Since the early 2000s, Le Clos Jordanne has meticulously crafted exceptional wines, establishing a reputation for quality and dedication to a specific terroir. The team has poured its passion into every bottle, focusing on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and exceeding expectations. In 2024, the winery unveiled a new name as it entered a new chapter in its story: Domaine Le Clos Jordanne. This evolution isn’t just about a name change. It signifies the acquisition of vineyards in the acclaimed Beamsville Bench. “Domaine” signifies a complete estate winery, a perfect reflection of unwavering commitment to crafting exceptional wines from vine to bottle. With access to these exceptional new vineyards, the winery can showcase not only the Jordan Bench terroir that helped define its early days but also the unique character of Beamsville.

Domaine Le Clos Jordanne represents a place: the winery's home, a destination for immersive experiences, and the heart of its terroir-driven philosophy.

The Pinot Noir grapes are only hand-picked when we think the flavors are "there;" when the skins are thick, ripe, starting to soften, and in good sanitary condition. We want the seeds to be completely brown, which is an indicator of true phenolic ripeness. When required, the Pinot Noir bunches are manually sorted on the vibrating table and then completely destemmed. After a short cold maceration, we let the tanks warm up, and the naturally-occurring yeast from the vineyard slowly starts the fermentation. We believe indigenous yeasts make wines more reflective of each specific vintage year, and every individual parcel: complete, textured, complex, ageable wines. After the fermentation, we leave the young wine 'on the skins' for several days to a week, to delicately macerate and capture all the aromas, finesse, and complexity appropriate to the vintage and terroir.

The wine is then gently pressed and run to selected French oak barrels* (typically 20-25% new, just enough to continually renew our precious fleet of barrels) for the natural malolactic fermentation. The wine is then patiently aged for 20-22 months to integrate both the tannins and the fruit. This extended élevage in the oxygenative medium of French oak barrels permits the tertiary perfumes and textures develop and emerge, a technique that helps push terroir to the forefront. Throughout the long months of ageing, we repeatedly taste barrel-by-barrel to select only those that are truly representative of the terroir of each individual parcel. After bottling, the wines are aged a further four to six months in bottle before release to let the aromatic bouquet and mouthfeel further develop and integrate.

Typical for this parcel, Le Grand Clos 2021 shows impressively pure, mute but fine stony raspberry fruit, ripe cherries, plums, and dried herbs on the nose, overlaying red currants and red rose petals on the aromatic and dense mid-palate. It has huge drag, and the opulent, perfumed finish is chalk-laden, with wet stone, a hint of clove, and firm, but ripe, ageable, long tannins. There is significant improvement to come: this wine still has much to teach us of local "sense of place," and of the longevity of Pinot Noir from the Niagara bench's most august terroirs.

2021 was evidence of the old saying: the vintage is made from September 1st-on; do not let a great summer lure you into complacency! When one looks at the year in the rearview mirror, 2021 was epitomized by variable weather! The warm, dry spring saw a slightly earlier than average bud break, leading the peninsula into an early bloom period, suggesting a early, lowyielding harvest. However, a couple of big rains in July & August pushed crop levels higher, with cluster weights rising dramatically. The heavy, frequent rain continued through harvest, with just enough intermittent sun to ripen the early Burgundian varieties to attractive levels. Yes, for some vineyards—especially the heavily-cropped ones— it was a race against time to get them picked and sorted during the sunny breaks, but in general, the brix and acid were only slightly diluted with the rains, and the resulting wines had beautifully-plush fruit, lower alcohols, yet with trademark Niagara acidity and minerality!

Ever since they were pressed off to barrel, the 2021 Burgundian reds have shown medium color, surprisingly lovely floral perfumes, and great mineral verve. Classic fruit aromas mingle with great firm minerality that will hold the wines as they age and improve.