Jackson Triggs Estate Winery

When Don Triggs and Allan Jackson set out to build their eponymous winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, they envisioned a modern heritage building that would complement the pastoral surroundings while also housing sophisticated winemaking equipment. The duo hired Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects to help realize their vision and opened Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery in 2001. The picturesque facility and surrounding vineyard are situated along the Niagara Peninsula, roughly 130 kilometers south of Toronto, in a unique, cool-climate viticulture region with deep mineral-rich soil.

The impressive 47,000-square-foot winery mimics a modern barn and has been designed with natural materials throughout, including maple and oak beams, a stone fireplace and fir roof trusses. The basement barrel cellar is a rustic space that doubles as a subterranean storage area and a unique venue for private dinners and corporate events. The wine boutique and seasonal tasting gallery attract visitors upstairs while, during the summer months, the sprawling patio is a scenic spot to enjoy breathtaking vistas of the lush vineyards.

But it’s perhaps the actual winemaking area itself that makes the biggest impact at this state-of-the-art facility. “We’ve spared no expense to get the best equipment possible so that we can handle the fruit as gently as possible,” says Del Rollo, the winery’s director of eastern estates and industry relations. Equipment has been imported from around the world to give winemakers flexibility and allow them to process the grapes in a sustainable way without compromising the flavour. “With any grape variety you’re getting, we make sure we’re putting our best foot forward,” says Del. “We deliver on that quality; if we can’t make it properly we’re not going to make it.”