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The history of wine making in Canada is one
that has been fraught with many challenges.  The country's northerly location and proximity to some of the coldest regions of the earth made it difficult for the country's budding wine makers to successfully grow grapes of European origin and make wines from these grapes. Early efforts which succeeded, did so only when grapes indigenous to Canada were used to make the wines. Later on when these problems had been overcome and European grapes could successfully be grown in Canada and used to make wine, the Canadian wine industry faced further challenges such as the alcohol prohibition of 1927 which severely limited white and Canadian red wine production to just a few wineries of the period.  It was not until the 1970's that this prohibition was lifted and the business of wine making could prosper.

Canada is most famous for its icewines along with countries like Germany, icewine varieties include those made from white wine grapes and Canadian red wine grapes as well.  It's red icewines are usually made from grapes such as the Carbernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and the Merlot. Typically red icewines are light burgundy or pink  in color and never a deep red.

Most regular Canadian red wine is made in the Ontario region, however grapes grown in warmer areas like the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia produce a lot of  great wine especially those of the classic Pinot Noir and Merlot varieties.  Areas of Canada that experience harsher weather and are unable to sustain the proper and regular growth of European grapes usually produce hybrid varieties of wine such as the Marechal Foch, Baco Noir and Gamay Noir. All three hybrids are great food wines popular all over Canada. The Canadian Gamay Noir  is in particular a full bodied red wine, deep red in colour with hints of berries. 

The Canadian Merlot  grape is grown mostly in British Columbia and the resultant wine is velvety smooth with notes of plum as well as cassis. 

The Canadian Syrah is a relatively new wine in the Canadian collection of red wines and its characteristics depend largely on it's origins, Syrah from the Okanagan region of British Columbia  is usually much more fruity while the Syrah of Ontario tends to be spicy in nature.

Other popular kinds of Canadian red wine are the Cabernet Franc and the Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cabernet Franc is usually blended with the Cabernet Sauvignon to create balance but is also offered on its own by a number of wine makers, it's taste and body vary with age. Younger lighter styles will usually have hints of raspberry and spice and older styles chocolate and cassis.