NC alumni winemakers will be in the spotlight as the Rising Stars behind featured wines at an exclusive dinner event in Toronto.
Presented by the Ontario Wine Awards (OWA), the Rising Stars dinner event will be held on March 25 at the Chef’s House (215 King Street East), which is operated by George Brown College.
The event will feature select wines from three winemakers – all graduates of NC’s Winery and Viticulture Technician program – who have been honoured with the OWA’s Paul Pender Memorial Rising Star Award: 2024 recipient Matt Smith (Cloudsley Cellars), 2023 recipient Brooke Husband (Domaine Queylus), and 2022 recipient Alex Baines (Hidden Bench Estate Winery).
The Paul Pender Rising Star Award was established in memory of Paul Pender, an outstanding leader in the Canadian wine industry and alumnus of NC’s Winery and Viticulture Technician program (2006). Pender was Director of Viticulture and Winemaking at Tawse Winery at the time of his sudden passing in February 2022 which shook the College community and Niagara wine industry. The OWA Rising Star Award celebrates winemakers who demonstrate qualities that made Pender a “winemaker’s winemaker” – talent, selfless generosity, mentorship, and innovation.
Matt Smith
Winery and Viticulture Technician (2017)
Matt Smith is the winemaker at Cloudsley Cellars in Ontario’s Twenty Mile Bench subregion. His passion for winemaking ignited at age thirteen during a visit to Thirty Bench Winery.
Smith honed his skills with production roles at Trius, Southbrook, Bachelder, and Domaine Queylus, collaborating with esteemed winemakers Thomas Bachelder and Kelly Mason. After graduating from NC, Smith joined Cloudsley Cellars as a winemaker. In 2024, he was honoured with the Paul Pender Memorial ‘Rising Star’ Award from the Ontario Wine Awards. Smith also contributes to Honsberger Estate Winery, reflecting his commitment to crafting exceptional wines in the Niagara region.
Brooke Husband
Winery and Viticulture Technician (2018), Culinary Skills (2014)
Brooke Husband is the Assistant Winemaker at Domaine Queylus, a position she has held since 2019. She began her winemaking journey with an initial harvest at Domaine Queylus during her studies. She then expanded her experience by working at Black Hills Estate Winery in the Okanagan Valley.
Upon returning to Niagara, Husband’s passion for wild-fermented Pinot Noir and Chardonnay led her back to Domaine Queylus, where she has completed five harvests to date. In 2022, she was honoured with the KML Top-30-Under-30 award for Hospitality in Canada, and in 2023, she received The Paul Pender Rising Star Award from the Ontario Wine Awards.
Beyond her role at Domaine Queylus, Husband collaborates with winemaker Kelly Mason on the Mason Vineyard Collab Series, contributing to innovative projects such as wild-fermented rosé and Viognier. Her dedication to the craft and commitment to producing exceptional wines have established her as a rising talent in the Canadian wine industry.
Alex Baines
Winery and Viticulture Technician (2015)
Alex Baines is the winemaker at Hidden Bench Estate Winery, having been promoted to this role in March 2022 after joining the team in January 2017. Originally from Finchingfield in Essex County, England, he has accumulated over 15 vintages of experience at premium producers across California, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.
Baines graduated from the Niagara College in 2015 and was the inaugural recipient of the Ontario Wine Awards Paul Pender Memorial Rising Star Award in 2022.
He is particularly interested in organic and biodynamic viniculture and is dedicated to the meticulous attention to detail required to craft exceptional terroir-driven, low-intervention wines. When not in the cellar, he enjoys riding his motorcycle and playing soccer a couple of times a week.
The evening will begin with a selection of canapés before a four-course dinner expertly paired with the wines. Reservations are available while supplies last for $125 per person, plus HST and Eventbrite processing fees. The dinner event will be held from 6 to 9 p.m.
For info visit OWA Presents: Ontario’s Rising Stars — The Chefs’ House
- Files from The Chef’s House, Ontario Wine Awards
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NC remembers Paul Pender: award-winning winemaker, inspirational alumnus | InsideNC
