Wine of the Week – Le Clos Jordanne 2007 Talon Ridge Chardonnay

For many wine drinkers, it’s hard to feel good about buying a wine produced by a gigantic multinational wine producer. There’s a great deal of romanticism attached to wine, and the idea of wine-making. Thinking of vineyards conjures idyllic sunny rows of bright green vines, people hard at work picking grapes, pressing them in a big hand cranked press and selling their wines from a tiny tasting table in the barrel room. When faced with a choice, most would rather give their hard-earned dollars to this romantic idea of a winery, rather than a monster company turning billions in profit every year. But what if the wines produced by the behemoth are astoundingly good?

An unlikely partnership was formed between two such behemoths after Jean Charles Boisset came to the Niagara region in 1998. Jean Charles is VP of Boisset, La Famille des Grand Vins. His company is a large producer of wines based in France with many well known brands. He believed the geology in the Niagara region was optimal for pinot noir. After he personally visited the region, he was convinced it was a special place and was committed to making wines from its unique terroir. Boisset started planting pinot noir vines on the Jordan Bench in 2000 together with Vincor Canada.

Vincor is the largest producer and marketer of wine in Canada. Vincor owns several well known Canadian wine brands. Jackson-Triggs, Sawmill Creek, Inniskillin and Naked Grape are all part of the Vincor family. They’ve been a part of the Canadian wine scene since 1874. In 2006, after a series of offers and attempts at hostile takeovers, Constellation Brands Inc. acquired Vincor Canada.

Constellation Brands, Inc. has a portfolio of 100 brands and 150 companies. This makes them the largest premium wine company in the US and largest wine company (period) in the UK, Australia and Canada. Founded in 1945, Constellation Brands Inc. owns brands well known to Ontario wine drinkers such as Hardys, Kim Crawford, Toasted Head, Robert Mondavi, and Clos du Bois.

The new venture between these hugely successful organizations was called Le Clos Jordanne. There was initially a great deal of scepticism around the winery, but in 2006 Le Clos Jordanne released their first vintage to a multitude of wine writers and other industry experts. The scepticism quickly turned to a buzz that still hasn’t faded.

Le Clos Jordanne is comprised of 4 vineyards on the Jordan Bench in Niagara. Le Clos Jordanne, Claystone Terrace, La Petite Vineyard and Talon Ridge are vineyards that all have distinct geology that contributes immensely to the wines of Le Clos Jordanne. Thomas Bachelder is their wine-maker. Born in Montreal, he was an amateur wine maker for some time before a trip to Burgundy solidified Thomas’s resolve to make wine-making a career. He worked as a wine-making assistant in various wineries in Burgundy, and finally attended a viticulture specific program in Beaune. When the offer to work at Le Clos Jordanne arrived, Thomas was happy to join the team. The team at Le Clos follow traditional Burgundian wine-making practices. All work on the grapes is done by hand, and they use no synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides or herbicides on their vines. Talon Ridge is their youngest and largest vineyard. This wine is the debut vintage for a single vineyard bottling - the fruit has contributed to other Le Clos Jordanne wines before now.

The Le Clos Jordanne 2007 Talon Ridge Chardonnay (LCBO 143974 | $37/750mL) is a pale straw colour in the glass. On the nose, bright aromas of pear, butter, baked apple and hints of citrus invite a sip. It’s a rich, luxurious wine on the palate, with striking acidity and minerality. The initial flavour profile is laden with citrus - lemon and white grapefruit - and then flavours of baked apple, hints of peaches and pineapple appear. This is a complex wine, showing layers of minerality to the taster. There is a vivacious acidity keeping this wine from feeling overly buttery. The finish ebbs on the tongue, reminding the palate of the citrus flavours, baked apple and stone fruit, and then finally slipping away leaving a distinct minerality behind. This is a complicated wine which will provide a great deal of pleasure to a great many people at this price point. While the proceeds may not be benefiting a small family on a tiny vineyard in a sunny valley, the benefits to the wine drinking citizens of Ontario may outweigh the consequences of eroding the romantic ideal of the wine-making process.