A quality-minded approach to making good wine at a reasonable price | Canada Voices

Jessica Harnois’ career has taken her from working as a sommelier in fine dining restaurants around the globe to buying the world’s best wines on behalf of Signature stores in Québec. Now she is the founder of Bù, one of the most popular wine brands in Quebec.

“I’ve always felt that good wine should be available everywhere,” says the 45-year-old Quebec native, whose range of affordable red, white and sparkling wines are sold at grocery stores in Quebec and WineRack outlets in Ontario.

Launched as a partnership with Arterra Wines Canada in 2016, Harnois named the company “Bù”, which means “drink” – and consumers responded in kind: “Last year, we sold 3.5 million bottles in Quebec,” Harnois explains.

As outlets for wine sales expand, Harnois sees more opportunity to introduce “products that are pleasing, easy to understand and offer good quality for the price.”

Bù’s lineup features wines from different countries, made to Harnois’ specifications, shipped in bulk and bottled here. A new additions are international selections from Italy, France and Spain that are blended with 25 per cent Ontario wine; each label displays the two corresponding countries of origin.

Harnois recalls hearing how clients for affordable wines gravitate to sweeter and oakier styles, but decided instead to make dry and refreshing styles that suited her taste: “I think that easy, drinkable wine should be quite pure and fruity.”

For the new Ontario range, a pinot grigio, pinot noir and tempranillo, she worked with Arterra winemakers to find Ontario grown wines to round out the wine. Harnois says she appreciated the impact that hybrid grapes like vidal and baco noir had on what’s in the bottle. Surprisingly, small percentages of wines made from vidal, a white wine grape best known for icewine production, is used to add acidity and fragrance to the tempranillo and pinot noir.

Consumers should know that wines produced under the VQA regulations are 100 per cent homegrown. Blends of international and Canadian wines can be desirable to consumers looking for lower priced wines, but are often criticized for a lack of transparency. Bottles containing a majority of foreign product may be packaged to suggest Canadian origins, making buyers believe they are supporting the domestic industry.

The quality of what’s in the bottle can also be polarizing, which is what makes the launch of Bù in Ontario significant. Bottles with a clear indication of origin that are made with intent are positive steps for category that exists to sell “cheap and cheerful” wines that are usually blends of who knows what from who knows where.

The new Bù releases retail for $17.95 per bottle at WineRack locations in Ontario and winerack.com. The Quebec-bottled versions are available at various prices in supermarkets in that province as well as liquor stores in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.