A Wine as Bold as Its Namesake

Some will argue the success of the Niagara wine region has a Toronto man to thank. In 1874, Thomas G. Bright and F.A. Shirriff formed a wine company in Toronto. They had the bold idea of growing European grapes in Niagara, an idea many naysayers laughed at more than a century ago. Faced with countless challenges, from soil conditions to unpredictable Canadian weather patterns, Bright eventually imported hundreds of vines to Canada.

“Sixteen years later, with modest prosperity, the partners decided their plant and wine cellars should be located where the wine grapes were grown,” reads the business’s annual report from 1984. In the late 1800s, Bright moved his wine company from Toronto to Stamford, now part of the city of Niagara Falls and called it the Niagara Falls Wine Company.

After a series of sales and acquisitions, the original company no longer exists, but Bright’s legacy is back in the limelight. His audacity to go where no winemaker had gone before is being honoured in bottles of The Audacity of Thomas G. Bright, a new pair of wines produced by Arterra Wines and winemaker Marco Piccoli, of Jackson-Triggs fame.

Made from grapes grown in the Niagara Peninsula, the two VQA varietals created by Italian- and German-trained Piccoli, use unconventional techniques aimed to mirror Bright’s boldness.

The Merlot-Cab blend combines Lake Ontario vineyard Merlot for acidity, while the Cabernet comes from the Beamsville bench and provides some concentration and structure. Piccoli then ages the wine in whisky barrels, which he says “expresses a different identity and unique personality.”

For the white Chardonnay varietal, Piccoli employs a sussreserve technique by adding unfermented grape must to fully fermented wine for sweetening. It brings out intense vanilla flavours and is “elegant and modern,” he says.

If you’re looking for a conversation starter to use at one of your countless holiday get-togethers this season, you can now honour the pioneer of Niagara’s wine industry with a glass or two.

The Audacity of Thomas G. Bright
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