Tawse named Canada’s Winery of the Year

NOTE: This is a press release issued on Tawse Winery being named Winery of the Year by the editors at Wine Access Magazine.
October 12, 2010

A winery established less than 10 years ago has scooped up the top place finish at the prestigious Canadian Wine Awards, with 18 medals and the coveted designation as Canada’s Winery of the Year.  It is the first time an Ontario winery has been named Canada’s Winery of the Year.

Tawse Winery of Vineland, Ontario (Tawse) located on the bench of the Niagara Escarpment along Ontario’s popular Wine Route, won five gold, three silver and 10 bronze medals. No other winery has won as many gold medals in a single year through the Canadian Wine Awards.

In addition, Tawse won the White Wine of the Year Award for its 2008 Robyn’s Block Chardonnay. The chardonnay received a score of 93 out of 100 – the highest ever achieved by a table wine in this competition.

The Canadian Wine Awards have been held annually since 2000 by Wine Access Magazine, and involve stringent, international-calibre competition with blind tasting by wine experts. Tawse Winery submitted 25 wines for judging.

“We’re extremely pleased and honoured to be named Canada’s Winery of the Year,” says Moray Tawse, Toronto financier and owner of the winery he established in 2001 out of a life-long passion for wine. “Our goal is to make great wine and it’s a good feeling to have our efforts recognized. I think the recognition is also good for our entire region and will encourage people to try Niagara wines.”

Mr. Tawse gives the credit to his winemaker, Paul Pender, and the winery’s organic and biodynamic method of grape growing, which does not use pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers, and incorporates long-standing farming practices based on the rhythms of nature.

“If you’re feeding your vines on chemicals and fertilizers, it’s kind of like a human being fed on junk food,” he says. “Our vineyards have been farmed organically since 2001 and with biodynamic principles since 2006. You can taste the difference.”

Mr. Tawse also praised the “incredible complexity” of the limestone, clay and shale soil at the winery’s location, part-way up the Niagara Escarpment, between the small towns of Beamsville and Vineland.

“When you make wine, vineyard location is critically important. The terroir we have here is very much like the region of Burgundy, in France. That’s what inspired me to invest in vineyards here.”

The five gold medals won by Tawse were for the 2008 Robyn’s Block Chardonnay; 2008 Quarry Road Chardonnay; 2008 Wismer Lakeview Vineyard Riesling; 2009 Riesling and 2008 Lauritzen Pinot Noir.

Anthony Gismondi, editor of Wine Access Magazine, described the Robyn’s Block Chardonnay, winner of the White Wine of the Year Award, as a “masterpiece of well integrated pear fruit, toasty almond barrel notes and mineral complexity. It has penetrating acidity and outstanding length.”