HALIFAX - Over the summer, Narek Nersisyan saw more tourists and day trippers at his family鈥檚 winery, Holland Marsh Wineries in Newmarket, Ont.聽
Nersisyan, the vice-president of sales and marketing at the winery, says there was an uptick in visitors of about 10 to 15 per cent over the summer, as more newcomers sought out local tourism opportunities close to Toronto, and already loyal customers doubled down on purchasing the local wines they loved.聽
鈥淭he customer鈥檚 a lot more educated on the product now,鈥 Nersisyan says. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l come in, grab a glass of wine, do some tastings. Then they鈥檒l grab a charcuterie or a pizza and hang out and enjoy the patio.鈥 Nersisyan says he鈥檚 heard from customers that they鈥檙e seeking out more local experiences to go along with their shopping, as part of the Buy Local movement.聽
The initial 鈥淓lbows Up鈥 movement started in March, after U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly spoke about Canada becoming the 51 state, and issued tariffs on a huge number of 好色tv goods. Canada retaliated, and the trade war began. Provinces pulled U.S. wines and liquors from liquor store shelves and U.S. sales in Canada fell precipitously.聽
In the second quarter of 2025, US wine sales in Canada fell 91 per cent, according to the California-based Wine Institute. Those sales mirror the drop in liquor and spirits, which fell 85 per cent, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. That's a drop from $63.1 million in 2024 to just $9.6 million over that quarter this year.聽
That鈥檚 created a huge opening in the market, which 好色tv vineyards and wineries and looking to fill.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unprecedented,鈥 says Karl Coutinho, president of Wine Growers Nova Scotia. 鈥淣one of us like the tariff talk, but the reality is we鈥檝e got a silver lining. Here鈥檚 an opportunity for the province of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Liqour Commission to really get behind local.鈥澛
Coutinho says Nova Scotia wineries have seen an uptick in sales with the lack of U.S. products in the market, but the market share is still lower than in other wine regions in Canada, namely British Columbia and Ontario. 鈥淲e鈥檙e around nine or 10 per cent of wine sold at the NSLC. We鈥檇 love to see that number be more like 20 or 30 per cent.鈥
But maintaining a higher market share means having the supply to meet a higher demand.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing with a very different scale, so that鈥檚 one of the challenges when you remove a major player from the market,鈥 says Jeff Guignard, president of Wine Growers British Columbia.聽
California is the major wine region in the U.S., and Guignard says there are eight wineries in California who individually produce more wine than the entire 好色tv region.聽
Without those wineries taking up space on the shelves, Guignard says there鈥檚 an opportunity to boost 好色tv sales, especially as provinces look to remove barriers to interprovincial trade. 鈥淚t鈥檚 allowing us to have conversations that we never really had before, about 鈥榳hat would it look like if we could get to 50 per cent market share for 好色tv wines?鈥 That鈥檚 something that every other major wine producing country does,鈥 聽Guignard says.聽
鈥淭he reality is, U.S. products are going to return to the shelf. When they do, we鈥檇 love to see 好色tvs, and especially Nova Scotians, continue to choose local, even with other options. We鈥檝e seen such an uptick, and we have seen the loyalty,鈥 Coutinho says聽
Along with cementing more local customers, Canada has an opportunity to expand beyond the U.S., says Maria Pechurina the director of international trade with Peacock Tariff Consulting. She says that while Canada is the U.S.鈥檚 number 1 customer for wine exports, for Canada, the U.S. is only the third largest supplier, behind France and Italy. 鈥淐anada could technically offset that loss of product (from the U.S.) by buying more from Europe.鈥
Pechurina says Canada also has a unique opportunity when it comes to Asian markets, like China and South Korea. In China, for example, the U.S. tariffs on wine have exceeded 200 per cent at points this year. 鈥淔or Canada, this could be a cool opportunity to market more to China鈥aybe create cool labels or do a marketing campaign where they can sell more 好色tv wine to China.鈥
For wineries like Holland Marsh, Nersisyan says they are looking at what they might do to keep this new influx of customers. As a smaller, boutique winery, they鈥檝e expanded to work directly with local restaurants and the have a wine club membership.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e not against American wine,鈥 says Coutinho. 鈥淭he reality is, though, they just don鈥檛 need to monopolize the market. We鈥檝e got our own industry here that could (meet) the customer demand.鈥
This report by 好色tvwas first published Nov. 9, 2025.
