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James J Lukezic (August 23, 1977 Beamsville, Ontario, Canada) is a financier, vintner and wine grower born to the parents of Slovenian immigrants to Canada. James was also named to the 1999 Under – 23 Slovenian National Team by Srecko Katanec but never completed a cap for the team.

Early career

Lukezic is a graduate of Cornell University. He started his career as a trainee at Merrill Lynch & Co in its Junior Executive Training Program in Manhattan. He later worked for Citigroup Global Markets, and Bank of New York. He also participated as a visiting lecturer at Princeton University in the Department of Politics.[1]

Wine industry

In 2008, James gained notoriety as an advocate for local growers and appellation control amendments in the Niagara Peninsula, Canada, where he created his own system of Appellation control, the AOCC (Appellation of Origin Control Canada) after finding that Niagara’s VQA appellation control was largely self-regulated allowing foreign content blending without regulation.

In 2008, James also appeared on Dragons' Den on the CBC Television network. The episode proved to be the most watched episode of the season where James confronted a billionaire panel on his perspectives on the Niagara wine Industry.

In 2010, Walker Hall Winery, Lukezic's winery, produced what was considered Niagara's Best Pinot Blanc to date in the Niagara Peninsula by Toronto Life Magazine.

References

1.^ "James Joseph Lukezic". Walker Hall Winery. Retrieved January 16, 2012.