By Rick Van Sickle
It was intended to be the first “porch” wine tasting of the year, but this spring’s endless stormy, cold weather forced us to go where a party broke out.
It’s not the kind where you dance like Elaine, but more of a crescendo of chatter that comes through the right wine and the right people. Like the completely unstructured, unscheduled tasting at VanSickle with Last House Vineyard owner André Gagné, his wife and co-owner. Debra Mathews (below) and a wonderful visitor, my wife Maureen.
Any serious discussion about malolactic fermentation, manual riddles and titable acidity has given way to this joyful talk of non-sequences ranging from children, photographs of said children, travel and life in the countryside. . . Essentially everything except the wine. Our most productive was another enlightening tasting of new wines from micro-producer Last House Vineyards, focused on Prince Edward County.
This is the way of wine; It brings happiness, natural and simple. The subtleties of how they came about there can be discovered in a very different setting. And there you have it, Gagné and I, fortunately, greeted the louder majority around the dining room table, as we began to combine business with pleasure.
Last House Vineyard is one of the trendiest wineries in the county. The couple grows grapes and apples (for cider) on their charming lakeside estate in Hillier. Rarely is there a lot of fancy equipment, a single farmworker, while Rep. Geoff Heinricks gives his great wisdom to Gagné, and the rest of the circle of Gagné/Mathews relatives contributes where they can. The estate’s 100 percent wines are made from small productions and are made with minimal intervention and a philosophy of at least more in terms of oak aging. Each antiquity is an expression of the unique terroir of the County and, in particular, of Hillier. Each bottle of wine reflects this terroir and what the vintage brings in terms of climate, good or bad.
It’s easy to make wine without doing anything, but when everything goes well, the magic happens.
We tasted 3 wines that day, two Chardonnays and a Pinot Noir. And a few days later I tasted again a Blanc de Noir from a recent disgorgement. This is my report on the new wines that are now available (or will be available). I’d have it soon. ) You can buy Last House wines here or, if you live in St. Petersburg. John’s. Catharines, see Archives Wine and Spirit Merchants here.
Last House Vineyard is planted near the rocky shores of Lake Ontario in soil known as Ameliasburg clay/silt, which is 12 to 24 inches deep. The calcareous bedrock and stony texture of the soil allow for proper drainage in the spring and act as a wet sponge during the development season. This forces the vines to grow deeper during the hot summer months and produces lower yields during the hot summer months with highly concentrated aromas.
Gagné believes that the secret to a smart wine lies in the ripe, healthy fruit, which is why it all starts with the paintings on the estate. All glass ceiling paintings are done by hand. No herbicides are used, weeds are removed manually and through cultivation. Insect and disease sprays are usually organic. Conventional sprays are rarely used. Leaf thinning is kept to a minimum, with long, slow ripening being preferred. The grapes are harvested by hand with small harvesting baskets. The fruit is processed without delay.
Oenological taste emphasizes smart agriculture. Gagné believes that if you start with healthy fruit and then accept it as true, winemaking will almost stand on its own. Last House uses minimal intervention with elevation appropriate for existing year conditions. Until now In this new project, the fruit has made it possible to carry out an alcoholic fermentation using only wild yeasts provided to the grapes and the bacteria provided naturally have resulted in malolactic fermentation. The vineyard team did not want to provide enzymes, nutrients, colorings, or tannins and hopes to avoid all of this in the future. Pumping, extraction and use of sulfur are limited. The use of oak barrels adapts to the flavor of the wine, and almost at all times to the barrels used. All wines are bottled without fining or filtering and are manually corked.
The Last House works “proudly” with Heinricks, who shares many of the same ideals in terms of agriculture and winemaking in the county. “We are grateful for his invaluable contribution to the creation of Last House,” said Gagné.
Last House Blanc de Noir Bonheur Methode Traditionnelle 2020 ($48, 93 points): I first tasted this historically made Pinot Noir-based sparkling wine last fall at the Last House estate when I was on the porch of Gagné and Mathews’ space with views of the vineyard. . This is the first disgorgement, unlabelled and pending approval by the VQA at that time. When first tasted, it spent 28 months on the lees, but this version now has 48 months of aging on the lees, as Gagné himself disgorges 24 bottles at a time, as needed. The fruit comes from estate grapes planted in 2018, that is, third leaf pinot noir pressed in whole bunch. Wildly fermented in stainless steel. No dosage is added and it is bottled without filtering or refining. It has a golden color that is accentuated in the glass with a much more flinty/bready/brioche nose before ripe pear, green apple, lemon curd, salinity, white flowers and salty notes kick in. Array The pearl is soft and lingering in the glass. Array This is natural elegance and exact minerality on the palate with tasty stone fruits, biscuits and brioche, flint, lively and spicy citrus, all of which leads to a lovely freshness, a sublime style with bubbles and a finish persistent and highly spicy. It’s a natural bliss in the glass with physically powerful bubbles that tickle the senses. The hot label comes from a painting by artist Stewart Jones that hangs in the family home and conveys a feeling of happiness, as the name of this wine: Bonheur cheerfully suggests.
2022 Last House Vineyard Hiller Red Daniel Block ($46, nearly sold out, 93 points): Only a small amount of Hillier Rouge was produced in 2022 due to a low-yielding partial harvest of part of an acre of vines on the estate. The barrel wine was 100% destemmed, hand-harvested, fermented wildly in tanks, without pumping over, aged in impartial oak barrels for 12 months with no clarification/filtration and bad spontaneous. It’s a micro-lot crop on the margins, folks!The nose is floral and pleasant, with sun-ripened cherries, new raspberries, rose petals, red currants, sophisticated wild blueberries, and a measured oak-spiced technique. It’s new, floral and penetrating on the palate with a sumptuous texture that supports ripeness. red fruits, small black berries and red currants, sophisticated earthy notes and spices with a crunchy Comté acidity that add delicacy to a long and very spicy finish. This is a lovely Pinot, quite specific to the place. It can stay in the cellar for a few years still warm for the time being.
Last House Vineyard Hillier Blanc Christian Block Chardonnay 2022 ($46, release mid-May, 94 points): Gagné, whose palate is calibrated for red and white wines from Burgundy, released Christian Block Chardonnay for the first time since the most sensible order in 2019. and his first idea “Oh, we can make Chablis!” Then came the second vintage, 2020, which reminded him of whites from Mâconnais in Burgundy. No Chardonnays were made in 2021, but the 2022 ones screamed Côte de Beaune Chardonnays from Meursault, he said. “It’s not Chablis, it’s not Macon or Meursault, it’s Hillier, it has a signature that shows, that I see,” he realizes now. The 2022 edition is wild fermented, pressed from whole clusters, aged 50% in stainless metal and 50% in instant-fill French oak barrels for nine months without fining or filtering. This consistently displays a saline and savory nose, omnipresent in the county and amplified in Hillier with notes of pear, yellow apple, quince, bergamot, white flowers and sophisticated toasted/flint notes of vanilla and spice. It is noticeably new and very spicy on the palate with attractive salty/savory notes to accompany the wet stones, a touch of relief and flint, then new pear, apple peel, lemon cream, a colorful texture, high finesse, sophisticated notes of sublime oak spices. citrus zest and a very spicy and bright finish.
Gagné sent me a note telling me what the idea of the legendary winemaker, winemaker and A Fool and Forty Acres, Geoff Heinricks (above with Gagné), is for this wine. He is a consultant for the Dernière Maison and is involved in the wines, but I love his vision of this wine. Here’s what he said:
“A little bit of creamed corn in the nose while you pour it. Full, heavy, and full of strength and acid. Nose of Meyer lemon curd and attack on the palate. A broad existence and a backbone of acidic and fragrant intensity. . . But its own flavors. . . Not a fruit or any other style/region. It takes me about an hour to start opening up to what I don’t forget. After about forty-five minutes, it opens fully. . . A very fine caramel cream, its richness and sweetness spread and displace the acid in a strong backbone. Phenomenally long finish. A few small white wildflowers, like Henri Goyard now. How I don’t forget it now when bottling. God” by Mâconnais Vire-Clesse.
Last House Vineyard Petit Hillier Blanc 2022 ($34, release mid-May, 93 points): The “Petit” label is a “play on Petit Chablis,” says Gagné, which is a category from this French Burgundy region that is not intended for “minor” or “second rate”, but has a different flavor due to the soil and the sun. Petit Chablis wines are newer, lighter and less complex. Gagné used the Petit appellation for its new vines and is retiring this appellation with vintage 2023. This is a replacement for the more polarizing 2020 edition (there was no 2021 vintage) which had a curious sherry/reductive note that stood out on the nose. The 2022 is still loaded with salty and flinty notes, but the deep reductive qualities have disappeared. It presents a bright and very spicy diversity of notes of pear, white flowers, yellow apple, bergamot and incorporated spices. Shows more concentration and weight on the palate than the Christian Block with a mineral/saline/salty appearance with notes of yellow apple, new pear, grapefruit zest, sophisticated spices, great finesse and crisp acidity through a bright and very spicy finish . Lovers of friendly, terroir-based County Chardonnays will love this wine if they try it alongside the Christian Block to their liking. So interesting.
There have been a few key tweaks within Prince Edward Country’s flagship winery, Rosehall Run, the least of which: co-founder and co-owner Lynn Sullivan (above) is leaving the winery to take on a marketing assignment in Wine Marketing. Ontario Association.
I’ve painted with Sullivan for years while covering the county’s vineyards and she is the epitome of professionalism in everything she does. Most importantly, she is passionate, thorough, and one of the kindest people I have ever met or painted with.
“I’m very proud of the paintings that Dan and I have been able to do in Rosehall Run and in Prince Edward County’s wine country,” she said. “We’ve been lucky to paint with other ordinary people who have done this. “”The region is an exclusive and exciting place to live, paint and visit. The wine industry is constantly evolving and full of new demanding situations every day. I look forward to continuing my efforts to promote Ontario wine. “
J. J. Syer has been named Chief Executive Officer of Rosehall. After thirteen years as director of sales and hospitality, Syer partners with winemaker Dan Sullivan to lead the Rosehall Run team. “J. J. in the industry has been instrumental in the progression of our product offering, sales and marketing for licensees and the LCBO,” said Sullivan. “Her commitment to our team, her experience with Prince Edward County, and her vision for Ontario wine make her the ideal executive director to mentor Rosehall Run into the future.
Wines in Niagara recently sampled a variety of Rosehall wines and added two new sparkling wines, either vintage. You can buy Rosehall Run wines here. Here’s what I liked:
2019 Blancs de Blancs Rosehall Run ($39, 93 points): This traditional-method Chardonnay was previously advertised as a non-vintage sparkling wine. This is one of the winery’s most popular versions. Its name, Ceremonia, is a nod to the band New Order (Sullivan loves their music and relies on his favorite bands or lyrics to call his wines). The fruit comes one hundred percent from the Hillier estate and starts with a hard, lingering central pearl in the glass that amplifies in the mouth. I was mesmerized by this small flow of energy, even two days after it opened. It features a toasted/biscuit nose with new pear, a floral nose, saline minerality, lemon and apple zest. It has a creamy taste. The texture on the palate is new and very spicy with tangy Meyer lemon, green apple, pear, those lingering, crazy bubbles, and a more sophisticated, superbly spiced and fine brioche on the finish.
2021 Rosehall Run Brut Rosé Rosebud ($36, released Mother’s Day, 92 points): Previously released as a non-antique sparkling wine called Loveless, it switched to an old bubble with the new name Rosebud, a reference to Citizen Kane. One hundred percent Pinot Noir was aged for 22 months before being disgorged and aged in unbiased 500L French oak punches for six months. It has a pale salmon color in the glass with adorable notes of berries, biscuit, cherry and blueberry, citrus and a hint of sweetness. , persistent pearl in the glass. It’s fresh and has a physically more powerful bubble on the palate with new raspberries, cherries, sophisticated herbaceous notes, and lemon zest in a dry, colorful metallic flavor on the sophisticated finish.
2021 Rosehall Run JCR Rosehall Run Vineyard Chardonnay ($36, select LCBO winery and stores, 93 points) – The 2021 seniority marks the tenth edition of the JCR series, named after the winery’s co-founder, spouse and family member, John Campbell Reston. The wine has spent 16 months in French oak with periodic stirring. On the nose it is quite sublime with natural pear, golden apple, stony/saline minerality, bergamot, sophisticated savory notes and built-in spices. The calcareous, salty and salty minerality shines on the palate. with ripe apples, pears and quinces, lemon zest, harmonious spicy notes and a bright, long and very spicy finish. A captivating and friendly Chardonnay that will only get better with a little bottle aging. It can age up to 2029.
2021 Rosehall Run JCR Rosehall Run Vineyard Pinot Noir ($45, winery and a handful of LCBO VQA stores, 92 points): This estate Pinot ages in French oak barrels (40% new, 60% instant fill) for 16 months. On the nose it features ripe black cherries, summer raspberries, red currants, a touch of blackcurrant with mocha and spices. On the palate there is weight with floral notes, intense red fruits, anise, fine oak spices and a juicy and delicious acidity that provides relief to the finish. It can be stored until 2030.
Wines in Niagara VanSickle named Wines in Niagara’s Wine Writer of the Year