By Margaret Swaine
(Where Magazine September 2007)
Travellers along the QEW highway between Hamilton and St Catharines will soon see an exciting addition to the signage directing them to wineries on Niagara’s wine route. If they are not in the know they could be forgiven for having a chuckle. The Dan Aykroyd Winery sounds like funny business. As a comic actor and writer for over thirty years Aykroyd’s name has shone on the credits of movies, screenplays, television shows and in his persona as Elwood Blues on CDs. But wine labels?
“The interest in wine really comes through one of my best friends John Paul DeJoria,” said Aykroyd. [DeJoria is owner of Patrón Spirits a tequila company and John Paul Mitchell Systems, a hair care company] “We sold a lot of Patrón in the House of Blues and one night he asked me to try it…. He poured me a warm shot of silver and I said wow this chilled would be great. I said we can’t get this in Canada and so we began to work together.” DeJoria introduced Aykroyd to the Canadian wine agency Diamond Estates and the relationship grew very fruitful.
“I started working with Diamond Estates to bring Patrón into Canada. I found out they had four wineries. They proposed the idea of a line of wine and here two years later I’ve invested with Diamond Estates one million dollars to own a piece of the distributorship that was supervising Patrón.”
With Diamond Estates Aykroyd has his finger in four southern Ontario Wineries along with his namesake one. The Toronto based agency owns EastDell Estates, Lakeview Cellars, Birchwood Estate and Thomas & Vaughan. The new $12 million Dan Aykroyd Winery will be built where the Birchwood Estate is currently located. Groundbreaking is projected for this fall with the winery operational for the fall 2008 harvest.
Aykroyd who’s a fan of the EastDell Unoaked Chardonnay offers me some as we chat at The View restaurant at EastDell near Beamsville. But first he admonishes me for not eating. “You should have something if you are going to drink. You really should have something. I order food to compliment the wine. I don’t order wine to compliment the food,” he insists taking a sandwich and urging me to do so. Then he sips on his Discovery Series Chardonnay.
“I kind of wanted them to go a little more unoaked on this. But they said the consumer likes a little bit of oak and they like the fruitiness. So I had a bit of a compromise and I’m very happy with it.” Dressed in his trademark black suit jacket, black pants and black shades, he strikes me as part cool dude and part mother hen with a clear business head.
The Dan Aykroyd branded portfolio will all be 100 per cent VQA wines from Niagara. The first released, the Dan Aykroyd Discovery series, are consumer friendly in price and taste. Already on sale at Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlets across Ontario are the chardonnay at $14.95 and the cabernet merlot at $16.95. The premium Dan Aykroyd Signature Reserve series produced in limited quantities of 300 cases each will start at around $50 with the first release being a barrel fermented vidal icewine. Also expected to come out this fall are a cabernet sauvignon reserve and a fume blanc. Head winemaker of Diamond Estates, Tom Green (no relation to that other famous Canadian comedian) is in charge of the overall production of the wines.
Aykroyd who’s partial to Lynch Bages, Pichon Longueville, Brane-Cantenac and other fine Bordeaux for special occasions is realistic about his Discovery series wines. “Ontarians love their decks, their cottages and outdoor spaces. At sixteen ninety-five for the red you can buy a case of that. Instead of thirty of forty for a Bordeaux. In volume it makes sense to go for the Aykroyd wines.”
Canadian firm Moriyama + Teshima Architects, known for such distinctive projects as the Bata Shoe Museum, the new Canadian War Museum and the Ontario Science Centre are the designers of the new winery. Plans show a multi-level hospitality building that’s sensitive to the environment. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) features include a geothermal heating and cooling system, solar lighting, regionally produced materials for construction and native plants as part of the landscape.
Aykroyd hopes to stamp his personal tastes on the menu of the winery’s restaurant as well as on the wines. He rhymed off roast garlic rosemary chicken, T-bone steak, Yorkshire pudding, pesto with pappardelle noodles, spongy black cake and mocha dacquoise as items he’d like to see served at his winery.
“The next component will be the manufacturing exhibit itself of the wine, the tasting rooms and my museum. I’m going to put some memorabilia in there,” said Aykroyd. “Then we’ll have the music and live entertainment. I hope to draw more tourists from the States than usually come up from Niagara Falls.”
“I think with my name on a winery they’ll be coming into wine country and it’ll be an annual trip for these American families from Ohio, Illinois and Michigan just bordering Ontario,’ he added.
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The entrepreneurial Aykroyd already has proven to be serious when it comes to business. He’s the co-founder of the House of Blues Entertainment Inc. which operates ten House of Blues venues in the United States. HOB was purchased by Live Nation, the world’s largest live music company in 2006, and Aykroyd continues to travel to open each new House of Blues with partner Jim Belushi (John’s brother) and the Blues Brothers band.
“I thought this is the time of life here and now when I’m just going to enjoy. But I’m busier than ever. I try to wind it down but with the concerts with Mr. Belushi, the House of Blues and now with my involvement with this winery and try to maintain a twenty-five year marriage and raise a few kids and spend time with all of them. Those four quadrants pretty much take up all of my life.”
In summer Aykroyd stays at his family’s loyalist farmhouse near Loughborough Lake in the historic Sydenham Ward of Kingston. He anticipates burning up the 401 QEW corridor as the winery goes forward. Later this year however it’s long distant travel.
“Given the expansion with House of Blues I’m going to be spending a lot of time in the Far East, in Europe and in Russia in the next five years. We want to put one in Moscow and St. Petersburg. We already have got partners. They’re dying for it. They love the concept of House of Blues worldwide. So it will be a lot of travel,” he said.
Even with that his entrepreneurial instincts won’t rest. He went on to say, “Through the Patrón we came to the distributorship, we came to the wines and now we’re planning some other things on the spirit side. I can’t talk about it. But it’s going to be a world mind blower. We hope to be on the shelves at Christmas.”
Ghostbusters aside, spirits are no laughing matter for Aykroyd. It’s commerce good and solid like the man himself. As he’s said of his support of the Ontario wine industry, “I only invest in winners.”
Side Bar
The Dan Aykroyd Wine Route
All the Diamond Estate wineries are within about ten minutes drive of each other scattered between the tiny towns of Beamsville and Vineland in Niagara’s Twenty Valley. They all have tasting rooms open to the public.
Lakeview Cellars, 4037 Cherry Avenue, Vineland. www.lakeviewcellars.ca
Offering a patio in summer and a fairly large, well-stocked boutique, Lakeview’s a popular stop for touring oenophiles. Celebrating 15 years in wine making, Lakeview also sells older vintages from their ‘library’. Best bets in whites are the chardonnay musque and riesling and in reds go for the cabernet sauvignon (Aykroyd’s a fan of it) or 2000 vintage merlot.
Thomas & Vaughan, 4245 King St., Beamsville. (Now Redstone Winery https://redstonewines.ca)
This tiny winery is cute as a button. Sample the riesling and the gewürztraminer whites or buy a bottle of the vidal icewine.
EastDell Estates Winery, 4041 Locust Lane, Beamsville. www.eastdell.com
The view at The View is spectacular. On a clear day you can see the CN Tower of Toronto across glittering Lake Ontario. Enjoy a simple lunch of salads, grilled veggies, burgers or roast chicken while you sample some wines such as Aykroyd’s favourite EastDell unoaked chardonnay. Wines from the other Diamond Estate wineries and neighbours wines are also available.
Birchwood Estate Wines, 4679 Cherry Avenue, Beamsville. www.birchwoodwines.ca
Soon to be the location of the new Dan Aykroyd Winery, but in the meantime a sweet cottage like building with a small tasting room and retail outlet. Visit to see where the footprint of the new winery will be and sample the fresh mild gewürztraminer-riesling or the firm spiced gamay noir.
www.diamondwines.com
www.danaykroydwines.com