Broken Stone Winery

Prince Edward County, Canada

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About Broken Stone Winery

Broken Stone Winery is a small family-owned winery in Prince Edward County, Ontario. The winery is 115 m above sea level at 44.0011° N. An island at the east end of Lake Ontario, Prince Edward County’s unique geography, creates a microclimate that is ideally suited to growing world class chardonnay and pinot noir.
The soil of our vineyard is ancient glacial till called Hillier Clay Loam. The name Broken Stone refers to the limestone fragments that are strewn throughout our vineyards. Our hot summer days and cool nights, combined with the limestone soils allow us to grow elegant, mineral-driven Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Although our latitude is further south than Burgundy, our winters are more severe, and in the Fall we tie our vines down to a low wire and bury the entire vineyard underground – ensuring the survival of the cold-sensitive vines for the next vintage. Because of this difficulty and expense, our region attracts only the most passionate and stalwart winegrowers dedicated to the perfection of the grape and the wine.
We are Tim and Micheline Kuepfer, the proprietors of Broken Stone Winery. We founded our vineyards and winery on pure grit and determination to craft world class wines.

Representative Biography

Tim Kuepfer, Proprietor & Winemaker

Raised in a small farming community, Tim pursued a business degree from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario and spent two decades in Toronto selling financial software and databases. During those years, Micheline and Tim raised a family and worked corporate careers while dreaming about living on a vineyard in the country.
But it could be said that Tim worked city jobs for twenty years waiting for the chance to live his true life amidst the vines at his small farm in Prince Edward County. To Tim’s chagrin, his wife Micheline often says, “you can take the boy out of the country, but you can never take the country out of the boy.”

Tim’s viticultural training began in 2009 when he and Micheline purchased 34 acres in Prince Edward County with one acre of just-planted Pinot Noir vines. Tim learned viticulture by getting his hands dirty in that little vineyard, doing every task himself for the first years. The local crop extension and other grape growers were his mentors. He planted another acre of Pinot Noir and three acres of Chardonnay were planted in 2010. He learned the science of winemaking by completing the UC Davis Certificate in Winemaking and learned the craft from new friends in the Prince Edward County Winegrower’s Association. But his main source of expertise was gained by just going out and making wine. Broken Stone Winery has grown from that first acre in 2009 to growing 21 acres of cool climate grapes today, with Tim managing every detail of grape growing and winemaking and Micheline providing insights into marketing and creating great products.

“When the grapes shine like gold in the morning sun and taste like honey, we know it’s time for harvest. So do the birds.”
“The vineyard is the foundation of our winery. It’s where the important work is done. If we’ve done a world class job in the vineyard during the growing season, the fruit is sound and it’s almost like the wine makes itself. “ Tim Kuepfer

Why We're Cool

Broken Stone Winery Chardonnay Vineyard
115 m above sea level
44.0011° N
Slightly North sloping.
Soil type Hillier Clay loam
Soil depth 6 inches to 5 feet, averaging 2 feet
Dry Farmed
Clone 76 on 3309

By Chadsey’s Cairns – King Eddie Vineyard and Applehouse Vineyard
90 m above sea level
43.9518° N
South sloping
Soil type Brighton Gravelly Sand, Hillier Clay Loam
Soil depth 10 feet +
Dry Farmed
Unknown clones on S04

Time Honoured Methods
Our County Grown Chardonnay is harvested 100% from grapes grown in Prince Edward County at two distinct sites.

We harvest Chardonnay from our own 3-acre vineyard and from another 2 acres that we lease at By Chadsey’s Cairns. Both sites offer different microclimates. Broken Stone Winery’s vineyard is moderately vigorous and was planted on shallow rock and clay in 2010. At Broken Stone the summers are hot and droughty. In contrast, By Chadsey’s Cairns vineyards were planted twenty years ago on a vigorous rootstock in deep sandy soils. It is only 500 meters from Lake Ontario, so the summer temperatures are moderated by cool breezes and the occasional shower off the lake.

We use the vertical shoot positioning system with 9 x 4 foot spacing and tie up 4 canes per plant. This may seem like a lot of buds in the trellis, but the extra shoots provide a sink for vigour, and several are buds lost or damaged when we bury the vines under soil in the winter. A key component of our nutrition and spray program is a compost tea, which has repellent effects on leaf hoppers and fungal disease as well as providing nourishment. Before Veraison, we strip the leaf zone to expose the Chardonnay grapes to the sun and wind, preventing disease and enhancing ripeness. The leaf-pulling is done manually both by humans and by our small flock of hungry Babydoll sheep. The fruit turns golden and the brix approaches 21.5 around October 1. We carefully hand harvest into 15 kg lugs, crush, press, and ferment the wine. Part of our ferment is in 1–3-year-old oak barrels and a portion is in stainless steel. After 8 months ageing, we blend a portion of the steel fermented wine with the wood fermented wine to produce our premium County Grown Chardonnay. The remainder goes into our popular unoaked Chardonnay Sans Chêne.

We believe great wine is made in the vineyard, so we spare no effort in caring for our vines.
Our winemaking delivers bright, pristine, mineral-driven Chardonnay with just a nod to oak and malolactic fermentation.

Ferox Estate Winery

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada

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About Ferox Estate Winery

Following in his grandfather’s footsteps as a sixth-generation winemaker, Fabian Reis established the Ferox brand to produce wines that are distinct and elegant, combining knowledge, innovation and tradition. With superior quality that begins in our sustainable vineyards and follows through to the bottle, we began in 2015 with the production of 3 barrels of our Merlot-Cabernet. As we push the boundaries of innovation, a commitment to producing clean and complex wine endures.

In 2018 the Reis family purchased Rancourt Winery in Niagara on the Lake. An established vineyard with some of Niagara’s oldest vines, Ferox took a giant leap forward as 2019 marked the first year in which all our wines were estate grown and produced; an integral piece of the Ferox philosophy. We believe excellent wines begin in the vineyard, which led to another key milestone in 2021, where we were certified sustainable in both vineyard management and wine production.

The future holds great excitement for the team at Ferox, coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ferox will continue on its mission to produce wines of the highest quality, establishing a name for itself, and for the Niagara wine region with international renown.

Representative Biography

Fabian Reis, Winemaker & Viticulturist

Fabian Reis was born into a traditional vintner family in Stuttgart, Germany. He is the sixth-generation winemaker and his family winemaking background dates back to 1893. He moved to Niagara on the Lake, Canada in 1995. He returned to Germany for over 5 years to study his winemaking roots from 2006-2011 and attended one of Germany’s prestigious winemaking schools, working alongside wineries that are ranked Europe’s best.
Since returning to Niagara, Fabian decided to take a chance and leave the shadows of his long-established winemaking customs and set forth to produce his own style of wines alongside sommelier wife Stephanie. These premium wines will fiercely push the wine industry boundaries to the next level with wine quality and vineyard practices.

Why We're Cool

The vineyards of Ferox Estate Winery are located for the most part in the Niagara Lakeshore Appellation, with an altitude around 80 meters and a latitude of 43.2 N. The environmental feature that most characterizes our “cool” microclimate is certainly the proximity to a large body of water; Lake Ontario.
The cool breezes and the morning fog contribute to lower the temperatures in the hot summer days, and release the heat accumulated during the warm summer in the much cooler fall days. This effect modulates the ripening process over the growing season, granting protection from drastic changes in temperature, and spring frost, slowing down ripening and retaining acidity. These levels of natural acidity, contribute to the complexity, and longevity of the wines.
The sandy soils of the property create the perfect conditions for the growth of low cropped and naturally highly concentrated grapes of extremely high quality. This, combined with meticulous farming and precise harvest dates results in wines that are elegant and sophisticated, with citrus, lemon and green apple characteristics.

At Ferox, Chardonnays are made in several different styles. Our Chardonnay is either picked by hand or by machine after several passes of bunch thinning, to ensure that only healthy clusters are harvested. In the cellar, Chardonnay is gently pressed and immediately the juice is separated according to quality and phenolic composition. After a slow cold settling, the must is racked, inoculated with selected yeasts and fermented at cool temperatures to maintain freshness and fruitiness. The wines are then aged in vessels of different material, the aging process may include a period spent in French oak barrels. Typically, because of the high total acidity resulting from our early picking dates, all of the Chardonnays at Ferox go through malolactic conversion.
This process, together with extended lees contact and battonage, softens the wines, adds complexity and enriches the texture.

Redtail Vineyards

Prince Edward County, Canada

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About Redtail Vineyards

Low-intervention wines since 2008. We focus on cool climate varietals such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. At the 44th parallel, Redtail Vineyards is a quintessential Cool Climate winery. While in the past we have sourced grapes from both the County and Niagara, our newly planted 25 acres of grapes will become our main source of grapes in the near future.

Representative Biography

Kevin Panagapka, Winemaker

Kevin Panagapka moved from his hometown in Guelph, to Niagara-on-the-Lake in 2002 to attend the Winery and Viticulture program at Niagara College. For the past 19 years, Kevin has worked at a variety of wineries in Niagara, as well as working a vintage in New Zealand. In 2007, Kevin and his wife Jodie started 2027 Cellars, producing single vineyard, terroir driven wines from various sites in the Niagara Peninsula. Around that time, Kevin also started his consulting business, consulting for various wineries in the Niagara region.
In 2022, Kevin joined the Redtail Vineyards team, as head winemaker. He is excited to work alongside their viticultural team to produce some world class wines from Prince Edward County.

Why We're Cool

Dancing Swallows Vineyard

Lake Erie North Shore, Canada

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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.

On Seven Estate Winery

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada

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About On Seven Estate Winery

In the fall of 2009, we acquired an abandoned Niagara-on-the-Lake farm on seven acres from which we derived our name, On Seven. Our focus is to create memorable, classic Niagara Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines.

To fulfill this focus, On Seven remains true to its guiding principles. We steward a pristine calcareous five-acre vineyard in a locale with legacy of producing premium bottlings. We plant vines sourced from Burgundy with a pedigree of creating great wine and allow our vines to thrive and express the distinct character of their inherent genetics within a unique intersection of soil, climate, and human influence.

We employ traditional and scientific certified organic farming practices that enhance the quality of the wine, and are respectful to our team members, the vines, and the ecological balance in Nature. We maintain low grape yields to ensure optimal ripeness and flavours and hand-harvest estate fruit into small crates to preserve integrity.

We allow wild yeast to express the vineyard’s unique sense of place in French oak barrels. We restrain wine production to very exclusive quantities to maintain focus. We release wine only after ample time in barrel and bottle to ensure its elements are harmoniously balanced and work with team members who share our vision and devotion to excellence.

On Seven believes that it’s through the application of these principles that we are able to produce such memorable, classic Niagara Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines.

Representative Biography

Peter Gamble, Winemaker & Vittorio De Stefano, Owner

A professional winemaker for the first decade of his career, Gamble, also a recognized international wine taster and educator, became the founding Executive Director of the VQA. The newly established body acted as Canada's ‘Appelation Controlée,’ setting standards for the country's finest wines, but was also responsible for marketing and export. In this capacity, Gamble spearheaded the industry's first push for national and international recognition as a premium wine-producing region.

Returning to winemaking and winery consultation in 2000, Gamble’s firm has provided a broad range of expertise to some of Canada’s most reputed wineries in their start-up phase. He has been lead consultant for Stratus Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, heralded as one of the world’s most oenologically sophisticated wineries and the first to achieve full LEED accreditation; Benjamin Bridge in Nova Scotia, making classic sparklings hailed by many as Canada’s finest; Ravine winery in St. Davids; Lightfoot & Wolfville – Demeter certified and three-time Winery of the Year at the Atlantic Canadian Wine Awards; and, most recently, On Seven, with a focus on high-end Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Gamble and his winemaking wife, Ann Sperling, also co-own and operate Versado, from a high altitude 1920 Malbec planting in Mendoza, and Sperling Vineyards winery in the Okanagan.

In 2019, Gamble was presented with the inaugural ‘Karl Kaiser Winemaker Emeritus Award for Outstanding Services to the Canadian Wine Industry.’ Previously, he was the inaugural recipient of the Tony Aspler Award for contributions to the Ontario wine industry.

Gamble’s love of cool climate Chardonnays relates to balance, invigorating acidities and, in the finest vineyards and vintages, a miraculous ability to transform into something sublime with long years in bottle.

Why We're Cool

As a single-vineyard wine in Niagara-on-the-Lake, On Seven’s cool climate Chardonnay program is focused on both the characteristics of the vineyard and the approach of the winemaking.

Our vineyard: Our focus to create memorable, classic Niagara Chardonnay starts with our site. The calcareous loam and clay nature of the soil is so named because of the high proportion of calcium carbonate, or lime, as commonly referred. This soil is recognized for how it supports acidity in the wine rooted within. In planting our vineyard, we took specific steps to accentuate this characteristic. We chose S04 as our rootstock, given it thrives in lime-based soil. SO4 produces a larger root mass and starts functioning earlier in the season to help our vines endure extreme weather variations such as cool, wet springs, and droughty summers. SO4 also produces vines of moderate vigour (rather than low vigour) and give us the option to set more fruit early in the season and carry it through warmer vintages. This moderate crop load approach slows ripening of the fruit to achieve the desired balance between sugar and acidity levels.

To support our pursuit for classically styled Chardonnay, we sourced our vines directly from Burgundy and planted clones of Chardonnay (76, 95, 96 and 548) with a history of making great cool climate wines. Our planting on the slight north-facing slope of the land extends fruit ripening and maintains freshness while achieving full physiological maturity. Finally, we employ organic farming practices to allow the grapes to capture the subtleties of our site.

Our winemaking: Our obsession in creating memorable, classic Niagara Chardonnay also influences our winemaking decisions. Our Chardonnays exhibit restrained fruit character while being balanced by savoury and mineral notes. We achieve this classic Chardonnay flavour profile through a minimalist approach. We start with hand harvested organic estate fruit. We let wild yeast guide the fermentation process and express the vineyard’s unique sense of place. We age the wine in predominately neutral French oak barrels to enhance complexity while retaining freshness and focus. Finally, we bottle and release the wine once its individual elements are harmoniously balanced.