Wine & spirits: Rising stars

Long before they sell a single bottle, wine producers can often spend at least five income-free years planning, planting, picking, processing and, let's not forget, praying that someday the name of their winery (and the wine itself) will be on the lips of consumers. Here are four of the newest Canadian contenders. With luck and hard work, they, too, may celebrate a 25th anniversary, as British Columbia's first estate winery, Sumac Ridge, did this past July.

Closson Chase Vineyards
Prince Edward County, Ont., 888-210-2300; Hillier, Ont., 613-399-1418; clossonchase.com
Set on the massive glacial deposit that formed the peninsula of Lake Ontario, just a few hundred kilometres east of Toronto, a century-old barn painted purple and surrounded by a small field of grapes tells you you've arrived. Actress Sonja Smits, her husband, filmmaker Seaton McLean, and entertainment-industry executives have put up the cash. The winery's rapidly growing reputation, however, is built solidly on the winemaking wizardry of co-owner Deborah Paskus, Canada's Chardonnay diva. Paskus ensures that every bottling clearly reflects the vineyard soil and sunny exposure of its origin, with warm, ripe fruit flavours, mineral-laden structure and lingering complexity. At $23 per bottle, these powerful, distinctive and elegant wines easily stand up to the great French Burgundies that cost two to four times as much.

Le Clos Jordanne
Jordan Station, Ont., 905-562-9404
In 2000, two corporate visionaries, Donald L. Triggs, founder of Canada's largest wine company, Vincor International, and Jean-Claude Boisset, head of Burgundy's largest wine company, shook hands on a joint venture to produce the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Niagara region. They scoured the area until they found four suitable vineyard sites on the escarpment. Then, they applied traditional organic grape-growing practices with classic Burgundian winemaking techniques, which focus on reduced yields to give greater concentration, careful selection of grapes to eliminate under- and overripe berries, minimal intervention in the cellar, bottling without filtration in order to avoid the elimination of flavour nuances, and respect for the individuality of each site. Winemaker Thomas Bachelder has been working in a temporary facility; however, the business plan calls for the building of a stunning $40-million winery to be designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry.

This month, the winery debuts its first wines, which range in price from $25 to $55. I tasted them with exceedingly high expectations. Happily, I was not disappointed. In fact, I was taken aback by their sheer brilliance.