John Neufeld at Palatine Hills Estate Winery

John Neufeld grew up on a farm and loved farming. Before graduating from the agriculture program at Guelph University at 19, he begged and borrowed to buy a 118-acre property on Lakeshore Road near Niagara-on-the-Lake. It was already planted with peaches, pears, plums, cherries and labrusca grapes, and he knew he had a ready market in the large canneries and wineries existing at that time.

Neufeld saw changes coming, though. He planted his first vinifera varieties (Gamay and Gewürztraminer) as early as 1975 and upgraded his vineyard regularly after that. When the first Icewines were developed in the early ’80s, he acquired a processing license and started producing Icewine juice for Brights. Things ran smoothly until the bountiful year of 1995. His sole customer, by then called Vincor, offered him one third the normal price for his surplus juice.

Never one to buckle under pressure, Neufeld hired winemaker Joe Pohorly to turn his juice into finished Icewine at his winery, Joseph’s Estate. Meanwhile, he applied for a manufacturer’s permit, which was soon granted.

After Neufeld established Palatine Hills, he entered his first commercial wine, a 1998 Vidal Icewine, in the Ontario Wine Awards and, to his surprise, took the grand prize of Wine of the Year. He continued to sell grapes, but in 2004 Vincor again forced his hand by insisting he choose between being solely a grower or losing his contract with them.

“In those days, it was much easier to transition than it is today,” he says. “Learning all the paperwork was the most onerous part.”

While growth progressed slowly at first, Neufeld took advantage of strong demand from U.S. wineries for high-quality juice. As former chairman of the Grape Growers Marketing Board, he had many contacts in the industry and was able to sell his excess juice in bulk to American producers until he could build up a local market for finished wine.

“There’s obvious benefit in the added value of our product,” he says, “but I work 365 days a year instead of the seasonal work I did as a grower.”

Neufeld now has 22 full-timer employees as compared with the eight seasonal workers he used to hire.

“The investment has been huge, but I have only one regret.” Neufeld concludes, “I should have started sooner.”

Barb Condotta at Honsberger Estate Winery

Barb Condotta (née Honsberger) hails from a long line of Pennsylvania Dutch farmers who immigrated in 1811. They farmed to survive and the family did thrive. Several branches of the Honsberger family tree now populate the Niagara Peninsula. When she took over her great grandfather’s tender fruit farm in 1999, apples and sour cherries were no longer financially rewarding.

Condotta’s early experience working at Barnes Wines and Jordan & Ste-Michelle Cellars during her university days convinced her that, if she was going to keep the farm in the family, a winery was the only way to go. By 2008, she could finally afford to tear out some of the fruit trees and plant grapes. After consulting with other growers, winemakers and a soil specialist, she planted Cabernet Franc and Riesling. Dealing with the government and the LCBO was the next hurdle.

“It’s a long process,” Condotta sighs. “I thought it would never happen. There were so many rules and regulations at the time.”

To make ends meet, she worked in a travel agency and as a dental assistant and, to this day during the winter months, serves as a flight attendant. In the summer season, Condotta hosts a lot of weddings at the winery, and together with her daughter Britney, a Cordon Bleu chef, runs an outdoor bistro with a wood-fired pizza oven.

Lou Puglisi at PondView Estate Winery

In 1974, Giuseppe (Joe) Puglisi planted vines on his newly acquired, 12-acre lot on Line 2 near Niagara-on-the-Lake. His son Luciano (Lou) grew up “between the vines” and soon discovered how hard vineyard chores could be.

By age 18, he’d saved $10,000 and was ready to buy himself a fast-and-fancy car. However, Puglisi Sr intervened with a man-to-man talk and young Lou was persuaded to put his hard-earned cash into land instead of a car that would depreciate quickly. When a 20-acre parcel adjacent to the family farm came available in 1988, Puglisi Jr snapped it up. He planted the vineyard and in the mid-’90s also took over the remainder of the family holdings.

Over the years, Lou Puglisi sold his grapes to Cartier Wines, Hillebrand, Château des Charmes and Strewn, and eventually, to Pillitteri exclusively. For his meticulously nurtured vineyards, he was chosen Ontario’s 2008 Grape King, which led to much travel and speech-making around the country.

On a visit to the Okanagan, he encountered many small growers who had transformed their tiny farms into estate wineries. Puglisi was inspired. If they could do it, he could too. It would be a big investment and the work would be harder, but he concluded that producing a value-added product was surely the way to go.

“We thought we could just put up a building and buy some equipment, and away we go,” he says. “Then we discovered just how steep the learning curve was, dealing with the paperwork and liquor board regulations. It was horrendous.”

Puglisi also was frustrated by the huge margins taken by the government, as well as the constant demands for investment in product testing, marketing plans, in-store promotion or magazine advertising.

“Every time I shook someone’s hand,” he laughs, “I’d have to count my fingers.”

Today, he spends his energy finding way to get customers to visit his retail shop because that’s the only way he can make a profit.

Puglisi has no regrets, though. He says winemaking has opened his eyes to the world and given him opportunities to travel, to see other regions and cultures, to meet growers and share their experiences. It has made him better appreciate the Ontario industry, recognizing the quality of what he can achieve and immense satisfaction in being part of a long-term adventure that starts with the soil.