How cold-climate wine is made at David McMillan's Hayfield Farm vineyard

Following the Joe Beef co-founder through two days of cold-climate viticulture harvests where hospitality takes the form of al fresco meals, crushed grapes underfoot, and relentless labour.

Scott Usheroff

November 4, 2025- Read time: 7 min

The sun beats down over Hayfield Farm as volunteers move through the rows, baskets in hand, clipping clusters of grapes heavy with late-season sweetness. The air smells faintly of fermenting fruit and wild grass, that unmistakable mix of work and reward that defines harvest time. At the centre of it all is David McMillan, sleeves rolled up, hands stained. An emblem of Montreal’s restaurant world, McMillan now spends much of his time among the vines, driven by a pursuit of purity and patience.

“It’s just about eating and drinking clean,” he says. “Making smart choices about what goes into your body, from wild fish, organic orange juice, my own chickens, my neighbour's pork, all the way to what’s in your glass at the end of the day.”

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