“Thomas Bachelder is one of the most talented winemakers in Canada, and his pinot noir ranks alongside the best of Burgundy.”
Will Lyons, London (UK) Sunday Times
"Besides being supremely likeable, Bachelder's a wine genius and any visit with him (is) an amazing learning experience!"
Ian d’Agata, International wine writer, author and wine judge, via Instagram
Made with intention
We make wines from local terroirs, using “wild” (indigenous) yeasts, and grapes from older vineyard parcels when we can find them. We encourage low-impact viticulture – especially organics – wherever possible. Everything goes to barrels for long ageing and development – barrels carefully chosen for their “transparency” and ability to help express terroir.
The intent is to make pure, subtle, suavely textured wines that sing lightly and clearly of their vineyard origins, with as little makeup as possible – wines that are finely perfumed and tightly wound, offering the classic refined fruit and textured minerality of the delicate silt, clay and dolomitic limestone-laced ancient lakebed terroirs of Niagara.
“…Bachelder is evidently on a monk’s errand to map out the escarpment with Burgundian-like precision.”
John Szabo, MS, from WineAlign
A little note from Thomas and Mary
Welcome to Bachelder Niagara, and thanks for joining us on our mission!
Our goal is to help discover, quantify, and name the terroirs of Niagara – to map them, one by one, and to deliver their energy and their purity of spirit to your glass.
We’re inspired by our spiritual home – Burgundy – where the grapes we love (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir) originally evolved, where even the tiniest of vineyards are kept scrupulously apart in the winery, and then put separately, lovingly, obsessively into small, individual bottlings.
Our goal is to “keep out of the way” and let the best parcels and the most harmonious barrels come forward to liberate and define small patches of Niagara land. It takes a long time to discover terroirs. But the journey has its rewards.
Join us: become part of today’s growing local Terroir movement that is defining our lands in real-time. Pull some corks and dream of the vineyards from which these wines come!
Santé! Cheers!
Thomas & Mary Delaney-Bachelder
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“Thomas B is the passionate conscience of Niag(ara)…”
Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2022