Of cupcakes, riesling and a glorious Niagara day

Those of us who live in this glorious region of Niagara know exactly how lucky we are.

We can escape to a Niagara winery without giving it much thought. A quick drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Jordan, Vineland, Beamsville or even St. Catharines (now with four wineries) and we can be lounging on a winery deck drinking fine Niagara vino to our heart’s content.

Weekends are the perfect time to tour around to the wineries whether it’s for a structured tasting with a winemaker or just to relax and learn more about the wines that are just being released.

This past weekend was a wonderful chance to enjoy our wineries and the many new releases hitting shelves for the summer crush. I had agreed to meet Suresh Doss (publisher of Toronto’s best food and wine website called spotlighttoronto.com and a tireless advocate for Ontario wine) and his partner Nina Popovic (also heavily involved in spotlighttoronto) at one of their favourite wineries, Ravine Vineyard in beautiful St. Davids. It was a gorgeous day, so tasting new releases and the prospect of a nice lunch at the new Ravine Deli and Bakery, featuring wood fired, stone oven breads, spectacular pastries and desserts, rare cheeses, and gourmet soups and sandwiches was a no brainer.

Alex Harber, the youngest son of the family which owns the winery and helps run the tasting room while finishing university at Brock, welcomed us with his just released Riesling 2007. It’s such a unique wine (and selling out rather quickly) with 20% of the fruit botrytised and then made in a sussreserve style. Peach, wild honey, grapefruit and lime combine with gorgeous minerality and zingy acididy. It’s a balanced wine, low in alcohol, that comes in layers. Heady stuff.

As a special treat, Suresh and Nina brought cupcakes from Toronto’s Sweet Escape Patisserie which made some exquisite Ravine Riesling 2007-infused Lemon Curd Cupcakes. The icing, batter and gooey curd centre were all made with a generous splash of Ravine’s delightful riesling. I’m not a cupcake expert, but, wow, this concoction was brilliant.

From there we tried a couple of new white wine releases from Ravine including the new 2009 vintage of the winery’s popular gewurztraminer and the chardonnay musque. Here are a couple of quick reviews:

Ravine Gewurztraminer 2009 (around $18, released June 21 at the winery) — A nice floral, lychee, spice nose. It’s a fleshy wine on the palate with grapefruit, ginger and exotic spice notes. A super long finish.

Ravine Chardonnay Musque 2009 (around $12-$14 dollars for a half bottle, released in a couple of weeks) — Apple and citrus notes on the nose of this light (8.8% alcohol), summery white. Candy sweet apple fruit on the palate with notes of citrus and orange peel. A nice, off-dry pleaser.

We capped off the afternoon with a long, leisurely lunch on the back patio of the Ravine Deli and Bakery overlooking the vineyards. The pace is slow and relaxed and the food is delightful.

Most interesting was the fresh cream of asparagus soup matched with Ravine Sauvignon Blanc 2008. If ever there was match made in heaven, this could be it. I also enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich with homemade potato salad while Suresh munched on a charcuterie plate and Nina dined on a oven baked flatbread pizza. We didn’t know where the time went, and certainly didn’t care. But we only had time for one more winery visit.

It was off to Five Rows Craft Wine, just down the street from Ravine. Five Rows is one of the smallest wineries in Niagara and still relatively new. Howie and Wilma Lowery, along with their son Wes, are fifth-generation fruit and grape farmers on a 64-acre St. Davids property. Together they run the small craft winery that, at its peak, will only produce 500 cases of wine. And not only do mom, dad and son run the winery, they do all the work from tending the vines, to nurturing, harvesting, making, bottling and selling the wines.

It was such a pleasure to see Wilma Lowrey so excited to see us and explain the fascinating history behind the vineyards and the reasons the family wanted to make small-batch wines.

The last time I visited it was -20C with howling winds and blinding snow outside. They only had three wines to try in a portfolio that will include pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, riesling, syrah and cabernet sauvignon icewine as well as their signature wine pinot noir. They will all be made in very small batches, with each bottle hand-labelled and numbered. Consumers can track each bottle they purchase by registering the number on the bottle on the website.

Here’s a few wines we enjoyed:

Five Rows Craft Wine Pinot Gris 2008 ($25) — Only 57 cases of this white were made. Wes Lowrey likes to barrel ferment a portion of the grapes to give his wines complexity and added mouthfeel. There’s plenty of spicy apple and melon notes on the nose. In the mouth this is a gorgeous and vibrant wine with fresh apple-citrus fruits, subtle spice and a clean finish.

Five Rows Craft Wine Sauvignon Blanc 2008 ($25) — It’s easy to see why Creekside, with its classy Sauvignon Blanc program, sources some of its grapes from the Lowreys. This is one beautiful wine. Gooseberry, lime, herbs, tropical fruit and just a hint of spice from a touch of oak. The fruit is lively and fresh on the palate with focused flavours and a long, echoing finish.

Five Rows Craft Wine Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 ($50) — The Lowrey family is committed to making a 100% cabernet each and every vintage even if it’s as little as one barrel, which is the case with the tough 2009 vintage. The current, 2005 vintage, is a remarkable example of how good this grape can be in the right winemaker’s hands. It starts with aromas of blackberries, currants, elegant oak and spice. It’s bursting with jammy red fruits, currants, firm tannins and developing structure that will integrate and mellow with time in the cellar.

And, we aren’t supposed tell anybody, but Wilma did pour us a taste of the fabulous pinot noir that will be released in the next few weeks. It’s from the 2007 vintage and is a lovely wine with bright red fruits, an elegant palate and silky smooth tannins. Watch for this release.

Here’s an interesting excerpt from Wes Lowrey’s blog about his beloved pinot with an email address at the end where you can buy it:

“Since deciding to start a winery, the question I get asked most is, “so when is the Pinot going to be ready?” I’ve stalled and tap-danced around the answer for about a year now, but not any longer.

Twenty-three years ago, five unassuming rows of Burgundian Clone 115 Pinot Noir were planted by a skeptical crew of individuals amid concerns about the future of a seemingly faltering grape and wine industry.  Would these vines even live to produce a crop?  Only time would tell.

No doubt my eagle-eye grandfather drove the tractor that fateful day, as this most important job meant the difference between straight and crooked rows. To this day I’m amazed at his accuracy each time I gaze down a row in that vineyard.  The unsung heroes of the operation were the two women perched precipitously upon the planter as it was tugged violently behind the tractor.

My Mother and Aunt Pat were responsible for placing the young vines into the freshly harrowed trench at consistent intervals, all the while being tossed about on their cast iron seats. Timing is everything, as vines planted too close together or too far apart can create a trellising nightmare (by the way, this is all done with laser and GPS nowadays). I’m sure they were made well aware if any of the vines looked a little out of place! Trudging along solemnly behind the operation was my Father, personally tamping and straightening each vine. Did he have an inkling that one day I’d be writing about this? Probably not. At the time he didn’t know a Pinot from his elbow, so most likely he would have laughed at the thought of his young son as a blog-writing winemaker.

His deep connection to these original vines was evident in recent years when I saw him conspicuously wipe away few tears as we uprooted out some old vines that didn’t make it through winter.  Maybe it was just something in his eye.

Ironically, the rough clay-loam and limestone soil being cursed by the planters that day ultimately proved to be a key factor in the future success of these vines.  From the first wines made out of this fruit, it was apparent that the enigmatic effects of Terroir could be applied to this small patch of land in St. Davids. The Reserve Pinot Noir produced by Inniskillin in the early 90s was much sought after and helped to elevate the image of Niagara wines as a whole. The success of this Pinot spawned a collaboration project between Inniskillin and a counterpart in Burgundy. Their goal was to produce a Niagara Pinot Noir that could stack up with the finest Grand Cru. French Negotiant Bernard Repolt of Jaffelin was commissioned to select barrels from the Inniskillin portfolio that best represented the beloved wines of his homeland.  After an exhaustive search that involved physically tasting soil (”mmm….loamy”) from the vineyard origin of each barrel, he and Inniskillin winemaker Karl Kaiser worked in tandem to come up with a final blend.  These critically acclaimed “Alliance” wines sold out lightning fast and really helped put Inniskillin on the map.  The fact they ended up choosing Lowrey barrels for the project dramatically changed the focus of our farm and probably had a lot to do with my future choice to become a winemaker.  From that point on we weren’t growing grapes, we were growing wines.

Crafting my 2007 Pinot Noir from these same five rows was an exciting process that really brought things full circle.  There were plenty of anxious moments, but earlier this year as the wine went into bottle I felt a certain catharsis, knowing there was nothing more for me to do.

I have 99 cases of this wine and plan to release it early this summer.  If you are interested in reserving a six-bottle case ($300) please let me know soon (wes@fiverows.com). In an effort to maximize distribution I must limit orders to 2 cases.”

Wes

And so ended a long but enjoyable day in Niagara in and among the vines and tasting rooms of this glorious region. I could tell you that Suresh, Nina and I enjoyed another couple of hours tasting on my own back patio, wines such as Tawse Carly’s Block Riesling 2008, Fielding Estate Pinot Noir 2008, Henry of Pelham Pinot Noir 2007 Reserve, Darioush Shiraz Napa Valley 2000, but, let’s just say, a good day was had by all.