Crush 2019

Jordan, Ont. winery Pearl Morissette, producing
traditional wines in an untraditional way
By Shayna Wiwierski
Ontario winery Pearl
Morissette is kinda like
the bad boy in the Niagara
region.
The Jordan-based winery doesn’t
have a sign nor a tasting room;
they’re often called a natural winery,
although they don’t call themselves
that; they’ve been rejected by
VQA standards for their Riesling
every year except one; and they
don’t believe in competing in wine
competitions. You can’t buy their
wines in stores, rather they only sell
them in restaurants or direct order,
but that doesn’t stop them from
selling out every year.
They’re like the Charlie Sheen of
the wine industry; they do things
their way and they don’t care what
people think. And yet, people keep
coming back for more. In fact, their
restaurant, The Restaurant at Pearl
Morissette, was recently named the
number-one best new restaurant
in Canada by Air Canada’s EnRoute
magazine. But alas, this story isn’t
about the food. It’s about the wine.
Pearl Morissette – which got its
name from its vigneron (French for a
person who cultivates wine), Francois
Morissette, and his business partner,
Toronto real estate developer Mel
Pearl Morissette officially got its start in 2006 when land was acquired in
Jordan, Ont., about an hour away from Niagara Falls.
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