Wine is a product of its place. “Terroir,” the nebulous French word that loosely means “sense of place,” permeates the industry, serving as gospel for winemakers to follow. This is why it is so rare to see a winery that not only doesn’t accentuate its place in the world but, in some ways, purposely obfuscates it. Somewhere Wines, the cheeky garagiste winery from Alberta-raised Torontonian Amanda Schroeder, pokes fun at the wine world’s obsession with place, focusing instead on what matters most: what’s in the bottle.

When wineries tell their stories, the setting is more often than not the vineyard. But with Somewhere Wines, Schroeder is telling a different type of story, appealing to a demographic much more likely to associate with ChatGPT and TikTok than they are cover crops and head-trained vines. The bottles, whose labels feature a striking block print graphic of the winery name, speak to the overstimulated generation that is just now starting on their wine journey. Rather than the châteaux and serif fonts of old, or the whimsical line drawings and pastels of the natural wine movement, Somewhere’s packaging draws drinkers in with irony and wry humour.

Of course, Somewhere’s wines need be made, well, somewhere, and the three current cuvées are all made in Niagara from locally grown grapes. The fruit isn’t all organic, but Schroeder emphasizes sustainably farmed grapes before she takes over with her hands-off approach in the winery. Ironically, given the placelessness of the name on the bottles, each Somewhere wine is a pure expression of the fruit and thus terroir. Schroeder lets the wines undergo wild fermentation, only uses neutral French oak, and never fines or filters before bottling. The result? Wines that taste like the Niagara Peninsula.

Somewhere Wines Viognier.

The current lineup consists of a skin-contact blend of riesling, vidal, and pinot gris, as well as a varietal gamay and viognier, encapsulating the breadth of what is possible in Niagara. However, the goal is not to beat consumers over the head with heady concepts like terroir but to introduce them to new styles of wine. “So the orange is really like the fan favourite, the star, or it was until this year because I went to the viognier, but what I set out to do with the orange—how I phrase it is, it’s like an entry-level orange wine,” Schroeder says. “If you’ve never had orange wine before, it’s a good starting point. It’s not too funky; it’s not too clean.”

In fact, it was connection rather than complication that drove Schroeder to leave her job as a copy writer and dive head first into the world of wine. “My mom used to own a wine store. I grew up around wine in this environment. So wine was always around, and I was looking for a career change about four years ago, and I was like, I want to work with people again. I was feeling very isolated, and it just felt like an obvious direction.” After consulting with her mom and other wine industry professionals, it was the possibility of working collaboratively that appealed to her most, and what ultimately led her to found Somewhere. “I went really like the opposite end of the spectrum from working very individually as a writer and now working with people from start to finish, from harvest to pouring.”

Somewhere Wines Orange.

Fittingly, the latest addition to the Somewhere Wines lineup is a wine made from a grape that Schroeder thinks will help stir up interest in new and adventurous drinkers. Viognier, which is native to the Rhone valley and famous for its role as the sole grape in Condrieu, is grown in relatively small amounts in Niagara but tends to yield wines of complexity when vinified. Somewhere’s viognier from the 2025 vintage is lighter than its counterpart from the Rhone valley but still resounds with familiar honey, peach, and white-flower flavours. All in all, it’s an effort that serves to welcome rather than obfuscate, providing a clear-cut example of a grape that invites drinkers to sit and enjoy or venture deeper into the rabbit hole. Its other two current releases, the hallmark orange that started it all and the refined gamay, are equally affable—while practised drinkers will no doubt be able to call their Niagara roots, newer enthusiasts will find them a friendly reception into the world of wine.

Somewhere Wines Gamay.

For now, Somewhere Wines has found its somewhere in Niagara, but that doesn’t mean Schroeder doesn’t dream of vineyards farther flung. “The dream would be to make wine from other places,” she says. The best part about somewhere, it turns out, is that it can be anywhere. And when it comes to Somewhere Wines, that somewhere is bound to yield wines that impress regardless of place and thanks to Schroeder’s deft touch in the winery. The end goal? Well, that would be everywhere. “So it would be the long-term goal, like 10 years from now, would be to make it from all over the world.”

Photographs by Nikole Herriott and Michael Graydon

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