Le Clos Jordanne
Ontario's Burgundy
posted January 28 2010
January
2010, heralded the much anticipated arrival of a Canadian icon wine (not one
made in BC) with the launch of Le Clos Jordanne, from the Niagara Peninsula, in
Vancouver - just in time for the 2010 games.
Thomas Bachelder, Le Clos
Jordanne's viniculteur strode into Vancouver with Burgundian Jean-Charles
Boisset, the charming and talkative vice-president of Boisset France, to
introduce sommeliers and local wine scribes to the wines.
During the two hour seminar and
tasting Boisset explained how the partnership with Vincor and Donald Triggs
began after they met in Boisset's home of Burgundy in the 1990s. The two
companies exchanged faxes until Boisset eventually visited the Niagara region to
see what all the fuss was about and why Triggs so firmly believed in planting
Burgundian clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The
landscape, the limestone soil and the climate had Boisset so convinced he stood
in own his homeland that in no time they purchased the land and began taking
steps to get the right clones to Canada.
I visited Le Clos Jordanne, their
vineyards and their simply functional, leased winery shed in September 2009. I
had never tasted the wines prior to my arrival and had never met their extremely
tall and outspoken winemaker Thomas Bachelder. Bachelder makes you feel
instantly comfortable. He is a no-fuss kinda guy who understands, from his
years of winemaking in Burgundy, exactly what needs to get done. He is both
efficient and informative when it comes to explaining his vineyards - he knows
them well. The only difference (besides being inside) between my September 2009
visit, and subsequent tasting in Vancouver this past week was the lack of Bachelder's
glass, sloshing water all over the
console
as we
lurched through Le Clos' Jordan Ontario vineyards in his truck.
Perhaps it is the years of being a wine journalist that taught Bachelder how to
talk to people about wine, vines and vineyards, simply and proficiently,
peppered with a lot of anecdotes.
Like our own Osoyoos Larose (a
similar partnership between Vincor and Group Taillan from Bordeaux focusing on
making Bordeaux style reds) in the South Okanagan Valley, these people are
passionate, committed, and have the money behind them to do things the right
way. And like Osoyoos Larose's winemaker Pascal Madevon, Le Clos Jordanne's
Bachelder is making pretty incredible wine without a fancy winery. Bachelder is
making wine in a leased shed (not any shed mind you - a big one) and the last
time I was at Osoyoos Larose Madevon had his wine in barrels in a large Quonset
out back, behind Jackson-Triggs.
For both, it's about the terroir.
Le Clos Jordanne wines will be
available in private wine stores and restaurants in BC immediately.
All prices are approximate
Village Reserve Chardonnay 2006 $30 Like the Village Reserve Pinot
Noir this wine offers the best value if you are drinking it now. A combination
of vineyard sites this Chardonnay has plenty of creamy pear and honey with
nutty praline and a mineral core. Rounded with a creamy edge the flavours echo
the aromas - nice texture and fine spice lingers on the finish.
Village Reserve Pinot Noir 2006 $30 Like the Village Reserve
Chardonnay this wine offers the best value if you are drinking it now. A
combination of vineyard sites this Pinot has bright red fruit, violets and a
composty/forest floor notes. The palate repeats the juicy red fruit,
cedar, fine spice and tea leaf flavours. A nice, smooth lingering finish.
Single Vineyard wines
Claystone Terrace Chardonnay 2006 $40 Bolder in every aspect from the
Village with lush apple pear and honeycomb, some pretty floral and nutty tones
and plenty of sturdy minerality. It is a focused wine with an interesting
fine-boned texture that belies its strength. Elegant and quite concentrated ,
the finish is long and firm - quite powerful.
Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard Chardonnay 2006 $40 Slightly more closed and
reserved than the Claystone, the tones here lean more toward lemon peel and
honey with a mineral core. Very bright and citrussy on the palate with a clean,
silky and lengthy finish.
La Petite Pinot Noir 2006 $45 Earthy, composty and bordering on
wonderfully funky, this single vineyard Pinot shows red berries, beet greens and
rhubarb type aromas. High toned fruit on the palate, it is juicy and silky,
light spice and bright red fruit with forest floor and cigarbox flavours. Fine
boned with powdery tannins.
Claystone Terrace Pinot Noir 2006 $45 The fragrant aromas on the
Claystone are instantly appealing - pretty violets and red berries - it smells
both soft and sweet. The palate is darker, concentrated and almost brooding,
this is a powerful wine, the minerality dominates in the mouth and then leads a
substantial finish.
Le Grand Clos Chardonnay 2006 $65 Like the Village, the sum of it's parts
is a complex and mystical Chardonnay but this version is more complete and
balanced. Creamy pear and lanoline, nutty-praline hints, sweet spice and hints
of white blossoms. The texture is her is fantastic, perfect to me, the weight
slides across your tongue with warm honey and spice then lingers and lingers and
lingers...
Le Grand Clos Pinot Noir 2006 $70 Pristine - a complex swirling bouquet
of red fruit, minerality, violets and earth. The palate is the most harmonious
of the Pinots, layers of indecipherable fruit, earth, cedar... It is silky and
supple on the palate with a gorgeous finish.
For more information on Le Clos
Jordanne click
here
photos
top right: a gorgeous place for a winery? The pond in Le Clos Jordanne's
vineyard.
second from top: Pinot Noir grapes under netting September 1,09
third from top: viniculteur Thomas Bachelder
above right: The Le Clos Jordanne winery in Jordan Ontario and their open top
wood fermenters.
