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33 Things About Norman Hardie
by Malcolm Jolley
Norman Hardie: the winery, the man and the
wine.
Norman Hardie
is both a person and a winery. His elegant Pinot Noirs and
Chardonnays are a favourite of Ontario collectors,
sommeliers and critics. (His Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Melon
de Bourgogne get snapped up pretty quickly too.) Tony
Aspler called his flagship 2007 Cuvee "L" Pinot
Noir "elegant, well balanced, firmly
structured and bursting with youthful charm" and gave the
wine a 91 rating in is
newsletter. Hardie began his professional life in
the hospitality business, and although he is now a farmer, a winemaker
and a traveling salesman, he's still welcoming and serving the public
at his winery in the western
end of Prince Edward County, where he likes nothing better
to tell the story of his journey towards better and better
wine. If one spends enough time hanging around the winery
and the man (and tasting, or rather drinking, his wine),
then one is likely to learn at least a few interesting
things about Norman Hardie. Here are 33:
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Everyone calls Hardie "Norm" and the
winery "Norman".
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Norman Hardie's Prince Edward County
vineyard farm is about 30 acres
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Norman Hardie's winery building is
comprised of three main materials cement, metal and wood
and was designed to reflect a 19th Century red barn on a
neighbouring farm
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Norm Hardie worked in vineyards in South
Africa, France, New Zealand, Oregon and California
before returning to Canada to pursue his own winery.
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Norm Hardie was born in South Africa and
moved to Toronto when he was 14.
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Norman Hardie's Cuvee "L" Pinot Noir is
blended from Prince Edward County and Niagara grapes.
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Norman Hardie's wines are carried by
restaurants in Ancaster, Brampton, Caledon, Cambridge,
Carp, Cobourg, Collingwood, Gananoque, Goulais River,
Gravenhurst, Guelph, Hamilton, Huntsville, Keene,
Kingston, Kitchener, Kleinberg, London, Mactier,
McKellar, Merrickville, Minett, Mississauga, Niagara,
North Bay, Oakville, Orangeville, Ottawa, Owen Sound,
Peterborough, Pickering, Port Carling, Prince Edward
County, Sarnia, Sault Ste. Marie, Stratford, Thunder
Bay, Toronto, Unionville, Uxbridge and Uxbridge.
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Norman Hardie uses natural yeasts
(what's in the air at the winery) to ferment.
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Johanness Braun, the winery's
operations manager, started as the winery's bookkeeper.
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Richard Charnock, the winery's
"Cellar Rat",
began a the winery as a handy man.
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If you ask nicely, the winery will lend
you glasses for a picnic.
-
Norman Hardie encloses all their wines
with screw caps as they feel their production is too
small (and in too much demand) to risk evne a small
percentage of TCA or "cork" taint.
-
Norman Hardie's Melon de Bourgon (a
crisp white grape rarely planted outside of Burgundy)
wine is developed specifically to pair with oysters.
-
Norm planted his vines in 2003 and made
the first vintage in 2005.
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Norman Hardie only uses French oak
barrels coopered by Mercurey in Burgundy.
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The "L" in Cuvee "L" refers to his late
sister Lisa.
-
Norm Hardie was the Somelier and Manager of
Truffles, the fine dining restaurant at the Four Seasons
Hotel in Toronto.
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At Truffles, Norm once sat two bank
presidents (separately), Bishop Tutu,
and the Rolling Stones at dinner at once.
-
This reporter watched California cult
winemaker Randall Grahm taste Norm's 2007 County Pinot
Noir and exclaim, "This is it. This is what I'm talking
about!"
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El Bulli's Chef Ferran Adria credits Norman Hardie's
wines with keeping him from a hangover after a long
dinner in Toronto.
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Norman Hardie's wines are typically low
alcohol (12%).
-
Norman Hardie's Pinot Noirs are one of
the few Ontario wines that get noticed by the
international press, particularly Jancis Robinson
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Norman Hardie's Melon de Bourgogne sells
out within days of being released.
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Norman Hardie is a founding member of
the 'Somewhereness' group of premium Ontario wineries.
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Norm Hardie shares his home in the
winery with a group of returning seasonal vineyard
workers from Thailand.
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Norman Hardie uses locally made,
converted stainless steel dairy tanks to ferment their
wines.
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Lunch or dinner served at Norman Hardie
is typically made on an old Garland stove by Norm or his
associate winemaker and viticulturalist Ben Simmons.
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Norman Hardie's barrel cave, is cut
right into the grey Prince Edward County limestone and
is designed to "leak" each spring as the snow melts.
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Norman Hardie Winery is approximately
100 kilometres from Toronto's City Hall.
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Norman Hardie produces between 2,000 and
3,000 cases of wine annually, all of which sell out.
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Vehicles in Norman Hardie's parking lot
will typically range from bicycles to stretch limo's
carrying enthusiastic tasters around.
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Norman Hardie encourages the public to
come and pick his grapes every fall (like mid-October)
and rewards them with Pinot Noir and roast Pig.
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Norman Hardie plans to increase
production by staking another layer of fermenting tanks
on top of the existing ones.
Find out more about Norman Hardie at
normanhardie.com.
2009 Grape harvest is estimated for October 15: sign-up to
Norman Hardie's newsletter for details.
 Malcolm Jolley is the editor of Good Food Revelation.
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