By Gazette Staff
July 17th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
As the long-standing steward of the Canadian Wine Library (CWL), the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) is now expanding opportunities for special interest groups, scholars and members of the media to access and review the nation’s top vintages.
Housed within CCOVI’s 44,000-bottle cellar at Brock University, the newly relaunched CWL was developed to determine how Canadian wines age and provide producers with feedback based on results from scheduled tastings.
The Wine Library is huge.
“Canadian wines improve very well with age,” says Barb Tatarnic, Manager of Professional Studies and Outreach at CCOVI. “We believe this message is not as clear as it should be and so, accordingly, the vision of the CWL is to demonstrate the potential of cellaring premium Canadian wines.”
The CWL is a non-profit, revolving collection of the finest VQA and domestic wines grown and made in Canada. It evolved out of the Ontario Wine Library (OWL) via an agreement signed with Brock in 1998. The name was formally changed to the CWL in 2007.
Tatarnic says tasting groups, producers, educators and researchers can gain access to the library’s wines by submitting an application on CCOVI’s website.
“We want to help inform the consumer on what they can expect from Canada’s wines within the collection in regard to ageability and to serve as a resource for ongoing research in such areas as sensory evaluation, vintage variations and stylistic changes over time,” says Tatarnic.
Tony Aspler was an original member of the OWL’s board of directors and one of the most respected wine writers in Canada, with more than 50 years of experience covering the industry.
He says there are many benefits to this repository and, thanks to the selection of wines already in the collection, the CWL’s inventory is off to a great start.
“To have a permanent library of back vintages of Canadian wines is not only a treasured archive but an invaluable educational tool for winemakers, historians and enthusiasts alike,” he says.
“This collection — which grows annually with each vintage — represents the finest efforts of the Canadian wine industry and is curated under ideal conditions at Brock University.”
Nicholas Gizuk, Head Winemaker at Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Inniskillin winery, agrees the CWL is an invaluable resource for the industry.
“To have a place for wines to be properly stored and made available for private and public tastings and educational purposes is so important to our industry,” he says. “Sometimes a great vintage will accidentally get sold out or they might get lost in a warehouse, but if they are put aside and kept separate in this library, it makes for unique opportunities down the road.”
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