New York Cork Report

TasteCamp North 2011: On Acidity, Perception and Other Observations

A reminder at Tawse Winery

One of the first wines I tasted when I arrived in Niagara-on-the-Lake for TasteCamp 2011 was a riesling. Its crushing acidity very nearly made ceviche out of my tongue.

Now before I start to sound like a certain wine critic, I should point out that I cut my wine teeth on Finger Lakes riesling. I like acidity, but I like balance better.

An Acid Balancing Act

Back to Niagara, where titratable acidity (TA) in rieslings regularly reaches double digits on the grams per liter scale (for Canadians, that's grams per litre). I made it a point to ask the residual sugar on almost every riesling I tried. The best rieslings that I had at TasteCamp were above 1.5% RS. (NB: At the risk of overgeneralizing, pH and total acidity -- total positive ions in addition to the protons measured by titratable acidity, e.g., potassium and calcium ions - can also affect the perception of acidity.)

As we ponder why this might be, let's look at the NYCR Wines of the Year competition for the past two years. 

In the Finger Lakes category, the 2010 white wine of the year (and in turn, New York State wine of the year with a unanimous vote) was the 2008 Billsboro Riesling (10.8 g/L TA, 2.5% RS). In 2011, the Finger Lakes riesling of the year was Damiani 2010 Riesling, with a whopping 12 g/L TA and 4% RS. We've previously addressed reasons why sweeter rieslings might do better in large tastings, particularly in the absence of food.

It could be that among many other wines, drier rieslings can't compete due to simple palate fatigue. This is probably part of the overall picture. Also, I'm sure that some of the more zingy offerings in would have benefited from a complementary food pairing. However, it could also be that in high-acid vintages, you just need some sugar to balance things out. It's not a bad thing. In fact, careful attention to a wine's acid-sugar (and generally, acid-alcohol-tannin-sugar) balance demonstrates responsible and thoughtful winemaking. 

For example, Hermann J. Wiemer rieslings almost never go below 0.7% RS, even for "dry" offerings.

Everybody has his or her own palate and definition of balance. Some of the rieslings that might put me off are what I call "Evan Dawson" rieslings, after Evan's professed liking for dry rieslings with electric acidity.  These tend to go splendidly with food, as evidenced at last year's TasteCamp by the heavenly pairing of an early morning sip of Ravines Argetsinger Vineyard Riesling (0.3% RS) with a frittata from Lisa Hallgren's kitchen.

But in my case, for sipping alone, Mary Poppins' spoonful of sugar does indeed help the medicine go down.  Craving some sugar doesn't make me a bad person. It means that I like to see the elements of a wine in harmony.

"There is no botrytis in Niagara"

This mantra has echoes of Fox Run winemaker Peter Bell's declaration at TasteCamp 2010 that "There is no Brett in the Finger Lakes." 

Like Bell's assertion, I'm sure this was more of a general stylistic comment than a Jedi mind trick, but many of the winery representatives I talked to mentioned that it's actually quite difficult to get botrytis in Niagara.  Indeed, much of the riesling is quite clean, except where botrytis has been sought out on purpose. Foggy patches of vineyard blocks can accumulate botrytis and in some cases these grapes are used to make spicy, botrytis-laced wines.

An excellent example of this practice was Vineland Riesling 2010 Reserve, which we tasted out of tank. This auslese-style wine will be held back for five years before release, but right now it is singing with spicy botrytis and artfully balanced sweetness (6% RS, 10 g/L TA).

Miscellaneous thoughts

In putting TasteCamp North on my itinerary squarely between my PhD defense and my wedding/honeymoon, I am a bit late to the posting party. Many of the points I wanted to tackle have already been covered by other astute NYCR writers. 

However, this delay does give me an opportunity to respond to some of the points made while adding a few of my own:

• Evan, Julia, and Bryan all mentioned the organic/biodynamic producers. Evan praises Tawse winemaker Paul Pender's "utterly refreshing lack of militancy" about biodynamics while still mentioning the dynamizer (pictured right) and cow horn preps. This analysis is spot on, as usual. I, too, noticed Pender's appeal to the more scientific and practical aspects of biodynamics. On the surface, you'd think that the spiritual aspect of biodynamics was completely absent at Tawse.  However, spirituality and biodynamics go hand in hand, and it's misleading to say otherwise. 

• I agree that chardonnay was very well-done for the most part. I'm not as averse to oak as some people, but I do crave acidity, which Niagara Chardonnay has in spades to give even the biggest oak monster a refreshing finish.

• There are lots of producers bottling entirely on screwcap. Coyote Run's winemaker David Sheppard said "I have no tolerance for cork taint."  I suppose switching over and/or buying new bottling lines is easier in a place with as much capital as Niagara seems to have.

• Experiments with wild ferments abounded, but none were as successfully demonstrated as the wild fermentation pinot we tasted at Freedom Run.

• Lakeview Cellars poured a limey Kerner and banana-tangerine Auxerrois, but both grapes are somewhat rare in Niagara.

Overall, my experience at TasteCamp North was very rewarding and gave me the chance to taste an up-and-coming region. The progress that this very young region has made in its short existence is astounding and it's clear that passionate wine industry (and financiers) are making that happen.

“The Hardest Things to Do Are the Ones That Matter Most”: Winemaking Lessons from TasteCamp

By Julia Burke, Beer Editor

Like every TasteCamp attendee, I’m a wine lover, but I’m also a beginning home winemaker with a personal interest in discovering what it takes to make world-class wine in my home region of Niagara. This means that in addition to tasting as much wine as I can, I take every opportunity to pick the brains of the winemakers — and occasionally harass them with samples of my own wine after battering them with questions.

I figure, when else will I get the chance to speak one-on-one with brilliant and talented people who have built their reputations on making amazing wines in the region where I hope to spend my life?

With that perspective, although the entire TasteCamp weekend was an amazing learning experience for me, a few particular interactions over the weekend had a special impact.

Lesson 1: Just Do It

One was meeting Andrea Glass, winemaker at Good Earth Food and Wine Co. (Photo credit: Suresh Doss), at the grand tasting at Vineland Estates on Saturday. I had to wonder if I was on Candid Camera when I sipped her delicious cab franc rosé, loved it, found out she was the winemaker, and couldn’t resist asking her age. “I’m 24,” she replied. She's exactly my age and already a professional winemaker in Niagara.

I couldn’t contain my excitement. Fortunately, Glass was a good sport and allowed me to barrage her with questions about her winemaking background.

A fifth-generation farmer, Glass studied viticulture and winemaking at Niagara College, and loaded up on harvest experience with vintages in Argentina and California as well as Niagara. The back-to-back continent-hopping vintage experience is something I’ve always wanted to do, especially after my two harvest stints in South Africa, and Glass couldn’t say enough about the practice. “I was able to cram eight years of experience into four years that way,” she explained. She advocated the combination of winemaking and viticulture courses, which have the key advantage of teaching students how to respond to unforeseen winemaking challenges instead of just addressing them as they occur, with real-world experience in varied conditions and climates.

I was humbled by Glass’s accomplishments at such a young age, impressed by her wines, and inspired to live in a region where a winemaker can make a name for herself so early in her career (without being the owner’s kid). I will be sure to follow developments at Good Earth from now on and hope to make a visit on my next trip across the border. 

Lesson 2: Support Is Out There

After a day of tasting some of the most renowned Niagara-on-the-Lake producers to kick off TasteCamp, we headed to Ravine Vineyard for a cozy family-style dinner setup and presentation from consulting winemaker Peter Gamble and Southbrook winemaker Ann Sperling (Photo credit: Southbrook Vineyards). One of the great “power couples” of the wine world, Sperling and Gamble have between them an amazing background of experience in Niagara and internationally, and it was a treat to get their insights on the Niagara region in an informal, wine-focused event.

To me one of the most interesting and unique aspects of the couple’s role in Niagara is their affinity for helping start-ups and existing growers and wineries work toward achieving organic and biodynamic certification. The process may seem an insurmountable challenge in a climate where frost, moisture, and cold weather are constant threats, but Gamble and Sperling explained that the rewards of organic and biodynamic practices are too obvious — and practical — to ignore. Not content to reap these rewards themselves, the team is passionate about spreading the love and acting as resources for others.

While introducing her Southbrook wines, Sperling explained that she has been guiding her partner growers through the bureaucracy and challenge of certification. “We hope to nurture and bring along other vineyards into [organic growing] and in 2010 we did help a grower get certified. We have another grower who has been growing organically but hasn’t done the paperwork, so we’ll help him get underway with that so we can add more acreage to the area that’s being organically farmed,” she said.

For Sperling, biodynamics is partly a question of promoting a healthy working and living environment. “We chose to farm biodynamically partly because it’s where we spend our life, and where we employ people and they spend most of their life and working hours, and so we wanted to create an environment that was as healthy as possible.” But it’s not just about health. Sperling is firm in her conviction that a biodynamically grown wine is a better wine. “We also do it for the high quality wines that we feel that we can make,” she said. “For us quality is an expression of site and terroir, and a vine that is raised biodynamically is very in tune with its locale and we feel that it presents the most truthful or best expression of the terroir and I think we’re seeing that in the wines that we’re producing,” she added.

Lesson 3: Trust the Vineyard

Gamble brought up the issue of vintage variation, which seems to be near and dear to the hearts of many in the soul wine (yes, I’m putting it out there; I’m sick of the arguments about the term “natural wine” so I’m hoping “soul wine” will catch on) movement.

The idea that a wine should express not just its soil, climate and other geographical characteristics but also the season in which its grapes were grown is an important conviction in this era of mass-produced big-brand wines, and it’s a point of pride for many cool-climate growers. Gamble told a story from the notoriously challenging 2009 vintage to illustrate the importance of seasonal voice — and of trusting the vines to express it.

“We always harvest on taste,” he said. “We pay attention to pH, TA, the relationship between tartaric and other things, but the bottom line is you go by taste. In 2009, a really difficult, very cool, challenging year, we didn’t harvest till somewhere in the first week of December—we didn’t like the flavors on the Bordeaux varieties until then. I had to explain it: Why are we suddenly 14-14.5 percent alcohol on the cab, whereas in big years we’re doing it at 13 percent? It’s totally based on flavors and it’s really amazing that when you’re up in the vineyard when you look at numbers—what pH do you harvest at, etc.—but taste is one of the things that tends to bring the unanimity among winemakers. Taste comes first and foremost,” she said.

Brian Schmidt of Vineland told a similar story on Saturday, in a discussion of vineyard yields. He decided to drop his crop to around 2 tons per acre, after the vineyard had been comfortably producing about 4 tons per acre from one year to the next. “The berries were bloated, fat, waterlogged, and I checked and it came in at 3.8 tons per acre,” he chuckled. “I tried, but the vineyard said, ‘no, actually, we’ve got this. We know what we’re doing.’” It was a great lesson in trusting a healthy vineyard rather than arbitrary numbers. A bit of a control freak myself, I took this message to heart.

Lesson 4: The Hardest Things To Do Are the Ones That Matter Most

My question for Gamble after the event was this: What is the most powerful argument or evidence that ultimately pushes growers and winemakers to take the plunge into organic/biodynamic viticulture despite the challenges?

As I suspected, the answer was that the proof was in the pudding — or rather, the pinot. “Quite awhile ago, maybe fifteen years, people in Dijon started with a particular section of a premier cru in Burgundy,” Gamble explained. The two side-by-side sections of pinot noir were tended by the same grower with the same methods—but in one section they used conventional leaf spray. “Rather than study the effects on the grapevine, they studied the final wine,” says Gamble, “and they were unanimous confirming the flavors. It’s one of the things that rarely gets discussed, the issue of flavors, but they did a blind tasting and word sort of got around that the flavors of the wine were better.” This ruffled some feathers, for obvious reasons. “One of the major spray producers decided to commission another university to retest with ‘more scientific conditions’… the word was that they got the exact same results,” Gamble says, “so the paper was never released.”

For Gamble that story sums up the ultimate motivation for going organic. “That’s it for me,” he says. “I always make a point of telling prospective proprietors that the hardest things to do are the ones that matter most.”

Wise words whether the topic is winemaking or life. Thanks to these and other fascinating conversations over the course of the weekend, I came away from TasteCamp more inspired than ever to keep making wine in Niagara. Tasting the world-class, terroir-driven wines (especially the cabernet francs, which I found the most exciting of anything I tasted) and getting a glimpse inside the heads and hearts of these industry movers and shakers was the best motivation I could imagine.

Recognizing and Preserving Terroir in Niagara

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor

Niagara Ontario does not use the term “terroir” lightly. For a relatively new wine region, it has established one of the most detailed appellation and sub-appellation systems in the new world. Any serious discussion of winemaking in the region never fails to mention soil types, slope and proximity to Lake Ontario. And even though every grape in Niagara does have a unique origin, there are some wineries making terroir front and center – while at the same time employing specific methods in the vineyard and cellar to preserve their wines’ provenance.

As it happens, TasteCamp North attendees only had to wait five minutes before the weekend’s first speaker, Paul Bosc, Jr. of Chateau des Charmes, presented us with the map of Niagara’s regions and ten sub-appellations. For growers, owners and winemakers, this guide has become the holy book of terroir in Niagara.

Indeed, virtually every industry personality who spoke at TasteCamp began the discussion with a description and history of local soils, and even though dividing the region into “bench” and “Niagara-on-the-Lake or NOTL” wines is a gross oversimplification at this point, it was a good starting point.  As the weekend went on, though, it became apparent, for example, that the there isn’t much similarity in the bench at St. David’s and the bench in Beamsville given the distance the bench is from the lake at both sites.

If anything, TasteCamp was a great reminder that making direct comparisons of any wines from different sub-appellations is helpful in discovering the diversity of the region, but is a strategy that must be approached with caution. Differences in vine age, clonal selection, vineyard spacing, trellising and cropping all contribute to the flavor and chemistry of the grapes. On top of that, the winemaker’s hand cannot be discounted when discussing the similarities and differences of wines produced from appellation to appellation.

Terroir as the Single Voice of a Vineyard
While there are several wineries featuring vineyard origins on labels locally, no other has based its identity on single vineyards more than Le Clos Jordanne. The winery focuses on chardonnay and pinot noir exclusively, with the goal of expressing the terroir of its four vineyards through these grapes.

Le Clos Jordanne has three tiers of wines, with the first and least expensive being the Village Reserve. Simply put, any grapes that do not make the cut from LCJ vineyards go into this blend. Year to year, this blend is $25 and is all Niagara in style.

The next tier is the winery’s single vineyard bottlings, Le Clos Jordanne, Claystone Terrace, La Petite Vineyard and Talon Ridge Vineyard. These wines are all given native fermentations, with long, cool ferments and similar oak programs, ultimately with the goal of identical vinifications producing four distinctive wines.

The winery’s highest-priced bottling is their Le Grand Clos, which is the very best it has to offer in a given vintage. Ever since LCJ started making the Grand Clos Pinot Noir it’s come from the same block of the same Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard. What’s so special about this one spot?

“It’s actually more silty than the rest of the vineyard,” says winemaker Sebastien Jacquey. In my mind there’s nothing less sexy and less marketable than silt, so it’s ironic that the winery’s flagship luxury wine is from that site.

But that’s the point of the LCJ anyway: to isolate those small areas that produce the most distinctive wines. Unfortunately, though, TasteCamp attendees didn’t get to taste full horizontal flights of pinot or chardonnay. Although the 2008 Claystone Terrace Pinot Noir was enough to satisfy me.

Terroir Through Biodynamics and Wild Fermentations
For a region that sees such cold temperatures in the winter, excessive moisture and humidity during most of the growing season and the ever-growing threat of unpredictable weather, the notion that biodynamic practices can succeed here isn’t one you’d hear from many unless you’re talking to Ann Sperling, winemaker at Southbrook Vineyards, in NOTL.

Sperling, like many who practice biodynamics, is convinced that the proof of its success is in the grapes and how her wines reflect where they are grown.

“Our viticultural practices give us ripe fruit, small berries and thin skins so in the winery we can be very gentle,” Sperling said during an interview I had with her last fall. “We don’t add any nutrients because we don’t need them.”

(The addition of yeast nutrients is a common winemaking practice that feeds the yeasts encouraging a healthy fermentation and reducing issues like volatile aromas, sulphur aromas and stuck ferments.)

Southbrook also has a clean record of using indigenous yeasts and indigenous maloactic bacteria in fermenting its wines. While there’s an obvious correlation between the philosophy of organics, biodiversity and native-yeast fermentation, Sperling thinks it goes well beyond that. She believes that the absence of synthetic fungicides preserves populations of the natural yeasts while not selectively destroying or encouraging the growth what occurs naturally in the vineyard.

Southbrook’s site has flat, features moderately vigorous soils and is far enough from Lake Ontario to warm up quickly in the spring, making it particularly suited to Bordeaux varieties. Crops are kept below two tons per acre and vines are generally not hedged. In the winery, fermentations are kept relatively cool reducing over extraction, and fining, filtration and new oak are kept to a minimum.
 
Friday night’s dinner at Ravine Vineyard featured a few selections from Southbrook including their 2005 Poetica Chardonnay, 2008 Whimsy Cabernet Franc and my favorite, their 2007 Poetica Cabernet Merlot. In my opinion, each of them showed enough restraint with oak and extraction to express the NOTL character.

Terroir By Gravity Flow and Gentle Winemaking
Not only is Niagara blessed with the soils and climate to make distinctive wines, it’s also blessed with people and the resources to make wines that highlight them. Tawse Winery strives for a natural balance in the vineyard and has the ideal facility to produce wines in a way that handles the grapes and wine in the most gentle and effective way.

The idea behind gravity flow wineries is simple: Limit the amount of stress, oxygen and physical manipulation of grapes, musts and wines using a well thought out construction that uses gravity to transfer wines throughout each phase of production.

Tawse’s Paul Pender gets to make wines in what is probably the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a wine production utopia. As esthetically pleasing as the winery is from the outside, to anyone interested in winemaking, what goes on behind the scenes is even more impressive.

From a crane inside the crush pad of the winery, the grapes (for reds) are and juice (for whites) is moved into primary fermentation vats at the highest level of the winery. The red grapes are only destemmed without any intentional maceration, leaving whole berry grapes for a cooler, longer fermentation.

Whites are also given delicate treatment starting at the crush pad. “We average 8-10 hours for pressing our whites…some wineries may only take two hours to press,” noted Pender.

Tawse keeps stainless tanks for the wines to settle out on next level downward. Without using pumps, the wine is simply allowed to flow through hoses down to this level and then ultimately down to one of the two impressive barrel cellars the winery built. The cellar is buried under several feet of earth to naturally maintain a constant temperature.

The cellar itself looks like what you’d see if you are lucky enough to visit the great estates of Bordeaux – until you notice the modern system of hoses and pipes in the ceiling that are used to move wine into the barrels. It’s truly an amazing setup.

All of this talk of winemaking would be a waste of time if the wines weren’t spectacular. The chardonnays poured at TasteCamp were both top notch, showing exactly the differences Pender hoped would come through in the side-by-side of Quarry Road and Robyn’s Block 2009 bottlings. My favorites at the bar were the Pinot Noir Cherry Ave 2008 and the Cabernet Franc Van Byers 2008.

Tawse wines show a tension while young that stand out more than most. While there’s no doubt that their intensive vineyard practices are giving them quality grapes, I think the unobtrusive methods practiced at the winemaking end are producing wines with better structure, purer fruit and less astringency than most, leaving a clearer taste of where they are from.

In the End
There are going to be plenty of assumptions, assertions and proclamations from our weekend in Niagara like cabernet franc does better in NOTL or riesling is better on the bench. Our experience at TasteCamp did not provide us with a complete picture of the region’s diversity in terroir and to be honest, it wasn’t supposed to. We would surely need more than the time we had.

With the sub-appellation system being less than ten years old, the benefits of the categorization are only now starting to show in the wines we tasted. Finding the right soil for the right grape is only the beginning. Then it becomes the right clone, the right spacing, the right trellis, the right cropping, right vinification. It goes on and on.

In the meantime, though, I need to decide which Niagara cabernet franc I want to drink next. Will it be the Lincoln Lakeshore from Tawse, a NOTL selection from Southbrook, a Niagara Escarpment wine from Vineland? Or maybe it’ll be a St. David’s Bench bottle from Chateau des Charmes or the Four Mile Creek from Coyotes Run. In my opinion they’re all pretty darn good.

TasteCamp North: Canadian Soil, with Echoes of New York

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor

In Niagara, winemakers use the word "terroir" often. We heard it just about everywhere we went. It's a word spoken far less often in New York state, where winemakers speak of sense of place or perhaps "somewhereness," while occasionally dropping "terroir" into conversation as well. 

Why does this matter? It's not simply relevant because Canadians speak a lot of French. It's relevant because in Niagara, where I spent several days for TasteCamp North, "terroir" is not about marketing. It's about an honest exploration of the soil and what it can provide.

This is no small detail. In Niagara, there is money. I mean, serious, serious cash. Some of the estates (Chateau des Charmes, Hillebrand, Tawse) look like they were pulled out of Napa, polished new, and dropped in Canada. And it's comforting to know that all of that money (often coming from the Toronto business community) isn't just purchasing attractive buildings and new barrels (though there are piles of new barrels -- a little too many for my taste). The owners of these estates have very obviously invested in high-quality winemakers and well educated vineyard staffs. 

And that means that Niagara is populated with soil geeks.

I found similarities between the best wines of New York state and the best wines of Niagara, Canada. But more interestingly, I found that the soils and climates of New York state, which show great variation from the top of the state down to Long Island, are mirrored in a much tighter Canadian space. For tourists, that sets up some fascinating possibilities.

First stop: Niagara-on-the-Lake

Like Long Island, Niagara-on-the-Lake is showing some success with Bordeaux varieties. And like Long Island, the best Bordeaux variety wines are outstanding in any setting, and compared to wines from any region.

Niagara-on-the-Lake can pull this off thanks to a warmer climate than the rest of the region. It's farther away from the lake, which means an earlier spring and a longer growing season. In years like 2007 and 2010, red grapes can enjoy all the ripening they want, and then some.

At the stunningly beautiful Chateau des Charmes (part of their vineyard pictured right), we enjoyed an informative chat with proprietor Paul Bosc, Jr. Paul couldn't help but point out that despite any presumptions we might have about Canadian wine regions, his vines didn't lag Bordeaux by all that much and actually benefit from more ripening in the peak of summer than most French vines. Paul took the Bordeaux comparison indoors during lunch, where we had the opportunity to see how high the quality could go.

We were presented three barrel samples from the prodigious 2010 vintage. All were bound for the Equuieus bottling, a top-flight cuvee that is only produced in strong vintages. The three samples showed varying levels of new oak. The sample with neutral oak was easily the most complex, allowing pure fruit to show muscle and grace. I figured it to be an easy winner, the main component for a coming blend that could be dazzling.

Then Paul took a show of hands. Fewer than 20 percent favored the this sample. And if writers prefer the sweet, oaky flavors in the other samples, is there any doubt that customers would, too?

Paul spoke about the assumptions and bias that his region must face. He is clearly proud of the Equuieus bottlings, and understandably so. But these wines are, to me, impeded by the oak and lack the elegance present in great wines. And here was a touch of irony: Paul speaks about terroir, but he masks some of the nuance of his soil with that expensive wood.

Here's the good news: Chateau des Charmes is setting the pace for big Canadian wines, and Paul's staff has the luxury of winemaking options. My guess is that eventually they'll dial down the heavy oak and put their impressively structured wines out front. But anyone who doubts that red wine can thrive in Canada should stop at this estate.

Now, in New York state, the transition from a region that succeeds with Bordeaux varieties to a region that champions cooler climate varieties is only about a five-hour drive. From the North Fork to the Finger Lakes, the New York wine landscape changes with the soils, the slopes, and the slightly cooler climate. Niagara-on-the-Lake is very much flat, evoking Long Island. But in Canada, you don't need five hours to reach the next wine region. It's a half-hour's drive west, to the Beamsville Bench. The terrain begins to rise and fall, and out here, closer to the lake, the spring starts more sluggishly. But when it does, it's riesling and pinot country.

Next stop: Beamsville Bench

We had tasted a few rieslings from Niagara-on-the-Lake that I'd like to forget about, and thankfully the wines of Beamsville Bench helped me do just that. I was simply enthralled with the rieslings from 30 Bench Winery, a smaller producer that focuses heavily on riesling and cabernet franc.

We visited a larger producer that also focuses strongly on riesling and cabernet franc, with results no less captivating. Vineland Estates is another fairytale setting. We arrived to find a wedding on the property.

But it's not all cartoons and fireworks here. Winemaker Brian Schmidt (pictured right addressing our group) could talk about his vineyards all day long, and he's so compelling that you might find yourself listening for as long as he wants to pontificate.

Interestingly, Brian says that he and the vineyard staff tried to cut down on the cropload several years ago. "We heard so much talk about low yields and higher quality, so we wanted to see what would happen if we made some changes," he explained. "But take an experienced vineyard, and you'll find that it knows what it wants. IT knows what it needs. We thought we had dropped fruit and made the changes to achieve around two tons to the acre, and wouldn't you know it? It produced almost exactly the same tonnage that it was producing the previous year."

So instead of trying to manipulate his vines and soil, Schmidt says he lets it decide what it wants to produce. The wines indicate it's the right approach.

This is one of the rare producers that not only lays down a large amount of wine; it allows customers to taste and purchase library wines in the tasting room, every day. We saw wines from the early-to-late 1990s available for only $25 per bottle. That's practically stealing, and it's stealing a piece of history.

  Now, it's only interesting if the wines have longevity. At Vineland Estates, the rieslings certainly do. I found a 1998 riesling to be tired, but a 1989 riesling -- opened by Brian in a spur-of-the-moment, what-the-hell-why-not decision -- was a marvel.

The 2010 lineup, still developing, promises to be special. A richer, balanced bottling will be set aside for five years before the public can taste it. For me, it was the wine of the weekend. And the Vineland Estates 2002 Cabernet Franc was stunningly fresh and vibrant, and saw no oak at all. Brian explained it went through micro-ox, and I was surprised to find it had plenty of verve and complexity.

 The soil exploration was at its most intense at Tawse Winery, a biodynamic estate that produces perhaps the best pinot noir in Niagara.

For all of the heated debate about biodynamics, winemaker Paul Pender (right) brings an utterly refreshing lack of militancy to the discussion. He happily showed off the winery's dynamizer, and spoke of burying cow horns filled with excrement, but it's clear that for Pender, biodynamics is not about religion. It's about a practical approach to cultivating the healthiest vineyards and producing the best possible wines.

While the Tawse pinots are excellent, the chardonnays were attention-getting. Pender's unoaked chardonnay is a precise, crackling version of this grape that is so often punished with wood. In fact, the only misstep in the Tawse portfolio is the Meritage blend, but then, this isn't Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The conversation about soils continued all weekend long. Wine lovers might be surprised at the sophistication on display in this region. With more than 100 wineries, tourists can enjoy a glitzy, glamour wine tour, or they can make appointments and get down in the dirt with some world-class winemakers. Unlike many emerging regions, Niagara is not banking on a single variety. There's too much diversity in soil, landscape and climate. It's like having the Finger Lakes wedged up against Long Island -- why narrow the search when a broad exploration makes sense?

A word about Niagara Chardonnay

The region is clearly excited about its chardonnay. I favor a Chablis-like profile in chardonnay, unoaked and edgy. We didn't taste much unoaked chardonnay during TasteCamp, but I'm told many wineries make both an oaked and unoaked version. My advice: Ask for the unoaked.

 

What We Drank (May 20, 2011)

For this week's WWD, our contributors and editors all picked a wine from TasteCamp 2011 -- and not surprisingly we each focused on something different:

Lenn Thompson: Ravine Vineyard 2007 Reserve Merlot

The first day of TasteCamp 2011 was spent in and tasting wines from Niagara-on-the-Lake, an area with a distinct focus on Bordeaux varieties.

Coming from another Bordeaux-heavy region, it was interesting to note the differences and the similarities.

I found quite a bit of oak in the NOTL merlots, cab francs and cab sauvs, but also a lot of intense, ripe fruit and some heat on the finish on a few. Some were absolute Parker Pleasers, which doesn't necessarily align with my own palate. (I was much more interested in the "Bench" wineries we tasted on Saturday, but more on that soon.)

We tasted my favorite of the lot Friday evening at Ravine Vineyard. The Ravine Vineyard 2007 Reserve Merlot showed plenty of ripeness in the form of sweet red cherry and faint currant and spicy cocoa notes, but far less and better-integrated oak.

More medium-bodied and food-friendly than most of the merlot we tasted, the tannins here are grippy but without rough edges and subtle acidity brings a freshness.

Another interesting point that this wine illustrated for me -- Long Island isn't the only emergent region that is unapologetic about wine pricing. This wine sells for $55 in the tasting room, making it more expensive than all but a handful of Long Island merlots.

Evan Dawson: Tawse 2008 Quarry Road Chardonnay

The biggest disappointment at TasteCamp North for me was the chardonnay. Niagara is pumped about its chardonnay, which seems silly, given that most of it is hidden in oak. The vast majority was buttery, smelled of popcorn, and offered nothing particularly new or interesting.

The exception -- and what an exception it was -- came in the wines at Tawse Winery. Winemaker Paul Pender allowed us to taste several chardonnays side-by-side; he lets the individual vineyards stand alone, which is a good idea given their differences. While I preferred Pender's unoaked chardonnay, I couldn't help but appreciate and enjoy his oaked versions, too. They're taut, textured, expressive and -- here it is! -- integrated.

Pender's chardonnays set a high standard that the rest of the region is not currently matching, it seems.

The challenge is finding Tawse wines in the states. But if you visit, this is a must-see. Quality across the board.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Pinhey.

Julia Burke: Mike Weir 2009 and Peninsula Ridge 2010 Wismer Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc

When I say your wine tastes South African, it's one of the highest compliments I can pay. Not everyone is familiar enough with great South African wine (or with me) to get that, but the representatives of both Mike Weir and Peninsula Ridge seemed to dig the comparison.

We tasted some amazing wines that express many facets of Niagara terroir, and I'll be writing more about them. But WWD is for cool stuff, and the similarity of these two wineries' sauvignon blancs to my favorite SA examples was too cool to ignore. 

Mike Weir is not a winery I had visited before TasteCamp, but the 2009 sauvignon blanc rocked me with a nose of fresh, crisp poblano and jalapeno straight from the garden, flecked with fierce minerality -- a dead ringer for Buitenverwachting Hussey's Vlei, one of the top sauvignon blancs in South Africa (yes, the name's unpronounceable and funny. But the wine will stop you in your tracks). That a wine from Niagara could taste so much like a wine from the Constantia region of SA, which is one of the country's coolest regions and certainly the closest to Niagara in terroir, was amazing to me.

Peninsula Ridge was already on my radar before our Saturday bench wineries tasting, but not for sauvignon blanc. That has changed. Their clean, flinty, gooseberry-tastic 2010 Wismer Vineyard sauv was simply awesome and crazily similar to a Stellenbosch version of the grape. Once again the clean, razor-sharp flavor profile and absence of resin or funk made me feel like I was on a picnic blanket in SA.

Sauvignon blanc wasn't necessarily the variety I was most pumped about in Niagara before TasteCamp, but it's officially on my must-try list now for future visits across the border. We have one grower on the USA side finding success with the grape and it will be interesting to see how sauv develops here. For now, it's great to know that I can get this level of sauvignon blanc from Niagara Peninsula producers.

 

Bryan Calandrelli:Peninsula Ridge 2009 McNally Vineyards Pinot Noir

What's amazing about an event like Tastecamp is that we all bring our collective preconceived ideas into the weekend, which ultimately sets us up for surprise or disappointment.

My expectations of Niagara pinot noir have been established by producers like Le Clos Jordanne, Tawse, Coyotes Run, Laily and a few others so when I sampled the first attempt from Peninsula Ridge I was excited enough to start rounding up people to taste it before they left.

I'd previously associated Peninsula Ridge with spectacular single vineyard Sauvignon Blancs, tasty Viognier and a handful of solid reds, but this McNally Vineyard Proprietors Reserve Pinot Noir 2009 was news to me and it sets the bar even higher for the winery.

Aromas of crushed red fruits and spice revealed the ready to drink attitude that I didn't pick up in many of the other 2009 pinot noirs I tasted over the weekend.  It still showed a bit of that Niagara pinot funk that I dig but it wasn't front and center as this was clearly fruit driven. A fleshy palate with soft tannins and a graceful balance of acid really made this one stand out.

Not to mention it's listed at $25 at the winery. Next time I cross the border I'm heading straight to this winery and making my way back east with some Niagara pinot noir.

Photo Credit to Zoltan Szabo.

TasteCamp North 2011: A Photo Diary

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor

With TasteCamp North 2011 attendees, including most of the NYCR team,  back home and pondering the stories that we'd all like to write -- and they are numerous -- I wanted to share some of the pictures I took over the course of the weekend.

We tasted some outstanding local wines, enjoyed meals prepared by farm-to-table chefs and met some incredibly passionate and talented people in the wine industries on both sides of the border. Over the next few weeks, you can expect some great stories from the event right here on the site.

In the meantime, here's a bit of a photo diary of TasteCamp 2011.

Vineyard at Chateau des Charmes -- in the St. David's Bench appellation.

 

The group listening to Paul Pender, winemaker at Tawse Winery. Tawse is one of the region's organic and biodynamic producers.

 

The vineyard at Tawse Winery has the most densely grown clover cover crop I've ever seen under the vines -- by design.

 

Dinner the first night was at Ravine Vineyard -- and included some delicious wood oven-roasted suckling pig (and crispy pig skin that I've been dreaming about ever since.)

 

Vineland Estates winemaker Brian Schmidt likes to hold back his riesling to show how it ages. And, he was generous enough to open up a bottle of 1989 Semi-Dry for us -- and it was deliciously alive.

 

It was great to hear some history of the St. Urban vineyard at Vineland Estates.

 

The now-famous BYO dinner at TasteCamp was held at Treadwells -- a terrific farm-to-table restaurant. Rumor has it that more than 70 bottles of wine were opened from all corners of the globe.

 

On our final day of TasteCamp, we crossed back into the United States. This is a picture of Arrowhead Spring Vineyards.

A handful of Niagara USA wineries poured for the group before brunch at Carmelo's in Lewiston, NY. Here, the well-hatted Jonathan Oakes from Leonard Oakes Estate Winery speaks with our Finger Lakes editor, Evan Dawson.

 

 

TasteCamp North Preview: Our Hosts in Niagara USA

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor

TasteCamp North 2011 is just around the corner, so I thought it would make sense to introduce some of the wineries and people we'll be meeting during the U.S. portion of the programming.

Niagara USA might not have the international cast of winemakers that you’d find in a more developed region -- yet -- but it boasts a diverse group of pioneers who are collectively proving every day that quality wines can be made on the escarpment north to Lake Ontario. 

Duncan Ross of Arrowhead Spring Vineyards: 

Duncan Ross’s winemaking obsession inspired him to build a picturesque wine farm on the slopes of the Niagara Escarpment with his wife, Robin, who manages their seven-acre vineyard. This scenic sloping farm hosts the only significant plantings of syrah and malbec in the region.

Duncan is certainly one of the most outspoken personalities in the region when it comes to his belief that Niagara is one of the best places to grow vinifera in the country. He’s been vocal in the debates that are helping to shape the New York wine industry and he’s a frequent commenter on the New York Cork Report. He is also a passionate believer in the red blend, which can be tasted in his winery’s flagship red Meritage.

Duncan also likes his chardonnay fermented in barrels, which coincidentally may be the first wine that 2011 wine attendees sample after the Grand Tasting on Sunday.

In addition to his barrel-fermented estate grown chardonnay and syrah, chances are guests will get to taste his Bordeaux varieties from the barrel. Robin will also discuss vineyard practices and the farm’s ultimate goal of sustainability.

Kurt Guba of Freedom Run Winery: 

Kurt Guba has one of the most recognizable faces of any member of the Niagara Escarpment wine industry, and that’s not just because he’s in my “Stump the Goob” video series. A stage actor by trade, he’s not shy when discussing the wines he helps craft at Freedom Run.

As a certified sommelier, Kurt’s driving passion is education. When he’s not climbing on barrels or making sure every tasting room guest gets the most out of their experience, he teaches students at Niagara County Community College’s Culinary Program which has a partnership with Freedom Run to serve as a teaching winery.

Kurt will be waxing on his favorite subject as he guides attendees through an extensive tasting of the winery’s three vineyard blocks of pinot noir. In addition to the heartbreak grape, guests will get to taste barrel samples of cabernet franc, merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Attendees will also be the first to sample Freedom Run’s apassimento-style wines currently in barrel.

Jonathan Oakes of Leonard Oakes Estate Winery: 

Jonathan Oakes is one of the busiest winemakers in the region.

As a recent graduate of Niagara Teaching College’s Viticulture and Oenology program, he now applies his cool-climate winemaking skills at both Schulze Vineyards and Leonard Oakes Estate Winery, a family winery that’s a part of LynOaken Farms, a large apple producer in the region.

Even though Jonathan is a relatively young winemaker, he’s now responsible for the huge volume of wine made between the two wineries. From vinifera to hybrid and native grapes, still to sparkling, and late harvest to icewine, he shows his versatility while he consistently produces quality wine across a wide spectrum of styles.

Jonathan will be pouring some 2010 reds, whites, sparkling wines, and icewines that have yet to be bottled from both wineries. His presentation will highlight the terroir of the areas north of the escarpment as well as on the similarities and differences between Niagara USA and Ontario growing regions.

TasteCamp 2011: Going International this May 13-15

The Niagara River divides two wine regions as an international boundary between the USA and Canada.

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor

As you’ve probably heard by now, TasteCamp is going where it’s never gone before: international. With an agenda that reads like a wine industry A-list, organizers Rick Van Sickle, Remy Charest, Suresh Doss and I have put together an all-star lineup of Niagara, Ontario and Niagara, USA wineries and restaurants that are eager to open their doors to this year’s attendees.

TasteCamp kicks off on Friday, May 13 with a Grand Tasting at one of the region’s oldest wineries, Chateau des Charmes. The afternoon will be spent at Hillebrand Estate Winery with winemaker Craig McDonald, followed by a tasting of Stratus, Lailey and Thirty Bench wines.

Icewine will be the main focus later in the day as Inniskillin, Jackson Triggs and Le Clos Jordanne guide us through tastings at the official hotel of TasteCamp North, the White Oaks Resort and Spa.

The first night wraps up with a dinner at Ravine Estate Vineyards, hosted by two of the most interesting and knowledgeable people in the Canadian wine industry, Ann Sperling, winemaker at Southbrook and Sperling Vineyards, and wine consultant and industry veteran, Peter Gamble. The focus will be on Bordeaux varieties, organics and biodynamics in the Niagara region. I can’t stress to attendees what an opportunity it is to have this husband-and-wife team available for our questions at this venue.

Saturday begins with a vineyard walk, tour and tasting at Tawse Estate Winery. Tawse makes a serious lineup of vineyard-driven biodynamic wines, and winemaker Paul Pender will be on hand to demonstrate the differences between their cuvees. The morning doesn’t end until we head over to Vineland Estate Winery for a tour of St. Urban vineyard, one of the oldest in the region. Lunch will follow with a grand tasting of wines from the Bench area.

Saturday afternoon also includes a tour and vineyard walk of Flat Rock Cellars, one of the most progressive in the region. Inside the winery’s picturesque tasting room, Ed Madronich, president of the winery and of the Wine Council of Ontario, will talk Niagara wine with attendees. The day is capped off with a sure-to-be-epic BYOB dinner at the region’s premier farm-to-table restaurant, Treadwell’s, located in Port Dalhousie.

Sunday May 15 begins with a trip back across the border for brunch and a grand tasting of Niagara USA wineries at the region’s most influential farm-to-table restaurant, Carmelo’s, located in historic Lewiston, NY. Area wineries will be showcasing their best as we explore the early success and overall potential of the United States side of the region. The afternoon will be spent on the bench of the escarpment at Arrowhead Spring Vineyards and Freedom Run Winery, with barrel samples and production and vineyard tours.

Niagara is without a doubt one of the most exciting and cutting-edge wine growing regions in the world. Ontario, which is now hitting its stride with a diverse collection of world-class wines, is virtually unknown to most American wine drinkers.

Ice wine may be the only Niagara wine in your store but there are exciting Bordeaux blends, cabernet francs, pinot noirs, sauvignon blancs, chardonnays, rieslings and much more in these tasting rooms. The same geography that created Niagara Falls lays the foundation for a diverse growing region influenced by the Niagara Escarpment itself, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. It also created a wide range of limestone rich soils, elevations, aspects and microclimates. 

The unique geography doesn’t end at the border. The Niagara, New York area benefits from the same influences. Even though the Ontario industry is some 20 years older, there’s already a common thread in the best wines from this side of the river.

TasteCamp North will bring all of this together in an action packed weekend of events thanks to this year’s organizers and the welcoming spirit of the wineries and restaurants. We’d like to let everyone in on the secret that is the Niagara region, from the wines, to the cuisine, to the geography and the people.

If you’re interested in attending, the official agenda is posted here and the link to the TasteCamp North website can be found here.

TasteCamp 2011: We're Going to Niagara Wine Country -- Both Sides of the Border

 
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor

It is with great excitement that we announce that TasteCamp EAST is becoming TasteCamp NORTH in 2011.

We're heading to Niagara wine country, both the Canadian and U.S. sides, May 13-15, 2011.

We are still finalizing many of the details, but here's what we know so far, from the press release we issued a few minutes ago:

TasteCamp 2011 will be an exploration of Canada's most established and prominent wine region, and one of America’s newest and most dynamic, including everything from the famous wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake to the terroir-driven wines on the Niagara Escarpment, as well as organic/biodynamic wineries, vineyard walks, grand tastings and wonderful food including the popular BYOW dinner at Treadwell Farm to Table Cuisine, one of Niagara's best local-produce restaurants. Attendees will stay at White Oaks Conference Resort and Spa.

What differentiates TasteCamp from other events and conferences geared toward wine writers and bloggers is that it’s largely self-funded. Attendees pay their own way and participate in TasteCamp out of a genuine interest to learn more about the region, its wine, its terroir and its people.

“The concept for TasteCamp from the start was to take writers who know little or nothing about a region and completely immerse them in it for three days. They taste a lot of wines, visit estates and meet dozens of winemakers. It’s not about just showing them the ‘best’. It’s about showing them the complete picture,” said event creator Lenn Thompson, who also founded the New York Cork Report.

Quebec-based TasteCamp organizer and wine blogger at The Wine Case, Remy Charest said, “From the moment I attended the first TasteCamp in Long Island wine country in New York in 2009, I was hoping that we could get the event to Canada. Even though I'm from Quebec, it was obvious to me that Niagara should be the first Canadian stop for TasteCamp."

Fellow organizer Rick Van Sickle of Wines In Niagara attended last year’s TasteCamp in the Finger Lakes wine region and added, "I was shocked as a participant at TasteCampEast in the Finger Lakes last May. The energy of the independent bloggers and writers, the Tweets, media, blogs and buzz during, after and continuing to this day was something I had never seen before. An honest assessment of entire region that was simply a coming a age for the Finger Lakes. Imagine what we can do in Niagara."

TasteCamp is an opportunity for the host regions to show off all that they have to offer — to a group of keenly interested writers. Morgen McLaughlin, President of the Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Association, one of last year’s sponsors, said “TasteCamp 2010 was a tremendous success for the Finger Lakes. Having bloggers and journalists visit the region, many of them for the first time, generated significant media coverage and excitement among the wineries. We hope that TasteCamp makes a quick return to the Finger Lakes in the coming years.”

Suresh Doss, publisher of Spotlight Toronto and co-organizer for TasteCamp 2011 event concurred, saying “This is a unique opportunity to show Niagara’s terroir and the potential of farming in this region.”

Want to particpate in TasteCamp 2011?

To participate as an attendee, please email Lenn Thompson (lenn@tastecampnorth.com)

To participate as a sponsor, please email Suresh Doss or Rick VanSickle (info@tastecampnorth.com)

In the meantime, visit tastecampnorth.tumblr.com to stay up to date with the goings on.