Dancing Swallows Vineyard
Cloudsley Cellars
Cave Spring Vineyard
Château des Charmes
Bachelder
Dancing Swallows Vineyard
Lake Erie North Shore, Canada
About Dancing Swallows Vineyard
Lake Erie North Shore’s newest (& smallest) winery, Dancing Swallows Vineyard is micro-winery in Amherstburg, Ontario. Established in 2012 on a century farm near the mouth of the Detroit River on Lake Erie, the farm is been in the family since 1881. We pride ourselves on being ‘a little something different’ – a shipping container bar, a garden style tasting area, small lot production, a passion for creative wine making, and wines that are unique.
Representative Biography
Scott Wilkins
Scott Wilkins, owner, winemaker, tractor driver, fixer of broken things, Scott came to the winery industry after a career spanning engineering, marketing, finance, and mathematics. After 30 years in the big city a change was in order, and the home farm was calling. Five years work with a test plot vineyard, and a lot of research, led to the decision to commit to opening the winery.
“Chardonnay is flat out my favourite wine – to paraphrase the Bard, ‘custom cannot stale her infinite variety.’”
Why We're Cool
Dancing Swallows is located on an interesting area of soil about six (6) kilometers off the moderating influence of Lake Erie, sitting almost exactly on the 42nd North parallel of latitude.
The south end of Essex County is a patchwork quilt of soil types, and our little six (6) acre vineyard includes two (2) of them. The front is on Perth Clay Loam, but the back, including the Chardonnay block, is on “Burford Loam Shallow Phase”, a miniature glacial moraine of brown gravelly loam, over reddish clay loam, over grey stratified sand and gravel, with ‘many cobblestones’. To manage vigour, we went with Riparia rootstock. The Chardonnay is a mix of Clone 76 and 95, which we field blend.
The classic Essex County heat and humidity leads to a lot of hand work to keep the vines in balance, and the mildews under control. The small Chardonnay block helps us get the work done at the right time, but reduces our wine lot size.
In the winery, rather than fight the swings in vintage variation we’ve decided to embrace each harvest as unique, and let nature lead and the wine follow.
Cloudsley Cellars
Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara, Canada
About Cloudsley Cellars
Located in the heart of the Niagara Escarpment, Cloudsley Cellars is a small lot, premium winery that is quickly gaining a reputation for fine cool climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Produced with minimal intervention, the wines reflect the unique terroir of the Twenty Mile Bench appellation and show vibrant acidity, excellent balance, minerality and energy.
Representative Biography
Adam Lowy, President
Adam Lowy’s deep interest in wine led him to seventeen great years selling wines from around the world for a Toronto based agency. During this time, he worked with many great wineries and travelled to most of the classic wine regions. Always tasting and learning, he refined his knowledge and passion for wine and developed a particular love for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. After years of dreaming about the winery side of the business and impressed with the ever-increasing quality of wines coming out of Niagara, Adam made the leap and founded Cloudsley Cellars in 2015. With its focus on cool climate, terroir driven wines, Cloudsley is the perfect expression of what Adam has come to love about wine.
Why We're Cool
It is our goal to make Chardonnay in a style that reflects the regional character as well as the specific terrors in which we work. This means letting the fruit dictate the character of the wines. In our case, this leads us to wines that are focused and vibrant, emphasizing elegance over power. Our winemaking is quite traditional with minimal intervention. We rely only on natural yeast for our fermentations which take place in French oak barrels (less than 25% new).
Cave Spring Vineyard
Niagara Escarpment, Canada
About Cave Spring Vineyard
Wine is said to paint a picture on the palate of the place where it was born. As Cave Spring Cellars celebrates thirty years of winemaking excellence, it is with a sense of deep appreciation for the place our wines are born. Cave Spring has established itself as one of Canada’s most acclaimed wineries. The distinct soil and climate of our vineyards on the Beamsville Bench have and will always play a critical role in the ongoing journey of crafting elegant and distinctive cool-climate wines.
Great winemaking finds its origins through a marriage of vision, passion and patience. More than three decades ago, the Pennachetti family helped to pioneer the cultivation of noble European grape varietals on the Niagara Peninsula with the planting of their first Riesling and Chardonnay vines at Cave Spring Vineyard. In the years since, Cave Spring Cellars has established itself as one of Canada’s most acclaimed wineries, earning a reputation for crafting elegant and distinctive cool-climate wines in the heart of Ontario’s wine country.
Representative Biography
Gabriel Demarco, Winemaker and Viticulturist
Gabriel Demarco (B.A., Hon. B.Sc.) is a graduate with Honours of the prestigious Oenology and Viticulture Institute (OEVI) at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, located at the heart of Canada’s Niagara Peninsula.
Born in London, Ontario, in 1980, Gabriel’s path to winemaking was by no means direct. After a period roaming the globe, he attended McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he studied theatre arts and history. During his studies, Gabriel joined the Canadian Naval Reserve to finance his studies and travel the world while serving his country. After completing his B.A. at McMaster, he moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he continued his studies, earning a Hon. B.A. in Performance from the University of Winnipeg.
By 2005, Gabriel was a working actor in Toronto, Ontario. Although wine was always a part of his family’s culture, he began to realize the depth of his passion for wine at this stage of his life. While working as a server at Jump – a cornerstone of the city’s culinary scene and part of the celebrated Oliver & Bonacini group – Gabriel was bitten by the wine bug. Facilitated by O&B’s exceptional training regimen, he added the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Advanced Wine Certificate to his resumé, becoming an integral member of O&B’s wine team.
Realizing that his true professional passion lay in winemaking, Gabriel entered the Oenology and Viticulture (OEVI) program at Brock University in 2009. By the summer of 2010, Gabriel was hired by Cave Spring Vineyard’s founding winemaker, Angelo Pavan, to intern in the winery’s eponymous vineyard. Upon graduation in 2013, Gabriel’s ambitions began to materialize when Pavan, whose work he had admired for years, hired him as a full-time winemaker. Continuing to groom under
Pavan’s tutelage, he quickly progressed to the position of Assistant Winemaker in 2014.
Seeing Gabriel’s intuitive understanding of viticulture and its centrality to the expression of terroir, Pavan turned the reigns over to Gabriel in 2018. As Winemaker and Viticulturist, Gabriel oversees all aspects of winegrowing with a relentless drive to refine the distinctive style that the winery has established in Niagara over the decades. He is also the driving force behind Cave Spring’s passionate and evolving commitment to sustainability and an enthusiastic collaborator in the marketing and promotion of Cave Spring Vineyard wines in Canada and beyond.
In addition to his winegrowing responsibilities, Gabriel is committed to the continued development of the Ontario wine industry, sitting as Chair of the Vintners Quality Alliance of Ontario’s Standards Technical Committee.
Why We're Cool
For more than 25 years, the combination of precise work in the vineyards and a measured touch in the cellars have made the Chardonnays from Cave Spring Vineyard standard-bearers for a style that emphasizes finesse, agebility and, perhaps above all, the steadfast belief in making Chardonnay that is true to its cool-climate origins. Today, among its more than 66 hectares of vineyards the winery farms 12 hectares of Chardonnay that are the source of 100% of the winery's production of this noble grape.
Château des Charmes
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada
About Château des Charmes
Seven generations of the Bosc family have been born into our way of life. You might say it’s in our blood. In fact, they even live on the farm.
Château des Charmes was founded in 1978 by Paul Bosc, a fifth generation French winegrower. Paul and his young family arrived in Niagara with the idea that growing our own grapes was the best way to make fine wine. More than ever, we believe in this Estate Winery model and we make our wine only from grapes we’ve grown ourselves. When Paul arrived in Niagara he just knew this place was special. The glacial soils, warm days and cool nights and the lush countryside reminded him of Burgundy where he studied oenology and viticulture at the University of Burgundy at Dijon. Today the Bosc family farms four vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, located in two distinct sub-appellations – St. David’s Bench and Four Mile Creek.
The Boscs believe they are custodians of the land. From the beginning they have been committed to using sustainable practices and are charter members of Sustainable Winemaking Ontario. Paul, Amélie and their team are meticulous. They use modern science and a lot of TLC to coax the best out of every vine.
Representative Biography
Amélie Boury, Vice-President Winemaking & Operations
Amélie holds an MSc. in Biotechnology from Institut Sup’Biotech de Paris with a focus on wine research, specifically grapevine and yeast genomics. As well she is a graduate of the University of Montpellier, France with a MSc. in Viticulture & Oenology; the prestigious ‘Diplome National d’Oenologue’.
Amélie’s experience includes cool climate winemaking in Alsace, France. In 2009 she was introduced to the Canadian wine industry while working on research at the University of British Columbia’s Wine Research Centre and quickly fell in love with our country.
With a passion for making wine in the new world, Amélie began working with Canadian wine industry pioneer Paul Bosc at Château des Charmes in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Paul quickly recognized her talent and saw a little of himself in her constant quest to learn and find new and more effective ways to make great wine. Paul was convinced that Amélie could take over the winemaking reins at Château des Charmes and officially named her Winemaker and Director of Oenology. With this strong vote of confidence and Paul’s continuing mentorship.
Why We're Cool
Niagara is the largest and most diverse grape growing area in Canada. It’s shaped like a pizza slice; at its narrowest in the west and widest in the east. The northern edge is the shore line of Lake Ontario. To the south is the Niagara Escarpment and to the east is the Niagara River. Together these significant features define the region and help to shape the local climate. The Niagara Escarpment is approximately 1 million years old. It is such a unique ecosystem that in 1990 UNESCO designated it a World Biosphere Reserve. And in the past 200,000 years several ice ages have left their mark on our region. As the giant ice sheets covered the land and retreated, over and over again, the soil underneath became more and more complex and diverse. Soil maps of the area are anything but straight forward. But that’s part of what makes Niagara so interesting for growing fine wine grapes. Add to that the climate. Sitting near 43° latitude Niagara is considered a cool climate viticultural area; like the classic regions of Champagne and Burgundy in France. This means we get winter but we also get beautiful, hot summers with plenty of sunshine. Then, around harvest time, the temperature difference between the day and night is wide enough to allow the grapes to “rest” at night. This is why our wines have beautiful structure, finesse and tremendous aging potential.
Château des Charmes has Chardonnay planted on each of their four vineyard sites in two distinct sub-appellations and make six different styles of Chardonnays; ranging from Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine, to unoaked Musqué (clone 809) to two classic barrel-fermented & barrel aged single vineyard Chardonnays. Chardonnay is an excellent varietal to showcase the range of flavour profiles Niagara’s diverse terroirs can produce.
Bachelder
Niagara Escarpment , Canada
About Bachelder
In Niagara, Bachelder has found a neat little barrel cellar tucked away in the vines on the Beamsville Bench, but the grapes have been sorted and processed at Southbrook Vineyards from day one. Bachelder has secured some excellent sites on the bench that stretch through Beamsville (organic), to Vineland on the way to the St. David’s Bench.
The Niagara wine is sourced primarily from the organically-grown (but not certified) Saunders Vineyard (Beamsville Bench) and the Wismer vineyards on the Twenty mile bench. Lowrey Vineyard is on the St. David’s Bench and is the original vineyard of ‘Alliance,’ the international partnership that at once preceded and inspired Le Clos Jordanne.
Representative Biography
Thomas Bachelder, Winemaker & Owner and Mary Delaney, Owner
With their two young daughters in tow, Thomas and his wife Mary Delaney have unwittingly become wine gypsies, following their passion to produce terroir-revealing wines from these two most noble Burgundian grapes. Québécois by birth, Thomas’ family hails from the dairy farming belt east of Montréal (l’Éstrie), where the Bachelder family owned two farms for as long as anyone can remember.
Just three years after his marriage, he went off with his young bride to study in Beaune, Bourgogne, to become a vigneron. Domaine de la Créa (Beaune); Domaine Marius Delarche (Pernand/Aloxe); Ponzi Vineyards (Oregon); Château Génot-Boulanger (Meursault) all formed him. Subsequent start-ups in Oregon at Lemelson Vineyards and in Niagara at both the Burgundy/Niagara joint-venture Le Clos Jordanne and, later at Domaine Queylus all enabled him to discover and honour precious new world terroirs, just as vital, just as fragile and just as important.
Thomas Bachelder Quotes
Dust and Pebbles: “Back at school in Beaune, I had a life-changing experience in a tidy vaulted cellar in Chassagne-Montrachet* - a three-hour tasting of white wine in which the grape type was never mentioned – only the vineyard names were discussed – along with descriptions of the poorish, but well-drained, pebbly, sloped limestone soil from which they sprang. It was the moment that I came back to Chardonnay for good!”
Intent is Everything: ‘No matter where one grows Chardonnay, the attitude of the wine grower affects the grape and the resulting wine: the management of the vineyards soils and the grapevine canopy, the picking date, the handling in the winery and cellar can all contribute to the retention of freshness of acidity; minerality and dense yet silky texture that mark all the world’s truly great Chardonnay wines. For only the noblest white grapes are subtle enough to let land pass before fruit; to let their lineage show through the grape flavours. The older the vine; the more it speaks of its birthplace: the more time in barrel, the more a synthesis of terroir and texture is achieved (one can draw a parallel here of the ageing of the most perceptive and elegant of humans, as well!)”
“The pebbles will always be there – but we now know for sure that the dust is gold dust – Chardonnay and its precious lands lie patiently waiting to be rediscovered.
Chardonnay – the real Chardonnay - the very word makes one’s mouth water!”
Why We're Cool
Bachelder is a small winery with cellars located in three of the world’s classic cool-climate Chardonnay regions: Burgundy; Oregon and Niagara. We strive to make pure, mineral wines from the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, elegantly-respectful of their individual terroirs.
We have been making Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for others since the mid-90's, working for multiple domaine wineries in all three regions, and now, with the Bachelder '3 Terroirs' Project, we are honouring the regions we have come to know and love, by making our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir under our own name in all three wine regions
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