Meet Bù
Promotional feature.
By Erin Henderson
Jessica Harnois is a dynamo.
You could call her a sommelier, but that is a pale descriptor for the high-energy, 45-year-old businesswoman. She’s an inventor, wine educator, entrepreneur, and her latest role, as of eight years ago, is co-founder. I’m meeting her in Toronto where she’s spending a few days to promote her wines, Bù. It’s wildly successful in Quebec having become the province’s top selling wine, with 3.5 million bottles sold last year alone. Bù is now being introduced in Ontario, debuting exclusively at The Wine Rack.
I’ve known of Jessica for a while – she founded a wine events company similar to The Wine Sisters in her home province of Quebec (she has sold it, but still remains a consultant for the new owners) but I’m only now meeting her in person.
The day of our meeting, on a bright and warm morning at the King Edward hotel, she easily falls into conversation, asking as much about me as I about her. We talk about everything before getting down to the serious business of tasting her joyful wines – her teenage children, my city condo, her country home, mutual acquaintances, favourite places to travel. We’re like old friends falling back into conversation after a little while apart.
As naturally sunny and upbeat as Jessica is, when it comes to business, she’s focused and serious.
While we taste through the bottles she’s releasing in Ontario – Pinot Grigio, Tempranillo, and Pinot Noir – she says the wines took years of development. The Pinot Noir, for example, she thought she would source from Romania or Tasmania, both countries growing exceptional grapes at modest prices, but after searching for various partners who could understand her vision, she found the right grape grower in southern France.
“It took a very long time to find a quality Pinot Noir at that price,” she sighs, swirling the ruby red wine in the sunlight streaming through the windows.
The vision for Bù was blending the best of European and Canadian grapes, but at prices that any wine lover can afford. Jessica had a very clear idea for what she wanted in her wines: approachability, freshness, consistency, and balance.
“It’s mathematical to me: Pinot Grigio should taste like pear; Pinot Noir should taste like cherry; and Tempranillo should taste like plum.”
Jessica looks for clean, streamlined, and focused wines. An extremely sensitive taster, who has been working in the wine world since she was a child, she finds many wines out of balance.
“I’m not keen on sugar or wood,” she says, mentioning her red wines intentionally dial back the oak aging for a fresher style that pairs well with food. “Wood is very sexy at the beginning, but it can switch [negatively] as it moves on [in age.]”
The Beginning of Bù
The whole dream started a decade ago, when Jessica was then the prestige wine buyer for the SAQ (Quebec’s version of the LCBO), buying premium wines ranging from $40 a bottle to $20,000. Naturally, she had developed strong relationships with everyone from sommeliers to winemakers to wine educators – she even travelled with prominent wine critic James Suckling to Hong Kong as his Vice President of Business Development as interest in wine started to grow China.
Arterra, the parent company of Ontario wineries Jackson-Triggs, Inniskillin, and Le Clos Jordanne, as well as The Wine Rack, a private bottle shop in Ontario, approached Jessica about co-founding a premium, yet affordable, wine collection. Jessica’s experience as a wine buyer meant she knew about sourcing and buying bulk wine from overseas. Her carefully honed taste as a sommelier meant she knew quality.
“They really let me take over,” Jessica says of her partnership with Arterra to build Bù.
In fact, it was her dad’s idea to name the wines. Bù means to drink or imbibe in French, with a more colloquial reference meaning it’s the act of socially drinking a glass of wine. Jessica’s favourite wine bar in Quebec was called Bù, and her dad said why not just call her wines that, as well.
Jessica threw herself into the project, carefully curating the blends of each wine. In each style, 75% comes from European grapes, balanced by 25% of Canadian.
The testing process is arduous and exacting. The wines arrive finished in a different samples from Europe to be blended and bottled here, but first must go through tasting trials. When Jessica and her team were sourcing the Tempranillo from Spain, they tried many versions before eventually settling on the final wine.
“It was a nightmare!” she laughs, before growing serious. “When it arrived [initially], I did not like it. So we did not move forward [with that version.]” Eventually she found a style that worked.
When selecting which Canadian grapes she would use in the blend Jessica was inspired by France’s Rhône region. The Rhône famously blends floral Viognier, a white grape, into spicy Syrah, a red grape, to tame Syrah’s harsh edges. Jessica thought the same could be done using Vidal.
The Bù Tempranillo, sourced from Castilla de la Mancha, which naturally has flavours dark, plummy fruit, benefits from an 8% splash of Vidal for freshness and lift.
“Just a tiny touch,” Jessica says, her nose deep in the glass. “It really makes a difference.”
Vidal also makes an appearance in the Pinot Grigio (25%) and Pinot Noir (10%). The big surprise? Baco Noir, a Canadian hybrid grape known for its spice and meaty character, is blended into both the reds.
“Baco as a blending component is magical. It gives a peppery taste to counter the freshness of the Vidal in the blend.” Jessica notes.
As Jessica gets set to make Bù a best seller in Ontario, as she has in Quebec, she scans the three bottles sitting on the table in front of us.
“I was excited to take the best out of Europe and blend it with the best of Canada. And at the end, it’s the consumer who wins.”
The Wines
Bù Pinot Grigio, a blend of wines from Italy and Canada, $17.95 Wine Rack
A blend of 75% Pinot Grigio and 25% Vidal, this is a delicate wine of substance. Bright and fresh, with silky texture and juicy flavours of green pear and apple. Try this with a creamy fennel bruschetta or seared carrots with pomegranate and pistachio pesto.
Bù Pinot Noir, a blend of wines from France and Canada, $17.95 Wine Rack
Pinot Noir from the sunny south of France makes up 75% of this blend with the balance of 15% Baco Noir and 10% Vidal which loan spice and freshness respectively. Cherry, strawberry, and hibiscus tea come through on the soft palate which has juicy acidity and mild tannins. A terrific pairing for baked brie with cranberry compote and rosemary, classic French porc aux pruneaux, or holiday turkey.
Bù Tempranillo, a blend of wines from Spain and Canada, $17.95 Wine Rack
Tempranillo is one of the main red grapes of Spain, making sultry wines with loads of black fruit and spice. In Bù it makes up 75% of the blend, with 17% Baco Noir, and 8% Vidal for a structured wine of smoky depth and ripe plum and fig flavours. This bolder style pairs beautifully with lamb chops and braised beef, but also works with hearty vegetarian dishes like lentil shepherd’s pie.
This article has been generously supported by Bù wines.