66 PURECANADA ANiagaraStateofWine WORLD-CLASS WINERIES ON THE TEXT BY LOUISA KASDON SIDELL

Bear with me a minute. Just suppose that you heard about a legendary cluster of exquisite perfumes to be had in Paris, made in private ateliers by artisans with superhuman noses for blending flowers and aromatic oils. Much prized by true connoisseurs, jaunty Parisians and a few tourists who bumped into the shops by chance on their travels. But because of export regulations and minimal marketing, the only way for you to get vials of the fabulous scents was to go to Paris and buy them directly from the chemist in his walk-up workshop. That’s pretty much the story with the wines of the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. Great wine in a fabulous location, and almost nobody knows about it but the locals. Admittedly, that’s an overstatement. It’s not as bad as all that. In the last days of –10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit), allowing the sugars to five years, Canadian wines have gathered headlines and top prizes at many of concentrate fully in the fruit before crushing. What most of us do not know is Bthe major international wine events, such as VinExpo in Bordeaux, France, that the Niagara Peninsula is emerging as one of the best regions in the world and VinItaly in Verona. Currently, Ontario’s wine production is a $350- for cool-climate grape growing. More than 100 active dot the million (CAD) or $223.6-million (USD) business; a new strategic plan expects 40-kilometre peninsula from Grimsby to Niagara-on-the-Lake. the industry to mushroom to $1.5 billion (CAD) or $958 million (USD) over The Niagara Peninsula has a unique geography, making it an ideal incuba- the next 20 years, still small in comparison with California, where the wineries tor for many species of grapes, the grapes that make most of the now account for $13 billion (CAD) or $8.3 billion (USD) annually. When the “noble” wines of the world—white grapes like , , subject of Canadian wines comes up, many non-Canadians draw a complete and Gewürztraminer and red grapes such as , blank. At best, they know about the Canadian icewines, the excellent dessert , Noir, and all flourish in Ontario. wines made from grapes allowed to freeze on the vine for three consecutive When the glaciers carved the great lakes—Niagara is bounded by Lake >>>

PURECANADA 67 Erie on the south and by Lake Ontario on the north—it created the Canada. The VQA symbol on the label of a bottle means that all the Niagara Escarpment (a geological term that drops into conversation with grapes must be grown in Canada and 85% of the grapes must be from the Niagara residents as the word “seashore” does with a Cape Cod resi- permitted grapes. Since Prohibition the only place to buy a bottle of dent), a bench-like plateau with a temperate year-round climate, mineral- wine retail is at a government-regulated store—the LCBO in Ontario rich grape-friendly soil, and moisture vapours rising from the lakes. and the SAQ in Québec, for example. Given that many vineyards make Another fortuitous stroke is that Niagara’s latitude is on the 43rd parallel, 17 to 20 different varieties of wine, the wine selections at the stores are similar to the winegrowing clusters in Northern California, Oregon, New obviously limited. The government allows winemakers to sell their Zealand and Burgundy and the Loire Valley in France. What this means is wines from their own cellars. So only by going to the wine country can that grapes that prosper with short summers and long cool falls do well in a consumer taste and buy the best of Canadian wines. The good news is Niagara, which has a long growing season because it’s sheltered from off- that the winemakers have turned the challenge into a total triumph, shore winds by the shelf of the escarpment. with wine tours, gorgeous tasting rooms, lovely wine-country gourmet Wine can never be better than the grapes used to make it, and in the restaurants, wine boutiques and vintner’s inns which make a visit to the late 1980s a few Niagara wine visionaries decided to change course— region a vacation treat for the wine savant as well for the wine dummy. and grapes. They went shopping. They bought mature plants from the “Our biggest problem is credibility,” says Debi Pratt, Director of best vineyards in France, Italy and Germany, and they began to import Marketing at the winery. “People have to believe that gifted viticulturists and winemakers trained in European cellars. Within Canadians can make great wines.” a decade, the spindly, transplanted shoots of Chardonnay and Pinot Only slightly beyond the wine dummy stage myself, I begged Lisa Noir had blossomed into full-fledged vineyards. And the Miller, a Boston-based wine importer and retailer and respected oenologist, industry was transformed. In 1988, the vintners of Ontario established to come with me to Niagara and check out both the wines and the new their own appellation program, the VQA, the Vintner’s Quality Wine Route. From the tart Cabernet Franc to the nutty Late Harvest Alliance, to set and maintain serious standards for fine wine grown in Riesling, the wines blew Lisa away. “It isn’t that the wines are good; they Blessed by glacial history, the Niagara Peninsula has a unique geography, making it an ideal incubator for many species of vitis vinifera grapes, the grapes that make most of the “noble” wines of the world—white grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Gewürztraminer and red grapes such as [ Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Gamay Noir, Merlot and Pinot Noir all flourish in Ontario. ]

52 PURECANADA Wineries At A Click Angels Gate Winery www.angelsgatewinery.com Birchwood Estate Wines www.birchwoodwines.com Cave Spring Cellars www.cavespringcellars.com Chateau des Charmes www.chateaudescharmes.com Cilento Wines www.cilento.com Colio Estate Wines www.coliowines.com Creekside Estate Winery www.creeksideestatewinery.com Crown Bench Estates www.crownbenchestates.com De Sousa Wine Cellars www.desousawines.com EastDell Estates www.eastdell.com Harbour Estates Winery www.hewwine.com Harvest Estate Wine www.harvestwines.com Henry of Pelham Winery www.henryofpelham.com Hernder Estate Wines www.hernder.com are very, very good,” she pronounced with the gusto of Hillebrand Estates Winery a professional. “Drinkable now, better in a year or two, www.hillebrand.com unbelievable value.” Inniskillin Wines www.inniskillin.com Our first stop: the Stoney Ridge Estate Winery in Jackson-Triggs Niagara Vineland. There was something incongruent about Estate Winery ringing the doorbell on what appeared to be a nice sub- www.jacksontriggswinery.com Joseph's Estate Wines urban split-level, and walking into wine nirvana—a www.josephsestatewines.com glossy wine boutique stocked with bottles and cases, a Kacaba Vineyards tasting room and a wine library with all the best wines www.kacaba.com of the last handful of years, with the aromas of Kittling Ridge Estate Wines and Spirits www.kittlingridge.com oak and wine filling the space to the edges. Stoney Konzelmann Estate Winery Ridge Cellars produces 20,000 to 50,000 cases of VQA afternoon, I started to trust my own palate. I took a sip of www.konzelmannwines.com wines a year, a medium-sized yield by Niagara standards. wine—red, rich and slightly sharp in my mouth, and I Lailey www.laileyvineyard.com Nestling into the conference room—the array of crisp loved it. It was a 1999 Bench Cabernet Franc, and some- Lakeview Cellars Estate Winery Riedel crystal stems making me feel very much like some- thing about it sang an aria in my mouth. When I timidly www.lakeviewcellars.on.ca one who was faking wine connoisseurship—we tasted six ventured my opinion, complete with fancy adjectives, the Magnotta Winery www.magnotta.com wines from their cellars, moving from white to red to wine experts nodded in agreement. Maplegrove Vinoteca Estate Winery icewine, beginning with the 2000 , which From Stoney Ridge, we drove 10 minutes to www.toronto.com/vinoteca won the Gold Medal at the Ottawa Wine and Food Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery in Beamsville, a Marynissen Estate Winery Show, and ending with the 1997 Gewürztraminer barrel- brand-new and breathtaking winery that was opened in www.marynissenestates.com Pelee Island Winery fermented icewine, which brought home the Gold Medal August of 2000 by Ontario oil entrepreneur and native, www.peleeisland.com and Civart Trophy from the 1997 VinExpo in Bordeaux. 43-year-old Norman Beal. Peninsula Ridge is Peller Estates Winery Lisa settled right in. Swirling and spitting, asking astute Hollywood perfect. The restored Victorian mansion www.peller.com Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery questions about whether the barrels were American or that houses the winery’s restaurant sits at the crest of the www.peninsularidge.com French oak, the sugar content of the grapes—all sorts of hill, surrounded by rows of vines and a vista of the Pillitteri Estates Winery smart wine trivia that made me feel like a nine-year-old Niagara escarpment. The winery’s main building and www.pillitteri.com Puddicombe Estate Farms and Winery traveling with my mummy. But then something marvel- retail shop glows with native limestone. We met the www.puddicombefarm.com lous started to happen. At four o’clock on a Thursday continued on page 82 Reif Estate Winery www.reifwinery.com Riverview Cellars Winery www.riverviewcellars.com Rockway Glen Estate Winery www.rockwayglen.com Royal DeMaria Wines www.royaldemaria.com Southbrook Farms and Winery www.southbrook.com Stonechurch Vineyards www.stonechurch.com Stoney Ridge Cellars www.stoneyridge.com Strewn Winery www.strewnwinery.com Thirty Bench Wines www.thirtybench.com Vineland Estates Winery www.vineland.com Vinoteca Inc. Premium Winery www.toronto.com/vinoteca Willow Heights Estate Winery www.willowheights.on.ca PURECANADA 69 A Niagara State of Wine CONTINUED FROM PAGE 69 winemaker, Jean-Pierre Colas, a Méritage, a blend of Merlot, partner and Cave Spring winemaker With the first major planting of young Frenchman, trained in the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Angelo Pavan. Cave Springs was one hybrid plants of classic European cellars of Burgundy. He was wearing Franc grapes. I tasted smoke, black- of the pioneers in the rebirth of the vinifera, Inniskillin began to make an orange T-shirt and wire rims. berries, dark cherry and oak, and was wine region. Starting with 12 acres, serious wine that could compete at Although Colas was slightly frazzled extremely proud of myself. We Len Pennachetti planted vinifera the international level. Two decades by the first day of “crush,” he took a ended the meal, a pleasure in both grapes, Riesling and Chardonnay to later, Inniskillin is part of Vincor, break from work to greet us. food and service, with my first taste begin with in 1973. By 1986, the the largest wine company in “Everything is driven by the sugar,” of icewine. Sweet but not cloying first commercial harvest put Cave Canada, and the fourth-largest wine he said. Sugar is what the whole (very apricot-y for something made Springs squarely into the wine busi- company in North America. Best ripening cycle and harvesting issue is with grapes). ness. Now Cave Springs produces known for its icewine, Chardonnay about, making sure that the grapes Mellower than an oak-fermented over 60,000 cases of wine per year. and Pinot Noir, the winery produces stay on the vine long enough to Cabernet, we drove from Beamsville Known more for their whites— more than 30 different wines from achieve the right sugar content—or to the village of Jordan, to spend the Riesling, Chardonnay, and 10 different . brix—to achieve the spectacular bal- night at the Inn on the Twenty, the Chardonnay Musque—their reds are On the way to the winery, I ance of acid and sweet that creates a kind of luxurious country inn that also taking off. realized that I was getting in the great wine. We tasted the wines over reminds you why four-poster beds Later that evening we tasted the swing of this wine-touring business. I dinner at the Peninsula’s winery are still manufactured. A two-level Reserve Riesling 2000 (one of six wasn’t disturbed by the idea that I restaurant, bevelled glass on the suite with intense cuddly colours, a made by Cave Springs would taste wine before my second door, cherry wood on the floor, fireplace, Jacuzzi and fluffy Cellars), the ’01 Auxerrois and the cup of coffee. I checked my watch French Impressionists on the walls. bathrobes for two. The Inn On The ’99 Chardonnay CSV, and started in when we arrived. Ten a.m., and it was For our wine flight, we started with Twenty is operated by the on the reds: a ’00 Gamay Reserve, a already three-deep in the winery’s tast- the 2000 Chardonnay Reserve, Pennachettis, a local family that ’98 Cabernet Merlot and a Cabernet ing area. We took the self-guided tour moved on to the Cabernet Franc owns Cave Spring Cellars next Franc which the gentleman pouring and ended up in the well-appointed Reserve, and finished with the 2000 door, purchased in 1986 with their the wines described as the “Rodney retail store. We slurped and spit, and

THE FACTS the Secret Garden Spa, all operated by Vintage Inns in the surrounding For more information about the Niagara wine region. Niagara-on-the- Wine Region of Niagara, visit Lake, ON L0S 1J0 LAKE Niagara- on-the-Lake www.travelcanada.ca or 905-468-3246 50 ONTARIO www.fodors.com. Also see the www.vintageinns.com kilometres Fodor’s Microguide section on Vineland Estates Winery 55 U.S. Ontario, pp. 120-123. For more Restaurant QEW St. Catharines Vineland information on Niagara’s Grape With a panoramic terrace, a meal at 73 81 405 and Wine Festival events, be sure this winery restaurant is one of the Beamsville Jordan Niagara to visit www.grapeandwine.com. capstones of a visit to the region. Falls 3620 Moyer Road, Vineland, ON CANADA Where to Stay & Eat L0R 2C0 20 406 Inn on the Twenty & Inn on the 888-VINELAND Twenty Estate Winery Restaurant www.vineland.com Lovingly restored luxury inn. Owned and operated by the Cave Bed & Breakfasts Spring Cellars winery. The winery Amber Inn Bed & Breakfast restaurant is consistently rated as Cuddly and quiet B&B with private Dangerfield of red wines” because it got in the car for the next dot on our one of the finest dining experiences baths and comfortable rooms, min- doesn’t get any respect. map, Henry of Pelham Family in Canada. 3845 Main Street, utes from several area wineries. Next morning, we visited the Estates Winery in St. Catharines. Jordan, ON L0R 1S0 Breakfast is a treat. 4376 Victoria granddaddy of the wine region, We had lunch with the president 905-562-5336 Avenue, Vineland Station, ON Inniskillin, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, of the winery, Paul Speck. Like many www.onthetwenty.on.ca L0R 2E0 where in many ways the modern of the local vintners, Speck is part of Prince of Wales 905-562-9393 Niagara wine industry was born. a family; his two The picturesque Prince of Wales Inniskillin founder Donald Ziraldo younger brothers run Henry of hotel and its Escabeche Restaurant For additional information about was the pioneer who saw the poten- Pelham with him on land that has are at the hub of the village and Niagara area accommodations, visit tial for a major wine industry in been in the family since 1794. The shopping district in quaint Niagara- The Niagara Accommodation Ontario. In 1975, Ziraldo joined winery has a reputation for setting on-the-Lake. Bursting with flowers Association (905-468-4263), at forces with Karl Kaiser, a German the standard for serious winemaking and Victorian era opulence. One of a [email protected], winemaker who had just moved to in the “New World style” —a style collection of inns, restaurants and and the Niagara-on-the-Lake Bed and the region with his Canadian wife. Speck describes as being “fruit-driven spas—including Pillar and Post Inn, Breakfast Association (905-468- Inniskillin was granted the first win- rather than technique-driven” —and Queen’s Landing Inn, Oban Inn and 0123), at www.bba.notl.on.ca. ery license in Ontario since 1929, produces 70,000 cases annually from when Prohibition was repealed. seven or eight different varietals.

82 PURECANADA “The old style of wine pushed peo- bring a bottle of each home. I felt ple away,” he says. “They thought even better when I was told that they had to be wearing black tie to these wines had won the Gold at enjoy it.” Speck clearly loves his VinExpo 2001 in Bordeaux. business, and he clearly loves the We were unprepared for our last lifestyle that living on a vineyard call of the day, Vineland Estates invites. He opened a small coffee Winery, which turned out to be a shop recently, the Coach House spectacular setting for a wine- Café, where a fine young chef serves country moment (and a wine- pâtés, Canadian cheese platters, country meal). Ten years ago, John quiches, sandwiches and salads. We Howard purchased Vineland’s 182 tasted a series of wines—a 2000 hectares (450 acres) from winemaker Baco Noir, a 2000 Reserve Riesling Herman Weis, a German viticulturist (that I loved) and a barrel-fermented who had brought the vineyard’s 2000 Chardonnay—each balanced Rieslings into prominence. Howard, by an exquisite, artisanal cheese. I whose big-thinking habits had pow- savoured the moment. Deep ered a major-league North American September sun, lunch on a patio in business career, transformed Vineland the 91 hectares (225 acres) of grapes, into a spectacular destination—refur- drinking memorable wine... life bishing the Victorian-era stone barn doesn’t get much better than this. which houses the vineyard’s offices Following Lisa’s lead, I was start- and wine shop into a catch-your- ing to find my own rhythm of how breath-and-find-the-camera showcase, to taste—using one wine for a developing a carriage house and benchmark (I chose Cabernet country house restaurant where chef Franc), and then asking to taste Mark Picone’s deft hand with fresh other varietals to get a sense of the produce and Tuscan nuance is the winemaker’s blending philosophy. I only thing that could compete with was pleased with myself that I was the view of Lake Ontario. Chef starting to taste the distinction Picone gave us a tour of his kitchen, between the oakiness of barrel-aged complete with herb garden and a full wine and the cleaner finish of wine cellar where he stores all the food he fermented in stainless steel contain- preserves or puts up—black walnuts ers. At dinner I drank my wine with grown on the property, green-tomato a newly attuned focus on how the ketchup, and every kind of fruit jam taste of the grape married with the and jelly. All arranged in shiny rows food. But when we attended a fine- of jars in a storage room that looks as wine tasting as part of the Grape if the food stylist for Gourmet maga- and Wine Festival afterwards, I zine has just left. couldn’t bring myself to take another As boffo as the setting is, the sip. I watched in amazement as Lisa wines are even better. The sweet zapped around the room, tasting 20 serenity of the Rieslings and more wines before calling it a night. Gewürztraminers, the big red taste of She wasn’t even tipsy. And I wasn’t the 1998 Cabernet Merlot Reserve worried in the least; following the and Méritage Reserve—they were lead of many wine tourists to the among the best wines my erstwhile region, we had hired a car and driver wine ringer Lisa tasted in Canada. to squire us from place to place. We weren’t leaving light. By the We had a packed itinerary for time we finished our three-day tour, our last full day of wine touring. A we had acquired a backpack to carry visit to the cooking classes at the the wines we had picked up en Strewn Winery, and then on to the route. We knew we would be hard- Reif Estate Winery, where owner pressed to find Ontario wines back Klaus Reif follows a 13-generation home in the States; however exhaust- family tradition of winemaking that ed we were by the added weight on began in the Rhine region of our shoulders, we were determined Germany more than 300 years ago. to bring the booty to share with the In addition to the Cabernet Franc, skeptics back home. • I fell in love with the 1999 Vidal Icewine, and decided that come Louisa Kasdon Sidell is managing hell or high customs, I needed to editor of Pure Canada.

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