Winemaker’s Dinner
For those interested in a special culinary experience, I encourage you to join us for our upcoming Treadwell Winemaker’s Dinner on March 22.
This night is always a treat for my family, an opportunity to catch up with friends and share the amazing creations put together by the Treadwell team. It is an oasis of sorts in the midst of the winter grind.
Call James for details or to book a spot at the table (905-934-9797).
Uncorking A Hidden Gem
Back in the fall, we were visited by St. Catharines Standard photographer Bob Tymczyszyn on a few occasions over the course of harvest. The images he shot and subsequent article he wrote can be read here.
I will be forever grateful to Bob for capturing some special moments I enjoyed harvesting Syrah with my Mom and pressing Cab Sauv with my Dad. These are times I cherish, yet can’t truly appreciate until I see them through the eyes of someone creative like Bob.
Fighting The Winter Blahs
It’s hard to know just how many buds and trunks have succumbed to one the harshest winters of their lifetime. Although I prefer not to entertain these thoughts – they can’t be ignored.
Pruning decisions are based on how many buds are estimated to be alive on a given vine. The only way to really calculate this number is to take a cane sample, cut open the primary buds and count how many still appear viable. This gives us a rough percentage that we can take into account when fashioning the vine for next season.
The tricky part is that each variety has a different sensitivity to extreme cold. On our farm the most sensitive varietals happen to be two of our more popular wines: Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah. For this reason I get a little panicky at the prospect of little or no crop in these vineyards!
Preliminary counts don’t look great. We’ve experienced lows of -21C and most all varietals show some sign of bud mortality. Hearty varietals like Cab Sauv are in the 60-70% alive range, while the Sauv Blanc and Syrah are more in the 30-40% range…and it’s only the beginning of February.
Unfortunately, bud viability is not the only hurdle. The vascular tissue in the trunk of the vine is also susceptible to damage in these conditions. If the trunk is dead – the amount of viable buds obviously becomes a moot point. Cruelly, trunk death is usually not noticeable until the buds emerge like gangbusters only to slowly whither and die along with your false hopes.
The positive I’ve been able to take away from this winter is a greater appreciation for the wines I currently have in barrel and tank. Previous mild winters have spoiled me into taking a “full barn” for granted. Growing sensitive Vinifera grapes in Niagara should never be considered a sure bet. It will take patience and hard work, but we will recover from this winter like we did in 2004-2005.
2010 Pinot Noir
Consider this my therapy. The ability to write and reminisce about a finished wine whilst going through the rigours of harvesting and vinifying that same grape varietal is a welcome shift of thought. It doesn’t get much rosier than the memories I have associated with our 2010 Pinot Noir.
Simply put, 2010 was an ideal vintage to grow grapes. Heat when you needed it and just wet enough for excellent vine growth, but not excessive vigour. The risk with Pinot Noir in these warm, dry conditions is overripening. Pushing the grapes to a point where they almost become “un-Pinot like”. For that reason we harvested our crop on September 4th – a full week earlier than we ever had before. All ripening parameters were dialed in. Sugars high, but not so high as to make the wine overly alcoholic (22 degrees brix) and decent enough acid (TA 7.5) to keep the pH low and aid in ageability. This would be a bold Pinot for sure, but not so bold that our Terroir couldn’t shine through.
We harvested 8 rows from our Old Block and 3 rows from our new Clone 777 block. The fruit was sorted, chilled and processed into bins for traditional punch-downs during fermentation. I chose to let the three bins cold soak for a few days and let the fermentations start via indigenous yeast. Each bin was then inoculated with a different cultured yeast to add complexity to the overall blend. The 777 bin was treated with a strain called BRL97, while the the old block was fermented with RC212 and W15. The fermentations lasted about 10 days whereupon each bin was pressed to barrel (25% new oak, all French). The wine was allowed to mature for 24 months in oak before bottling 143 cases on March 26th, 2013.
In the end this is a Pinot Noir that should age gracefully for at least another ten years. It’s the kind of wine that sneaks up on you and demands another sip, another glass…
Aromas: cherry, leather, mushroom, wet stone, vanilla, red currant, meat jus, violets
Flavours: cherry, pomegranate
A Snow Day to Reflect
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!
Fantastic Four
I’d like to thank Rick VanSickle for including us in his latest article “The Fantastic Four: Exciting New Niagara Wineries That Are Setting The Bar For Excellence”.
It’s especially satisfying when someone takes the time to thoughtfully share the way we’ve chosen to craft and present our wines. Rick has been a great supporter of Five Rows since we first opened back in 2008. To hear him describe the unique manner in which my mother entertains her guests makes me happy and proud. Rarely does a week go by wherein I don’t receive a heartfelt thank-you note from someone who has been introduced to our wines by Wilma. I’m a very lucky Winemaker (and son).
To be featured alongside Kevin and Thomas is a fun coincidence, as our journeys have been somewhat intertwined. It was back in 2002 that Kevin and I worked together at Creekside Estate Winery, a formative time when pie-in-the-sky dreams of starting our own wineries were just taking shape. We spent many days discussing those future plans while working side by side in the very Queenston Road vineyard he now uses for his wonderful 2027 Cellars Pinot Noir. Thomas discovered the Lowrey Vineyard while tasting some of the early Inniskillin Alliance Pinot Noir’s that we were fortunate to be a part of. As mentioned in the article, he now sources fruit from our old Pinot block for his Bachelder series of wines.
The Rains of 2013
It is not the most glamorous time to be a grape grower. I’m reminded of this in the midst of a downpour, as I trudge through shin deep mud on my way to cut rotten bunches out of barely ripe Riesling. I pull my hood tight and turn on my radio headphones in hopes of a distraction from the gloom. “There will likely be snow next week,” the announcer says as I slop past many tons of yet to be harvested Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Icewine anyone?
It’s been that kind of year. As farmers we’re quite accustomed to being at the mercy of mother nature, and have in fact been spoiled by six consecutive years of decent growing conditions – with a couple of real beauties sprinkled in! It’s rare in any type of farming to have more than a few good years in row. Hence, you’re never as rich as your best year and you’re never as poor as your worst.
At times like this it’s important to remember that you can only do everything in your power to give yourself the chance to produce premium fruit. I’m confident we’ve done just that and I still believe it a possibility to craft great wines from these grapes, albeit with less room for error.
My parents remind me of the “old days” when wet vintages seemed to be a little more common. Tales of stuck harvesters and trucks – and fields so saturated with water that the only choice was to hand pick and hand load (no tractor!) whole vineyard blocks thick with fruit. It stands to reason that in wet years the crop is usually much heavier and far more difficult to harvest.
I finally get to Jean’s Block and in the time it takes me to knock the clods of mud off my boots, the rain abruptly stops. Halfway down the first row I fail to discover as many rotten clusters as I had anticipated and the sun even threatens to peek out of the clouds. As I approach the old pear tree hill that is now Ravine Vineyard I start to smell the most amazing aromas coming from atop the hill. I’m reminded of the hearty lunches that we traditionally enjoy on those cold harvest days. With that, the glamour returns.
2013 Harvest Update
Cue the broken record…the 2013 Pinot Noir is rotting on the vine. We’ve done everything in our ability to nurse along these bursting clusters, but this last stretch of humid weather and looming rainfall (100% P.O.P.) has made our harvest decision an easy one. Excess rain brings the potential for berry split, the spread of sour rot and the dilution of all components within the grape pulp.
Thankfully, the fruit is ready to come off – wonderful flavours, browning seeds, shriveling berries and perfect acidity (TA 7.5 g/L). The sugar levels aren’t the highest they’ve ever been, but that’s not the most critical indicator of ripeness in my opinion. Others may disagree and choose to wait out the coming rain in an effort to squeeze out a few more degrees Brix. I envy their optimism, but my years (and tears) of experience with this fickle “heartbreak grape” will not allow me to take that risk. I will not sleep soundly until my Pinot is cooly soaking in sealed bins.
Prior to harvest I will scour my rows for rotten berries and clusters, surgically removing them where necessary. On the day of the pick we will re-sort every cluster to cull anything that was missed in the vineyard. If all goes according to plan (and it rarely does) I believe that each of the early varietals from 2013 could rival the tremendous wines of 2009.
Update 22/11/13: Over two barnstorming days dodging yellow jackets and ladybugs, we were able to harvest all rows of Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir! As forecasted, the rain arrived on Saturday in the form of an all day soaker – 54mm total. For the record I am now sleeping soundly.
Pre-Harvest Jitters
What a curious growing season it has been to this point. I guess it really shouldn’t be a surpirse given that this year ends in “13”. Consistently cool and wet for the most part, but strangely no signs of disease pressure to speak of (knock on wood). Then we are blessed with a few weeks of ideal ripening conditions precisely when we need it at veraison. All varietals, save Cabernet Franc, are looking to be right on schedule.
The Cab Franc are likely lagging behind due to their prodigious uptake of water. The spring/summer rains have left our vines brimming with growth – even many lateral shoots are bearing clusters of fruit! The last couple of months have been spent paring back these layers of green growth in an effort to expose the vulnerable fruit. The Cab Franc vines put so much energy and resource into this shoot growth that the fruit will take longer to enter and complete the ripening process. It doesn’t help that our Cab Franc vines are relatively young and full of vim and vigour!
The task of thinning shoots and clusters has been very time consuming this season, but I can finally start to make out the post at the end of this long grape row. As I complete each row, my Dad follows behind to hang the protective bird netting. I must say that the sight of these nets brings me the ultimate in satisfaction. They represent the preservation of year’s worth of hard work and signify the end of my duties in that block until we harvest.
My mind can now shift to the preparation of tanks, barrels, crushers, presses and the like. It’s also the time to determine which yeasts and fermentation aids I will employ to best coax out the Terroir in my 2013 wines. The new supplier catalogues we receive each year put me in mind of the old Sears Christmas Wish Book I always looked so forward to as a child. My eyes light up as I flip through page after page of new “toys”, each seeming to promise more flavours and aromas than the next. I find it fascinating to think of the amount of research that has gone into refining the simple process of fermentation. We all have our “go to” yeasts that we swear by, but I’m usually tempted to try something new every year – even if it’s just in a single tank or barrel.
If I close my eyes I can almost smell those beautiful fermenting tanks already!
A Few Reviews
We’ve had the good fortune this summer to play host to a wide variety of wine enthusiasts. Each tasting is enjoyably unique and it’s been a pleasure to meet so many new fans of our wine. The feedback for our newest wines has been wonderfully motivational, as every thank-you note, email, review, recommendation and bottle registered on our provenance page makes working outside in the blazing July heat and humidity much easier to endure!
Here are a few recent reviews from some of those visitors:
Rick VanSickle – Wines in Niagara