Tasting Note This showed very nicely at the CCC Grand Finale and finished in the top five from three judges. It is a less expensive and an earlier release than the $49.70 Reserve du Domaine Chardonnay. It presents a restrained, cool‑climate profile shaped by extended maturation for 16 to 18 months in predominantly neutral French oak. The palate is medium full with firm acidity and notes of yellow apple, ripe nectarine and tropical fruit. With grapes coming from the silty-clay, limestone-laced soils of the estate-owned Mountainview vineyard in Lincoln Lakeshore, the wine finishes long, and is driven by acidity rather than oak. Perfect for classic Burgundian pairings like roast chicken, sole meunière or, if you’re feeling extravagant, butter-poached lobster. 12.5% ABV. Tasted January 2026.

Backgrounder Domaine Queylus is the project of a group of Quebec investors and has been French-focused since the beginning. It began in good hands with Thomas Bachelder as the first winemaker, whose sensibility and love of cool-climate Burgundian grape varieties has shaped the winemaking narrative since 2010. The focus is on pinot noir and chardonnay along with cabernet franc and merlot. The winery itself is off the beaten path and worth visiting. Set high atop the Niagara Escarpment in the far reaches of the Vinemont Ridge sub-appellation, Domaine Queylus continues the tradition of making small-lot, low-intervention, classic wines. Today the winemaking team is comprised of the dynamic duo of Kelly Mason, head winemaker and modern-day Niagara legend, and assistant winemaker and rising star Brooke Husband, a graduate of the Niagara College Winery and Viticulture program. Husband worked at Black Hills Estate Winery in the Okanagan and has been with Domaine Queylus since 2017. In 2023, she was awarded The Paul Pender Rising Star Award at the Ontario Wine Awards.

Accolades: Silver Medal at the National Wine Awards of Canada 2025.