Creekside Lore
Creekside has been doing its premium thing on the Niagara Peninsula since 1998, when owner Laura McCain jumped at the opportunity to pursue a growing passion for wine, purchasing a 15-acre vineyard and winery on Fourth Avenue near Jordan, ON. Early on, the darlings of the Creekside portfolio were, like the people who created them, a little outside of the mainstream fold. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, despite being viticulturally off-kilter for the region at that time, showed particular promise and the altogether rosy outlook inspired further investment in the winery’s facilities.
The year 1999 marked the first of several major face-lifts to the Creekside site. In went the shiny stainless steel tanks, their cozy temperature control jackets, a brand new crush pad and a swanky pneumatic press. The production facility was raring to go, the crew was eager to test the new “toys”, and soon they began pumping out litre upon litre of top notch juice.
With production now in full swing, it was discovered that there had to be somewhere to put the fruits of all that hard labour once it was ready for fermentation and/or aging. Enter the barrel cellar in the year 2000, arguably the most recognizable and impressive structure on site. Providing shelter for up to 600 coddled, spoiled barrels, the underground cellar melded the practical requirements of modern winemaking with the old-world charm of a chateau cave.
Expansion was not limited solely to brick and mortar, with vineyard holdings also being re-evaluated and increased. The Creekside Estate vineyard was replanted with Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Shiraz, while the acquisition of a 50-acre block on the St. David’s Bench in Niagara-on-the-Lake added diversity with planting of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Viognier. The first harvest from the St. David’s Bench vineyard produced a Cuvée award winner (Signature Shiraz 2002) and it has been a star-producing site ever since. Creekside’s success outside the norm has reinforced the hard-working, innovative, and creative ideals upon which the winery was founded, and has helped to broker the entrance of new and exciting varietals suited to growth in the Niagara Peninsula climate. These stellar vineyard holdings are supported and strengthened by long-term relationships with quality-minded contract growers.
Creekside’s portfolio is the story of a winery that refuses to be pigeon-holed. Across varietals, styles, and vintages, Creekside wines continue to garner critical acclaim and accolades from peers and industry professionals alike. As a testament to the consistency of the winemaking team and the strength of the bottled product, several nominations for Canadian Winery of the Year have been awarded by various authorities at home and abroad. In a brief 10 years, Creekside Estate Winery has assembled a formidable mix of winemaking know-how and sales and marketing savvy.
We’re strong supporters of the Ontario wine industry as a whole, and even more proud of our unwavering devotion to the production of premium VQA wines exclusively from the Niagara Peninsula. It’s a rough and tumble environment out there. An unrepeatable combination of Mother Nature, skilled human intervention, and a little luck go into every vintage here in Ontario, and it’s that indefinable quality that makes these bottlings some of most terroir-reflective and dynamic wines being produced today.
We’d love the opportunity for you to get to know us better, and for us to get to meet some of you (fantastic supporters that you’ve all been), so please don’t hesitate to drop by the winery, visit the online store, or participate in in one of our growing online communities:
