LCBO & Vintages

Norman Hardie & The County

Norman Hardie, with his eponymous winery, is putting Prince Edward County on the wine map. He bought land there in 2001 and, after initially using Niagara grapes, has added more and more County grapes to his wines. He's best known for his chardonnays and pinot noirs and he's not shy about marketing them at the upper end of the Ontario price range. And he's had success, getting his wines listed at a number of top restaurants in Toronto and Ottawa, and, by the way, selling out every single bottle every year.

 

Hardie's unplaceable accent  (certainly not County, eh?) is a result of years spent abroad and is a nicely clear vehicle for him to be articulate about wine. And what an interesting resume: “I went to Dijon University when I was 20," said Hardie, "and sort of just fell into the sommelier program there and I loved it. I got myself a job in a Michelin two star restaurant and completed the sommelier program. Back in Canada I worked at the Four Seasons – started as a dishwasher and worked my way up to sommelier and manager at Truffles. My next position was supposed to be as an F&B [Food and Beverage] director somewhere else in the Four Seasons chain.

 

"I then realized what I loved most about my job was the wine and I decided I couldn’t continue to be an armchair quarterback. I had to learn how to make it. So I wrote to a wine contact and did a vintage in Oregon and loved it. Then I did a vintage in South Africa at a small pinot noir and chardonnay focused house. I’d bought his wines at the Four Seasons and after the vintage they offered me a full time job, which I accepted on condition that I could go and do the vintage in Burgundy, which I did. All in all, I did four vintages in South Africa and three in Burgundy. Then I did two years in Central Otago in New Zealand with a fantastic winemaker at a company with the least glamorous name: The Central Otago Wine Company, commonly known as Cowco. We made wines for about 10 different wineries as contract winemakers [not bulk]. We had 65 fermenters going at one point, so a fantastic place to work – especially as the deal we had with the winemakers was that we made all the calls on the style, barrels, how we made it, when we picked and so on. It was up to us. I did that that for five months without a day off, and then I took a month off and went to Santa Barbara [California] to work for Au Bon Climat making pinot noir, chardonnay and Rhone varietals [syrah, grenache, mourvedre], which came in later. It made for a long vintage – started at the beginning of August and lasted until American Thanksgiving – but once again there was plenty of opportunity to work with a lot of styles." So: Hardie built up a solid background in his six years of training, and then he came home.  

 

Coming Home
"I then decided to launch on my own but I wanted to find the ideal terroir. I looked a several sites in Niagara – and I think there are some fantastic sites in Niagara – and then someone said ‘have a look at Prince Edward County’. I took one look at the soil and said I’ve never seen soil like that outside of Burgundy, and said ‘OK, this is going to be my home’.” Hardie took the plunge in 2001.

 

The County
So what's his view of the County now that he's been there seven years? “I would say Prince Edward County is on the third wave of investment now and I got in on the tail end of the first. Land prices have gone up significantly, but the reality of the wine industry [in Canada] is that land prices are pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things as there are so many other expenses.” Hardie then revealed a pleasant surprise: you can still get an acre of land there and a fair bit of change from $10,000. A Napa acre would cost you half a million dollars and a similar slice of Champagne about $600,000.

 

There are caveats for urban professionals with some money to spare and an interest in wine, however. “In Prince Edward County," says Hardie," you really have to find the right site. You need good air drainage [i.e., wind] and you need to be close to the lake. Air drainage is important in case of late frosts in spring or early frosts in fall. If you’ve got a flat piece of land, the cold air just stops and sits there. With sloping or hilly land, the cold air always seeks the lowest spot. Proximity to the lake is important because it extends the frost-free season at both ends, and in the summer it keeps things slightly cooler than inland. We rarely go over 30/31 degrees Celsius. Vines operate best at about 28 degrees, and once it gets above 32, it just shuts down – above that temperature, nothing’s happening."

 

Niagara as Insurance Policy
Hardie initially used grapes from Niagara as it takes three years for a vineyard to produce a useable crop. "I am about 65% Prince Edward County grapes now and 35% Niagara. I’ve located several sites in Niagara and we’ve had great results from them and we will continue to use Niagara grapes. All three of my main varieties, chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot gris, come in at the same time in Prince Edward County. The nice thing about Niagara is that it comes in about two weeks earlier, so we can get a start on the vintage without having to do it all at once. It’s like in a restaurant, you don’t want all your reservations arriving at 7 o’clock. Plus we’ve had fantastic results from the Niagara fruit. The other reason Niagara is good is because we have a greater danger of a spring frost [possible up to mid-May, according to Benjamin Simmons, associate winemaker and viticulturalist] and it could wipe out our entire crop. Does that mean we leave our tanks empty for a whole year? No, because we’ve got that 35% coming from Niagara and we’ve got that relationship with the growers that we can get a bit more if we need it." Hardie's long term aim is to be about 70% County, 30% Niagara because he's aware that the County really is at the outer edge of vinifera viticulture: "It’s an insurance policy."

 

“I will never do cabernet sauvignon. In the part of Prince Edward County where we are, I just can’t see it working. Where we are it’s ideal for pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris. I’m also producing the melon de bourgogne but in small quantities.”

 

"We get that slight rich oiliness of Alsace and then the freshness and vibrancy of the Alto Adige [Italy] when they label as ‘gris’ not ‘grigio’, as opposed to their more southern neighbours who do a more grigio style. With gris, you’re looking at something that’s richer and a little more textured. You’re still going to have the vibrancy, acidity and freshness but there’s going to be a lot more to the wine. I can’t say I’ve ever tasted a pinot grigio that’s blown me away, whereas I’ve had a lot of gris that have."

 

If Niagara and the Okanagan are at the northern fringes of the winegrowing belt, Prince Edward County is over the line. No six or eight foot tall vines here. They crop very low to the ground because of what they need to do every winter: bury the vines. It’s called “hilling” and, after the grapes have been harvested by late October/early November, the canes (or shoots) that will form the vines the next year are selected, then most of the plant is buried. “We know that at times we do get down to –25 or –28, which is absolutely deadly,” says Hardie. It’s not only labour intensive and time-sensitive (have to beat the first snowfall), they have to reverse it all in the spring, “de-hilling” in mid-April. Other than in Quebec, which is even colder and where hardier hybrid grapes are grown, hilling is not done anywhere else. Fortunately, says Hardie, the lighter, looser limestone-rich soil of the County makes it fairly easy to do.

 

"The 06 chardonnay is drinking very Burgundian right now. It’s lean but very flavourful. The 06 pinot is not like the 05, which you can lay down for 5-7 years, it’s ready now and will be good for the next couple of years. That makes it really accessible to a lot restaurants: they can have it now." The 07 chardonnays will be available by the end of the summer as they are still in barrel. Hardie uses French oak barrels, but the wines are not overly oaky: “our wines are more mineral driven. It tastes like Old World chard.”

 

Hardie's Wines by Me
2007 Pinot Gris. $25
Very aromatic nose of fresh white fruit, peaches and a slight hint of tropical. Smooth on the palate and with good acidity, so quite fresh. There's a bit of "oiliness" in the mid-palate and then a nice lingering finish with a bit of apple. 88 points

 

2006 Chardonnay. $35
The very dark nose is off-putting at first but this seems to clear soon enough. I should have asked Norman if the nose was typical. In any case, there's great acidity on the smooth palate, which has nice smoky notes from the oak. The light white fruit comes to the fore gradually, with apple and lemon, which carries through nicely onto the finish, which has some smoke at the end. Very Old World style chard here. 88/89 points

 

2006 Pinot Noir. $39
Light ruby colour. Bold fruity nose of cherries with a slightly jammy quality and there's a nice hint of earthiness under. Very elegant and "feminine" on the palate, which has lots of bright red cherry and berry fruit. Good tannic structure and a lovely lingering finish that adds a note of perfume. Terrific. 90 points.

 

2007 Melon de Bourgogne. $19
Hardie's one of only two producers of this grape in Ontario. It's the grape used to make Muscadet in the Loire Valley, one of France's coolest climate winegrowing areas: so it's a shoo-in for the chilly County. Fresh and clean on the palate, the acidity's high but nicely balanced with the sharp white fruit, including Asian pear and other light fruit notes. Seems a little more complex than a Muscadet. 88 points.