What’s in a name?
Megalomaniac is known for cheeky labels, but has won plenty of awards,
Megalomaniac winery has flown under the radar for far too long. You’ve seen the wines with the cheeky labels at the LCBO: Narcissist Riesling, Pompous Red and all the rest. And you may have assumed the wines were less than serious given the jocular names. But actually, Megalomaniac makes some of the most sophisticated bottles I’ve tasted in Ontario. So when owner John Howard casually mentioned the winery had raked in more than 20 medals from two of the top wine competitions in the world this year — the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine & Spirits Competition — I wasn’t surprised. My only question was, why had it taken so long? I paid him a visit in Niagara to get the lowdown.
“Actually, 2019 was the first year I’d introduced my entire portfolio to international competitions,” Howard said. “There’s a thinking that competitions help you sell wines, but that has never been our problem. Our challenge from the beginning was trying to keep up with demand.”
Megalomaniac has grown from a 2,000-case-per-year producer to a 50,000-case maker in the past seven vintages. The winery was supposed to be Howard’s retirement project. He’d retired as executive vice-president for Canon in New York in 1994. He bought Vineland Estates Winery in Niagara in 1995 as his first retirement project. He imported the best vines from France and Germany, fiddled about and grew that winery from 2,000 cases per year to 60,000 cases per year by 2003.
Then, he sold Vineland Estates in 2004, keeping 120 acres to farm himself and make a little wine in his garage. It was to be his second retirement project.
“I had the wine from that vineyard in a number of oak barrels I’d imported from France,” Howard said. “Then, an LCBO inspector came around and said, ‘I have too much wine in my garage.’ Apparently, you can’t have 42 barrels in your garage! So, I got a licence, bottled the wine, had a party and sold out in 60 days.”
Voila. Megalomaniac was born. Today, the winery controls 280 acres of vineyards in Niagara. And Sébastien Jacquey makes the wine. Jacquey holds four university degrees from France in winemaking and related studies, and has worked at some of the top wineries in Burgundy and Bordeaux, including the first growth, Château Mouton Rothschild, in Pauillac. Howard speaks about him in the most glowing terms. But Howard also has ties to France. He owns stakes in two Grand Cru properties in Saint-Emilion, in Bordeaux: Château La Confession and Château Haut-Pontet. And he says he’ll soon add a third project to that list. It’s tempting to assume Howard named his winery Megalomaniac to be self-referential. The back label of every Megalomaniac wine reads: “I originally wanted to christen these wines in my name, John Howard … and then my good friends accused me of being yet another (profanity withheld) megalomaniac.” But he told me he named it that for another reason.
“I named it Megalomaniac to poke fun at the people in the wine industry who take themselves too seriously,” Howard said. “I was told not to name it that. But I always said, if the quality is there and the price is reasonable, they can’t touch me.” Though he has seven permanent listings at the
LCBO, the wines I think are the best aren’t all available at the LCBO. These are the wines you need to know about and why:
NV Megalomaniac Bubblehead, VQA Niagara Peninsula (LCBO 363655 and at the winery, $34.95)
This pure, dry Pinot Noir exudes scents of lemon-raspberry Danish pastry and unspools on the palate with sheer flavours of the same, dappled with suggestions of bitter orange and ruby grapefruit. Such an elegant, mouth-watering expression of Ontario sparkling rosé.
Score: 93
2018 Megalomaniac Sparkling Personality, VQA Ontario (LCBO 469007 and at the winery, $19.95)
Each sip suggests a cool, gently effervescent lick of gourmet lime sorbet. It’s pure Riesling with just 9.5 per cent alcohol. A fabulous, sweet-butbalanced cocktail-style wine that’s pristine-tasting with intense flavours of lime laced with apricot, green apple and white flowers. Long. Score: 92
2017 Megalomaniac Reserve Pinot Noir, VQA Twenty Mile Bench (Winery, $49.95)
This dark beast of Pinot Noir is deep and quietly smoky with compelling aromas of ripe blackberries and raspberries. It unfurls on the palate with a brawny allusions of espresso, tapenade, black raspberry, smoke and toasted nut that underpin the silky core of violet and berries.
Score: 90
2017 Megalomaniac Frank Cabernet, VQA Niagara Peninsula (Released at the LCBO Dec. 7; Available at winery, $29.95)
This lush expression of Cabernet Franc offers a smooth mouthful of black and red muddled fruit edged with cassis, graphite, lavender and coffee. Understated but articulate, it’s a pleasure to drink. And the mouth-watering line of bright acidity keeps each sip lifted and quenching.
Score: 92
2017 Megalomaniac Reserve Cabernet Franc, VQA Twenty Mile Bench (Winery, $49.95)
Lush yet linear, powerful but not at all fat, this wine is all about great tension, dignity and understated complexity. Just a magnetic red that keeps you coming back to it again and again. Try it. You’ll see.
Score: 96
2016 Megalomaniac Bravado Cabernet Sauvignon, VQA Niagara Peninsula (Released at the LCBO Dec. 5; Available at winery, $34.95)
Ontario seldom makes Cabernet Sauvignon I like. But I love this one with all its rippling, ripe, cashmere fruit. Think aromas and flavours of blackcurrant liqueur and cherries with traces of dried flowers, raspberry compote and soft white pepper. Delicious.
Score: 94