Ravine Vineyard has always been about small production wines made from certified organic fruit grown biodynamically on its unique 34-acre site on the St. Davids Bench appellation.
Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Riesling are the grapes of choice, and most of the resulting wines are made in tiny quantities that quickly sell out vintage to vintage.
The result has been gaps at the retail store and tasting room of red and white wines that are often sold out and, more recently, after the successful launch of the Ravine Vineyard Bistro, wines by the glass to enjoy with the fresh country menu developed by chef Paul Harber.
At times this past summer, the only white wine by the glass available on the bistro menu was the top reserve Chardonnay, a wine that is pricey for many casual diners.
Ravine wine steward, and son of owners Norma Jane (Lowrey) Harber and her husband Blair Harber, Alex Harber (seen in photo above) made a decision to feature wines from other neighbouring wineries to fill in the gaps and add choice to a wine list that, because of the winery’s success, was often in short supply at Ravine.
Meanwhile, the wheels were turning on how to fill the gaps in the wine program and to appeal to wine consumers looking for wines more in line with their budgets. In other words, more choice.
Thus was born the Sand & Gravel label, which is directly tied to the rich history of the winery, but sources fruit off-estate from neighbouring growers in Niagara-on-the-Lake (the Riesling is from St. Davids).
Harber calls the Sand & Gravel wines the “drink now label,” which means the wines are made in a style to be enjoyed right out of the bottle instead of waiting years for the Ravine reserve wines, which are built to improve in the cellar.
Ravine previously had two non-estate wines in its program, the Redcoat red blend and the York Road white blend. Both have been folded into the new label along with a Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Riesling.
The catchy new logo and packaging was created by Burlington’s Insite Design, which has done some interesting work for other Niagara wineries including Five Rows, Henry of Pelham, Pearl Morissette, Mike Weir and others on various labels.
The name Sand & Gravel is plucked from Harber (Lowrey) family history, which stretches back five generations. The family has milled, farmed, canned fruit, mined gravel, made boats and now owns and runs Ravine with a restaurant and event facility run out a historic house and accompanying bistro and deli.
Sand & Gravel is the original name of a family business that operated a few generations back.
The logo for Sand & Gravel, according to Insite, “was inspired by the original hand lettered door on the Ravine Sand & Gravel pickup. Hand painted signs have been a fixation of ours and so the opportunity to reflect this tradition was a pleasure.”
Insite said, that, for the brand, “we kept it simple, wishing to convey sophistication and attention to detail while being grainier, more elbows on the table and boisterous than the parent line of wines. We relied on a bold type solution married to textures which were collected from the surface patina of the winery’s facility.”
From Alex Harber’s point of view: “We just liked tying in the whole sand and gravel thing.”
The line will consist of five wines and can be switched up vintage to vintage depending on the quality of the fruit from Ravine’s growers.
It’s a big change for Ravine, which has taken its small production of 3,000 cases to an anticipated 7,500 cases in 2011.
But it gives the winery the needed flexibility in the tasting room and bistro to offer a broader choice of wines to buy and enjoy by the glass.
Here’s what’s just been released at the winery after a tasting with Alex Harber recently.
Ravine Sand & Gravel York Road 2010 ($17, 86 points) — A blend of Chardonnay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc that shows good aromatics of green apple, lemon, lime and grapefruit. It displays ripe citrus-apple fruit on the palate, and is fairly dry, with good acid on the finish.
Ravine Sand & Gravel Chardonnay 2010 ($18, 88 points) — A lightly oaked Chard without undergoing malo. The fruity nose shows pear, citrus and some tropical notes as well as a hint of creamy spice. Good balance on the palate and enjoyable fruit-forward flavours.
Ravine Sand & Gravel Redcoat 2010 ($18, 89 points) — This blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon is just lovely with a generous nose of cassis, plum, wild berry, raspberry and light spice derived from minimal oak aging. It’s all about the fruit in the mouth with lush, rich flavours of red berries, kirsch and currants. Delicious.
Ravine Sand & Gravel Cabernet Franc 2010 ($19, 88 points) — This Franc was aged for eight months in older French oak barrels with a heavier toast. The nose displays cherry, blueberry, currants, vanilla and a lovely cinnamon-toast note. It is smooth and ripe on the palate with soft tannins, forward fruits and a balanced presentation of spice.
Ravine Sand & Gravel Riesling 2010 ($18, 87 points) — It’s made with only 9% alcohol in a semi-sweet style showing grapefruit, lime, lanolin, apple, peach, honey and mineral notes on the nose. It’s fleshy and round with an obvious layer of minerals in the mouth to go with all those rich peach-citrus flavours.
Enjoy!
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