In the Beginning

In Canada's lower Great Lakes region an isthmus, popularly known as the Niagara Peninsula, divides Lake Erie from Lake Ontario. The Peninsula takes its name from the Niagara Escarpment, the rocky north-east fringe of a tropical sea that 450 million years ago filled a shallow depression in the earth's crust.

Partially in-filled by glacial and other sediments, the depression now cradles Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie. A sliver of land squeezed between the north face of the Niagara Escarpment and the south shore of Lake Ontario is today one of Canada's rare winegrowing pockets.

There is a widespread impression that Canadian viticulture and viniculture did not exist in a meaningful way before the late 1900s. True, early Canadian wine had little or no impact (or appeal) beyond its domestic market. What is not widely recognized is that the industry had been evolving here for generations.

Native grape varieties were known to North America's earliest inhabitants and Canada's first commercial vineyard was established in 1811 when an emigrant from Germany, Johann Schiller, planted cuttings of local labrusca vines on his farm in what is now the city of Mississauga.

Vineyards planted to native hybrids spread across southern Ontario through the mid-1800s but the cultivation of traditional wine grape varieties was not yet possible. North American pests and the Canadian climate's legendary adversity thwarted early efforts.

The late 1940s saw the first Niagara plantings of European varieties. This had become feasible with the success of grape breeders who had learned how to graft vinifera vines to native North American roots, enabling the more delicate vinifera to withstand New World pests. Others had developed promising hybrid varieties by successfully crossing Old World and New World vines.

A key to Niagara's success as a wine region today is the climatic effect that results from the combined influences of the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario. The escarpment draws prevailing easterly winds back to land from over the lake. The lake moderates the air temperature, warming it through fall and cooling it through summer, creating friendly conditions for the growth and ripening of vinifera grapes. Wine grape growing succeeds here because the lake and the escarpment are both present.

Enter Martin Malivoire and Moira Saganski. In 1995, intrigued by the emerging potential of Niagara as a wine region, Martin and Moira purchased a site below the escarpment in what is now known as the Beamsville Bench sub-appellation.

This happened at a time when Martin and Moira were looking for ways to fulfill their personal and professional aspirations. Among these were their desires to invest materially and intellectually in a shared business, to pursue their interest in viticulture and wine, and to migrate from their urban lifestyle to a more rural-agrarian one.

They had flirted with the idea of vineyard ownership for at least ten years and had admired sites in some of Europe's greatest wine regions, but could not contemplate leaving Canada. What transformed their thoughts to action was a series of contacts with convincing individuals including Donald Ziraldo, Len Penachetti, Paul Speck, Tom Muckle and Bill Lenko. These intelligent, dedicated people shared a conviction that the Niagara Peninsula had the elements to become one of the world's great wine regions.

Martin was shown evidence that sites on the Beamsville Bench demonstrated enormous potential when planted to compatible grape varieties. He had found his missing link. The ownership of a first-quality vineyard in Canada would enable the achievement of the very goals that he and Moira had been hoping to realize.

What followed was an intensive two-year search for sites that would meet strict criteria. With his University of Guelph School of Agriculture training and the advice of some of Canada's most distinguished viticulturalists, Martin was well prepared. Sites were assessed according to size, location, soil composition and drainage. Some cues were obtained from Cave Spring, Stoney Ridge and Vineland Estates, which were already operating proficient vineyards along the Beamsville Bench.

The future winery's first vineyard, the "Moira", was purchased in 1995. A year later Martin and Moira acquired a second and larger property a short distance to the west. This would become the site of the winery.

Now came the selection of grape varieties. Martin was determined to find varieties that would most benefit from his vineyards' locations and microclimates, would consistently yield healthy, ripe fruit, and would yield grapes whose flavours would be advanced by his vineyards' sand, clay and calcium-limestone soils.

When tasting wines from Beamsville Bench grapes, Martin found that the best consistently displayed cool-climate acidity, pronounced minerality, and often a pink-grapefruit nuance; qualities reminiscent of Burgundian wines. This, along with the similarities between the climates of Burgundy and the north Niagara Peninsula encouraged him to focus on grape varieties typically to northeastern France. Between 1995 and 2000, close to 50 acres were planted to Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Gamay and Pinot Noir.

Malivoire has also signed long-term agreements to farm older Bench vineyards. We currently steward the Epp Vineyard southeast of Jordan and the Eastman Vineyard west of Vineland under lease.

All things have been done in concert with our founding philosophy, that Malivoire's soil, climate, grape varieties and winemaking methods must yield results equal to or better than those anywhere else where wine grapes are grown.