John Howard is gunning it through the narrow trails of his vineyards on a rare sunny day in Niagara. It’s slick and muddy from a relentlessly soggy fall but Howard has a good feel for how his SUV handles the slippery terrain.
Also still hanging on this day (but since all picked), and in great shape, is Howard’s Cabernet Sauvingon and Cabernet Franc. He reaches down and plucks a bunch of grapes, squeezing one between his fingers and scraping the inside of the skin. It is the colour that tells Howard when it’s ripe for the picking. Not looming storms or conventional thinking. Colour tells Howard everything. A deep, rich red that stains the fingers is a tell-tale sign that his Bordeaux grapes are close to perfection.
The vineyards at Howard’s Cellars of Distinction, home of his Megalomaniac wines, are striking. All skinny rows of perfectly symmetrical lines that have been thinned and trimmed to allow the sun to penetrate through to the grapes. Exposure is maximized to allow radiation to do its thing. And, in Niagara, that means as much exposure as possible. Leaf thinning, leaf tearing. It’s a crucial part of Howard’s program to make Bordeaux-style reds each and every vintage.
Bordeaux runs through the veins of Howard. It is in that style of wine where his heart lies.
The Vineland businessman turned wine baron, is a 35% (the most allowed under French law) partner with the Januoueix family, which operates four estates in Bordeaux from Grand Cru to Bordeaux Superieur, including the coveted Chateau La Confession.
He is a firm believer that with the right viticulture practices, implemented by one of Niagara’s great vineyard managers, Duarte Oliveira, the essence of Bordeaux can be achieved in Niagara.
He is experimenting with different gravel soils that he painstakingly designed from two years of crushing stone dug up when he built his giant 8,000-square-foot barrel cellar 22 feet under his vineyards.
While Howard covets his big red blends and varietals, and they really do form the backbone of his diverse portfolio, he introduced a little wine called Homegrown, Vineyard 4379 (named after the latitude, 43, and longitude, 79, of the winery) beginning with the 2006 vintage.
Its initial release took off from the get-go, debuting in 150 stores in Ontario and 150 more in Quebec.
Howard jokingly called it the “opiate for the masses” and that observation has somewhat held true. As he releases his fourth vintage of Homegrown White, the 2010 version, he notes that the Homegrown brand is the fastest-growing VQA wine in Canada.
Howard sources the fruit for Homegrown from his 30 acres of Riesling vines and has made a concerted effort to keep the price down while going to great lengths to show on the bottle that it’s100% Ontario grown (it sports the 100% Grown by Grape Growers of Ontario logo on the bottle). He gives exact GPS co-ordinates on the back of the bottle that will take you right to the vineyard where the grapes are grown.
And Howard has just released the brother wine, the Homegrown Red 2009, that uses the same philosophy as the white. Good value for an easy drinking wine that’s all about 100% Niagara grapes.
It’s a blend of 70% Cabernet and 30% Merlot that’s now widely available at the LCBO.
Here are reviews of Howard’s new Homegrown wines and the Big Mouth Merlot just released at Vintages.
Megalomaniac Homegrown Riesling 2010 ($13, 87 points) — Megalomaniac winemaker Sue-Ann Staff used a lot less icewine than previous vintages in this blend from the hot 2010 vintage. It shows nicely on the nose with aromas of peach, fresh lime-citrus and grapefruit notes. It’s refreshing and simple on the palate with sweet-tart citrus, peach and only a dash of honey. A great house wine to have around when friends drop by unexpectedly.
Megalomaniac Homegrown Red 2009 ($17, 86 points) — Another good sipper of the red kind. A nose of smoky-savoury wild berries, dark cherry and earthy-plum notes. The fruit shines on the palate with interesting savoury spices and bright acidity.
Megalomaniac Big Mouth Merlot 2008 ($25, 88 points) — Howard believes that by judicious leaf thinning to maximize radiation from the sun on the grapes, even in a cooler vintage such as 2008, he can ripen Bordeaux varieties where many others can’t in Niagara. His 08 Big Mouth shouts loud with plum, cassis, currants, earth, cigar-box cedar and spice on the nose. The wine spent 22 months in oak and the toasty-creamy spice flavours are evident in the mouth. This is a wine with an acidic backbone, firm tannins, interesting fruit and tobacco notes that will age well and be a fine complement with grilled meats. Needs decanting on release.
Enjoy!
Comment here