athlete branding for both the summer and winter games. Athletes such as Amy Millar (equestrian), Taylor Pendrith (golf), Troy Amos Ross (boxing), Andre De Grasse (seven-time Olympic medallist in sprinting) Kylie Masse (swimming) and skip Rachel Homan’s curling team that also consists of Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes, to name a few, all have their own wines made by Pillitteri.
All partner wines are made and sold through Pillitteri with input from the athletes. Jeff Letvenuk, Pillitteri’s marketing director, singled out the Homan’s curling crew for creating wines that reflect their own preferences. Homan was most particular with the blending of the red wine, which is crafted it to her exacting standers (big and bold), while the rest of the team focused on the white blend.
“This collection is about more than putting our names on bottles. Each wine tells a story, about our team, our sport, and what it means to compete at the highest level,” said Homan. “We wanted wines that fans, collectors, and wine lovers alike will be proud to enjoy and share.”
Pillitteri produces about 60,000 bottles of Team Canada wines every year, most of which is sold in Canada, and the rest following athletes wherever the Olympics are being held. They are served at the Olympic’s Canada House to be enjoyed by visitors and athletes alike.
“Our goal is to get these wines into people’s hands,” Letvenuk tells wines in Niagara as we tasted the lineup along with Pillitteri estate sommelier Jacob Gigliotti this week. “We love doing this because it promotes Canada.”
It’s been quite the coup for Pillitteri. “We were the first build to build a product with the Team Canada brand,” Letvenuk says.
Gary Pillitteri, founder and proprietor of his namesake winery agrees whole heartedly with Letvenuk. “As a proud Canadian and passionate winery owner, it is an absolute honour to continue our partnership with Team Canada for another six years,” he said when it was announced last year that the arrangement had been extended another six years. “At Pillitteri Estates Winery, we believe in the dedication, excellence, and perseverance that define our athletes. Supporting Team Canada is not just a privilege — it’s a celebration of the spirit that unites us as a nation. We are thrilled to raise a glass to their journey, their victories, and the inspiration they bring to Canadians everywhere.”
Brock University professor of marketing and consumer psychology, Antonia Mantonakis, above, noted that Pillitter’s connection to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games is putting Canadian wines in the spotlight.
“There are moments in history where New World producers like Canada have the opportunity to showcase their wine to a global audience,” said Mantonakis, a fellow at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute. “This is one of those moments.”
Mantonakis said the winery’s exclusive partnership with Team Canada in Italy — a historic, Old World wine country — provides an opportunity to boost perceptions of Canadian wines at home and abroad.
She likens the knock-on gains as similar to when Karl Kaiser and Donald Ziraldo won praise for the Canadian wines they brought to France’s Vinexpo in 1991.That win for Canadian wine not only impressed the international grape and wine community, she said, but also created a culture of pride among Canadian consumers, especially those from Niagara.
“The glory of being recognized at such a high level and the exposure that comes with it creates pride and a feeling of ownership, similar to how fans feel when a hometown athlete wins big at the Olympics,” said Mantonakis.
She believes that Pillitteri’s status as Canada’s wine at the Olympics will positively impact Canadians’ views of both the brand and Canadian wines in general. “Absolutely you will see a boost in brand recognition for both Pillitteri and the Canadian wine industry as a whole because people will associate the greatness of the Olympics with this brand,” she said.
I sat down and tasted the current vintages of the Team Canada wines and also tasted two of the Team Homan wines (they get going Feb. 12 at the Olympics) with Letvenuk and Gigliotti. All the wines are available at select LCBO and Costco stores as well as through Pillitteri’s online store here.
Team Canada Wine collection
The three wines of the Team Canada collection consist of a red blend, white blend, and icewine all made with 100% estate grapes. These are wines that will appeal to a wide audience and are smartly priced at $20 for both the red and white wines, and $30 for a 200 mL bottle of the icewine. And remember, $3 of every bottle goes directly to the Olympic athletes for their training.
Here’s what I liked:
Pillitteri Team Canada White 2023 ($20, 88 points) — The blend for the white Team Canada wine is 57% Riesling and 43% Gewurztraminer. It shows a lovely lime/citrus opening note on the nose followed by yellow apples, white peach, subtle tropical notes and lychee/ginger accents from the Gewurz. There’s a touch of sweetness from the ripe, juicy orchard fruits but nicely balanced by the citrus and mouth-watering acidity. It all leads to a rounded, yet vibrant finish. Good value and appeal for a wide range of wine lovers.
Pillitteri Team Canada Red 2023 ($20, 89 points) — The Team Canada Red is a blend of 44% Merlot, 37% Cabernet Franc and 19% Cabernet Sauvignon that spends four months in all used French oak barrels. It shows a lighter shade of red in the glass but a vivid nose of black currants, cherry/kirsch, brambly raspberries, a touch of herbs, earthy/savoury notes and integrated spice notes. It’s smooth and flavourful on the palate with red and dark berries, subtle earthiness, smooth, light tannins, cedar/spice notes and a lifted, finessed finish. Another good value wine.
Pillitteri Team Canada Vidal Icewine 2023 ($30 for 200 m/L, 92 points) — Pillitteri is the world’s largest family-owned estate producer of icewine, contributing roughly 20% to the world’s production with exports to over 38 countries. They produce a wide range of icewine styles, including Vidal, Riesling, Cabernet, Merlot and even the recently released Corvina. The 2023 Team Canada Vidal grapes were picked with nearly 200 g/L of residual sugar. The aromas jump from the glass with ripe apricot, baked apples, peach tart, concentrated tropical fruits and candied lemon. It’s rich and viscous on the palate with layers of wild honey, apricot, guava, papaya, lemon/lime marmalade, a medley of juicy, sweet orchard fruits and a luxurious finish balanced somewhat by racy acidity. Really nice icewine with the ability to age and develop tertiary notes for the next decade.
Team Homan wines in the house
As a big fan of curling — both playing the sport from my early days in Whitehorse and watching these amazing athletes compete for gold medals — I was keen on trying the Team Homan wines made in collaboration with Pillitteri.
Rachel Homan is one of Canada’s most successful women curlers, with only the Olympics yet to be added to an impressive list of accomplishments. Homan, along with her team of Tracy Fleury (third), Emma Miskew (second), and Sarah Wilkes (lead), are in Italy competing for gold, and with them went a supply of their wines that they made in collaboration with Pillitteri that they hope will be enjoyed with gold medals around their necks.
I tasted two of the Team Homan wines, and here is what I liked (available through the Pillitteri website):
Team Homan The House White 2024 ($25, 89 points) — The team settled on a blend of 85% Pinot Grigio and 15% Riesling after a blending session with the Pillitteri winemaking team. A bright, joyous nose of white peach, fresh green apples, melon, and white flowers that draw you in for another sniff. It’s fresh and lively with an array of peach, apples and citrus fruit with a lively, finessed finish. As the team says … “like a perfect draw to the button, a nod to (Sarah) Wilkes’ precision and versatility.”
Team Homan Cabernet The Guarded Red 2022 ($25, 90 points) — The skipper took full control on the blending process here as Homan is a red wine aficionado and knows what she likes. The blend ended up being 34% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon and 32% Merlot with 18 months of aging in French oak, mostly used barrels. I like Homan’s style here; she has really hit the button with this red blend. The nose shows ripe blackberries, juicy dark cherries, brambly raspberries, anise, currants and toasted vanilla bean-tinged spice notes. It has fairly good structure and texture on the palate with smooth tannins in support of ripe red and dark berries, some herbaceous/savoury notes, charred cedar plank and toasty spices on a lifted, long finish. As the team says … “like a well-placed guard in a championship end, mirroring Homan’s confidence and strategic vision.”
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