Good Reviews

Friday, Aug 13th, 2010

 

When the back aches from successive days of thinning Pinot Gris that is trellised annoyingly too low (remind me to raise that damn bottom wire next year) its especially nice to retire to the winery for a pleasant afternoon tasting with someone who has recently “discovered” our wines.  This has happened quite a bit lately, which signals to me that our wines are finding their way to the right people despite our lack of promotion.

My mother has shouldered the load for the majority for these pop-in tastings which she quite enjoys.  Despite her claims of nervousness, I think she has really found her niche.  She is passionate about our vineyards and loves to talk wine, especially Pinot!

We both feel very lucky when we receive firsthand positive feedback from our guests.  It’s by far the most rewarding part of what we do.  I’m still humbled and tremendously grateful every time people decide to purchase our wines.

Good reviews from a wine writer are nice too.  Read what Michael Pinkus of Ontario Wine Review recently wrote about our 2007 reds here.

Vineyard Update

Wednesday, Jun 23rd, 2010

It dawned on me today, as I  hurriedly thinned Pinot Gris in the midst of an earthquake, that I hadn’t given a thorough vineyard update in a while.  So here goes…

Mother nature is two weeks ahead.  I’m three weeks behind.  This good news / bad news situation is the familiar refrain I’ve heard in talking to many grape growers throughout the peninsula.  We’ve seen a boon of growth in all vines over the last couple of weeks, leaving us scrambling to keep up with the expedited hand labour chores.  Adequate rainfall, heat, and blistering sun are making my vines very happy, but leaving me a little worried.  Disease pressure has been low to this point (kiss of death) but the current humid conditions will challenge even the best of viticultural practices.

The accelerated growth creates the need to shoot-thin and shoot-position all vines before we are able to start hedging.  As always, vine vigour was particularly problematic in our Shiraz blocks, so I targeted them first.  After two weeks of what felt like hacking through a rainforest with a dull machete, I was happy to kiss the Shiraz good-bye and move on to the more manageable Cabernet  Sauvignon.  We are well through bloom in all varieties, and very close to berry touch stage in the Pinot Gris.  Air flow through the canopy is critical at this stage, as is fruit exposure for optimum fungicide penetration.

I’m happy to report that the young Pinot Noir vines we planted last season are doing very well, with less than 5% vine failure.  In the spirit of Father’s Day, I give my dad all the credit for these thriving vines.  It was he who ploughed the field ad nauseam to his own exacting specifications, he who sat vigil through many winter and spring evenings waiting to fire up the windmill, and he who artfully maneuvered the grape-hoe around each baby vine with the deft touch of a surgeon.  Judging by a couple of the catastrophic first year fields I’ve witnessed while out consulting this year (upwards of 60% vine death), I really believe that the use of the windmill combined with proper site selection and field preparation helped save our bacon.

PS:  I send a special thank-you and congratulations to Insite Design for designing an Ontario Wine Awards silver medal winning wine label that still makes me proud every time I slap one on a bottle!

Zoltan Szabo Reviews

Friday, Jan 15th, 2010

 

Sommelier Zoltan Szabo is a jack of all trades on the Toronto wine scene.  A wine consultant, writer and educator, his vast enological knowledge has been proven time and again through consistently high finishes at International Sommelier competitions.  His dashing personality and skill with the pen make him a personal favourite of mine.  For that reason, I was slightly starstruck to receive an email from Zoltan wishing to try our wines. Casting jitters aside, I had him try our current Five Rows portfolio.  Here are his thoughts:

“The wines are clean, varietally really accurate, honestly-made, not ambitious nor over-blown stylistically speaking, all natural with unmistakable signs of the love of land and winemaking passion.”

2008 Pinot Gris Five Rows, Lowrey Vineyards, St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula VQA

Tastefully done package, some label descriptors are hand-written, also indicating the exact count of the bottle you are tasting, in this case the 112th. The colour has a tiny tint of cooper, characteristic of the grape. Aromas of white peach and pear, white blossoms and spice. Medium bodied with slight oily texture, sweet white summer fruit and orange toffee-nutty flavours, and a pretty long star anise, mineral-accented finish. 57 cases produced. $25.

4 stars out of 5.

2008 Sauvignon Blanc Five Rows, Lowrey Vineyards, St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula VQA

Lime, kiwi, lemon tree blossom bouquet. Light and fresh over the palate with savoury fruit and mineral flavors and the finish brings along very pleasant honeydew melon nuances. A delicate Sauv Blanc here, perfect with pure, Willapa Bay Kumamoto oysters. 64 cases produced.

4 stars out of 5.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Five Rows, Lowrey Vineyards, St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula VQA

Classic, old world-style Cab Sauv with aromas and flavours of blueberries, plums, currants, white pepper, tobacco and underlying scorched earth and gamey notes that I seem to find in many of St. David’s Bench reds. Medium plus bodied and dry with soft, melted-in tannins and with neat accents of boysenberries, tar-bitter chocolate and herbaceous finish. Drinking very well right now. 45 cases produced.

4 + stars out of 5.

You can read Zoltan’s blog and find more of his reviews at zoltanszabo.org.

Vinification Notes

Thursday, Oct 29th, 2009

 

When you get to a point where the line between work and life is so blurry that the majority of your day seems like filler between fixes of caffeine, and what little sleep you do get is haunted by images of Multi-coloured Asian Lady Beetles and under-ripe Cabernet Franc…it’s best to step back, focus, and re-consider exactly why you do what you do.

Thankfully, success breeds perseverance.  The following are two reasons why I still choose life as a winemaker:

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

A severe winter led to an average of 50% bud damage in the Lowrey Vineyard.  This Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from vines that were shouldering a much lighter load than they were used to, hence a greater opportunity for ripening was in the cards.  Thankfully, the growing season weather co-operated and the resultant fruit was as good as has ever been produced on our farm.  The St. David’s Bench microclimate really strutted its stuff, with even the later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon reaching optimal sugar and TA levels.  Like our first “Five Rows” vintage in 2004, we took equal portions of Young and Old Cab Blocks to maximize clonal complexity.  Following traditional small batch punch downs, the wine was aged in a 50-50 blend of American and French Oak with an average age of 1.7 years per barrel.  A comparative barrel tasting took place on July 5, 2007 and as with previous years, the highest rated wines were housed in two-year old wood (a 2003 Barrel Associates & 2003 Berthomieu).  These two superior bottles were bottled on July 18, 2008.  This wine showcases the potential of minimally-cropped Cabernet Sauvignon from warm vintages in the Lowrey Vineyard.  Aromatic highlights include wild blueberry, ripe cherry and vanilla.  Very ripe and jammy on the palate with soft, mature tannins and excellent length.  Although hard to resist its youthful charm, this Cab is only entering its prime.

Barrels: 2       Cases: 45        Alcohol: 13.4%         Price: $50/Bottle

2008 Pinot Gris

In an effort to instill confidence, I tell my wines that it is never fair to compare themselves to their predecessors.   For that reason we won’t speak further of the effusive praise garnered by the 2007 Five Rows Pinot Gris.  Some shoes are just too big to fill.

Harvested on September 19, 2008, this Pinot Gris began its life fermenting slowly in stainless steel and older French Oak.  The oak component was added in an effort to further enhance mouthfeel and increase aromatic complexity.  A nice cool ferment, dotted with periodic lees stirring, was complete by mid-October.  The finished wine was blended, then fined with bentonite for protein stability.

Early tasting sessions showed strong notes of McIntosh apple and anise, while one panelist was sure he could smell “catbox” (depending, of course, on the type of litter you prefer).  The French Oak and lees stirring helped create rounder texture and seemed to lend tropical nuances such as star fruit.  The wine was left with just enough residual sugar to balance the acidity.  Lemon-lime citrus flavours are predominant.  Bottled September 14th, 2009.

Cases: 57             Alcohol: 13.3%       Price: $25/Bottle

Both wines are now available for purchase!

A New Place to Taste

Thursday, Jul 30th, 2009

 

We are thrilled to announce that two of our wines (2004 Cabernet Sauvignon & 2007 Sauvignon Blanc) are now available at The Stone Road Grille in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  “Rest” is a great supporter of local wines and consistently spoils its patrons with the finest of culinary delights to pair with them.  In fact, some of my most memorable dining experiences were enjoyed at the Grille.

On a bittersweet note, we are now sold out of our 2007 Pinot Gris.  A winemaker knows (hopes!)  this day will come, but it always feels a little sad to know that this lot is gone for good.  A business like ours doesn’t allow you to get sentimental though,  as the next vintage is never too far away.

www.stoneroadgrille.com

David Lawrason Review

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

 

We are very humbled to have David Lawrason review our wines.  He is a very prominent Canadian wine writer whose opinions are held in the highest regard within our industry.  Here is what David had to say about our wines:

Five Rows Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
89 points
Only two barrels were produced of this inaugural wine – 45 cases, which sold
out quickly. Lowrey Vineyards has been farmed for five generations, but this
is the first wine; and a dandy.  It is a light cabernet sauvignon but very
tasty and savoury with lifted, well integrated aromas of red currant,
raspberry, tea, mocha and spice. It’s very supple, smooth and juicy on the
palate with very soft tannin and excellent length.

Five Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2007
91 points
Only 47 cases were produced from a vineyard but this is very much worth
mentioning for the quality that has been rendered by grower Wes Lowrey’s
first vintage. These grapes have also supplied Creekside’s successful
sauvignons. Fermented in old French oak this  has an almost impeccably
smooth, creamy yet not the least fat texture. The nose is ripe, fresh, light
spicy and semi-tropical (I thought immediately of Cloudy Bay) with
lemon-lime, green melon and vaguely minty notes. Very focused on the finish
with excellent length. Very classy wine.

Five Rows Pinot Gris 2007
88 points
From fully ripened grapes this a mellow, mild, richly textured pinot gris
with fruit aromas in the realm of green fig, green banana and ripe pear.
It’s full bodied, very smooth and satiny on the palate with a warm, slightly
sweet ambiance. Very good length.

www.davidlawrason.com

Five Rows Launch

Monday, Dec 08th, 2008

With great excitement we are pleased to announce that our long journey to a finished product is finally nearing completion.  Our first wines have passed VQA sensory and lab evaluations, and the labels have gone to press.  We are now accepting orders for our Five Rows 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007 Pinot Gris and 2007 Sauvignon Blanc.  These wines will all be available in special 6-bottle case allotments, with red wines retailing for $300/case and whites $150/case.  We hope to have a short run of labels in hand soon, however getting labeled wines to customers pre-Christmas might prove to be a little challenging.  I assure we will do our best to get orders out as expediently as possible, even if it means fashioning some temporary labels with markers and duct tape.  Please call us at 905-262-5113 or email wes@fiverows.com with any orders or queries.

2007 Five Rows Sauvignon Blanc

Like other varietals in the Lowrey Vineyard, my parents planted Sauvignon Blanc Clone 297 in separate years and in varying soil profiles to help add complexity to Creekside Estate Winery’s portfolio of wines.  Clone 297 has proven to be anything but “farmer-friendly” with a weird combination of extremely low winter hardiness and eye-popping vine vigour.   However, when the winter co-operates and the vines are tended aggressively – great wines can be achieved.  2007 was that Vintage.  Older French Oak barrels (2003 & 2005 Berthomieu) were used to ferment this Sauvignon Blanc.  Following treatment with a pectinase enzyme, one barrel was fermented wild and the other with BA11.   The yeast mix seemed to pull different aromatics and flavours from each batch with the wild being more tropical, and the BA11 bringing more citrus notes.  47 cases were bottled Sept 25, 2008.  This Sauvignon Blanc was bottled untraditionally in stretch hock glass because…well…that’s what we had!

2007 Five Rows Pinot Gris

The warm, dry Vintage of 2007 taught me an important lesson in Pinot Gris ripening.  In early September, my wife and I decided to take a pre-harvest “recharging” trip to New York to see Broken Social Scene play at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn.  When we left, the Pinot Gris looked and tasted great with tiny berries, intense flavours and bountiful acidity.  Upon returning three days later on Sept 10th, I nonchalantly grabbed a berry sample of the Gris, and to my astonishment it was showing a sugar level of 24.4 Degrees Brix and a Titratable Acidity (TA) of 6.5 g/L!   The TA was taking a nosedive, and if we had decided to stay any longer in NYC I might have missed these perfect winemaking parameters!  I hesitantly concede that there won’t be any more early September vacations for me.  The quick decision was made to pick our roughly one tonne of Pinot Gris later that afternoon.  The ferment was established in a stainless steel tank with a yeast strain called R2 that is renowned for long, cold ferments and great varietal character development.  Over the next four weeks, the wine slowly chugged away while I occasionally stirred the lees to add some mouthfeel and complexity.  I decided to stop the ferment at a specific gravity of 0.998 to leave the wine with a touch of residual sugar.  38 cases were bottled Sept 25, 2008.