Niagara Escarpment is a relatively young American Viticultural Area (AVA) in New York State, at the edge of the world-famous Niagara Falls. Created in 2005, the appellation is essentially a continuation of Ontario's Niagara Peninsula region on the western side of the falls in Canada. Niagara Escarpment's position near to the sizable Lake Ontario makes it well suited to the production of elegant, age-worthy wines made from Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chardonnay, as well as American varieties such as Niagara and Concord.
The region is named for the Niagara Escarpment landform: a free-draining limestone ridge that runs for more than 650 miles (1050km) through Ontario, Michigan and Wisconsin (where it runs through the Wisconsin Ledge AVA). The Niagara Escarpment AVA covers the land between the 400ft and 600ft contour lines around the ridge for roughly 30 miles east of Niagara Falls.
The AVA is made possible for viticulture by the temperature-moderating effects of Lake Ontario, which stores heat during the summer. In the all-important, late-summer ripening period, hot air rises off the lake, drawing cooler air from the land and creating an offshore breeze that sees the warm air circulated back onto the land. The ridge itself serves to trap this warmer air, extending the growing season and aiding the ripening process in the otherwise cool-climate area. Closer to the lake, grapes struggle to ripen in the cooler environment, and on the Huron Plains to the south of the AVA, poorer air drainage means that frost is a constant danger.
The gravelly limestone soils in the Niagara Escarpment AVA are better suited to viticulture than the deep, fertile soils of the Ontario and Huron Plains. Free-draining with poor fertility, the escarpment's soils limit the water and nutrient intake of the vines, lessening vigor and concentrating flavors and pigments in the grapes. This leads to a better intensity of flavor and color in the finished wines, which are fast gaining a reputation for their high quality.
Traditionally, native American and French/American hybrids were grown in the Niagara Escarpment AVA, but the quality of the terroir here is such that Vitis vinifera grape varieties are increasingly finding a place in the vineyards. In addition to the AVA's dry white and red wines, winter freeze means that it is one of the few regions in the world where true ice wine can be made.
