July 20th, 2008
Canadian winemakers are in hot pursuit of terroir in a cool climate. The Niagara Peninsula is poised to displace Long Island as having the most elegant wineries and upscale tasting rooms in the East, but the wines show that the industry is not just a group of millionaires throwing money at vines and barrels. Though 400 miles west of Long Island’s East End, the Niagara Peninsula is philosophically at least as close to Europe as the North Fork, arguably closer. Some of the leading winemakers in the region are French, and combined with some pioneers of German origin and the Toronto market, this makes the region and its wines cosmopolitan and also Euro-centric in their viticultural and winemaking practices.
The first winery I visited was Cave Spring Winery, long a leader in quality for the region. Highlights were:
· Cave Spring Winery riesling “dolomite” 2006 VQA Niagara Peninsula—made from grapes planted on various Escarpment vineyards with dolomite limestone, this has a nose with lots of lime peel and mineral, similar to Eden/Clare Valley style in Australia. On the palate, very Austrian: elegant with tightly wound minerality and lingering aftertaste.
· Cave Spring Winery riesling Estate 2007 VQA Beamsville Bench, estate bottled—Nose has lovely floral/peach Middle Mosel style aromas. Palate is nicely off-dry, firm acidity with very long finish.
· Cave Spring Winery riesling 2006 “Indian Summer” select late harvest—13% alcohol, 9% R.S. Lovely, delicate botrytis/apricot nose, tightly knit on the palate, fine lingering acidity. Nice alternative to sweeter, lower alcohol icewine.
· Cave Spring Winery sauvignon blanc 2006 VQA Niagara Peninsula—Amazing Pouilly Fumé-like nose seldom seen in the New World; smoke, gunpowder and flint, with herbal nuances. Very dry and flinty with firm acidity and citrus notes on the palate, a perfect food wine.
· Cave Spring Winery chenin blanc 2006 VQA Beamsville Bench—Again, an amazing resemblance to the Loire Valley prototype with pale golden color, and bruised apple nose. Sweet/sour on the palate with delicate hints of white peach and apricot, fine acidity. Recommended by the chef at the Restaurant on the Twenty to match with sea scallops and lentils with leeks and bacon—a perfect match!
“Riesling Experience” at Brock U.: Thinking Globally, Tasting Locally
About 25% of the region is planted to riesling (clones 239, 49 and 21-B), and as with the neighboring Finger Lakes region of New York, it is consistently high quality in good or poor vintages. Dry table wines demonstrate green apple, white flowers, cut hay and mineral aromas and flavors, with firm acidity. In 2005, A visiting lecturer from New Zealand challenged the region’s winemakers to find their own strong suit variety around which they could build an international reputation, such as great success story of New Zealand sauvignon blanc. After much discussion, industry leaders decided to put on a “Riesling Experience” with visiting speakers, a lunch built around Ontario riesling, and a general tasting.
The event took place Thursday, July 17th at Brock University in St. Catharines, ON, and was sold out at 160 attendees. According to organizers Linda Bramble of Brock and Angelo Pavan of Cave Spring Cellars, the event was an attempt to showcase what many in the local industry believe is the strong suit variety for the region, and explore the stylistic spectrum of rieslings made in Niagara while learning from those of other regions.
Speakers included researchers and winemakers, most notably Olivier Humbrecht MW of Domaine St. Humbrecht in Alsace. Humbrecht caused a stir when he declared that “green harvesting is the worst thing you can do to your vineyard”, because it encourages even more fruit the following year. “It’s fascinating to hear what he says,” declared J.L. Groux, winemaker at Stratus Vineyards. “This won’t work for our young vineyards (with their high vigor), but it’s fascinating to consider what they could be like in 50 years.” Humbrecht’s wines were as iconoclastic as he; a tasting of four village-designated rieslings from the 2005 vintage revealed wines of high alcohol (over 13%) along with considerable residual sugar in some cases. I don’t think all Alsatian rieslings have to be dry, but the chemistry seemed out of balance since the delicate fruit esters and fine acidity seemed overwhelmed.
Sessions were followed by a dazzling four-course lunch paired with expertly-selected rieslings ranging from sparkling to a 1991 reserve to icewine. At each course, Executive Chef Jason Parsons of Peller Estates described the dish, and the winemaker described the wine. Not only were the wines outstanding, but the range of styles was impressive, as was the ability of Niagara rieslings to age gracefully. A general tasting of Niagara rieslings followed to enthusiastic response. The warm 2007 vintage produced fragrant, forward and full-bodied rieslings, while the cool 2006 vintage produced taut, tightly wound rieslings with minerality. Rieslings served at the lunch included:
· Konzelmann 2006 sparkling riesling
· 1991 Henry of Pelham Estate Winery Proprietor’s Reserve riesling
· 2006 riesling reserve 2006, Cattail Creek Family Estate Winery
· Semi-dry 2003 CSV Riesling, Cave Spring Cellars
· 2006 riesling icewine, Peller Estates
The Niagara Peninsula has two main divisions; the flat Lakeshore and Lakeshore Plain areas, with heavy clay soils, and the bench of the Niagara Escarpment, with thin limestone and sandstone soils with some mixed clay. Most acreage is planted in the Lake region, but the fruit from bench vineyards is in high demand; lower vigor and poorer soils lead to a real expression of terroir in the resulting wines, many believe. The two major divisions of the region have been further sub-divided into ten distinct sub-appellations.
The search for terroir in Niagara rieslings can get very specific. At the general tasting, there were wines labeled for viticultural practices (Creekside’s “close plant”), sub-vineyard selections (Vineland Estate’s “elevation”) and soil types (Cave Spring’s “dolomite”). Riesling’s current trendiness was reflected in the sold-out nature of the event, as well as the diversity of the attendees. Wine writers and sommeliers rubbed elbows with winemakers and researchers, and the atmosphere was upbeat. “I’ve never seen such an enthusiastic and diverse group at one of these meetings,” remarked Groux.
Pinot Envy: Boisset and Vincor’s Le Clos Jordanne
The New World wine landscape is littered with the failed dreams of passionate people struck with pinot envy; they wanted to replicate Burgundy somewhere else and failed, either from an inappropriate climate, overenthusiastic use of oak, or both. To date, a track record for consistent success in the New World for pinot noir is rare; Oregon’s Willamette Valley, New Zealand’s Central Otago and to a lesser extent, Marlborough, and a few locations in the cooler regions of California’s Central Coast and lately, the Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley (Carneros, with it’s 14.5+ routine alcohol levels and rich vanilla oak style, can’t be considered as producing a typical Burgundian style). However there are continual attempts to join the ranks of the successful few. This year, the top-scoring pinot noir in the International Eastern Wine Competition was a 2005 pinot noir from Bowers Harbor on Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula. Impressive results have also come from Chile’s cool coastal regions. But perhaps the most impressive potential for new pinot terroir could be demonstrated by Les Clos Jordanne on the Niagara Peninsula.
Les Clos Jordanne may sound pretentious, but Canada is a bi-lingual country, and the property is a joint venture between the large Burgundian negociant Boisset and Vincor, the Canadian wine conglomerate fronted by major brands Inniskillin and Jackson-Triggs, which itself was acquired by a takeover bid by the ultimate corporate behemoth of the industry, Constellation brands (aka Canandaigua Wine Co.) Boisset wanted to employ the principles of Burgundian winemaking in homage to the concept of terroir in the New World, and have purchased and planted several vineyards in near the town of Jordan on the Niagara Bench (hence the name). The vineyards are a mix of classic Burgundian clones of pinot noir and chardonnay, planted in high density spacing (5,000 vines per hectare or 2,250 vines per acre).
Is This Just Another PR Stunt?
The publicists cunningly sent out press releases some years ago showing artist’s rendering of the winery as designed by Frank Gehry, (who also designed the stunning Marques de Riscal winery in Rioja), with an undulating stainless steel roof seeming floating above the winery in a sea of orderly vines. What the publicists failed to mention, after an appropriate buzz had been created, was that there was no actual winery, nor is there any to this day (I wasted some time scouring the countryside around Jordan looking for the memorable design). The actual “winery” is a warehouse in a former greenhouse, and since they don’t sell retail due to complicated local regulations they can’t by law have a sign on the building indicating the name of the “winery.”
Is this all just a cynical, calculated scheme to play hard to get and drive up demand for what is unattainable? I was wondering this, as my car idled outside the unmarked door around 5:00 PM; frustrated, I drove off to a place that wasn’t hiding its identity. My suspicious rose, when a friendly restaurant worker at Restaurant on the Twenty (as fine a winery restaurant as there is on the continent) told me that when the first shipment of Clos Jordanne’s wines were sent to the provincial monopoly retail store, the LCBO, hype had reached such feverish proportions that no samples were poured; a clipboard was passed down the line of people who had stood patiently since before the store opened, and the store’s entire allocation was spoken for before the doors opened. It reminds me that viticulturist Rich Thomas declares that price is driven by the perception of scarcity.
Accordingly, I was pretty skeptical when I finally reached the well-concealed premises for an appointment after attending conferences in the area. However, I have an open mind and immediately was impressed by the sight of a sorting table in the foreground, and a line of many upright oak red fermenting tanks in the background. These tanks are almost 10,000 liter capacity and hold nine metric tons, but there were 21 of these tanks; if you think small oak barrels are expensive, imagine the price of one of these.
Candis Walsch, the firm’s hospitality administrator, gave me a frank and learned understanding of Les Clos Jordanne and their philosophy and methods. She frankly explained that the winery awaits construction due to corporate considerations over the cost. And, when you think about it, who can blame their hesitation on building an expensive winery, when they can pass around a clipboard and sell out the allocation without one?
Burgundian Viticulture and Winemaking in the New World
The Burgundian approach to viticulture was seen in site and clone selection, planting density, and a focus on the site rather than variety or clone in the product line. Cultivation is certified organic (apparently they can avoid fungal diseases through spraying copper sulfate following rains), and various biodynamic practices are being investigated, though they haven’t gone the full cow horn route yet. Yields are kept to less than 2 tons/acre, or below 35 hl/ha, which is Grand Cru Burgundian level. They pay their crews to green harvest and discard about half the potential crop while the vines are still young, which is quite a financial sacrifice both ways.
The wines are not just separated by vineyard, but the vineyards are divided east and west, with three the four vineyards (Claystone, Talon Ridge, and Les Clos Jordanne) having the superior fruit from the west side, while one vineyard (La Petite) has the superior fruit on the east side (Candis says they think this is due to better drainage on the superior tasting side). The largest vineyard, Talon Ridge, even has a special selection made just from a block planted on gentle rise in the middle. The vineyards feature different soil types, which management believes manifest different palate elements; La Petite is sandstone, Claystone is heavier dark clay soils, Talon Ridge is stony silt, and Le Clos Jordanne is planted on classic limestone, the typical soil of Burgundy, which is why they chose it as their signature vineyard.
There are three tiers of wines. The Village Reserve will blend the lesser lots from the larger vineyards, for an assemblage in which the varying soil types and sites add complexity in the final blend. The Single Vineyard line features the superior lots of Talon Ridge and Claystone, and a selction of Les Clos Jordanne, along with the entirety of La Petite, as single vineyard lots. The top of the line is the Grand Clos, exclusively from Les Clos Jordanne, selected from the best lots and available only in the best years.
Winemaking starts with a rigorous sorting of grapes; rotten or dried berries or lady beetles, etc. are discarded, while those not fully ripe are separated and processed as bulk wine. Grapes that make the grade are fermented in oak with natural yeasts. Both chardonnay and pinot noir are fermented in 20% new oak, all French, from a variety of coopers and forests. After a five day cold soak the pinot grapes are dumped into 21 large upright oak fermentation vats (a blend of staves from different French forests) for 25-28 days. Whole berries are pressed and skins composted, and the juice is transferred to small oak cooperage for malolactic fermentation and aging; interestingly, both chardonnay and pinot noir are aged for the same length of time (depending on the vintage) from 15-18 months. Thomas Bachelder is the winemaker.
The Proof is in the Tasting
I was impressed with the investment in quality winemaking equipment, the investment in labor-intensive vineyard management, organic/biodynamic production, and separation of vineyard lots based on tasting trials. But as always, it shouldn’t be the hype, but what happens in the glass that determines perception of wine quality, and Candis kindly obliged me with a tasting based on vineyard lots that showcased the subtle nuances of the terroir. These tasting notes (except the last) are barrel samples from the outstanding 2007 vintage.
· “Ille de Talon” – a separately fermented vineyard selection from the rise in the Talon Ridge vineyard. Color: deep and dark ruby. Nose: a little lift of alcohol, then firm cherry notes. On the palate, an explosion of rich spicy cherry, no new oak flavors, fine firm structure, length and concentration.
· “La Petite” – the east side vineyard selection (best) bottled separately. Nose: almost perfumed cherries with anise. Palate: chewy tannins and bright red fruits with lively acidity, concentrated and full but lighter than Ille de Talon. Amazingly clean for a pinot barrel sample.
· Claystone (east side) – to be a blend component in the Village Reserve. Nose: amazingly smoky, rich, masculine, dark and gamey. Palate: smooth, broad, closed but very fine tannins, finish a bit short but mid-palate has good depth of dark fruit.
· Claystone (west side) – the superior vineyard lot. Similar masculine nose, but more diminished. Palate has elegant black fruits, smooth tannins, with more depth of flavor than the east side (both wines are the reverse of each other). Elegant, smooth finish.
· Les Clos Jordanne (east side)—Nose: black plum and anise hints, elegantly poised. Bright, fresh and lively plum, cherry and spice on the palate, with lively, fresh acidity and rose/floral hints throughout.
· «««««Les Clos Jordanne “Grand Clos” (west side)—Color is opaque ruby, which for a pinot barrel sample either means a warm climate or great concentration of fruit. Nose is closed with dark plum and intriguing spice hints. Palate: the dimension of flavor just keeps growing and growing as with great wines, without losing finesse. Floral complexities and spice nuances are finely knit with firm but smooth tannins, and an amazingly long finish with a Grand Cru texture that is rich but finely balanced. Style reminiscent of Vosne Romanée.
By request I’m not publishing specific tasting notes of the Village Reserve Chardonnay, except to note that the concentration of fruit is able to handle the considerable oak (only 20% new), and the wine has the correct acidity, depth and concentration to make a favorable comparison with Meursault in a good year.
Verdict
Tasting notes across the board were impressive enough, but the Grand Clos ’07 wine (even from the barrel) proves that Les Clos Jordanne is the real deal when it comes to replicating the Burgundian model in the New World, and certainly has the most potential (as a bottled wine) for being the most classically Burgundian pinot noir (and I mean quality, not brett) anywhere on the East Coast and quite possibly in North America. The chemistry (firm acidity and moderate alcohol) and style (Burgundian finesse) also shows that for those who revere the classic model, you don’t have to go to the West Coast to find outstanding pinot noir in North America.
Stay Tuned for a review of Stratus Vineyards in the Niagara Lakeshore region next
