Edible Toronto

Water to Wine

• Photo by Aaron Lynett

  J-L Groux, known as one of the Niagara region's winemaking pioneers, wanted to create New World wines, through the Old World art of assemblage, blending various wines and varietals before bottling.

• For ultimate ripeness and maturity, the red varieties — Cabernet Franc, Gamay, Petit Verdot, Tannat and Tempranillo — are hand-harvested as late as December. This helps the sugars peak and the acids soften.

• Mary Voerberg inspects barrels of wines that are typically aged for seven to 10 years.

• The Stratus building, constructed using recycled materials, also uses geothermal heating and cooling. This helps keep the cellar at an ideal temperature of 14C.