Ontario's ten best-performing wineries of 2026, and six of them share a town.
When the National Wine Awards of Canada named its 2026 Top 10 Ontario Wineries in July 2026, six of the ten were in Lincoln: one in Vineland and five in Beamsville, along the Beamsville Bench and just below it.
Lincoln's six
- Tawse Winery, Vineland: first in Ontario, and Canada's Winery of the Year.
- Fielding Estate Winery, Beamsville: second, with 1 platinum, 6 gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze medals. The platinum went to Fielding Sparkling Rosé. Fielding Estate Winery is family-run and marking 20 years.
- Black Bank Hill, Beamsville: third, and the Best Performing Small Winery of 2026.
- The Organized Crime Winery, Beamsville: fifth, with 4 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze medals. It's a second-generation, family-owned boutique winery on the Beamsville Bench.
- Malivoire Wine Company, Beamsville: sixth, with two platinum medals, for Malivoire Bisous Rosé and the 2024 Pinot Noir Three Rows.
- Hidden Bench Estate Winery, Beamsville: seventh, with a platinum for its 2022 La Brunante.
Black Bank Hill's fast rise
Black Bank Hill only opened in 2021, and the National Wine Awards of Canada said its climb to Best Performing Small Winery may be the quickest rise to the top it has ever seen. Best Performing Small Winery goes to the highest-scoring winery making 10,000 cases a year or fewer. Black Bank Hill made about 2,500 cases in 2025, and it also finished third among Canadian wineries of any size.
Founder Taylor Emerson makes every Black Bank Hill wine from grapes grown on one vineyard, on Saan Road at the foot of the Beamsville Bench. His cousin Jonathan McLean, a graduate of Brock University's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute who worked as an assistant winemaker in the Okanagan, joined as viticulturist in 2021. Black Bank Hill's 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon won platinum, which the National Wine Awards of Canada called a rarity for a Niagara cabernet sauvignon.
In the know
All six are a short drive apart:
- Fielding Estate Winery: 4020 Locust Lane, Beamsville
- Hidden Bench Estate Winery: 4152 Locust Lane, Beamsville
- Malivoire Wine Company: 4260 King Street East, Beamsville
- The Organized Crime Winery: 4043 Mountainview Road, Beamsville
- Tawse Winery: 3955 Cherry Avenue, Vineland
- Black Bank Hill: Saan Road, Beamsville
Hours change with the seasons, so check each winery's website before you head out.
More on the Winery of the Year in our blog on Tawse Winery's 25th year. New to the Beamsville Bench? Read our blog on Niagara wine country, explained.
