"It’s one of Mother Nature’s challenges and little miracles -- they draw you into the areas that are more difficult, but if you survive there you get greater quality," Peller said.

Sales Jump

Diamond Estates, the only other publicly traded wine company in Canada, has seen about a 30 percent increase in debit- and credit-card sales from U.S. visitors over the past year, Souter said. He estimates the company’s exports will be about C$3 million this year and will almost double next year.

Ontario’s wine exports are increasing as the provincial government loosens the Prohibition-era liquor laws that govern domestic markets. Grocery stores will begin to stock Ontario wine starting in the autumn, the first time sales will be allowed outside government-run liquor stores and specialty wine stores. The five companies that hold almost 300 private wine store licenses, including Constellation and Andrew Peller, are also being encouraged to carry product from other wineries.

Diamond Estates is considering a third equity sale as the company makes plans to expand its wine-making facility and build a new retail store, Souter said.

‘Compelling Alternative’

Peller said while the current stock price has made issuance “more attractive as a compelling alternative,” the company has opted to borrow in the past because equity markets want quicker returns than the wine industry can offer with its long-term horizon.

To be sure, Ontario’s wine industry is still a minnow compared with international counterparts. France’s Burgundy wine region had international sales of 777 million euros ($889 million) in 2015, according to the area industry group. Canada had 0.24 percent of the world’s wine production in 2014, versus France’s 16.5 percent, according to data collected by the Wine Institute, a California wine advocacy and policy association.

Ontario wine sales rose 22 percent in four years to C$2.41 billion in fiscal 2014-2015, according to data from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Sales excluding exports of VQA Ontario wines, which are high-quality wines guaranteed for their origin, increased 1.9 percent in a year to C$314 million, according to Vintners Quality Alliance Ontario.

‘Great Job’