Prince Edward County

Photos, clockwise: Colin Stanners pouring one of his pinot noirs; Vicki Samaras, partner in Hinterland Wine Company, with Babette, the winery dog; Not Napa: sign outside the Grange of Prince Edward winery.

Ontario’s Prince Edward County appellation is so new that in 2000 the only wine being produced was a small volume at a cider producer. When I first wrote about Prince Edward County, in 2003, there were about four wineries, but the region has grown so quickly that there are now 45. I can’t think of any appellation in the world that has developed at that rate. Prince Edward County gained Appellation of Origin status in 2007, and already some of the producers are making a name for themselves, in Canada and overseas, especially for their chardonnays and pinot noirs.

Prince Edward County is a small peninsula on the north shore of Lake Ontario, about two hours’ drive from Toronto and three from Ottawa. The appellation includes the peninsula, a small nearby island, and a strip of land to the north. In all, there are about 400 hectares of vineyards, most planted in chardonnay and pinot noir, but with significant areas of pinot gris and cabernet franc. 

Wine was made commercially in Prince Edward County as early as the 1860s, about the same time as commercial operations started up in other parts of Ontario. In 1864, an advertisement in a Toronto magazine announced that J.H. Morden and Son were “manufacturing a pure grape wine from Grapes grown on their own premises.” It was described as “Superior for Medicinal Purposes to the adulterated and drugged mixtures daily exposed for sale… highly recommended by the best judges in Canada… very suitable for sacramental purposes.”

But the County voted to go “dry” during Prohibition in Ontario (1916-27) and the small wine industry died out. Niagara Peninsula became the centre of vinous gravity in Ontario and Prince Edward County became an important fruit and vegetable-growing region. Then in the late 1990s, a few people began planting vineyards. The rest is history, albeit very short history.  

Although this is a small region, there are several pockets of specific soil types and mesoclimates. Winemakers will tell you that their vineyards close to the lakeshore are much warmer than those only a hundred metres inland. Some producers point to underlying limestone in their districts as evidence that the growing conditions are analogous to Burgundy, and anyone visiting will told repeatedly that this chardonnay or that pinot noir echoes a “Burgundian” style.

This is a difficult climate for viticulture. Recent years have inflicted deadly droughts and fatal frosts on the vines. In 2015 a late spring frost reduced the crop by more than half. Even though the lake moderates temperatures, winter cold is such that vines need to be buried to avoid damage or death. 

Some producers hedge their bets by making some of their wines each year from grapes brought from Niagara Peninsula. There’s no attempt to hide this and you just need to check the appellation on the label to see where the grapes are from. Wines labelled Ontario are made from grapes frown anywhere in Ontario, while wines made from grapes at least 85 per cent grown in Niagara Peninsula (or one of its sub-appellations) are labelled that way. 

If you want to taste a wine not only made in the County but also made from grapes grown there, look for Prince Edward County on the label if it’s certified by the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA), Ontario’s wine standards authority. It means that the wine is made from grapes at least 85 per cent of which were grown in the County. (If a wine is not VQA-certified, labels cannot carry any geographical indication.) 

I visited Prince Edward County in January 2017, and stayed at The Inn at Huff Estates. To book: huffestates.com.

Below are some of the notable wines (all sourced from Prince Edward County grapes) I tasted:

Grange of Prince Edward Vineyards & Estate Winery

This winery is owned by Caroline Granger, who grew up on the property and now operates it with her daughter Maggie. Caroline focuses on the winemaking, Maggie on the 60 acres of vines, but the division of labour is clearly porous. The Grange has 60 acres of vineyards (17 of them pinot noir and 11 riesling), and all their wines are made from estate fruit. You can buy these wines at: grangeofprinceedward.com.

Grange of Prince Edward ‘Estate’ Pinot Gris 2016
VQA Prince Edward County $18.00
[Barrel sample] This is a high-acid white with good, layered fruit that I think of as more in the grigio than gris style. It’s relentlessly dry and somewhat astringent on the finish, but it has real and very attractive juiciness in the texture – what Burgundians call a salivant quality. When it’s bottled, this will be available in the LCBO.
4 stars

Grange of Prince Edward ‘Estate’ Chardonnay 2013
VQA Prince Edward County $22.00
An unoaked chardonnay that spent 18 month sur lie “to build style” as Maggie Granger put it. There’s good fruit purity here and it’s backed by the signature characteristic of County wines: bright, forward acid. Here they’re in very good balance. 
4 stars

Grange of Prince Edward ‘Estate’ Gamay 2013
VQA Prince Edward County $18.00
Gamay is the winery’s flagship and Caroline Granger says they “had a love of gamay since the beginning,” and their gamay was the first County wine to be sold in the LCBO. The 2013 shows bright fruit, nice complexity, clean and fresh acid, and very good balance. It’s another gamay to reinforce the notion that gamay ought to be Ontario’s signature red variety. 
4.5 stars

Grange of Prince Edward ‘Select’ Cabernet Franc 2012
VQA Prince Edward County
This is a very attractive cabernet franc that shows density and robustness in the fruit from the warm 2012 vintage. The green notes commonly found in cabernet franc are absent from this wine (some people will miss them, others won’t). There’s plenty of complexity, fresh acid, and excellent balance. 
4.5 stars

I also tried two sparkling wines, the brut 2011 (50:50 chardonnay and pinot noir) and the 2012 brut rosé (100% pinot noir), so they’d been on lees for a number of years. They hadn’t been disgorged, but Maggie disgorged them on the spot. Tasted this way, the wines were unfinished, but it’s clear where they’re going.

Grange of Prince Edward Brut 2011
This will cost $30.00 and it’s well worth the price. It shows some yeasty notes from the 40 months on lees, together with very attractive fruit and bright acidity. 
4.5 stars

Grange of Prince Edward Brut Rosé 2012
This will be priced at $35.00 and it, too, is well worth it. There are really lovely red fruit flavours here, some toastiness, and vibrant, clean acidity. It’s very well balanced.
5 stars

Keint-He Winery

Keint-He (pronounced kent-hay) is named for a Seneca village in the Bay of Quinte region (the French take on the word, presumably written Quinté). Like some other Prince Edward County wineries, they make wine with both Niagara and local grapes. Wines from Prince Edward County grapes are in Keint-He’s “Portage” and single-vineyard lines. You can buy these wines at Keint-He.ca. 

Keint-He ‘Portage’ Chardonnay 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $25.00
Aged 18 months sur lie in French oak (20% new barrels) this quite elegant chardonnay shows some toastiness in the top notes of the nose and flavour profile, with a core of fresh, vibrant fruit. The acidity is bright and well calibrated to the fruit, and the balance is excellent. It’s a very attractive chardonnay at a very good price. 
4.5 stars

Keint-He ‘Greer Road’ Chardonnay 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $35.00
This is a single-vineyard chardonnay that’s aged 18 months sur lie in French oak, with 25% new barrels. It shows elegance from start to finish, with focused and well-defined flavours backed by clean, fresh acidity. It’s well integrated and the balance is spot-on. 
5 stars

Keint-He ‘Portage’ Pinot Noir 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $30.00
Drawn from four vineyards, this is “a true expression of County pinot,” says winemaker Lee Baker. It’s certainly made in a style that you recognize after tasting a dozen or so pinots from the area: light to medium in weight, with bright acidity and vibrant, fairly complex fruit flavours. Here they show very well and they’re nicely integrated. It’s dry, with some tannic astringency at the end, and overall a very stylish effort. 
4.5 stars

Keint-He ‘Little Creek’ Pinot Noir 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $38.00
Sourced from one of the vineyards used for the ‘Portage’ pinot, this delivers somewhat more weight and substance, but it remains within the parameters that seem to define Prince Edward County pinot. There’s good complexity in the fruit, bright, clean, and positive acidity, and good tannic integration. Overall, it’s an impressive wine. 
5 stars

Huff Estates

Huff Estates opened its doors in 2004 and has earned a reputation for consistently high-quality wines. Some of the wines are sourced from estate vineyards around the winery, art gallery, and inn, and others from the South Bay Vineyard, close to Lake Ontario in the southeast of Prince Edward County. Buy these wines from huffestates.com.

Huff Estates ‘Cuvée Peter’ Brut 2011
VQA Prince Edward County $40.00
Made from chardonnay (60%) and pinot noir (40%), and aged on lees for several years, this shows some yeasty notes and quite rich and complex fruit on the nose. They carry through to the flavour profile. The texture is quite big and generous, the acidity is clean and bright, and the wine is harmonious. This is a well-made sparkling wine (made in the Traditional Method), more evidence of the success of this style in Prince Edward County. 
5 stars

Huff Estates ‘South Bay’ Chardonnay 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $30.00
Huff’s 23-acre South Bay Vineyard is close to the water, which moderates the climate appreciably. There’s some evidence of the 14 months’ aging in French barrels (25% new) here, but it’s well integrated and adds interesting notes to the profile of ripe, fresh fruit. The clean, refreshing acidity is well measured for the fruit, and the fruit-acid balance is very good. 
4 stars

Huff Estates Reserve Pinot Noir 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $35.00
This pinot was fermented in large wooden tanks, then aged 12 months in the same tanks. It’s a fairly bold pinot with quite pungent and very complex fruit, all backed by a seam of lovely, clean acid. The finish is long and savoury. In style, it’s a bit of an outlier from most of the County wines I tasted, but a very good pinot noir indeed.
4.5 stars

Huff Estates ‘South Bay’ Merlot 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $40.00
Sourced from the temperate conditions of Huff’s South Bay Vineyard, this is a good example of a cool-climate merlot, one of my favourite animals. The fruit is solid but shows some leanness, the acid is bright and fresh, and the tannins are drying and easily manageable. It’s nicely integrated for drinking now and over the next three or four years while it has its attractive freshness. 
4.5 stars

Norman Hardie Winery and Vineyard

Winemaker Norman Hardie has established a reputation that goes well beyond Prince Edward County and Canada. He planted vines (mainly chardonnay and pinot noir) in the region in 2003 and made his first vintage in 2007, and now has 45 planted acres that include riesling, cabernet franc, and melon de bourgogne. Buy these wines from: normanhardie.com.

Norman Hardie ‘County’ Chardonnay 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $45.00
This is a lovely chardonnay, sourced from five sites, all quite close to the winery. It started fermentation in a horizontal stainless steel tank (the kind used in dairies) and completed its maturation in 500-litre French barrels, about one third new. The oak makes minimal impact on the flavours but fills out the texture. The flavours are generous and layered, while the texture is essentially acid-taut in the best way. It’s a terrific chardonnay, ready to drink now, but with plenty of life ahead of it.
5 stars

Norman Hardie ‘County’ Gamay 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $29.00
One of the characteristics of Prince Edward County wines, besides their crisp, clean acidity, is low alcohol. This gamay clocks in at a mere 10.5% abv, the sort of level common in France a hundred years ago. It’s made in a light style – light in colour and light in texture – with good fruit solidity and the signature acidity that makes the texture it bright and fresh.
4 stars

Norman Hardie ‘County’ Pinot Noir 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $45.00
This is another low-alcohol effort, with just 10.9% abv. Aged in French barriques (about a third new) for 10 months, it’s medium in weight, with a layered savoury fruit profile that’s backed by bright, clean acid. The tannins are drying but unobtrusive, and the components are very well integrated now. 
4.5 stars

Stanners Vineyard

Colin Stanners bought land in Prince Edward County in 2003, started planting grapes in 2005, produced his first vintage in 2009, and opened his winery in 2010. This is one of Prince Edward County’s smaller wineries (it produces about 1500 cases a year), with an emphasis on chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot gris.  Buy these wines from stannersvineyard.ca.

Stannners ‘Cuivré’ Pinot Gris 2015
$27.00
[Only 30 cases of this were made, so it was not submitted for VQA certification.] As the name suggests, this pinot gris has a defined copper colour, resulting from a day of skin contact. There’s lovely texture here, generous and with a hint of viscosity. The fruit is well defined and the acidity is clean and fresh. It’s an excellent pinot gris, the closest in style to what I think of as pinot gris than any others I tasted during this visit. 
5 stars

Stanners Chardonnay 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $30.00
After partial malolactic and 14 months in French oak (about a quarter new), this is a fine chardonnay with a very attractive juicy texture. The fruit is ripe, fresh, and well focused, and it’s supported by crisp acidity. All the components are in place for drinking now and over the next four or five years. 
4.5 stars

Stanners Pinot Noir 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $30.00
Most of the grapes were from Stanners’ estate vineyard, and the remainder were from elsewhere in the County.  Seventy per cent of the wine was aged in barriques for 18 months, the rest in stainless steel. The result is a terrific pinot, with well-structured and layered fruit flavours backed by a broad seam of clean acidity. The tannins are sweet and drying, and the wine shows harmony throughout.
5 stars

Stanners ‘Barrel Select’ Pinot Noir 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $39.00
This was aged 18 months in barriques (one quarter new) and only 400 cases of it were made. It’s a delicious pinot that delivers nicely concentrated and defined savoury flavours that are supported by fresh acid. The fruit-acid balance is spot-on, with the acid contributing some juiciness to the texture. The tannins are there, drying and manageable, and they dry the finish out well. 
5 stars

Stanners Cabernet Franc 2015
[Barrel sample]
This had been in barrel about 13 months when I tasted it, and it’s a cab franc to look forward to. The 2015 vintage was a tough one in Prince Edward County, with heavy losses caused by a late frost, but these grapes are from a site close to Lake Consecon. The fruit here is surprisingly (for County wines) substantial, and the texture carries more weight than I expected. There’s a nuance of greenness that’s typical of cabernet franc, and some juiciness from the acid. It ends with a finish that’s quite tannic and astringent. It’ll be interesting to see how this evolves, as it shows a lot of promise. 
4.5 stars

Hinterland Wine Company

Although Hinterland does make some still wine, it specializes in sparkling wines. It’s notable for making not only superior fizz, but making it using three different methods: ‘Traditional’, the method used in Champagne, where the second fermentation takes place in the bottle; charmat, where the second fermentation takes place in a tank before the wine is bottled; and ‘Ancestral’, the method used is some places in the southwest of France where the carbon dioxide from a single fermentation is captured. I’m reviewing here only the wine made exclusively from Prince Edward County grapes, and will review the others separately. Buy this from: hinterlandwine.com.

Hinterland Les Étoiles Brut 2013
VQA Prince Edward County $39.00
This is a blend of chardonnay (60%) and pinot noir (40%), all drawn from Hinterland’s estate vineyards. They disgorge only about a hundred bottles at a time, and have 30-40,000 bottles (from the 2009 to 2016 vintages) on lees. This is a substantial and elegant sparkling wine, with depth of flavour, complexity, excellent acid-fruit balance, and a lot of bubble activity. It’s excellent value and shows very well against many champagnes at twice the price. 
5 stars

Closson Chase

The owners of Closson Chase (named for the intersection of Closson and Chase Roads) bought land in 1997, planted vines from 1999, and produced their first vintage from estate fruit in 2005. The winery soon developed a reputation for high-quality chardonnays and pinot noirs. Buy these wines from: clossonchase.com.

Closson Chase ‘Closson Chase Vineyard’ Chardonnay 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $29.00
Wiinemaker Keith Tyers describes this as a chardonnay “that shows the County,” and it definitely falls with a broad style that’s common to the wineries I visited. It’s not that they reproduce the same chardonnay, but they share the qualities of leaner fruit, high acidity, and good fruit-acid balance. This one is on the richer end of that spectrum, with some toastiness from 16 months in oak (only 10% new) and full malolactic. There’s a touch of creaminess in the texture, very good balance, and excellent integration. 
4.5 stars

Closson Chase ‘South Clos Vineyard’ Chardonnay 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $40.00
Aged 16 months in French barrels (20% new) this is a substantial chardonnay with savoury flavours and a light veneer of toast and oak. The acid is bright and clean and the wine is harmonious in its integration. 
4.5 stars

Closson Chase ‘Closson Chase Vineyard’ Pinot Noir 2014
VQA Prince Edward County $30.00
Some of this wine was barrel-fermented and all of it spent 16 months in oak, 25% new. The fruit is bright and savoury, with some depth to the flavour profile, and it’s backed by high but balanced acid. The tannins are drying and add some astringency to the texture and finish. Overall, it’s a stylish pinot with well-integrated, harmonious components. 
4.5 stars

Closson Chase Pinot Noir 2015
[Barrel sample of single-vineyard pinot noir to be bottled in March 2017. $45.00 on release]
This was 100% barrel-fermented and will have about 17 months barrel-aging when it is bottled. It’s a slightly more robust pinot than the 2014, but shows the bright acid that’s characteristic of Prince Edward County.  
4.5 stars