
Vittorio De Stefano with his first On Seven Chardonnay
On Seven is Niagara’s newest winery, located on Line 3 in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The name speaks to the acreage that Vittorio De Stefano and his wife Sula purchased in 2009.
With consulting winemaker Peter Gamble, the couple replanted the vineyard (clay-loam soil with calcareous sediment) to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The goal was to produce “classic” (read Burgundian) wines. It took 8 years of hard work in the organically-farmed vineyard to achieve the first On Seven vintage – the 2017 Pursuit Chardonnay (107 cases of twelve bottles, priced at $45 a bottle, vinified at Southbrook Winery).
The plan, De Stefano explained, is to have three tiers of Chardonnay – “Dedication,” the entry level wine, “Pursuit” and the flagship wine, called “Devotion.”
The inaugural vintage of Chardonnay is most impressive. If I had tasted it blind I would have thought it was a Chassagne-Montrachet. Continue reading →