13. Colaneri Estate Winery

Winery number 13 in the Wine Access 2011 Canadian Wine Awards Winery Performance Report

Address: 348 Concession 6 Rd., Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, Canada

Telephone: 905-682-2100

Email: info@colaneriwines.com

Website: colaneriwines.com

Tastings: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., daily; $5 tasting fee waived with purchase

Established: 2008

Region: Niagara Peninsula

Proprietors: Mike, Nick and Betty Colaneri

Winemaker: Andrzej Lipinski

The 31,000-square-foot winery facility opened in 2010, with a production area, barrel cellar and a retail/tasting area. The massive, three-storey, C-shaped edifice commands sweeping 360-degree views from the crown of St. David’s Bench, and is designed to become a major event space. It has been built by a tight-knit Italian family to honour a generation of grape growing by patriarch Joseph Colaneri, who came to Niagara in 1967. They hired Andrzej Lipinski to make their wines, an intense, creative and bold winemaker who loves to pick late, barrel-aged aromatic whites, and use whole or partial appassimento, or dried, grapes. The varietal portfolio (each named for a family member) includes riesling, pinot grigio, fumé blanc (sauvignon), chardonnay and gewürztraminer among whites, and pinot noir, syrah, merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon among reds. There are several very good 2008s; the quality of the 2009s to be released later this year is more uniformly impressive.