By Rick VanSickle
No wine before its time is a credo that Niagara’s 16 Mile Cellar winemaker Morgan Juniper lives by.
Note, also in this Niagara Wine Report: A small LCBO release on Jan. 4 features a lovely red blend from Black Bank Hill.
The small, boutique winery, which making a clear statement for the terroir in the Creek Shores sub-appellation, holds back vintages that Juniper feels need more time, even if that means releasing them and then pulling them back for more time in the cellar. It’s a juggling act that can result in four different vintages of Pinot Noirs or Chardonnays on the shelf at the same time, all from different tiers.
Juniper, above, says she doesn’t want to “do my wines an injustice by releasing them too early.” Her aging program begins with at least two years in the bottle before consumers have a chance to buy it, she explains. If the wine is not showing perfectly, back it goes to the cellar to age some more. “A lot of wines are released too early; there’s a window and I’m still exploring it. It’s like going down to your cellar and asking, ‘what are we drinking today?’ ”
The estate and vineyard are located near the 16 Mile Creek with gently sloping topography and lacustrine silty clay loam soils. The farm has a designated wetland area with native plants, orchard trees, wildflower garden, a row of table grapes and is also planted to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Gamay. The wines benefit from the rich soil and climate characteristics of the Niagara Escarpment, portraying the glacial deposits and soils of the ancient Iroquois Lake.
Pinot is the largest planting with a 5.5-acre block between Highway 8 and the creek, which was planted in 2012. There are four different Pinot Noir Dijon clones: 115, 828, 667, 777 on mostly 3309 rootstocks. Depending on the conditions of the growing season, Juniper crops to yields of 1.5 tonnes per acre.
There were three blocks of Chardonnay planted in 2016 totaling approximately five acres. That includes four Chardonnay clones: 76, 96, 95, and 548 on 3309 and 101-14 rootstock. Typical yields are around two tonnes per acre.
A small planting of estate Gamay been added to the portfolio with a “field blend” of rosé, a 50-50 mix of Pinot Noir and Gamay from the 2024 vintage, coming this spring (photo of unlabelled bottles, above). Also on the horizon in 2025 is the estate’s first white Pinot Noir.
16 Mile Cellar, founded in 2010, is owned by Toronto lawyer Joseph Groia and his wife Susan Barnacal. Juniper (Pearl Morissette, Tawse, France, Australia) became the winemaker in 2018 and worked primarily alone until 2021 when assistant winemaker Eamonn Donnelly, below, came on board.
As of the 2024 vintage, all the grapes for the 16 Mile Cellar portfolio are from estate fruit, and all production (sorting, crushing, aging, etc.) is in-house. The winemaking team also crafts the wines from The Farm (including the RR81 Wines brand), just across the street.
One of the other things 16 Mile Cellar does differently than most Ontario wineries is in the labelling. On the front of each bottle, you won’t find the name of the winery, just the proprietary name of wine, the vintage, the variety and information the winemakers think is useful, such as “single vineyard” or “unfiltered.” The back label contains the winery name and more detailed information.
I sat down with Juniper and Donnelly to taste the wines currently available at the winery. They can be purchased at the winery or online here. Here’s what I liked (prices are adjusted for the 13% tax reduction):
The Chardonnays
16 Mile Cellar Rebel Chardonnay 2020 ($24, 92 points) — This is one of those wines that Juniper released and then decided to pull it back and re-released with more bottle age. I originally reviewed this smartly priced Chardonnay in April 2023, and I’m now more impressed with it. The Susan’s Vineyard Chardonnay is from a blend of neutral oak barrels that was aged for 15 months before bottling. The nose shows stony/saline notes, perfumed pear, subtle creamy notes, lemon curd and spice accents. It has a creamy texture on the palate with integrated pear/apple fruits, a touch of flinty minerality, a pinch of spice and mouth-watering acidity on the lifted finish. Drinking rather nice right now but can cellar for a few more years comfortably.
16 Mile Cellar Civility Chardonnay Unfiltered 2018 ($36, 93 points) — At the “reserve” Civility tier, Juniper is looking for “a winemaker’s wine, with more complexity, length and structure.” The wine is wild fermented and aged in 25% French oak barrels (one new oak barrel out of four) for 18 months. A pure and elegant nose of poached pear, Honeycrisp apple, apricots, subtle savoury/minerally accents and lightly toasted spices. The minerality takes it up a notch on the creamy palate with flinty/saline notes to go with ripe orchard fruits, lemon tart, integrated spice notes and a lovely, finessed finish. Like all the 16 Mile Cellar wines tasted for this report, aging is not required, but there is a runway for them to stay at their peak, say 3-5 years.
The Pinot Noirs
16 Mile Cellar Rebel Pinot Noir Single Vineyard 2021 ($27, released soon, 92 points) — This is an estate blend Pinot Noir that is wild fermented and aged in 100% neutral French oak. “I think this vintage is fantastic,” said Juniper. “I’m proud of this one.” It shows bright, fresh cherries, black raspberries, wild blackberries, floral notes and just a hint of spice on the nose. The red berries take on a savoury edge on the palate with a touch of anise, spice and a finessed and long finish. Can age this through 2028.
16 Mile Cellar Incivility Pinot Noir Unfiltered 2018 ($35, 93 points) — This is a barrel selection of 100% whole cluster, wild yeast fermented Pinot Noir aged in French oak for 15 months and finished unfined and unfiltered. “If I’m defining a style of Pinot Noir, this is me,” said Juniper of this wine, her first vintage at 16 Mile Cellar. It’s perfectly integrated on the nose with rich and robust notes of black cherries, brambly raspberries, almost a wild blueberry thing going on with perfumed spice notes. There’s structure and complexity on the palate, from the ripe, polished tannins, to go with mature red berries, anise, savoury spices and a long, lifted and echoing finish. This really is in the sweet spot of its evolution but will hold steady for a few years yet to come. Gorgeous Pinot Noir.
16 Mile Cellar Tenacity Pinot Noir 2022 ($60, 94 points) — The top tier Tenacity is only made in the what the winemakers feel are the best vintages. The last Pinot made at this level was in 2016. 2022 was also the first full season that assistant winemaker Donnelly helped make. He said that the Tenacity was on the skins for less than two weeks and achieved a high degree of ripeness in 2022. Only three barrels (no new oak) were made at this level from yields of 1.1 tonnes per acre. This is impressive from the first sniff, showing a robust and ripe nose of savoury Morello cherries, red currants, pomegranate, earthy savoury notes and fine oak spices. On the palate it’s bold and sassy with mouth-coating red and black berries, currants, a touch of anise and then a long, luxurious finish with finesse for days. A beautiful Pinot Noir that struts its stuff and should do so proudly for the next 5-7 years.
Small Niagara wine release at Vintages Jan. 4
The Vintages releases are back at the LCBO starting on Jan. 4, with a small selection of Niagara wines hitting stores. We have one recommendation from the release. Note: Prices are 13% less than recorded here due to the HST holiday.
Black Bank Hill Runway Red 2021 ($25, 90 points) — You ready? Here’s the blend: 59% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot, 13% Pinot Noir, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Syrah with 17 months of aging in used French oak barrels. It shows a light shade of red in the glass with a minty/savoury nose of wild berries, herbs, cassis, dark cherries, red currants, and spice. There’s some structure and ripe tannins on the palate with notes of anise/fennel seed, black currants, savoury red berries, earthy bits, spice and a tangy, lifted finish. There are a lot of moving parts here, but somehow it all works. Drink or hold a year or two.
Also released but not reviewed by Wines in Niagara:
• Henry of Pelham Icewine Duo ($60 for 400 mL)
• 13th Street Expression Series Rieslings 2022 ($20)
• Creekside Iconoclast Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2023 ($23)
• Red Tractor Chardonnay 2021 ($20)
• Marynissen Cabernet Franc 2022 ($19)
• Peninsula Ridge Falcon’s Nest Pinot Noir 2021 ($22)
• Petrichor Cabernet/Merlot 2022 ($18)
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