Eight wineries from Ontario and British Columbia will come together as ‘Team Canada’ for the country’s first dedicated pavilion at the annual Wine & Dine Festival
Eight Canadian wineries from Ontario and British Columbia are heading to Hong Kong this fall, coming together as Team Canada for the country’s first-ever dedicated pavilion at the 2026 Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival, taking place October 29 to November 1 at Hong Kong’s Central Harbourfront.
The festival will feature more than 300 booths, including dedicated wine booths and dining partners, creating unique experiences for wine and food lovers alike.
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Representing two of Canada’s leading wine-producing provinces, the delegation brings together established estates, boutique producers, and a new generation of Canadian winemakers, showcasing the breadth of the country’s evolving wine landscape to an international audience.
From the cool climate vineyards of Niagara to British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, Team Canada will introduce festival guests to a diverse collection of Canadian wines and winemaking styles. The participating wineries are BIG Head Wines, Black Bank Hill, CheckMate Artisanal Winery, Cloudsley Cellars, The Juice Wine Company, Mission Hill Family Estate, Quails’ Gate Estate Winery, and Southbrook Vineyards.
Together, the group reflects a Canadian wine industry shaped by distinct terroirs and increasingly diverse approaches to winemaking, from chardonnay and pinot noir to cabernet franc, syrah, and merlot, and from organic and biodynamic viticulture to wild fermentation and minimal-intervention techniques.
A taste of Hong Kong in Toronto
To kick off this historic milestone for Canadian wine, a celebration dinner hosted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board took place on October 1, bringing the story to Toronto with an invitation-only Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival wine-pairing dinner at Malaparte.
Hong Kong Tourism Board Director Beverly Cheng, Chef Alvin Leung, and wine ambassador and entrepreneur Angela Aiello speak to the audience during a media and industry dinner in Toronto.
VineRoutes was among the Canadian media, wine experts, and industry guests invited to attend the dinner, which offered an exquisite introduction to the collaboration ahead. The evening centred on an exclusive five-course dinner curated by superstar Chef Alvin Leung, celebrating Hong Kong’s culinary heritage and contemporary dining culture alongside wines representing Team Canada.
Each course explored the relationship between Canadian terroir and the breadth of Hong Kong flavour, offering an early taste of the experience that will travel to Hong Kong later this month. There was no Icewine on the table—only still wines demonstrating the freshness, acidity and layers of flavour that increasingly define Canadian wine and make it particularly well suited to Asian cuisine.
It was a compelling introduction to the idea behind Canada’s participation in the Festival: that Canadian wine can stand confidently alongside the world’s great wines, while bringing something distinctive to the table.
“Canada’s first dedicated pavilion at the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival creates an exciting new connection between two destinations with incredible food and wine cultures,” said Beverly Cheng, Director at the Hong Kong Tourism Board. She addressed the captive audience, saying “We’re thrilled to welcome these eight Canadian wineries to Hong Kong and give Festival guests the opportunity to discover the quality, diversity, and stories behind Canadian wine.”
A new international stage for Canadian wine
At the Canadian Pavilion, festival guests will be invited to experience the country’s wine regions side-by-side, discovering the individual producers, growing conditions, and winemaking philosophies shaping Canadian wine today.
Chef Alvin Leung (left) and John Nadeau speak to the audience.
For Canada, the opportunity is about more than participating in an international festival. The Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival provides a platform for Canadian wine to establish a stronger presence in the region and for wine lovers to discover for themselves what makes Canadian wine distinctive, and competitive on the world stage.
The Canadian Pavilion will sit within one of Asia’s premier culinary celebrations, creating a natural opportunity to experience Canadian wine alongside the flavours and dining culture of Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong is a true world city, a meeting point of cultures where deeply rooted Cantonese traditions exist alongside contemporary dining, internationally acclaimed restaurants, world-class bars and a vibrant entertainment scene,” noted Cheng. “Its culinary landscape offers an especially compelling setting in which to introduce Canadian wine.”
The pairing makes sense. Canadian wines are often defined by freshness, bright acidity and layers of flavour—qualities that can work particularly well alongside Asian cuisine, where dishes frequently bring together multiple flavours, textures, aromatics and levels of intensity in a single meal.
Known for a food scene that moves from neighbourhood dai pai dongs and deeply rooted Cantonese traditions to contemporary tasting menus and internationally acclaimed restaurants, Hong Kong offers a distinctive culinary lens through which to explore wine.
For internationally acclaimed Canadian chef Alvin Leung, the visionary behind Hong Kong’s two-Michelin-starred Bo Innovation and a growing portfolio of Toronto restaurants including aKin, R&D, and The Leo, that interplay between cultures creates particularly exciting possibilities at the table.
“Hong Kong food is incredibly diverse; you have tradition, intensity, delicacy, and innovation all existing alongside one another,” said Chef Alvin Leung. “That gives you a huge range of flavours and textures to work with when pairing wine. Bringing Canadian wines into that conversation is exciting because it allows people to experience both places differently: Canadian wine through the flavours of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong cuisine through a Canadian lens.”
Meet ‘Team Canada’
The lineup of Canadian wine that was paired with the media dinner in Toronto.
BIG Head Wines | Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
BIG Head Wines is a family-driven Niagara winery known for pushing the boundaries of traditional winemaking. With more than 20 years of winemaking experience, the team creates small-batch, character-rich wines using techniques including wild fermentation, appassimento, and unconventional aging vessels, resulting in bold and distinctive expressions of Niagara. The winery was voted as a Top 20 Winery in Ontario by VineRoutes in 2026.
Black Bank Hill | Beamsville, Ontario
Black Bank Hill has earned growing national recognition producing distinctive wines entirely from estate-grown fruit. Artisanal production with an uncompromising focus on quality, varietals range from chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet franc to syrah and Rhône-inspired whites.
CheckMate Artisanal Winery | Oliver, British Columbia
Dedicated to highly limited expressions of chardonnay and merlot, CheckMate is one of the Okanagan Valley’s most ambitious fine wine producers. Its wines come from tiny vineyard blocks and some of the continent’s oldest chardonnay vines. The 2022 Fool’s Mate Chardonnay was named VineRoutes’ Most Outstanding White Wine of the Year in 2025.
Cloudsley Cellars | Vineland, Ontario
A boutique Niagara producer devoted to two varieties—pinot noir and chardonnay—Cloudsley Cellars takes inspiration from Burgundy while remaining firmly focused on the limestone soils and cool climate of the Twenty Mile Bench. Its small-lot, minimalist approach has produced elegant, terroir-driven wines that have attracted international critical attention.
The Juice Wine Company | Vineland, Ontario
The Juice Wine Company is taking Niagara’s finest vineyards to the world. Founders Angela Aiello and Ryan Zanette chase the best vineyard sites, intervene as little as possible and let the land do the talking. The result is contemporary, site-driven Niagara wine with an ambitious international outlook.
Mission Hill Family Estate | West Kelowna, British Columbia
One of Canada’s most celebrated wine estates, Mission Hill helped establish the Okanagan Valley on the international wine stage. Set above Okanagan Lake, the landmark estate combines distinctive architecture, sustainable viticulture and acclaimed wines; the 2020 vintage of its flagship wine, Oculus, was named VineRoutes’ Wine of the Year in 2024.
Quails’ Gate Estate Winery | West Kelowna, British Columbia
Founded in 1989, this family-owned winery has deep roots in the Okanagan Valley. Set on the slopes of Mount Boucherie, the estate is renowned for crafting exceptional wines and memorable guest experiences. With a longstanding commitment to viticulture, research and precision winemaking, Quails’ Gate has earned recognition for its pinot noir and chardonnay.
Southbrook Vineyards | Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
A pioneer of sustainable Canadian winemaking, Southbrook became Canada’s first winery to earn both organic and biodynamic certification for its vineyard and winery. Its 150-acre Niagara estate produces expressive, terroir-driven wines through minimal-intervention practices, making Southbrook a benchmark for environmentally conscious winemaking in Canada.
Travel to the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival
HKTB is working with Canadian tour operators to make it easier for travellers to experience the Festival and Hong Kong’s broader culinary scene firsthand. Packages will provide opportunities to discover the city’s renowned dining culture alongside the international food and wine experiences available throughout the Festival.
Additional travel package and booking information is available through Discover Hong Kong.
Presented by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival is an annual celebration of food, wine and culinary culture held at the Central Harbourfront. First staged in 2009, the Festival brings together international wineries, restaurants, chefs, hospitality leaders and culinary experiences in one vibrant waterfront setting. The 2026 Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival will take place October 29 to November 1, 2026.
