2021 Pinot Noir

Tuesday, May 07th, 2024

2021 Pinot Noir

The 2021 growing season, and the red wines that resulted, are a study in contrast and perseverance.  In my vintage notes for the 2021 Pinot Noir there is written but one telltale comment, “One of those years.”

As a varietal Pinot Noir presents inherent contradictions.  In the vineyard, it is a grape that requires intense labour, constant attention and a heavy hand, at times, to properly manage the canopy.  In the winery, conversely, I’ve come to learn that restraint, patience and a gentle approach are critical to successfully translating terroir.

So that is why, given the difficult fall conditions of 2021, I took a different attitude toward crafting my Pinot Noir.  Instead of lamenting the breakdown of clusters and writing off the vintage, I took the long view.  Past vintages (and wiser winemaking colleagues than I) have taught me that the final sprint to cut out all of the rotten clusters and berries is not the end of the game, but actually just the end of the first half.  I’ve been witness to many great late-game comebacks in my life, mostly against my rooting interest, but this could represent a moment of redemption!

So it was with guarded optimism that we harvested our Pinot Noir on September 21st, surely to get them off before the next imminent downpour.  The ripening parameters were to my liking, but the field was soaked and my time was limited to cull out as much rot as possible prior to the handpick.  I conjured up my best Edward Scissorhands, minus the Johnny Depp looks, and set to work.

Once the fruit was picked, sorted and gently destemmed into one tonne bins, they were sealed for a four-day cold soak.  It is normally my hope that the wild fermentations would kick off right after the fourth day, but that is rarely the case.  Thankfully, in this instance the stars seemed to align and when I cracked the bin lids on day four, I was greeted with a nice firm cap of skins and whole berries and the wonderful smells of a burgeoning fermentation.  We were off to the races; the comeback was afoot!

Indigenous yeast fermentations can be a wild ride at times, but those driving the 2021 Pinot bins were models of consistency and aromatic beauty. Must temperatures hovered around 20C and peaked at 32C, and the bins were dry in seven days.

The bins were lightly pressed, then racked into five French oak barrels.  This is where the restraint and patience are put into practice.  Aside from the odd tasting session and biannual racking, there is not much to do over the next two years providing the wines are sound.

The final barrel tasting and blending sessions are the make or break moment when everything is on the line.  So many combinations, so many possibilities, it can send your mind in many different directions.  Some wines, however, present clarity in those moments and that was the case for the 2021 Pinot.  It ended up being “one of those years” when the cooperage variables of barrel age, forest, grain tightness and toast level all line up in sync with the wine.  The result is a wine that stars the terroir, while the oak and the winemaker play the supporting role.

Sometimes you just have to trust that the vineyard can be the hero in the end.

Treadwell Dinners 2019

Thursday, Dec 13th, 2018

It takes special people to inspire the kind of trust that I usually reserve for my own mother when pouring my wines.  James and the staff at Treadwell Cuisine are those kind of people.

Our relationship with the Treadwell family dates back to our initial foray into the wine business some ten years ago.  In fact, it was at a Treadwell supplier dinner in 2008 where we nervously introduced the first Five Rows wines to the public – 12 bottles of 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon in special makeshift labels.  They made us feel so comfortable that we never left, eagerly tagging along from Port Dalhousie to downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake.

They understand that we are grape farmers first and foremost who happen to make a bit of wine, and promote our brand accordingly.  It is the place that has introduced our wines to more people than any other, and I truly consider them to be an extension of the Five Rows tasting room.

With great pleasure we announce the dates of our annual Treadwell Winemaker Dinners.  Please join us on January 26 or March 2nd for some wonderful food pairings that will inevitably make our wines shine their brightest.

As always, I promise to bring Howie and Wilma!

 

 

Vintage 2017: A Series of Fortuitous Events

Wednesday, Dec 20th, 2017

For generations now, all major accomplishments on the Lowrey farm have been accompanied with the wave of a hat and a boisterous cry of, “Wahooooo!!”.  Whether it was planting our first field of Pinot Noir or harvesting our last crop of plums, I fondly recall my Grandfather doing this on numerous occasions.  As the years went on, the ‘Wahoo’ rallying cry crept slowly into everyday life, and could be heard over multiple St. David’s phone exchanges following Joe Carter home runs and Doug Gilmour OT winners.  With pride and nostalgia, I now channel his unabashed joy at the end of a long harvest.

Winemakers know that the real end of vintage cannot be marked until the last of the reds are pressed and racked to barrel.  It is only then that the true celebrating and reflecting begins.  This can be difficult for the grape grower turned winery owner who is more accustomed to throwing a hat in the air as the last cluster of Cabernet Sauvignon is cut from the vine.  We’ll give Howie a pass here, because he worked so hard to keep the hungry birds at bay until the not-so-bitter end.

As the last days of August gloomily came and went, it became apparent that some kind of miracle would be required to ripen the later varietals in 2017.  The collective mood around the industry was grim, to the point where I actually started to make alternative arrangements in case the Syrah and Cab Sauv did not pan out.  None of us knew it at the time, but the late season heat wave that we had all but written off was slowly making its way across the prairies.

A wet summer had fattened up clusters to the point where early varietal yields were up nearly 20% across the board – surprisingly not at the expense of fruit quality.  The September heat arrived at the perfect time to kick ripening into gear, validating the old adage that a stellar Fall can save any vintage.  The Sauv Blanc and Pinot Gris came in clean and full of flavour, with the luxury of good natural acidity.  The Pinot Noir and Riesling required painstaking botrytis control, but we managed to get them off just prior to a biblical deluge of rain.

After dodging our own mini-hurricane season and a few brushes with October frost, Vintage 2017 came to a pleasing denouement.  Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah berries began to desiccate and concentrate in mid-October and the vines held foliage well into November, allowing for as late a harvest as was desired.  Wilma aptly noted, while we brought in the last of the Cab, that it seemed like we had favourable weather on every picking date this year – and she couldn’t recall that ever happening before.

That might just be worthy of a Wahoo!

Please join us to celebrate this memorable year at one (or both) of our upcoming Treadwell Winemaker Dinners.

 

Dormancy and Dinners

Saturday, Jan 23rd, 2016

 

Perhaps the number one thing I look forward to each winter season is the opportunity to participate in a few Winemaker Dinners with my family.  When the vines are dormant I tend to be as well, so invitations to be a part of these lavish evenings are received with great joy!

We were very fortunate this year to be featured at a dinner hosted by the Ontario Wine Society (Toronto Chapter) where the theme was a celebration of Lowrey Vineyard Terroir through a comparison of wines made from our fruit.  The OWS brought together a wonderful group of winemakers who’ve worked with our grapes over the years – specifically Pinot Noir.  The event took place at Barque Butcher Bar and the pairings were facilitated by Michael Godel, who spoke very kindly and shared some flattering observations about our humble little vineyard in St. David’s.

Thomas Bachelder acted as host for the evening and I would’ve been perfectly content to listen to Thomas wax poetic about Terroir and Pinot Noir for the entire night if it was up to me!  Ilya Senchuk of Leaning Post Wines also brought some very interesting insight to the Terroir debate, as well as some stellar wines.  He pointed out that he sees hallmarks of Lowrey Terroir not only among certain varietals like Pinot, but across varietals as well.  We all agreed that there are distinctive elements that define the Lowrey flavour and aromatic profile, as well as textural and mouthfeel similarities.  Ilya also noted that as our collective wines age (that is wines made by Bachelder, Five Rows and Leaning Post from Lowrey fruit) the similarities of Terroir tend to become more pronounced.  The effect of the winemaker giving way to the effect of Terroir over time is a very interesting concept indeed.

I feel very proud that Mario Adamo thought enough of our Five Rows wines to inquire about purchasing some of our fruit for his own winery venture.  The dynamic brother-sister duo of Julie and John Paul Adamo joined us for the evening, and Julie did a great job taking us through their journey to start a winery in the hills of Hockley Valley.  It was exciting for me to see what an excellent job they’ve done with the Pinot Noir from our 2008 planting.  I see great potential for this block based on their initial efforts, and I highly recommend giving the wines of Adamo Estate Winery a try sometime soon!

Highlights of the dinner were detailed in the latest OWS newsletter and can be read here.

The Grand Crew

 

A Treadwell Double Bill

Thursday, Dec 18th, 2014

Do you have any plans for the evenings of January 10th or February 7th?  I’m hoping that nothing immediately pops to mind and you have the chance to join us at our annual Treadwell Winemaker’s Dinner.  These nights have been such a blast over the years that we’ve decided to tack on an encore gig in 2015.  Truthfully, the demand for tickets last year caught us a little off guard and we didn’t want to leave anybody out.

The dinners will feature some tantalizing Treadwell dishes paired with our 2011 reds and 2013 whites.  I will have to brush up on my knowledge of these wines, as they’ve not been present in our barn for quite a while.  I could certainly wax poetic about the freshly fermented 2014 Cab Sauv, but you probably wouldn’t want to drink that one right now.  Perhaps I will just wait until the night of the first dinner and we can discover how the wines have evolved together.  It’s always more fun to tell old farm stories than bore you with technical wine jargon anyway.

Please visit the Treadwell website for details or call James at 905-934-9797 to book your seat.  We hope to see you there!

A Snow Day to Reflect

Monday, Dec 16th, 2013

As massive black clouds of starlings swirl ominously overhead, contrasting against the pure white snow, I retire to my cosy barn to reflect on the year 2013.  I fear these flocks no more because the barrels and tanks are full, finally put to bed after what seemed like an oddly long growing season.  The apparent quality of these young wines fills me with hope.

I won’t lie – there were certainly moments of doubt, well chronicled (if not over-dramatized) in previous entires of this blog.  It became increasingly frustrating as we waited and waited for the fields to dry out and for eventual flavour concentration in our late-ripening varietals (Riesling, Cab Sauv and Syrah). Thankfully, frustration can sometimes yield immense satisfaction.  This was reflected in the purple toothed grin I saw on my Dad’s face while tasting the freshly squeezed Cabernet Sauvignon directly from the press tray,  “You could bottle this and drink it right now!”, he exclaimed.  Easy now Pops.

Winter allows for the completion of some jobs that I treasure most as a Winemaker.  A recent day spent racking the 2013 whites filled the barn with the most splendid aromas – I was in Sauv Blanc heaven!  Equally excitng were the blending trials featuring the soon to be bottled 2011 reds.  As early blends begin to take shape, I’m becoming more convinced that the 2011 vintage has a chance to be one our strongest across the board.  It rivals 2010 in aromatic intensity and is perhaps more approachable even at this early stage.  Easy now Son.

As we enter the winter months and start to sharpen up the pruners, we’ve decided to close the barn for a couple of months to catch our breath.  This will allow me plenty of time to get the new wines ready to bottle in the spring.  I wish to thank all who have visited over the past year and contributed to our most successful summer to date.  It’s hard to believe our barn has been open for five years now and I look forward to more great visits and more new faces enjoying Five Rows wines in the year to come.

A couple of traditional events that we are planning for the winter are a Winemaker’s Dinner at Treadwell’s and Cuvée 2014.  Details for these events will follow in future posts.  Happy Holidays to all!

Treadwell Dinner

Saturday, Feb 09th, 2013

 

Rounding up the family and heading out to a fancy dinner is a foreign experience for many farmers.  The Clampett’s…err…Lowrey’s are no exception, and really don’t get out much.  My own culinary expertise is limited to impeccably microwaved Michelina’s (down to the second!) and hastily constructed lunchtime wraps.

“Pa”, however, puts me to shame with his mastery of outdoor, open-flame cooking.  He is aloof in the kitchen, but can skillet fry just about anything over his gnarled pile of burning grape trunks.  I once saw him make perfect toast using welding gloves, a long-handled frying pan and diesel fuel.  He ended the show by flipping eggs with a one-iron (he could never hit it anyway).

Suffice it to say, we always jump at the chance to get dolled up and host a civilized Winemaker’s dinner every year at Treadwell’s.  Thankfully for the patrons, we are only responsible for bringing the wine.   Seriously, we treasure the opportunity to share this annual experience with so many of our supporters.  The signed menu, seen below, has become a treasured memento for us, growing in names each year.  It’s something we display with pride in our barn and reflect on fondly with many of our guests.

As you can see, this year’s menu was a masterpiece.  I can easily recall the distinct flavours of each dish as I write this, a sure sign of a wonderfully skilled kitchen and chef.  My compliments to James and the entire staff for the seeming ease at which they managed each course.

Of the wines I tried on this evening, the 2008 Syrah was a highlight for me – perhaps for sentimental reasons.  We decided to raid the cellar and bring our last case to share on this appropriate occasion.  The smoked duck was an astute pair, picking up on the smoky, earthy and savoury elements of the Syrah.  Many commented on how much the flavours and mouthfeel had changed since they last tried it.  The classic Syrah pepper, earth and floral elements were still there, but the once subtle dark fruit components had come to the fore both aromatically and on the palate.   It leads me to think that this wine is probably best consumed during this exciting time in its evolution (for those who still have a bottle).

The sumptuous “pulled pork” course might have been James’ nod to our participation in the most recent Pigs and Pinot celebration in Healdsburg, California.  My parents were thrilled to visit Sonoma and represent Canada at the “Pinot Smackdown”, which they managed to escape without a scratch.

We ended the night with a barrel sample of the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc.  I figured this was appropriate given that Sauvignon Blanc is, in many ways, the reason we have forged such a strong relationship with Treadwell’s.  The feedback was promising with many not letting me leave without guaranteeing them at least a six-pack.

The 2012 has a ripe nose very reminiscent of the 2010, which makes sense because both were generally warm, dry years.  The mouthfeel and flavours were still a work in progress though, following bentonite fining, cold stabilization and possibly ongoing malolacitc fermentation.  As with most classy dames she didn’t want to give away all her secrets on the first date!

A heartfelt thanks to all who attended.

 

Winter Events

Sunday, Jan 20th, 2013

We can now announce some details regarding a couple of exciting winter events we have in the works.

Firstly, I am floored by the response to our Treadwell’s Winemaker Dinner on January 26.  Based on the turnout to previous dinners, James and I had anticipated the usual 25-30 loyal Five Rows fans who had joined us in the past.  However, within a week of the dinner announcement this year it became apparent that we were going to need a bigger boat.  The enthusiastic request for seats meant the entire restaurant would have to be closed down to accommodate our ever-expanding group of friends.

What a great night it should be!  I’ve had a chance to preview the proposed menu and can report that Stephen and James have outdone themselves yet again.  The wines we have chosen to showcase are:  2011 Pinot Gris, 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 Pinot Noir, 2008 Shiraz and 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine.  Most of these wines have been sold out for a while, so we had to source them from Wilma’s personal library (it took some convincing).  I also plan to bring along a surprise barrel sample, as this was very well received last year.  Any requests?

The 25th Anniversary Cuvée Celebration will take place March 1-3rd.  In an effort to reflect the nostalgic theme this year, we’ve decided to dip into our library for the Cuvée En Route tasting sessions.  Anyone wishing to visit us over that weekend is invited to participate in the first ever Five Rows Pinot Noir vertical tasting, featuring wines from 2007, 2008 and 2009.  I hope to collect some useful feedback to better advise those who’ve resisted temptation and continue to age these wines in their cellar.  Please email or call if you plan to stop in over the weekend so we can determine how many bottles might be required.

New Year, New Sign

Thursday, Dec 27th, 2012

 

I feel it fitting, in this my 100th blog entry, to festively announce the erection of a new Five Rows roadside sign.

I can hear you all in unison: “Well, it’s about time!”

However, it is not without some sentimental regret that we retire our old red sandwich board.  At various times it was stolen, returned, run over, blown over, repainted, amusingly observed by Beppi and cursed by all those who didn’t see it on first pass.  A useful (if not reliable) sign it was.

As is evident in the following photographic essay, the beautiful new sign was hung with typical Five Rows grace and ingenuity.  I ask anyone working for the Ontario Workplace Safety Insurance Board to kindly avert your eyes.  A special thanks to Barry Imber for his fine craftmanship.

 

I wish you all a Happy New Year and invite you to join us for our third annual Treadwell’s Winemaker Dinner on January 26th, 2013.   Wine pairing details coming soon!

 

 

 

 

Dinner with “Bruce”

Monday, Apr 16th, 2012

There aren’t many days on the farm that I don’t encounter an unknown automobile meandering slowly down our driveway.  They approach very cautiously, sometimes stopping multiple times, seemingly contemplating whether this could possibly be the place they were looking for.  If I’m working in the grape rows anywhere near the driveway I try to flag down these folks and invite them in for a tasting.  Most times I end up chasing their vehicle while waving my arms wildly.  Come to think of it, perhaps that is exactly why most of them speed away in a cloud of dust.

Then there are cars that come in with a purpose.  They see me in working in the rows before I see them, and they end up scaring the crap out of me as they sneak up and snap me out of my iPod-induced trance.  For some reason these are usually the unabashed people I end up becoming fast friends with.  Steven and Jennifer Vipond fall into this category.

Last summer I watched as a red Volkswagen Beetle pulled right up to where I was doggedly defoliating some Clone 7 Shiraz vines.  I trotted out to meet them and noticed the “Bruce Wine Bar” logo on their rear window.  We exchanged pleasantries and I subsequently sent them up to our barn for a tasting with Wilma.  Two hours later, I watched from the far end of that Shiraz row as the red Beetle pulled away.  That was how our relationship with Steven and Jennifer began.

They are the proprietors of Bruce Wine Bar and Kitchen, located in Thornbury, Ontario.  The Lowreys and the Viponds hit it off right away and Jennifer even ventured all the way from Thornbury to help us hand pick our 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon.  What an enjoyable time that was, our last hand pick of the season on a gorgeous Fall day.  They have carried our wine at Bruce ever since that fortuitous first meeting.

I’m pleased to say that I finally have the chance to travel to Thornbury and dine at Bruce.   They will be hosting a Winemaker’s Dinner featuring Five Rows on Wednesday, May 9th.  The menu will feature our 2008 Shiraz, 2009 Cab Sauv Icewine and mark the debut of our 2011 Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.  If you would like to join us and meet Steven and Jennifer, please contact them at the restaurant or flag down the next red Beetle you see.  You just might get lucky.