Barrelling forward
Great wine and whisky require great barrels, and a handful of Ontarians are reviving the craft of making them in our own backyard—even from Canadian oak.
More than 20 years ago, a hike inspired Hamilton physician Jim Hedges: Could Canada’s white oaks make wine- and whisky-aging barrels as distinctive as Europe’s? With McMaster University’s Dr. Mike
Risk, he set to experimenting. Many vintages of fine Canadian oak-aged wines and spirits, like Forty Creek’s Confederation Oak Reserve
Whisky (LCBO 195651, $69.95), have since proved him right.
Today, a renaissance is underway. Artisans such as Pete Bradford and Damien Matthews have revived the art of barrelmaking and repair in Ontario wine country in the past decade. At County Cooperage in Carp, Joe Thomson is prepping to make his first new barrels and open a tasting room that could feature wine, spirits and even maple syrup or hot sauce aged in them. “A Canadianmade barrel just adds to the story, especially if people can visit the cooperage and see where it’s made,” he says.
At Spring Mill Distillery in Guelph, coopering apprentice Quinn Sleeman is repairing and maintaining whisky-aging barrels, hoping one day to make his own. Having already studied in Scotland and Missouri, “I plan on travelling to Spain and France to learn more,” Sleeman says.