By Rick VanSickle
It just isn’t easy making wine on the margins in Ontario but when winemakers get it right, it can be a magical experience.
My wife Maureen and I travelled to Prince Edward County and the Ottawa Valley recently with not nearly enough time for a deep dive into the many wineries we have come to know and appreciate. Our main reason for visiting The County was to meet Zoe Marshall Nares, the co-owner and wine/cider maker at Stoss Lee Wine and Stock and Row, as she is the daughter of a former teacher of mine, Brian Marshall, who had a profound impact on my own life.
It was a wonderful experience, which you can read about here, and another example of perseverance, skill and patience in a region blessed with ideal soils for creating soulful wines, but also a crap shoot when it comes to Mother Nature.
I have been impressed with what Hillier’s Last House Vineyard has created in just a short period of time from the pastoral vineyard and orchard at Andre Gagné, above, and his wife Debra Matthew’s estate on the edge of Lake Ontario. So, we stopped in to taste what’s new and chat about County life.
Our only other visit on this trip was to KIN Vineyards in Carp, a 20-minute drive west Ottawa, and the most northern winery in existence growing only the vinifera grapes made famous in Burgundy — Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Talk about making wine on the margins! KIN is the poster child for innovation and stick-to-itiveness and doing it at a very high level. Winemaker Brian Hamilton is a miracle worker in the vineyard and in the winery and has created an impressive body of work that we tasted from the very first vintage to all the future Pinots and Chards now resting in bottles.
It was an extraordinary experience for both of us to taste the full range of these wines in two verticals to see the evolution of styles and decipher the terroir that makes the KIN estate wines so unique in this relatively new emerging region.
We discuss both these wineries and their wines, starting with KIN Vineyards.
Ottawa Valley’s KIN Vineyards
It’s a blistering hot day at KIN Vineyards, and a rare day of no rain in a season that’s seen 600 mm of the wet stuff since June.
We are greeted by winemaker Hamilton at the edge of the estate’s 10-acre vineyard, planted 10 years ago to five acres each of Pinot Noir Chardonnay. KIN was originally planted to both hybrids and vinifera grapes, but the hybrids were pulled out and replanted to only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with tiny yields, typically ranging from under a tonne an acre to two tonnes an acre, said Hamilton.
It has been a wet and challenging vintage in the Ottawa Valley with all that rain prompting disease and pest pressure. “With a compromised canopy it is difficult to build sugar for ripening, so we are encouraged to see new growth as well as veraison starting in the vineyard,” said Hamilton. “About a week later than usual, we will look to a harvest no earlier than the first week in October. We hope for a drier and sunny September to produce a lighter but quality vintage.”
There is always something lurking around the corner that can make or break a harvest in the Ottawa Valley. It’s far from a traditional wine region with its shorter growing season, higher than normal rainfall, constant disease pressure from high humidity and then all the hilling (burying of vines) that needs to be done before the winter cold sets in. I’m thinking, why even attempt to plant vinifera, let along Pinot and Chard, in a climate such as this?
Then you walk the striking vineyard with the ever-optimistic Hamilton, look up and down the tidy rows of the sloping vineyard that has a drop of 95 vertical feet from top to bottom and taste the wines produced you begin to understand. It’s the wine, silly! As Hamilton often says to his team: “If this was easy, everyone would do it.”
While the climate can produce many challenges in the Ottawa Valley, the soil and geological conditions are what attracts the dreamers here. The 47-acre farm, 10 under vine, is nestled along the Carp Ridge, adjoined by the Carp River, and resting on the grey limestone of the Ottawa Formation. The vineyard imparts a distinct terroir, a unique personality, and has shown potential to join the best wineries in the province making top Burgundian style wines.
The vineyard is bisected by the Hazeldean Fault, which shows glacial till over limestone on the upper slope and clay loam over limestone on the lower slope. It has taken 10 vintages to sort out what does best in each section of the vineyard and how to build the top wines.
The estate chooses to farm sustainably, including both organic and biodynamic approaches whenever possible. Healthy soils, a biodiversity of flora and fauna creates a vineyard of balance and synergy, and ultimately, the winery says, “wines of substance, integrity, uniqueness of place and longevity. Our winemaking is focused on using experience and skill to achieve balance in the wines rather than to achieve a preconceived ideal.”
Hamilton has been the winemaker at KIN from nearly from the beginning. Hired in 2012, after many years as a winemaker in Niagara at Southbrook, Tawse and Malivoire, plus stints in Sonoma, California and New Zealand, he saw in KIN what he saw in Niagara — vast potential.
In 2019, a change in ownership came with Lorraine Mastersmith and Shaun McEwan purchasing the estate. On the day Maureen and I arrived, we were greeted by McEwan at the bustling outdoor tasting pavilion, absolutely packed on a Friday afternoon. The wines are retailed from the window of a decked-out trailer, while there are plans for an indoor retail and tasting facility.
Ottawa is fortunate to have such a classy winery with not only estate Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, but a full and diverse range of wines sourced from top vineyards in Niagara and other Ontario wine regions.
Before arriving, I had no idea Hamilton planned to open — for the very first time — every Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made at the estate side by side to get a true picture of the wines and how they have evolved and how they show a vein of similarity from the unique terroir of the Carp Ridge.
Here is what we tasted in the winery with Hamilton. The wines can be purchased at the winery or online here:
The Chardonnays
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Chardonnay 2017 (92 points) — The first vintage of the estate Chardonnay made at KIN only produced one barrel of wine, all of which sold out quickly and announced the arrival of Burgundian grapes to the Ottawa Valley. The Chardonnays from 2017 to 2019 were aged in French oak (50% new oak) for six months with lees stirring and some malo. Subsequent vintages are mostly aged in neutral oak for 10 months with no bâtonnage. Hamilton came to the realization that “it’s all about the soil, I want to taste the soil. I don’t need the fattening.” All the estate wines are started with wild ferment and finished with the “house” cultured yeast. This is still rocking with a savoury and persistent nose of pear, yellow apple, fresh saline minerality and integrated spices. It’s rich with a creamy texture, flinty minerality, pear, quince and juicy and lively through a finessed finish. If I had some, I’d keep drinking it for a further three years. Lovely.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Chardonnay 2018 (92 points) — This is a multi-clonal blend that was aged in French oak and stainless steel for 10 months with bi-weekly lees stirring and bottled with minimal filtration. It’s starting to show a bit more colour in the glass than when I originally reviewed this wine with a nose of creamy pear, ripe apple, toasty vanilla spice and subtle minerality. It has a creamy feel on the palate with a lovely mélange of pear, apple and quince with lemon accents that is reminiscent of Chablis as it builds in momentum on the long, luxurious and finessed finish.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Chardonnay 2019 (93 points) — The 2019 Chardonnay was picked on two dates — Oct. 4 and Oct. 21 — and was wild fermented then aged in French oak (19% new barrels, 70% neutral barrels and the rest stainless steel) for 10 months. There has a beautiful note of saline/oyster shell minerality on the nose with pear, lemon blossom, toasted almonds and nougat with subtle elegant oak spices. It is fresh and finessed on the palate with stony minerality, pear/apple fruit, a creamy texture and a bright, long finish with zesty citrus accents and spice. Developing nicely with room for more integration and elegance.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Chardonnay 2020 ($32, current vintage, 93 points) — Unlike the relatively perfect harvest in southern Ontario, the 2020 vintage in the Ottawa Valley “was challenging … with heavy late season rains, multiple autumn frost evenings, and rot, so both the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are essentially unoaked and a departure from our usual style,” said Hamilton. The fruit was picked in two steps, the first in late September and the second in early October. It was aged in mainly older oak barrels with only 3% new oak, 85% neutral oak and 12% stainless steel. Hamilton has done a fabulous job here; despite facing adversity and this tasting only confirmed and bolstered my original review. The nose is generous with a stony/saline beginning before showing pear, yellow apple, lemon citrus, oyster shells and savoury accents. That saline minerality carries to the palate with pear/quince fruits, crisp lemon, a subtle creamy texture, layered, pure and bright on a fresh, lifted finish. An attractive Chardonnay that you can cellar 4 more years.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Chardonnay 2021 (not released yet, 93 points) — The 2021 vintage in the Ottawa Valley was warm and the fruit very ripe so the style is richer, said Hamilton. This vintage gets back to the house style of oak aging for 10 months in 20% new oak and the rest neutral. It has a rich and purely elegant nose of stony minerality, pear skin, ripe apple, toasty notes, lemon biscuit, white flowers and integrated spice notes. It’s more rounded on the palate compared to the 2020 version, with a creamy texture, ripe orchard fruits, flinty/stony notes, a hint of lemon zest, elegant spices and bright acidity leading to a lifted finish. Can age 5+ years.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Chardonnay 2023 (not released for two more years, 94 points, tentative) — There was no 2022 Chardonnay made, so we are skipping ahead to the 2023 that is not even labelled yet but is resting in bottle for the next two. Hamilton said this is the style of Chardonnay he wants to capture going forward, more substantive and indicative of the unique Carp Ridge terroir. “That’s what I want to show, let the soil shine,” he said. It’s certainly more voluptuous on the nose with yellow apple, perfumed pear, lemon tart and lovely, elegant spice and savoury notes. It’s flinty and a touch reductive on the palate with ripe orchard fruits, lemon zest, integrated spice and sizzling acidity keeping it bright and lively through the finish. It will be interesting to follow the development of this Chardonnay after it’s released in a couple of years.
The Pinot Noirs
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Pinot Noir 2018 (90 points) — This was the first Pinot released at KIN from fourth leaf vines. It’s a multi-clone blend that spent nine months in French oak barrels (22% new oak, 65% neutral and the rest stainless steel) with minimal filtration at bottling. It’s showing a bit of bricking on the rim and a lighter amber colour in the glass. It’s a leaner, highly perfumed style with savoury raspberries, cran-cherries, bramble and well-integrated spice notes. It’s bright, lithe and nimble on the palate with tart cherries, brambly/earthy raspberries, red currants, soft silky tannins, balanced spice notes and vibrancy through the finish. Quite nice, yet different, and likely best to drink them if you have them.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Pinot Noir 2019 (93 points) — As I said in my initial note about this wine, I adore this style of Pinot prevalent in more extreme regions such as the Ottawa Valley and Prince Edward County. It’s Pinot in its purist form, drawing its personality from the dirt and climate where it’s grown. When tasted for review a couple of years ago, Hamilton said: “The 2018 Carp Ridge Pinot Noir was our first vintage, but I see this as an outlier now as the 2019 and the 2020 are riper and, I feel, will represent the style and concentration more consistently achievable from our vineyard. Soils are glacial till over limestone and each of the three blocks have variations of sandy loam, limestone and clay,” he said. It’s a mixed clonal blend with French oak aging, 25% new oak, 37% neutral oak and the rest stainless steel. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered. The nose shows bright red cherries, rhubarb, savoury beetroot, foraged mushrooms, raspberry bramble, subtle perfumed spice and an underlying earthy, bloody/iron minerality note. It has medium+ tannins on the palate and a cherry-fruited entry with crunchy raspberries, persistence, depth of flavour and a long, finessed finish with integrated spice and hints of leafy notes (and I mean that in the most flattering way as it brings a complex feel to the wine). A pure joy that should bring pleasure for 5+ years.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Pinot Noir 2020 ($38, current vintage, 92 points) — As with the 2020 Chardonnay, this multi-clonal Pinot sees minimal oak, so eight months in a combination of new oak (10% new oak), neutral oak (82%) and the rest stainless steel. The wine is a lighter garnet colour in the glass with a beautifully floral (think rose petals) nose with fresh picked strawberries, new cherries, red currants, and underlying earthy/spicy notes. It’s silky smooth on the palate, with fresh red berries, earthy/umami notes, pretty floral accents and fervent freshness on a lifted finish. Tasting fine right now but can cellar for 5+ years.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Pinot Noir 2021 (not released for over a year, 92 points) — An inviting nose of ripe red berries, underbrush, anise, persistence, spice and underlying chalky/earthiness. It’s rich and generous on the palate with ripe raspberries, cherries, currants, touch of anise and spice with a silky texture and a long, lifted finish.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Pinot Noir 2022 (not released, 92 points) — This has a pretty nose of fresh cut violets, red cherries, anise and light spice notes. It shows some structure on the palate from ripe tannins that will soften by the time it’s released, with tart red berries, earthy/savoury notes and mouth-watering acidity on the bright finish.
KIN Vineyards Carp Ridge Pinot Noir 2023 (not released yet, 94 points, tentative) — This not yet released Pinot shows a lot of promise. So different than the Pinots above with a pretty nose of dark berries, floral notes, black cherries, brambly raspberries and perfumed spice. It’s silky on the palate, packed with dark and red berries, and a long, finessed finish. It will be fun to revisit this in a couple of years.
The County’s Last House Vineyard
I suppose we can stop calling the Last House Vineyard one of the newer wineries in the County, after all, we have seen enough of a body of work now to get a sense of what Gagné and consultant Geoff Heinricks are doing with this tiny but mighty estate portfolio.
The 100% estate wines are made from low yields and are crafted with minimal intervention and a less-is-more philosophy when it comes to oak aging. Each vintage is an expression of both the unique terroir of the County, and in particular Hillier. Every bottle of wine reflects that terroir and what the harvest brings in terms of climate — good or bad.
It’s not easy work making wine on the margins, but when all things go right, magic happens, and it happens a lot at Last House.
At our quick stop at Last House recently, Maureen and I tasted three new wines in the small, tidy winery with Gagné and Matthews. You can purchase the wines here.
The wines
Last House Vineyard Joie de Vivre Blanc de Blanc 2021 ($48, just released, 93 points) — This 100% traditional made Chardonnay sparkling wine spent 32 months on its lees. It’s made in a brut nature (zero dosage) style with no malo, unfiltered, unfined, no oak aging, hand riddled and hand disgorged. In other words, said Gagné, “our typical house style.” The nose is so fresh and pristine with bright notes of apple skin, pear, lemon, subtle biscuit, saline/stony minerality and an elegant bead in the glass. That racy freshness continues the palate with fresh picked green apples, pears, cut lemons and flinty notes with texture and verve through a bright, perky finish. Lovely, sublime sparkling wine with a vigorous bead that will reward with even a bit of time in the cellar to tame all those moving parts and gain a little more fat. The art chosen for the label is called Winter Pool, an oil on canvas by County artist Stewart Jones.
Last House Vineyard Hillier Blanc Chardonnay 2021 ($32, 92 points) — This is a bit confusing, but bear with me here. Having already reviewed the 2022 Chardonnays, you might wonder why the 2021 vintage Hillier Blanc is behind a more recent vintage. Gagné, in fact, made three Chards in 2021 — the Petit Hillier Blanc, the Block 130 Reserve and the Hillier Blanc being reviewed here. “What I did not make was a Christian Block Chard, nor a Daniel Block Pinot for that matter,” said Gagné. “It was a decision based on vintage. Of course, both the Christian Block and Daniel Block vines produced fruit. But they were released as a standard vineyard wine and declassified from block designation for 2021.”
The 2021 Hillier Blanc was bottled in December of 2023 with bottling delayed to allow malo to complete — it actually only went halfway. Gagné made the decision to hold it back until he was sold out of both the 2021 Reserve and Petit Blanc wines.
The wine is aged in 50% oak (some new and some second fill oak) and 50% stainless steel. Of the four barrels used, three were French and one was Hungarian. This is a highly stylish Chardonnay and dialed in on vineyard specific. It shows a slight copper tinge in the glass with savoury, creamy pear notes, yellow apples, lemon curd, pristine saline and wet stones with subtle spice notes. It’s rich, flinty and juicy on the palate with a melange of pear/quince/apple fruits, beautifully textured, underlying saline, integrated spice notes and that County finesse that defines every wine in the region, keeping it fresh and lively through the finish.
Last House Electrum 2022 ($30, not released yet, 90 points) — This skin fermented Chardonnay spent 19 days on its skins with no fining, filtering, oak or sulphur added. Typically called an “orange” wine, this a somewhat lighter shade of orange, or more accurately a light copper tinge. There’s a lot going here on the nose, from the tropical fruits, fuzzy peach and jasmine notes to the savoury/earthy accents. The textured palate reveals some light tannins, pear puree, guava/mango, peach tart and savoury/earthy accents, all leading to a bright finish. A cleaner version of typical orange wines.
Note: The name Electrum is old Latin for Amber, and the striking label is from Marc Gagné, Andre’s brother, an artist from Ottawa. “I went through his portfolio and bought the painting which is now on the label,” explained Andre. “It is called The City. The vibrant colours help show that this wine is not a classic wine style.”
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