The Plans for Dan Aykroyd's Winery

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 16th 2007 at 12:03PM

Last year, when Dan Aykroyd announced his first wine-making adventure he hinted that there was more to come. And earlier this month when it was announced that he was participating in the first Niagara wine auction, it seemed that a big announcement was imminent. Sure enough, Diamond Estates Wines & Spirits has announced that they are building The Dan Aykroyd Winery. The project is ambitious. A $12-million, 45,000-square-foot winery will be built off the QEW highway where the company's Birchwood Estate winery is currently located. The winery will also showcase some of Aykroyd's movie and television memorabilia. Groundbreaking should be this fall with the winery being operational for a fall 2008 harvest. A couple more views of what looks to be a rather substantial undertaking after the jump.

Tags: canadian wine, dan aykroyd, diamond wines, DiamondWines, wine

Filed under: Wine, Celebrity Shopping

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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)

Mark Tunney Jun 30th 2007 12:19PM

There are a lot of people out there that don't have the chance to work, even eat! A lot of it has to do with greedy corporate America! You can take care of them now for pennies, or take care of them anyway for dollars down the road.

ahmamama Jun 30th 2007 12:24PM

My goodness! Such animosity! I think it's great that Dan is investing/purchasing a winery. He earned it, let him enjoy it!

Lucky Jun 30th 2007 1:10PM

thats the problem with people who are xtremely rich thier just plain selfish and stingy instead of helping people directly its always given to some phony cause or foundation that costs more to run than its worth or very little actually goes to actually help others who really need it its a sham as a middle class guy like me id help people directly if i had 12 friggin million dollars to burn its like this moron where i live burned 40 million dollars on a stupid yaht that he hardly uses at age 75 hahahahaha when this money could have helped needy kids or helped alot of poor families so on ect

tim Jun 30th 2007 1:26PM

Lucky, had you stayed in school and learned how to speak and spell with your free education you would be making more money to give away. You are where you are in life because of you. NOBODY is holding your whiny ass back. Buy some more lotto tickets and keep being pissed at evryone doing better than you.

dave Jun 30th 2007 1:37PM

tim, not that im being rude or wanting to intrude or seem like a prick. i just thought you may want to be informed that "lotto" is not a proper abbreviation. also, you spelled "everyone" wrong. how can you be sure he wasnt a triple a baseball player getting ready to make it big in the majors...one day walking down the street a drunk driver hits him, leaving him paralyzed? wouldnt that mean that he is where he is in life because of someone else and not by his own doing or choice?

tim Jun 30th 2007 2:13PM

Lucky, lotto is fine and everyone was a typo. People do get paid by their abilities and education. The point is why can't the man have a wine business? If he owned a bakery is that wrong too? He's rich because he's smart, talented and didn't piss his money away like a lot of show business types. I've nothing against you or anyone else but bitching out other people for not giving fixes nothing. If you know someone disabled and not getting a fair shake from the government,by all means help them out directly and that is a fine idea.
As it happens, I am disabled and on a fixed income but do volunteer work and give to some charities that are close to situations in my family life. I was too harsh in my reply and appoligize. I got off subject about you getting off subject. Peace out Lucky.

dave Jun 30th 2007 2:16PM

tim, you spoke like a respectable gentleman in your previous statement. kudos.

Catherine Jun 30th 2007 4:22PM

To #15 - you are assuming that the person in comment #6 is on welfare, but you have nothing to base your opinion on - the article is about a winery, and some people think its a waste of money. Perhaps it is. Since when does disagreement equal pverty and welfare? The assumption is completely off-base.

Karen Jun 30th 2007 6:28PM

Let's see, $12M being spent to build it, right? That goes to the builders, the carpenters, the plumbers, the electricians, the various subcontractors needed to finish a new facility. That means dads (and moms, too, why be sexist?) get a new job. And that money then gets used by their families, which might feed a few families, the money is spent in their communities and perhaps on health insurance, and helps foster other businesses which support the workforce, right?

Oh, then the building and vinyards will need people to take care of it, so that continuing employment results? And people with money in their wallets can help the less fortunate. And the less fortunate perhaps can find work there?

Gosh, sounds like a really lousy idea to me. What was I thinking?

jmpkco Jun 30th 2007 6:52PM

I forgot to say to Dan, good for you for following your passions. You go, boy, you go.

And forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Canada enjoy a national health care system?

I think that building something should be celebrated!

jmpkco Jun 30th 2007 11:25PM

Guess I get the last word in this media-initiated frenzy? Dan, good on ya, mate, you're building something. You're creating jobs, and making wine.

jmpkco Jun 30th 2007 11:25PM

Guess I get the last word in this media-initiated frenzy? Dan, good on ya, mate, you're building something. You're creating jobs, and making wine.

Hooty Jul 6th 2007 10:15AM

Contrary to the general opinion of those in Europe and south of the border, Canada has many regions that produce great wine British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia to mention just a few. Dan is from Ontario which probably explains why he is investing in that region. I wish him and all his future employees lots of luck.

For those of you who are addicted to text messaging I will inclue a condensed version of the above comment:

canda gud wine he frum ont he lik wine gd lk to hm

Simple Dec 5th 2007 5:47AM

Actually, as a resident in this local community and as an about to be neighbour of this winery...and a vineyard owner myself, I'll say quite frankly the types of jobs the wine industry have created here in Niagara are what many would correctly call "sweatshop" or "pink collar" jobs. Low pay, no benefits, dodgy hours and no security. This industry's calculated and supported to replace actual manufacturing industries which are leaving the area (a trend that could easily be reversed with real ideas to create jobs that actually will sustain the economy in this region). As it is, the wine industry here is less and less local, more and more multi-national. Very little of the profit being created here is staying here to make our economy stronger or more diverse, and a lot of tax revenue which should be shoring up our infrastructure out here is being diverted to subsidize big glittery projects just like this one, from which very few people in this area will benefit. If you don't believe it, check out the decline of Niagara's economy over the last 20 years for yourself--the same 20 years the wine industry's been "booming". It's not a coincidence...just a missed opportunity to really effect some serious growth in this area.

As it is, this winery might make a fortune for Diamond and for Ackroyd; but for Beamsville it's another few acres of the world's best arable land, covered over in concrete; and a small number of minimum wage jobs for some seriously overqualified staff.

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