Shop our sommeliers' favourites, or browse our full wine portfolio.
In the early 2000's Nicholas Pearce was exposed to the garagiste movement in Bordeaux and was particularly inspired by négociants like Jean Luc Thunevin (Saint Emilion), James Sichel (Margaux) and Nicolas Potel (Beaune) from Burgundy.
After returning home to Ontario and starting his own wine company, he has had a hand in making 10+ wines in two hemispheres, 3 countries and 5 different appellations since the 2013 vintage.
Pearce Predhomme is a collaboration of like-minded individuals from around the globe. Founded with a mission to build and import wines from our favourite appellations while offering an unequaled value/quality ratio for the sommeliers & wine buyers in Ontario. This is a project between Toronto Sommelier and entrepreneur Will Predhomme and Ontario wine importer Nicholas Pearce they have partnered with Radford Dale in South Africa and NorthWest Wine Co. in Oregon to create these special cuvées.
From fruit picked right at the outset of a global pandemic, not merely challenging but during a time of naiveté and so much unknown. Nevertheless the team at Radford Dale did their due diligence for the négoce team of Nicholas Pearce and Will Predhomme and if this is not the richest most forward chenin they have made to date then it can’t be sure how any further vintages could ever take this to eleven. Just enough tension mind you but less cracker material than previous incantations exuded by lightning strikes. Winemaker extraordinaire Jacques de Klerk clearly listened to the vintage wind and global situation by stuffing this Old Vine ’20 with all the love and generosity it so deserved. Not suggesting the lack of tasting trials participation uncluttered de Klerk's mind but this is a very good vintage of this consistently well made wine. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted September 2021.
Another terrifically balanced vintage for Pearce & Predhomme's old vine chenin collaborative effort with Radford Dale in Stellenbosch, showing the customary ripe, yellow fleshed orchard fruit profile on a rivetingly dry, firm and taught frame. I love those balanced, juicy acids and the lingering finish, where a light spike of acetic acid emerges. Solid value yet again. Drink or hold into the mid-'20s. Tasted September 2021.
Pearce and Predhomme sure know how to pick 'em, so to speak. This small negociant label from Toronto agent and sommelier Nicholas Pearce and Will Predhomme seem to consistently nail this old vine, wild ferment chenin blanc of Stellenbosch origins . Heather, hay , pear and apple are generously served up on the palate with notes of white flower that trail on the finish. Featuring impressive depth of flavour for the price. Widely appealing style with excellent length. Tasted September 2021.
“I’m a lucky man who has been given the opportunity to realize my dream and continue my family’s efforts making wine in the land where I was born.” – Tommaso Cortonesi
Tommaso is third-generation winemaker at Cortonesi that owns some of the most prized vineyards in the north and south-east of Montalcino. Favourable geography, rocky soils, and ingenious winemaking all come together to create some of the region's deepest and most elegant Brunello wines.
The Cortonesi family has been making wine since the 1970s. At first, wines were made to be enjoyed by family, friends and neighbours, but then in 1985, Cortonesi had gained enough traction within their community that they began to offer their wines commercially. Today, Cortonesi remains a family business that continues to work according to tradition, while employing modern technologies to the enhance the quality of their production.
Lovers of Sangiovese must experience “La Mannella”, a collection of wines exclusively sourced from Cortonesi's private vine land. This farm covers 56 hectares, eight of which are devoted to the production of some of the world's most coveted and age-worthy Brunello di Montalcino.
Sangiovese, as always, like Rosso and Brunello but in Lèonus a quicker skin maceration on earlier harvested grapes. A performative style with low level extraction, especially of tannins and any possible green or astringent distractions. Looking for and finding immediate amenability with the same sangiovese from Montalcino indicator lights that signal place and time. Also higher acidity, better for matching food right now, easy to drink and the bottle will disappear before knowing it has happened. Fresh, clean, crisp and simple. So smart. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted November 2021.
A leaning post is what you find at the beginning of a row of grapes, anchoring the wires that are the frame-work for growing grapevines. It is the beginning of an obsession to translate a time and place into liquid. Leaning Post wines take you to that beginning by finding small, unique plots of land in Niagara and putting them in bottle. Because after stripping away all the fancy buildings and high-tech equipment you are left with a place on this earth that grows wine unlike any other. When you taste that in a glass you just know it. Nadia and Ilya have had to rely on the support of family, friends and financial institutions to make the dream of owning a winery a reality. Leaning Post began as a virtual winery and is so proud to now have the quaint tasting room at 1491 Hwy 8 on their home property in Winona, Ontario.
Ilya and Nadia are the brains and passion behind Leaning Post Wines. It started with a dream to take unique, interesting single vineyard blocks in Niagara and turn them into distinctive, terroir driven wines. Nadia and Ilya first met in their hometown of Winnipeg, MB where their passion for wine and each other was born.
Ilya has been a winemaker in the Niagara Region for the last 17 vintages working at Daniel Lenko Estate Winery, Foreign Affair and now at Leaning Post Wines. Ilya is also a consulting winemaker at the Good Earth Winery. Ilya’s true passion in life is to make world renowned wines from Niagara that really showcase the distinct terroir that Niagara offers.
Lighthall Vineyards is a small, proud, low volume and high quality winery located in enchanting Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada. All their wines are produced in a non-interventionist manner and fuelled by passion as hearty as our vines. They also make cheese, designed to pair with their wines.
Lighthall’s pinot gris not only indicates but clearly demonstrates more richness and flesh than most varietal PEC iterations that have come before. Of course it never fully drifts away or leaves its PEC reality behind but the texture and radiance are at a high level in Glenn Symons’ 2021. Also the ever, if maybe even omnipresent chèvre waft that Lighthall’s last few vintages seem to possess, Loire like if you think about it and even pinot gris gets the messaging. When pinot gris shows character and individuality we must take notice. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted May 2022.
From vineyards located within a warmer micro-territory (called South Bay) in the cooler Prince Edward County appellation, this pinot gris is refreshingly lighter on the ABV (12%/vol.) with a quite noticeably creamy and rich texture to it – largely attributed to malolactic fermentation and cold-stabilization methods. The winemaking team also uses an Alsatian yeast strain and fermented one quarter of the juice in neutral French oak, with the other 75 percent in steel tank. The result is a complex wine, with an intriguing flavour profile, including ripening pear and a freshened mineral characteristic that really sets this apart. I even get the hint of nutmeg that I’m being told to look for in this. Will develop further with a bit more time in bottle, that I am certain of.
Follow us @nicholaspearcewines
