Canada

Two provinces, two sets of rules

Canadian appellation wine is regulated province by province. This page covers the two provinces whose sparkling wine rules were checked: Ontario (VQA Ontario) and British Columbia (BC VQA).

Ontario

VQA Ontario defines sparkling wine as wine that has undergone a secondary fermentation in tank or in bottle, with a pressure of not less than 300 kPa.¹ The category covers the traditional method, the Charmat method, Cuve Close and other tank methods. The carbon dioxide must come from fermentation; artificial or forced carbonation is prohibited.¹ A bubbly wine below 300 kPa is classed as "effervescent wine", which is not a sparkling wine and follows table-wine labelling rules.¹ A vintage date is optional for sparkling wine.¹

Wine labelled VQA Ontario is made from 100% Ontario grapes; VQA Niagara Peninsula requires more than 85% Niagara grapes.¹

British Columbia

The Wines of Marked Quality Regulation (B.C. Reg. 168/2018, last amended in 2025) sets three sparkling categories:²

All sparkling wine must have a carbon dioxide pressure of more than 300 kPa at 10 °C, and the gas must come only from fermentation of the cuvée.² Traditional Method wine may also be labelled "Classical Method", "Méthode Traditionale" or "Méthode Classique" sparkling wine.² Sweetness terms run from Natural Brut or Naturel (5 g/L or less) and Brut (15 g/L or less) to Sweet (over 50 g/L).² The regulation also allows Sparkling Icewine.²

BC VQA sparkling wine must be made from Vitis vinifera varieties listed in the regulation and have at least 8.5% alcohol.² The regulation lists 22 geographical indications, including Okanagan Valley, Similkameen Valley, Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island.²

Not covered

The Ontario regulation text (O. Reg. 406/00) could not be opened, so Ontario rules on time on lees are not given here. No national production figure for Canadian sparkling wine was found.