The Good Earth Food and Wine Company is not so much a winery, cooking school and bistro as it is a village of goodness, a meandering tapestry of vineyards, orchards, gardens, and curious out buildings with even more curious (in a good way) things inside.
It is a wonderland of goodness with only one guiding principal. It’s all about Niagara; the food, the wine, the people, the experience.
It all flows from one person. The queen of goodness, Nicolette Novak (see in above photo with winemaker Andrea Glass), a lifelong Niagaran, who has created her oasis of taste from the family farm set among the splendor of the Twenty Valley.
She is one amazing woman — a brutally honest, salt of the earth farmer who speaks in a language we can all appreciate and love (even if it is peppered in the kind of language that would prompt your mother to reach for a bar of soap).
This is home for Novak, where she will be until the day she dies, she’s fond of saying.
“I am rooted in place,” she tells me during a visit. “This is home, where my heart and soul is. This is where I want to stay and die.”
While she’s here (which we’re hoping is for a VERY long time, by the way) Novak has surrounded herself with winners who share her values and love for the region.
For example, there’s the young, dynamic, Niagara-born, Niagara-raised (from a fifth-generation farming family), Niagara-schooled, winemaker, Andrea “Dr. Dre” Glass.
Novak said she felt like “I won the lottery,” when Glass came on board as head winemaker after working with Ross Wise (winemaker at Flat Rock Cellars) who helped with the first vintages of Good Earth wines and still consults.
“There’s nothing better than a rad, young babe winemaker,” says Novak, which gets a smile and a laugh out of Glass, who’s sitting beside her on the porch where we’re about to nosh and taste the lineup of wines made at Good Earth.
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The Good Earth Food and Wine Company sits on a 55-acre farm off Lincoln Ave. in Beamsville. Novak grows peaches and plums and has “no intension of ripping it out.” Eight acres is planted to vines, mostly Riesling and Cabernet Franc, while they access another eight acres of grower grapes in the same Lincoln-Lakeshore appellation for their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Seven wines are made at the winery as well as a late harvest offering.
Novak wants all her wines to work harmoniously with food. “Food is the driver for me,” she says. “All our wines are approachable and work well with food. They are good and delicious wines you can enjoy all time.”
Total case production in 2010 was 2,200 with 2,500 cases planned in 2011 with the ultimate goal of 5,000 cases sometime down the road.
Good Earth is just getting started with the wine element. The first vintage was 2008 with the winery and bistro opening in 2010. It was the next big step for Novak who has operated a popular cooking school on the property since 1998.
“Food and wine are so complementary,” Novak says. “I love having people in my space, my home. It’s personal here, not corporate. People feel at home here. It’s a genuine, authentic experience.”
For Glass, she honed her winemaking skills at the Bodega Familia Mayol in Argentina, Merry Edwards in California, as well as at Flat Rock, Southbrook, Ravine and Reif, here in Niagara. She’s a graduate of the Niagara College Winery and Viticulture Technology program and is working towards her Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers certification.
I love this entry on the Good Earth website under the “people” section:
We love Dre’s bohemian flare, and shocking ability to pass over any dessert for a loaf of bread (we won’t talk about the Leaf’s obsession). Ultimately she is eminently qualified to be part of this kooky crew. Our wine wench will hang out mostly in the cellar nurturing our next vintage along, but she’ll also be present in the retail shop to gab with you about wine in general and give you the 411 on ours. So come by and say hello, because the Doctor is in …
Glass grew up in the vineyards of Niagara her father still farms, selling his grapes to Inniskillin. As she tells me: “As a kid I didn’t do the dishes, I worked in the vineyards.”
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We sit down to taste through the wines now available in the retail store. Novak points out that all the wines are bottled in screwcap (“we’re not overly precious here,” she says) and the back labels don’t offer any flowery descriptions like “tastes like cat piss,” Novak laughs. It is what it is and that’s to simply enjoy with food at the table.
So, obviously with that being said, I tread lightly into the description area of this post (and am hoping that somewhere out there Novak isn’t cursing over the “preciousness” of the descriptors about to unfold! Hey, it’s my job.) Note: All wines are available at the estate.
The Good Earth Chardonnay 2009 ($22, 88 points) — It’s a style that Novak insists is elegant but not over the top in oak department. The wine sees 10 months of aging in oak, mostly one-year-old barrels. Lovely apple-pear notes on the nose with just a hint of vanilla. Good acidity on the palate with apple and citrus flavours that work well with a balanced spice approach from the deft use of oak.
The Good Earth Medium-Dry Riesling 2009 ($20, waiting for approval for Vintages’ Go To Market program, 90 points) — This is more to Novak’s taste, an approachable, everyday wine that appeals to a broad range of wine lovers. The nose is all peach, citrus and honey aromas that carry to the palate with a playful tug of sweet and tart. There’s underlying minerality that will show itself more over time and a good, firm acidic backbone.
The Good Earth Dry Riesling 2010 ($20, 88 points) — This is Glass’s style of Riesling. Clean, crisp and bone dry. “I love dry Riesling,” she says. “It’s the quintessential oyster wine or with anything else you can squeeze a lemon on.” The nose displays, not surprisingly, fresh-squeezed lemon, apples and just a hint of peach. It is quite austere on the palate with citrus-grapefruit fruit and wet-stone minerality.
The Good Earth Rose 2010 ($18, 88 points) — I warned you about that brutally honest trait in Novak, right? OK, here we go. She calls this mainly Cabernet Franc-based rose “The Panty Remover (her words!). You can’t only have one glass and with 13% alcohol, it gets you to your desired destination.” After that, do you need more? Let’s just say it’s a delicious rose chock full of ripe red fruits that’s simply a great sip on a hot summer’s day on a breezy porch. Or, what she said.
The Good Earth Pinot Noir 2009 ($25, 89 points) — Glass has a thing for Pinot (don’t we all) and likes it fruity but still with a bit of that “Pinot funk.” She gets that funk, that earthiness, from her yeast selection. This is a lovely Pinot with a nose of red fruits, earth, cassis, vanilla and clove spice. On the palate, the earthy bits, spice and cran-cherry flavours are delivered on a racy spine of acidity. This is the Good Earth’s most popular wine for restaurants.
The Good Earth Late Harvest Cabernet Franc 2010 ($29 for 375 ml, only 52 cases, 92 points) — Wow! A terrific late harvest wine with a gorgeous nose of nutty dried fruits, sweet red berries and strawberry-raspberry compote. It rocks on the palate with kirsch, toasted almonds, marzipan, sweet (but not too sweet) cherry-strawberry flavours and a rich texture. Super yummy late harvest goodness.
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We finish our tasting with lunch from the Good Earth bistro menu that changes daily. I am in love with my “Blackboard Salad of the Day” which on this day is a chef-inspired creation of pan-seared scallops, shrimps and red snapper with fennel, green apple and quinoa. It hits the spot with Glass’s dry Riesling.
We then take a stroll through the grounds.
The bistro restaurant is packed with people talking, eating and enjoying the bounty at Good Earth. All the food at Good Earth is prepared by a team of chefs including Partick Engel, Michael Pasto and Mike McColl.
The retail store is run by Amanda McSpadden, who Novak likes to call her “retail therapist.” McSpadden, from the Niagara College Culinary Management Program, not only runs the retail store but is also fully certified pastry chef.
Further down the lane, there is the Pantry Shed (not to be confused with the Good Earth rose) where gourmet treats are neatly stocked on shelves and fridges where people can pick what they like and leave the money in an honour jar on the table.
The next building is exclusively for Novak’s intimate “demo” style cooking classes that can take up to 12 people. It’s a beautiful cottage with full demonstration kitchen and separate dining area. The classes are led by the different chefs.
Novak also runs various culinary events that pay homage to the ripest and most bountiful produce in a given season.
Behind the cooking school cottage, and Novak’s own home, is where the garden is kept. It’s a quiet little oasis with an outdoor patio where meals are served during the summer months.
The Good Earth Food and Wine Company is a treasure in Niagara. And it’s highly recommended that you drop by and visit whether it’s for the food, wine or just to enjoy the best of what Niagara has to offer.
Enjoy!
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