This Niagara winemaker makes bottles with a cult following

There's a powerful force linking three of the top wineries in Niagara. Her name is Kelly Mason. She makes wine for Domaine Queylus, Honsberger Estate Winery and The Farm, bottles with cult-like followings. And many of her bottles sell out in a flash-for good reason. She makes sublime wine.

To give you an idea of just how good they can be, taste the 2017 Domaine Queylus Tradition" Pinot Noir, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($31.95 winery only/queylus.com). This elegant red is immediately riveting with its incredibly compelling tapestry of aroma that calls to mind roasted mushroom, smoked meat, and blackberries with a touch of soy sauce somewhere. Then, the attack is invigorating and complex, the black fruit centre threaded with all the savoury notes found on the nose within a seamless structure braced by the balanced but mouth-watering acidity that comes from cool climate Pinot Noir. Just a lovely, intricate wine for the money. Score: 94

Or sample the 2018 Honsberger Estate Cabernet Franc, VQA Creek Shores ($32.00 winery only/honsbergerestate.com). This bottle is similarly exciting with its fragrance of crushed black cherries and chalk that draws toward the saturated, velvety entry that unfolds with blackberries and plum, earth, and bittersweet chocolate. The rich centre is shot through with tart raspberry, which keeps each sip lifted and quenching. And the finish persists. Just delicious. Score: 94

The latest batch of wines from The Farm aren't even available anymore. That winery's inventory-except bottles allocated for restaurants-sells out every year in one day, despite no advertising or marketing. The winery simply opens its cellar door one day a year and sells the wine-an event that spread strictly through word of mouth. The date varies each year but happens in August. This year, it has already happened-hence the sold-out status. The only difference this year was bottles were ordered in advance online at thefarmwines.ca and picked up curbside. Outside of that one day, The Farm doesn't accept visitors.

Kelly Mason is clearly a skilled winemaker-and busy. After hours and on weekends, she is pruning and managing her own vineyard. She purchased that plot of land-now called, Mason Vineyard-on Twenty Mile Bench in 2012 and grows her own Pinot Noir from 30-year-old vines. She calls it her itty bitty pinot project." The fruit from there goes into top cuvees at Domaine Queylus and The Farm. It's a project to watch.

So, who is Mason? Well, she's a rising star who has spent the past 25 years or so doing everything right to put her where she is today. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Western University in 1995, an International MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University, and a viticultural degree from Brock University. She has interned at Saintsbury, a winery in Carneros, Napa-one of the first wineries in California to make Pinot Noir because of its cool microclimate.

In Ontario, she interned at Tawse Winery and under Sebastien Jacquey at the now shuttered Le Clos Jordanne winery, which specialized in premium Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. That winery closed for various reasons in 2016, but the bottles did earn high acclaim. Jacquey was hired by John Howard who owns Megalomaniac Winery and is making wines of distinction there.

From Le Clos Jordanne, she moved to Domaine Queylus where she assisted winemaker Thomas Bachelder. She worked with him for three years before he passed the baton to her in 2016. Now Bachelder's wines sell out in a flash through his secret tasting room called the bat cave."

While assisting at Le Clos Jordanne, Mason took on the role of winemaker at Honsberger Estate Winery. And while still an assistant at Domaine Queylus, she was hired as winemaker at The Farm. Now she makes wine at Queylus, Honsberger and The Farm, while growing her grapes at Mason vineyard.

I've always been passionate about wine. After my degree at Western, I moved to Tuscany with Magna International, the company I was working for at the time," says Mason. When I returned to Ontario to do my MBA, I brought 300 bottles of wine with me. So, there I was, a student, in this little condo with 300 bottles of wine."

Her dream was to retire, buy a vineyard, and make her own wine. Then, after her MBA, she thought, why wait? Why not go straight into wine? That was in 2006. So, she headed to California and the rest is history. She's living her dream.

It always amazes me to see a bottle of my wine on the table and people drinking it," says Mason. I just can't get my head around that people are drinking something I created."

Humility is always a good quality in a winemaker-especially when combined with ambition. This winemaker has both.

Her red wines are quite good, but so are her whites. The 2018 Domaine Queylus Cuvee Champlain" La Grande Reserve Chardonnay, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($49.95 winery only/queylus.com) will appeal to those who like restrained, minerally whites. The nose suggests crushed stones and salt with more of the same on the palate, laced with seashell, lime, grapefruit pith and a touch of raw nut. I find this wine quite charming, and the length of each sip lingers for ages. Score: 90

The 2019 Honsberger Handshake Series" Sauvignon Blanc Sur Lie, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore ($32 winery only/honsbergerestate.com) starts with honeysuckle and lemon zest on the nose before sliding in with yellow plum and lemon sorbet that stream in like a flood of light. As the wine tapers toward the finish, suggestions of damp herbs and freshly baked bread tease the senses. Score: 91

The Farm's 2018 Green Label Chardonnay, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($25), is sold out at the winery. But it's a tasty wine with a satiny texture, pristine purity of fruit, and delicate complexity. Think ripe apricot and crisp apple flavour laced with a touch of Chantilly cream and almond. Pure refreshment. Score: 90

If you like Domaine Queylus, Honsberger or The Farm wines, this peek behind the scenes shows you the link. There's brilliance there. And if Mason Vineyard ever gets its own label, look out.

Carolyn Evans Hammond is a Toronto-based wine writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Reach her via email: carolyn@carolynevanshammond.com