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

Summer Hours

Saturday, Apr 25th, 2009

 

Along with my parents, I would like to announce that our barn will be open to customers for weekends this summer starting Saturday, May 2nd.  One of us will be there to serve you on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am-5pm (or thereabouts) until the end of August.   The odd time you may have to come and find us somewhere on the farm, but I assure you we will be more than happy heading back into the cool barn to take you through a tasting of our wines!  During the week it is still best to call ahead before you stop by to make sure we are available.

I look forward to your visit!

Experience our wine

Tuesday, Mar 31st, 2009

 

A number of you have asked where you can experience our wines. The list of places to taste by the glass is now a little longer as we are pleased to announce the following establishments are selling Five Rows:

The Charles Inn – 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

Treadwell’s / Snobs Wine Bar – 2007 Pinot Gris by the glass

Jamie Kennedy’s Wine Bar– 2004 Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon

Please support these friends of Five Rows and remember to write down your bottle numbers to enter into our bottle registry.

Kudos to Creek

Thursday, Mar 12th, 2009

 

Like many other trades, most winemakers get to where they are by learning from colleagues who have “been there and done that” many times before.  I am no exception.  I’ve been extremely lucky through the years to learn what I know from two of the best in the Ontario wine business.

Rob Power and Craig MacDonald have won so many awards for Creekside Estate Winery that I’m beginning to lose count.  They are obviously skilled craftsmen in the cellar, but what I admire most in these two is their genuine nature, patience and teaching ability.  In fact, it is no surprise to me when I open the St. Catharines Standard to read that they had captured four more trophies at Cuveé 2009.  They’ve managed to surround themselves with an excellent winemaking team, who would think nothing of bogging out the nastiest of red fermenters at their behest.  Now that’s loyalty!

Ever since our initial handshake agreement with Owner Peter Jensen in 1999, my parents and I have felt pride supplying grapes to Creekside and watching as Rob and Craig crafted one great wine after another.  As original Creekside grape growers, our fortunes have been tied to theirs for ten years now, and we wouldn’t have been able to start our winery without their continuing help.

It is even sweeter to note that their latest wins at Cuveé really demonstrate the potential for the St. David’s Bench Appellation.  All four winning wines contained a majority of fruit sourced at vineyards located in St. Davids.  The terroir and micro-climate of this small area really helps ripen later varietals like Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier.  These wines tend to be distinctly full-bodied with great structure and ageing potential.  Ravine Vineyard and Coyote’s Run are two other exciting wineries that are showcasing the best St. David’s Bench has to offer.

Good on ya, boys!

Five Rows Website Launch

Thursday, Mar 05th, 2009

Today marks the next phase in our winery development.  We have officially launched our Five Rows website at www.fiverows.com.   This will be the hub of our winery operation.  From this site you will be able to access my latest blog entries and also get info on all of current and upcoming releases.   Excitingly, there is a page specifically designed to keep us connected with all those who have supported us through wine purchases.  All customers are encouraged to record their name and bottle number on this page along with an optional comment on the wine or a story behind their connection to Five Rows.

We’ve received many inquiries as to where you can find our wines, so now the website will keep you posted to that end.  You will also find a link to our Lowrey Vineyards site, a future showcase for the viticultural side of our operation.

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.