Norm Hardie

Norman Hardie Winery and Vineyard, Prince Edward County, normanhardie.com

“In a very roundabout way,” muses Norm Hardie, “it was beer that made me a winemaker. I kept missing one of my Friday afternoon classes at the University of Western Ontario because I’d be off drinking beer with the other freshmen, and I found myself a half credit short. They let me go to the University of Dijon to fulfill the requirement and I ended up in the sommelier program there. The rest is history.”

“These days, during harvest and vintage, I love to get the whole team together at the end of the day and discuss how things are going. Having a great array of beers available encourages everyone to sit down and stay. It makes for better teamwork and communication. Beer’s so refreshing after a long hot day in the vineyard or cellar and it’s also useful, especially here in Prince Edward County, where our wines have very high acidity and low pH. You might have to taste 30 or 40 very young, acidic wines in a morning to see how they’re coming along, so beer, with its low acidity and high pH, restores your palate. I guess you could argue that milk would work just as well, but…”