This is the second of my Canadian Wine Trends 2024 articles. I will cover our interest in red and white still varietal wines using Google Trends information. Was there an overall upward slope (interest) or downward slope (disinterest) in a style over the year? Was there a peak at a certain time of the year? Let’s find out.
Red and White Wine Interest
You can right-click on the graphics below and open them up in a new tab to see the graphs at full resolution.
White Varietal Wines
The first thing that jumps out at me is how the graphs for Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc look identical; a steady interest through the year, but then a bump around the Christmas holidays. Pinot Gris also has the holiday bump, but an overall stronger interest throughout the year. BC has the highest interest overall in these four white varietals. Chardonnay rules in Quebec, which makes sense with their interest in French wines (Burgundy). I was surprised to see PEI in the top spot for Sauvignon Blanc interest, as the Maritimes does have their Tidal Blanc blend particular to the region. It could be that Sauvignon Blanc pairs best with the seafood on the east coast. All provinces, excluding the three Territories show interest in all four grape varieties.
Red Varietal Wines
I picked the six most common red grape varietals in my opinion for Canada. Again, I see a similar graph profile for Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir wines; a steady interest through the year and then a bump in the Christmas holiday season. Cabernet Franc, Gamay Noir, and Syrah have waves of interest throughout the year, although Cabernet Franc and Syrah do have a Christmas bump.
Again, like the white wine maps, there is consistent interest in red varietal wines, with little to no interest in the Territories. One exception is the lack of interest of Gamay Noir for Saskatchewan. In five of the six graphs, British Columbia showed the highest interest in these red varietals. Quebec showed up in second spot for Gamay Noir and Syrah. I was expecting to see Quebec ranking higher than fourth spot for Pinot Noir (Burgundy). Yukon was an anomaly, showing the highest interest in Merlot. Our Alberta neighbours are primarily interested in Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, which is interesting as each wine is on the opposite ends of the aromas, flavours, and tannins spectrum. Ontario drinkers’ main interest appears to be Cabernet Sauvignon with a less interest in Gamay, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Noir.
I hope you enjoyed and were enlightened by the information gleaned from Google Trends about Canadian interest in red and white varietal wines in 2024. If you have any comments about these wines in Canada, or from your province in particular, please post it below. Cheers.
