Norman Hardie Chardonnay Vertical: 2006-2014   

BY IAN D’AGATA | NOVEMBER 8, 2016  

Norman Hardie is regarded as one of Canada’s most knowledgeable wine producers, but he was not born into a winemaking family. Hardie’s rise into the magical world of fine wine began by earning a sommelier degree at the University of Dijon in the late 1980s, then by working as Manager and Sommelier (1993-1996) at Toronto’s Truffles restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel. There is no doubt that the Four Seasons was one of Toronto’s three best restaurants of the time, an upscale eatery where fine wine flowed freely most nights. Hardie then decided he wanted to work more closely with wine, but had no formal enological or viticultural training. Over the years, he learned the craft by working with great winemakers around the world, gaining a vast amount of experience in his new chosen field.

A real globetrotter, Hardie started out in 1996 as winemaker apprentice at Evesham Wood, the high quality and prestigious Oregon winery. From 1997 to 2000, he served as assistant winemaker at Bouchard-Finlayson in South Africa, then went back to being a winemaker apprentice at various estates in Burgundy, including Domaine de la Pousse d'Or in Volnay (1997), Domaine de la Vougeraie in Premeaux (1998), and Nicolas Potel in Nuits St. Georges (1999). Hardie then went off to discover an entirely new corner of the wine world and moved to New Zealand. There, he was the “right hand to the winemaker” at the Central Otago Wine Company in 2001 and 2002, before taking a position in the same role in 2002 at Au Bon Climat and Qupé , both in Santa Barbara. That’s a pretty impressive list of places in which to learn about wine.

Norman Hardie amongst his vines near Wellington