FOCUSED ON PINOT NOIRS
Ambitious new Niagara winery is ready to ‘wave the flag’ to bring product to people
Having sold other people’s wine from around the world for 20 years, wine agent Adam Lowy wanted to change things up and make his own in Niagara. “I started the Cloudsley label at Domaine Queylus not really knowing where it would take me,” says Lowy, who worked at Lifford Wine & Spirits in Toronto until 2014. He purchased eight barrels of finished Pinot Noir in 2013 and another six in 2014. By 2015, Lowy’s project was ready to take the next step. “I didn’t just want to buy whatever was on the market. That’s not what we’re about. The goal is to learn the vineyards. Learn the terroir,” says Lowy, who moved from making wine under Domaine Queylus’ licence to being his own enterprise.
He has contracts with the Wismer family, which operates Glen Elgin Vineyard Management, to get Pinot Noir grapes from two adjacent sites in Vineland, Ont., near St. Catharines. Those grapes are used to create single vineyard wines, Homestead and Glen Elgin, as well as a blend of Pinot Noir from those and other Niagara vineyards.
Lowy also leased a facility owned by the Wismers to become his winery production and cellar space.
In 2016, he started bringing in Chardonnay grapes to expand his production.
“After years of selling hundreds
of wines at any one time, I really wanted to keep things focused,” he says. “I’m a Burgundy fan. (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) are the wines that always excited me the most.”
Cloudsley is Lowy’s mother’s maiden name. The name sets the stage for what is a deeply rooted personal project.
“While I’ve never been to winemaking school, I’ve been in the business for 20 years. I guide everything stylistically, making barrel choices, final blending decisions …,” he explains. “Everything comes through me, but I’m smart enough to have the right people in place for advice. It’s important to know what you don’t know.”
Craig Wismer and his team manage the vineyards and own the facility that Cloudsley calls home. Assistant winemaker Matt Smith does the hands-on cellar work and winemaking consultant Peter Gamble advises. “I’m not going to be one to say that we’re outdoing everyone else,” Lowy says, “but it’s not for a lack of effort or expense.” Until now, Lowy has sold direct to restaurants and a few individual clients. The Cloudsley website, cloudsleycellars.com, takes online orders and cellar door sales by appointment have recently started.
“We haven’t really been waving the flag. It’s time now to do that.” Christopher Waters is the co-founder and editor of Vines, a national consumer wine magazine.