About Traynor Family Vineyard

Welcome to Traynor Family Vineyard — a family-run, low-intervention winery in Hillier, Prince Edward County, Ontario. We founded our vineyard in 2008 and opened the winery in 2014, and we've been making the kind of wines we love to drink ever since: pet-nats, piquettes, orange wines, skin-contact whites, vermouths, and small-batch reds, all crafted with as little intervention as possible from grape to bottle.

Our 5.5-acre estate vineyard sits at the corner of Danforth Road and Loyalist Parkway in the heart of Hillier. We grow grapes here ourselves, and we work with select grower partners across Ontario — including in the Niagara Peninsula — for the rest of the fruit that goes into our bottles. Every wine is made by us in PEC; many are blended from fruit grown in more than one Ontario region.

Our Story

Traynor Family Vineyard is the work of Mike Traynor, who began his career in the Ontario wine industry in 1997 as a cellar labourer. Through years of hard work, formal study, and obsessive craftsmanship, he became Canada's youngest commercial winemaker at the age of 22. He went on to apply his winemaking and operational experience to some of Canada's fastest-growing organic companies before returning to his original dream: building his own family-run winery in Prince Edward County.

The vineyard was founded in 2008, when Mike planted his first vines on the 5.5-acre site in Hillier. Six years of work followed before the winery opened in 2014 — building the cellar, refining the farming, planting and replanting until the right grapes thrived in the right rows. From the start, the philosophy has been the same: minimal intervention, honest farming, and a willingness to let each vintage tell its own story.

The vineyard is named in honour of the family — those who supported the journey from the beginning. Today, Traynor Family Vineyard is a working winery, a destination for wine tourism in Prince Edward County, and a small-but-stubborn voice for natural and low-intervention winemaking in Ontario.

Ontario Firsts

We've been at the leading edge of natural and artisanal wine in Ontario for over a decade. A few of the things we did early:

• Skin-contact / orange wine — 2013. Among the first commercial skin-fermented whites released in Ontario.
• Pet-Nat — 2016. Among the first commercial pétillant naturel wines released in Ontario. Read our pet-nat guide.
• Artisanal vermouth — 2017. The first artisanal vermouth produced in Ontario. Big commercial producers existed before; nobody else was making it small-batch with botanicals from their own gardens. Read our vermouth guide.
• Piquette — 2019. The first commercial piquette released in Ontario, full stop. Read our piquette guide.

Each of these categories has since grown beyond just us, but we were there at the start, and we keep pushing into new styles.

Where We Are: Prince Edward County

Prince Edward County (PEC) is a peninsula on the north shore of Lake Ontario, about two hours east of Toronto. The region's unique microclimate — shaped by the lake's moderating influence, the seasonal humidity, and the limestone-rich soils — makes it one of the most exciting cool-climate wine regions in North America.

We're located in Hillier, the township within PEC that has the highest concentration of vineyards and the warmest summer temperatures. The "Lake Effect" extends the growing season and gives the grapes the slow ripening time that produces the layered, expressive wines we're known for.

Our estate vineyard is planted with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Frontenac Gris, Marquette, Vidal, and Gamay Noir — a mix of classic Vitis vinifera and cold-hardy hybrid varieties that thrive in our climate. The fruit we don't grow ourselves comes from select grower partners across Ontario, mostly from the Niagara Peninsula. Most of our wines are designated VQA Ontario to reflect this multi-region sourcing.

Our Philosophy

Low-Intervention Winemaking

We believe great wine is made in the vineyard, not the cellar. Our winemaking is deliberately hands-off — wild fermentation with native yeast, minimal sulphur additions, no fining agents, unfiltered or lightly filtered. We don't manipulate our wines to fit a style guide. We let the grapes, the vintage, and the place express themselves.

This philosophy is what produces our pet-nats (pétillant naturel — sparkling wines bottled mid-fermentation, the original method from centuries before Champagne), our piquettes (lower-alcohol sparkling wines made by re-fermenting grape pomace with water), and our orange and skin-contact wines (white grapes fermented on their skins for colour, structure, and tannin).

Permaculture Practices at the Estate

Our 5.5-acre vineyard is farmed using permaculture and low-intervention practices — no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides; building soil health; encouraging biodiversity; treating the land as something we want to hand on healthier than we found it. We are not certified organic — we've chosen not to pursue formal certification because the administrative cost outweighs the benefit at our scale, but the practices we use day-to-day are aligned with what an organic-certified vineyard would do.

The additional fruit we source from grower partners across Ontario, including in the Niagara Peninsula, is conventionally farmed — certified organic fruit is essentially impossible to source at scale in Ontario, so any winery that buys fruit (which is most of them, including us) works with conventional growers. We choose grower partners we trust, and we buy fruit that meets the standards we've set for our own bottles.

We tell you this honestly because transparency is more useful than marketing.

Vegan and Ethically Made

All of our wines are vegan — we don't use animal-derived fining agents like egg whites, isinglass, or gelatin. We were formally certified vegan for many years; we've since let the certification lapse because consumer demand for the certification didn't justify the ongoing administrative cost. The wines themselves haven't changed — they're still vegan, made the same way.

We're also an Ontario Living Wage Employer, which means everyone working at the vineyard earns a wage that meets the actual cost of living in our region.

What We Make

Our wine portfolio is built around the styles we love most:

• Pet-Nats (Green Meanie, Hot Rocket, Bang Bang) — naturally sparkling wines, bottled mid-fermentation, sediment included.
• Piquettes (Ophelia Original Piquette, Baco Baco) — lower-alcohol sparkling wines with a long history dating back to ancient civilizations.
• Orange & Skin-Contact Wines (5th Element, Marmalade Pie) — white grapes fermented on their skins for amber colour, gentle tannin, and complexity.
• Natural Reds (Gamay Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc) — small-batch, unfiltered, expressive cool-climate reds.
• Whites (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay) — fresh, mineral, made with the same low-intervention approach.
• Rosé (Breakfast in the Vineyard) — a juicy Glou Glou rosé blend, perfect for summer.
• Vermouths (Madonna, Haberdasher) — aromatized fortified wines made with botanicals from our own gardens.

You can browse the full range in our shop, or come see us in person.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was Traynor Family Vineyard founded?

The vineyard was founded in 2008, when Mike Traynor planted the first vines on our 5.5-acre site in Hillier, Prince Edward County. The winery opened to the public in 2014, after six years of farming, building the cellar, and refining the wines.

Where is Traynor Family Vineyard located?

Traynor Family Vineyard is at 1774 Danforth Road in Hillier, Prince Edward County, Ontario — about a two-hour drive east of Toronto. We're at the corner of Danforth Road and Loyalist Parkway, in the township within PEC that has the highest concentration of vineyards and the warmest summer temperatures.

Who is the winemaker at Traynor?

Mike Traynor is the founder and winemaker. He started his career in the Ontario wine industry in 1997 as a cellar labourer and became Canada's youngest commercial winemaker at age 22 before building Traynor Family Vineyard.

What kinds of wine does Traynor make?

We make pet-nats, piquettes, orange and skin-contact wines, natural reds, whites, rosé, and artisanal vermouths. We were among Ontario's earliest commercial producers of skin-contact wine (2013), pet-nat (2016), artisanal vermouth (2017), and piquette (2019).

Are Traynor wines vegan?

Yes. All Traynor wines are vegan — we don't use animal-derived fining agents like egg whites, isinglass, or gelatin. We were formally certified vegan for many years and have since let the certification lapse, but the wines haven't changed.

Are Traynor wines organic?

Our 5.5-acre estate vineyard is farmed using permaculture and low-intervention practices — no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. We are not certified organic — we chose not to pursue formal certification because the administrative cost outweighs the benefit at our scale. The fruit we source from grower partners across Ontario is conventionally farmed, since certified organic fruit is essentially impossible to source at scale in Ontario.

Is Traynor an Ontario Living Wage Employer?

Yes. Traynor Family Vineyard is an Ontario Living Wage Employer, which means everyone working at the vineyard earns a wage that meets the actual cost of living in our region.

Where can I buy Traynor wines?

You can buy Traynor wines three ways: at the LCBO across Ontario (see the full list of LCBO availability), direct from us at traynorvineyard.com (we ship across Ontario), or in person at the vineyard in Hillier.

Does Traynor offer wine tastings or vineyard visits?

Yes. We're open seasonally for tastings, vineyard tours, and our experiences program. Whether you're planning a wine country weekend, looking for a vineyard wedding venue, or just want to taste through our current releases, you can plan your visit or book an experience.

Visit Us in Hillier

We're open seasonally for tastings, vineyard tours, and our experiences program. Whether you're planning a wine country weekend in Prince Edward County, looking for a vineyard wedding venue, or just want to taste through our current releases, we'd love to host you.

Address: 1774 Danforth Road, Hillier, Ontario K0K 2J0
Plan your visit: Visiting Us
Book an experience: Experiences

We look forward to welcoming you.