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Last call for a ground-breaking Niagara wine brand: RIP Le Clos Jordanne

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It was the summer of 2002. The wind was howling on the Niagara Escarpment as busloads of wine journalists and dignitaries arrived to a tidy clearing in the middle of a young vineyard, where a giant white tent had been erected. The juggernaut that was Vincor was on a roll, collecting wineries, vineyards and assets like a kid collecting candy on Halloween night.

But this was different. Le Clos Jordanne was unlike anything else in Canada at the time. Burgundian-style Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, meticulously crafted from grapes grown in pristine estate vineyards, promised to lift the reputation of an industry desperate for attention on the world wine map.

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With gasps from many who had gathered on that warm day in July, including me who was flown in from Calgary, Vincor, along with its French partner Boisset, unveiled a Frank Gehry winery design that was to be built in this very spot. And it was breathtaking.

The Canadian-born Gehry, speaking via satellite link from California on this day, described the futuristic winery roof as “a silver cloud floating over the vineyard with the winery spreading out beneath it.” The design for the great hall called for a series of floor-to-ceiling glass columns soaring dramatically from their base in the underground cellar. Visitors would be guided through the winery via suspended catwalks and pathways at and below ground level.

It was to be sited in the centre of Le Clos Jordan’s main namesake vineyard surrounded by an environmentally protected forest and woodlands that were hidden from view, some 1,500 feet from the nearest road. As visitors drove to the edge of the vineyard, the winery would slowly reveal itself, complementing the landscape as a gently flowing structure with softly curving white stucco walls and an undulating metal roof, reflecting the natural landscape and the sky. It would be the grandest of all wineries in Canada once it was completed by 2010.

Zoom ahead a few years.

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The clearing in the Le Clos Vineyard where Gehry’s winery was to be built has long been planted over with more vines. That Gehry-concept winery dream died long ago. And it would be a few more years before the dreams of all the men who built Canada’s largest wine company would also suffer the same fate when Vincor sold to the U.S. giant wine company Constellation Brands On June 1, 2006 for $36.50 a share plus a 15% dividend.

It has maintained the core Vincor brands in Canada, including Le Clos, but there had been signs in recent years that the coveted Les Clos single-vineyard wines were falling behind in stature at head office.

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First there was Thomas Bachelder’s (above) departure in 2009. His replacement, Sebastien Jacquey (below), stayed on long enough to see the brand move from its own independent location in Lincoln (“the big green building”) to the main winery in Niagara Falls. Jacquey then bolted the brand and moved to Megalomaniac to make wine for John Howard.

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In 2010, Les Clos trimmed down the portfolio of single-vintage wines. Both the Talon Ridge and La Petite Vineyards were cut from the program with the fruit from those vineyards going into the Village Reserve wines, which was a fast-growing label at Vintages. Domaine Queylus, where Bachelder is the winemaker, now takes the fruit from La Petite.

So, given the signs, it is really no surprise that the glorious run Le Clos Jordanne had is now over. It really is a shame.

Le Clos slide show from Rick VanSickle on Vimeo.

 
The project, despite the winery never being built, has always produced some of this country’s most profound Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. I have tasted every wine from every vintage since it was launched (except the full 2012 vintage, the last vintage). I can only think of one other brand that I have tasted completely from beginning to current vintages, and that is Bachelder’s Burgundy, Oregon and Niagara wines.

I know Del Rollo, senior director of government relations and estates for Constellation Brands, owner of Le Clos Jordanne, called the decision difficult when I broke this story yesterday, and he said a new project will rise from the ashes, but it is still a shock to many that such a gorgeous collection of wines can suddenly disappear off the face of the Earth forever.

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Rollo said that an announcement is coming soon as to what will become of the former Le Clos Jordanne and the fruit grown at its three key vineyards – Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard, Claystone Terrace and Talon Ridge. He said a new wine will emerge from the coveted vineyards. “I’m pretty excited to know there will be something new,” he said.

And I get it. It was a business decision after two brutal short crops in a row (2014-2015) and there just wasn’t enough fruit to keep the brand at the level it was. But, as a wine lover and a collector of Niagara wines, I’m bummed that Le Clos will no longer have a place in my cellar.

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As Bachelder said in my post Tuesday, “Someone’s going to get those vineyards, some day,” he said. “It’s amazing (that the brand has closed), but the Phoenix will rise from the ashes.”

I hope so, I truly do. We need quality wines in Niagara, and Le Clos wrote the book on superb Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Let’s hope it’s not the last chapter for those gorgeous vineyards and the fruit that provides such pleasure.