by Norm Hardie for Norman Hardie Vineyard and Winery, a ‘Certified Good Food Fighter‘
Norman Hardie wines include: Chardonnay and County Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and County Pinot Noir and the Cuvée "L" Chardonnay. (Also available this season: Cabernet Franc and Pinot Gris).
The 2010 vintage is aging gracefully in barrel and the vines are safely buried for the winter. The wines of the 09 vintage have left their cozy confines of the barrel chamber and are going to bottle (except Cuvee “L” Pinot Noir which has another 6 plus months in barrel).
Each year we strive to grow higher quality grapes and to raise the bar in bottle. The accolades we received this year lead me to believe we are achieving our goal. In addition to a plethora of 90 point plus /4 star plus scores and a remarkable 17.5 from wine guru Jancis Robinson, we took 3rd place out of 69 wineries (top Ontario winery) at the 2010 InterVin International Wine Awards. Do not fear this will not go to our heads as we keep our heads down and focus on growing and making the next vintage even stronger.
Our 2009 Pinot Gris (90 cases), 2009 County Chardonnay (85 cases) and 2009 County Cabernet Franc (400 cases) are ready for release. The quantities of the Pinot Gris ($25) and County Chardonnay ($35) are extremely limited. The Pinot Gris is the most mineral driven Alto Adige style we have ever made. Yields were very low resulting in great concentration and minerality. The County Chardonnay truly respects the rocky limestone knoll it is grown on. Very firm, taught and with piercing calcarous limestone minerality. When pretasting the Cabernet Franc ($25) with top sommeliers in the Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto corridor their resounding synopsis was “dead ringer for great Chinon and Bourgeil from the Loire Valley”.
I hope you will enjoy and share these new releases and the last of our acclaimed 08 wines with friends and family over the holiday season. Mixed cases are welcome and as always orders of $200 or more, delivery is free in Ontario.
To order online please click here or to order in the old-fashioned way, please call the winery at 613-399-5297.
Cheers and thank you for all your continued support.
Norm
PS: We have beautiful Norman Hardie branded wooden 2 and 6 bottle packs available for gift packaging.
