In 1874 two enterprising young men—Thomas G. Bright and Francis A. Shirriff—formed the Niagara Falls Wine Company at 49 Front Street in Toronto.

Sixteen years later, after modest prosperity the partners, deciding that their wine cellars should be located where the grapes were grown, bought land on Dorchester Road in the township of Stamford, now part of the city of Niagara Falls. Today, the successor to The Niagara Falls Wine Company, T.G.Bright & Co., Limited operates the largest wine-making operation in Canada.

Brights’ leadership in wine research and development in Canada helped bring Canadian wines to their position of respect around the world. This important story began 50 years ago, long after this Company’s initial 50,000 gallon capacity was housed in a two-storey, 10,000 square-foot building.

In 1911 the Niagara Falls Wine Company became T.G. Bright & Co., Limited, (the official corporate name used today). At that time, the Bright interests bought all of Mr. Shirriff’s shares in the enterprise. In 1933, with capacity at four million gallons, Harry C. Hatch bought the Company from the Bright family. Then, Brights produced only four or five brands of wines from native labrusca grapes. These could not be compared with the good wines of Europe—but the Niagara Escarpment soil and weather conditions suggested to Brights’ viticulturalists that European vinifera grapes could prosper in Niagara, with its 25,000 acres of grape-oriented soil.

In 1934 Brights launched a vast viticultural and vinicultural program that eventually transformed the entire Canadian wine industry. In the next 50 years the Company invested more than $6 million in research and development—more than any other single winery in Canada. Much of this work was initiated by Adhemar de Chaunac, Brights’ French-born winemaster and chemist. The late Mr. de Chaunac’s name is perpetuated in a grape variety named for him.

Fifty years of trial and error with more than 600 imported varieties of grapes produced successful varieties that today yield excellent Canadian wines that compare favourably with most wines imported from countries around the world.

Edward S. Arnold, Brights’ President since 1978, has continued his predecessors’ expansion and development of this leading wine Company. Under his guidance Brights opened a winery in Oliver, B.C. In 1986 Brights acquired the business and assets of Canada’s third-largest wine company, Jordan & Ste-Michelle Cellars Ltd. 1991 has seen a ten million dollar modernization of the Niagara Falls winery that, in practical terms, involved the construction of a completely new wine-making facility. Brights’ ongoing policy of investing in its future is once again ensuring its continued success in the highly competitive world-wide wine business.