Tasting Note – I have tasted this new (second) vintage Lafontaine three times, most recently at the Ottawa edition of Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, where it took Best of Show among the all-Ontario line-up of donated wines. It is a classic, traditional method sparkler with pale lemon-gold colour and a tight, active bead. The nose is not effusive but it is complex and refined with lemon, vague toast and custardy, nutty subtleties. It is light bodied (12.7%) with a notably taut and firm acid line running start to finish through the creamy texture. It is bone dry, with all kinds of mouthwatering acidity and County limestone minerality on the finish. The length is excellent.

Backgrounder: Grange of Prince Edward has re-made itself on this side of Covid. Among other things, it has added a line of prestige labels called Aurelia, and this classic, traditional method sparkler, named for a wolf that terrorized the tiny French community of Lafontaine in northern Ontario.  It is made by neighbour Jonas Newman who has over twenty years of County sparkling wine experience at Hinterland next door on Closson Road. This is a blend of 62% pinot noir grown in a shaded area of the north facing Victoria Block, and 32% chardonnay from the Isabella Block. Harvested at a meagre 1.18 tons/acre, the grapes came in at 19.7 Brix (sugar), leaving post-fermentation residual sugar of 4gms/lites, and total Acidity of 8gms/litre. The base was drawn from the heart of the pressed juice, co-fermented and aged in tank for 10 months before bottling. It was then aged on its lees 22 months and disgorged early in 2026.

Accolades: Silver Medal National Wine Awards of Canada