The centerpiece of Peninsula Ridge Winery is a Victorian manor house on a hillcrest overlooking rows of grapevines that slope toward the road and Lake Ontario beyond. On a clear day, Toronto’s skyline appears as a gray haze directly across the water.

Niagara Falls and the US border are less than a 30-minute drive away. Like much of southern Ontario, the 80-acre property was settled around 1790 by an American Loyalist who fled New Jersey following the Revolutionary War.

Just over 250 years later, another kind of conflict with the United States is reshaping the business landscape there. As President Donald Trump’s trade war ripples through the Canadian economy, Ontario and most other provinces have pulled US alcohol from government-run liquor stores.

For Canada’s small but growing wine industry, the bans, coupled with a growing “Buy Canadian” movement, have created an opportunity for local vintners by encouraging sales to stay local. 

“With the US products off the shelf right now, we’ve managed to get a bottle of Niagara wine in the hands of an Ontario consumer that probably wouldn’t have otherwise tried it,” said Norm Beal, owner of Peninsula Ridge. “I think they’ll stick to it.”

Local demand for Ontario-made beverages has remained strong since the start of the “Buy Canadian” movement. The sale of wines made entirely of grapes from Ontario rose 67% in 2025, according to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which has a near-monopoly on the retail sale of alcohol in the province. That trend continued through early 2026, increasing another 44% as LCBO-run liquor stores expanded their selection of local products.

“I don’t have a problem with the US boycott, because they seem to be kind of being jerks to us,” said Jon Johansson of Burlington, Ontario, standing outside a government-run liquor store known locally as the LCBO.

Johansson, who works as a waiter in the nearby city of Burlington, Ontario, said his restaurant is working to diversify the wine list, now that US products are off the menu. 

“We still do have a little bit of a stockpile of some American wines that we bought in the past,” Johansson said. “They’ve been sitting in the cellar, but that’s about it.”

Before the trade war, Johansson would buy American wines. Now, he said he looks at the Spanish and Italian sections at the liquor store.

But when it comes to local wines, he’s not as big a fan either.

“The Canadian wines, they’re fine as long as you stick with the whites,” Johansson said. “The reds aren’t that great.”

The area of southern Ontario around Niagara Falls is Canada’s wine country. Though the winters here can be harsh for vineyards, Ontario is the country’s southernmost region. Its relatively cool climate is comparable to Burgundy or Bordeaux.

Ontario does produce red wines, but its cooler climate and shorter growing season make certain later-ripening red-wine grape varieties more challenging to grow.

Peninsula Ridge specializes in European varieties such as its award-winning Sauvignon Blanc as well as reds, such as its Reserve Meritage, a rich blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec. Using the bitter cold Canadian temperatures, many wineries across Ontario produce specialty “ice wine,” a local take on the German dessert wine.

There have been ways in which the trade war has hit the local economy, including Ontario’s winemakers. 

Raw material prices are rising, and Ontario is among the provinces hit hardest — a one-two punch of the US trade war and supply chain disruptions caused by the US-led war with Iran.

But some have chosen to spend their Canadian dollars locally.

In the wine tasting room at Peninsula Ridge, Hassan and Raya Saffarini tried a sampling. 

“Peninsula Ridge is one of our favorites,” said Hassan. “We always come on our way to the Niagara region, because it’s literally halfway.”

The couple had lived in the US for years before resettling in Canada. In both countries, they happened to plant themselves in wine regions — Napa Valley in the US and, now, they visit Ontario’s vineyards. Since the start of the trade war, they said they have happily supported the boycott of American libations.

“We always used to buy Canadian wines and American wines … but it got to that stage that many people, including us … you’re like, ‘OK, well, we have our own wines that are good, so why buy something else?’” Raya said. 

“People here have really been impacted by that sort of insult,” she added. “It’s like you’ve been betrayed by a friend of yours.”

More than a year after Ontario pulled American alcohol from government liquor stores in response to US tariffs, only two provinces — Alberta and Saskatchewan — have returned US booze to the shelves.

And the trade dispute between neighbors has only deepened. 

“Hopefully things will change,” Raya said, “and the relationship between the Canadians and the Americans will go back to normal.”

Until then, the Saffarinis are happy to stick to buying Canadian.