By Rick VanSickle
PICTON — Far too many of the roads in Prince Edward County are either under repair or in need of some serious TLC, making touring a game of cat and mouse with potholes and detours as you wind your way down the country roads of wine country.
Despite road conditions and the long, often complicated, routes from one collection of wineries to the next, the rewards are well worth the effort once you get to your destination. The County is not Napa Valley, or Niagara or like any other wine region in the world. It has its own quirky, unique personality all built on the all-pervading limestone soils that wrap a warm embrace around the Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays the region is famous for. And there’s no lack of charm as you zig-zag from winery to winery.
Making wine on the margins isn’t easy. Winters are cold, necessitating the burying of vines in the fall or the expensive method of geo-textiles. Spring is late, and the cool months of fall and the bitter winters come fast in The County. But, when everything goes right, the wines here are some of the most unique, and profoundly beautiful you will find anywhere.
Making a living here from wine isn’t easy for the nearly 40 wineries in The County. It’s expensive to grow grapes with generally low yields, plus the high costs associated with the wintering of the vines. For the most part, wineries depend on consumers coming to them rather than selling their wines at Ontario’s monopoly retailer, the LCBO. It’s been estimated that it’s three times more expensive to grow grapes in The County than in Niagara. And only a handful of wineries in The County have the production numbers to even get into the LCBO.
There have been numerous changes on the Prince Edward County wine scene, including winemakers, owners, and wineries for sale due to retirement or the passing of an owner or winemaker.
Wineries for sale include, the Del Gatto Estates winery, Amanda’s Vineyards, By Chadsey’s Cairns Winery and Vineyard, and Hillier Creek Estates Winery. The status of the Long Dog Winery is unknown after the winemaker and co-owner James Lahti passed away this year, but there has been a dearth of social media and the website “can’t be reached.”
Three Dog Winery has been fully purchased by Andrew Rye as of March 2022. Rye formerly worked at Malivoire, Megalomaniac and Foreign Affair in Niagara before buying in The County. He is making the wines there going forward. There have also been changes at Lighthall Vineyards, but we will discuss that in Part II of our County report.
For those who venture to Prince Edward County, the trip is full of memories. It is a cornucopia of goodness, not just from the wines made here and offered up in the pastoral beauty of The County’s landscape, but also from the culinary experiences from local restaurants and wineries, the local ciders, breweries, and distilleries, to the quaint towns, B&Bs, and local merchants selling unique arts and crafts. It’s a magical place that’s crafting exciting wines that get better and better with each passing vintage.
My wife and I, along with our pooch Maisy (above, in Wellington), just returned from a few days in The County. It wasn’t an organized wine tour, but we certainly made time to explore the vinous pleasures offered by the region at a reasonable pace. In this two-part report on The County, we visited and tasted wines (and cider) from the Last House Vineyard, Trail Estate Winery, Lighthall Vineyards and County Cider. Here is Part 1 of my report.
Last House Vineyard, new kids on the block
André Gagné and his wife Debra Mathews are relative new kids on the block on The County wine scene. The couple, Mathews a former reporter and producer with the CBC, and Gagné, a former executive with Metro Inc. and a home winemaker, went all in on their dream. They sold their home in Etobicoke and bought property in Prince Edward County in 2016. Mathews relocated to PEC in October of 2016 while Gagne moved here more recently after commuting from Toronto for the first couple of years.
Located at 23 County Road 20 in Wellington, the property consists of 11 acres, a stunning two-storey home with water frontage on Lake Ontario in the Hillier ward, plus a recently renovated winery. Only 5.25 acres of grapes — 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay — are under vine on the property, which was originally planted by the late Richard Karlo in 2009 in soil that is Ameliasburgh clay loam over a layer of limestone shale. There is also a Golden Russet apple orchard for a small production of cider.
On this day of tasting on a beautiful sunny fall day, we gathered on the spacious front porch over-looking the vineyard to taste wines and chat. We are joined by wine grower consultant Geoff Heinricks (author of A Fool and Forty Acres). He’s has been called the “éminence grise” behind the establishment of The County wine industry and was the first to propose that Prince Edward County could one day be a major player in the Canadian wine industry. He thoroughly investigated the soils and microclimates of The County and concluded that the cool climate, coupled with the all-pervading limestone base, would be an ideal situation for classic the Burgundian grapes, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
I have been impressed with the wines from the Last House made by Gagné and Heinricks and was looking forward to this “porch tasting” ever since Gagné sat on our porch to show me his debut wines a summer ago in St. Catharines.
It has been a strange vintage in PEC with more wet summer weather than normal prompting disease pressure, followed, thankfully, by a warm September that put the vintage back on track for a potentially great vintage. As we toured the Last House vineyard, Gagné said he is expecting lower yields, down nearly 50%, but excellent wines from the estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir fruit. The harvest began Saturday with a pick of Pinot Noir in Daniel’s Block.
Gagné chose to present a vertical of vintages from his Daniel Block Pinot Noirs. The vineyard, named after his son, consists of 12 rows of Pinot Noir (approximately 700 vines). We were also treated to taste the estate’s first sparkling wine, a traditionally made Blanc de Noir.
I brought a Pinot Noir from Niagara, from the tiny production of the On Seven Pinot Noir 2020, as a comparative to the Last House Hillier Rouge 2021, which had similar low yields and winemaking style.
Here is what I liked:
Last House Hillier Rouge Daniel Block Reserve 2019 (sold out) — This was the first vintage from the Last House, and this was the first wine completed and bottled at the estate. The production was a measly 60 cases with only 10 cases offered as a “reserve” wine. It spent 14 months in French oak. Heinricks said that the reserve Pinot from 2019 was culled from grapes that had an elevated hang time in the vineyard. “It reminded me of 2007 (when he was the winemaker at the Keint-He winery),” he said. “It was from a warmer vintage, and we wanted to show the potential of the vineyard.” It has lovely florals and perfume with savoury red berries, cranberries, and subtle spice notes. It has plush texture and vitality on the palate with some tannic structure, meaty/savoury notes, black cherries, wild raspberries, anise, underbrush, and a bit of spice on a lifted, long finish. If you were lucky enough to snag this first vintage, no need to drink up, it’s still evolving nicely.
Last House Vineyard Hillier Rouge Daniel Block 2020 ($45 and $100 for magnum, limited stock left, retasted, 93 points) — This was crushed and destemmed with 25% whole clusters added. It was wild fermented and aged in 85% neutral French oak, lightly sulphured and bottled unfined and unfiltered. It shows a beautiful garnet colour in the glass and has an expressive, perfumed nose of wild black raspberries, macerated dark cherries, blueberries, red currants, and a subtle Christmas spice background. It’s just gorgeous on the palate and more open knit than the 2019 version with a cherry/raspberry explosion, some earthy/savoury notes, cassis, soft, silky tannins, just a hint of pepper and a lifted, finessed finish. Can cellar 5+ years.
Last House Petit Hiller Rouge 2021 ($34, not released yet, 93 points) — This estate Pinot Noir was “mostly” fruit from vines planted in 2018 (4th leaf), but not bottled under the single block Daniel designation, so de-classified Daniel Block, if you will. The fruit was hand harvested into 15 kg bins before it was crushed and destemmed. The wine was fermented in two, one-tonne insulated bins with punch downs three times a day. Total time in the bins was 21 days, with seven days maceration post cap fall. Due to lack of barrels, the wine was moved to a 1,200-litre steel tank until March of 2022 where it was moved to neutral oak barrels to complete malo and continue elevage. It was lightly sulphured and hand-bottled in May of 2023 with no filtering or fining and finished at 10.9% abv. Expectations were not high for this wine due to the difficult 2021 vintage and the paler shade of red in the glass didn’t help matters from a visual point of view. But I’ve been down this road with Pinot before and colour and expectations are sometimes only there to completely befuddle you. It’s a rather simply made, non-interventionist wine that shows the essence of County Pinot Noir in its rawest form. The nose, oh my goodness, the nose. Smelling this wine is like breathing in the air on a hike through a boreal forest after a summer rain. The truffles, wet decaying leaves, and lovely saline perfume from a fresh, babbling brook surrounded by forest berries and wild herbs, leaves you mesmerized. There is magic on the nose of this ethereal Pinot Noir; fresh, wild, and untethered, delivering notes of wild raspberries squeezed directly into your glass, some tart cherries, a touch of anise and dirt, like fresh turned soil and crushed granite, and only a soupçon of spice. It’s fully integrated as is and caresses the palate with its silky texture and it runs fresh and long all the way down the hatch. This is a pure, simple, delicious, and unpretentious County Pinot unlike any other. For a wine from a suspect vintage, from a low level of expectation, it certainly makes a bold statement. Commented Gagné during our tasting on his porch: “Making wine here you are making it on the margins.” This is that wine, and a brilliant result it was. Tasting it beside the On Seven Pinot from Niagara that I brought to the tasting was a fallacy on my part. Both are lovely wines, and both were made from adversity, but the two are not alike. They are purely expressions of the terroir from where they were grown. Nonetheless, fun to taste side by side.
Last House Hillier Rouge Daniel Block 2022 ($45 range when released, only 25 cases made, tank sample, 93+ points) — Yields were low in 2022 due the cold the previous winter and late breaking sour rot. It was aged in neutral French oak, lightly sulphured after malo and bottled with no fining. Only one barrel was made. It follows closely to the 2020 vintage with lovely florals/perfume followed by ripe black cherries, wild raspberries, savoury undertones, and quiet spices. It’s juicy and ripe, showing a bit denser fruit on the palate with mouth-filling red berries, anise, earthiness, and elegant spice notes that all lead to a long, bright finish. Great potential for this “baseline” Pinot from the Last House when it gets to bottle.
Last House Bonheur Blanc de Noir Traditional Method 2020 ($45, released in time for Christmas, 660 bottles made in first disgorging, unlabelled and awaiting VQA approval, 92 points) — Happiness, as the name of this first traditional made Pinot Noir sparkling wine from Last House suggests, is a state of mind brought on by delicious bubbles. This falls under that category. Even the label, a painting by artist Stewart Jones that hangs in the family’s home, brings a sense of joy. The fruit is sourced from estate grapes planted in 2018, so third leaf Pinot Noir that was whole cluster pressed. It was wild fermented in stainless steel and then lees aged for 28 months. The wine was hand riddled and disgorged with zero dosage and bottled unfiltered and unfined. The first 100 bottles will be released in time for Christmas with other disgorgements following. It shows a light golden colour in the glass with a vigorous, persistent bead in the glass and toasty notes of pear, yellow apple, and bright citrus. It shows beautiful freshness on the palate with a more elegant flair for the bubbles. The palate shows a minerally/flinty edge with pear/apple/quince, toasty/pie crust nuances and a bright, lingering finish.
A dog’s life in The County
Day One in Prince Edward County was all about getting there, settling into our B&B in downtown Picton, and making sure our pooch, Maisy (yes, she has her won IG page here (https://www.instagram.com/maisytheenglishsetter/), was getting all the love and attention she needs to live a happy and healthy life. She was friendly with Gagné and Mathews’ cute-as-a-button Aussiedoodle named Billie, as in Billie Holiday, but Maisy is all about the ‘what now’, people! Which is a fancy way of saying she is needy.
Bringing her with us to as many things as we can, is not only tough, it’s dog-gone frustrating as not all businesses are dog friendly. But in The County, dogs are welcome to almost every restaurant (with a patio, and some even indoors), every winery, brewery and cidery we’ve been to. Honestly, that’s a godsend, as we wouldn’t travel to PEC without her.
First on our agenda before our visit to the Last House, was a brisk dog walk with Maisy to Sandbanks Provincial Park. It was a gorgeous day, and the beach was pretty much all to ourselves. Maisy is a sporting dog, bred originally to locate game birds and sit quietly, or ‘set,’ when she finds them. That entire part is lost on Maisy, who passionately chases squirrels, rabbits, skunks, and birds with no “setting” involved at all. She has never really caught anything (we’re not counting the squirrel that fell out of tree), except the pungent spray from a skunk or two, so we are grateful she is terrible at her job.
The beach at Sandbanks was home on this day to thousands of seagulls and ducks basking in the shallow water and sand, and just minding their own business. We had Maisy on her lead, but that didn’t stop her from attempting to chase every last bird off the beach. After an hour or two of that, it was off to Bloomfield, our favourite little town in The County, located between Wellington and Picton. We were famished, and we settled on where we always settle at some point, Bloomfield Public House.
You can take your dog inside and peruse the menu or wait outside on one the several patio areas for service. We chose both, with Maisy in tow, and I ordered the super healthy Aarons lettuces with seeds, radish, sheep’s milk cheese, apple, and mustard dressing, while Maureen ordered the charred radicchio with pear, caramelized whey lemon vin and crème fraiche. Maisy, seated quietly on the grass in front us, was fed a steady diet of liver treats and bowls of fresh water.
Later that afternoon, following our Last House visit, we visited Parsons Brewing Company, just outside Picton, which had a bit more room for Maisy, and we both enjoyed the Crushable Pilsner and a side of water for you know who.
Dinner that night was also in Picton, within walking distance of our B&B, at the 555 Brewing Co., where wood-fired pizza and tasty lagers filled our bellies quite nicely while Maisy waited patiently for scraps and treats.
Other meals while in the County included dinner on the patio at the County Canteen on Picton’s main street, not ideal for Maisy with passing dogs and the odd growl-a-thon, but a hearty meal and County Cider Premium draught nonetheless. That was followed by a surprisingly delightful beer and dinner at the Vic Social, where we ran into Gagné and his son Daniel (yes, the Daniel named for the Daniel Block Pinot Noirs) and enjoyed a pint with them. Maisy, cute as she is, and she damn well knows it, was a bit of hit with the patrons there. Food (I ordered crab cakes) and pints were spot on.
Sure, we would love to enjoyed long, leisurely meals in the some of the tonier restaurants in Prince Edward County, but the vibe outdoors in late September with our pain-in-the-butt pup, was really all we needed or wanted.
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