By Rick VanSickle
Scott Woody wants to do for Riesling what Thomas Bachelder has done for the grapes he chooses to champion in Niagara.
“I’m looking for high quality Riesling and want to express it that way,” Woody. below, tells Wines in Niagara over a tasting of the first commercial release of the Horseshoe Cellars Riesling, a brand he owns with high-school buddy and fellow Riesling “nerd” John-Daniel Steele. “I’m looking for quality Riesling and want to express it way. As I said, like what Bachelder does with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Why is no one doing this for Riesling?” It’s a question that drives him and Steele.
Bachelder has made it his life’s work to carve up Niagara Bench terroirs with single-vineyard, even single-block expressions focused on Pinot, Chard and Gamay. “We believe so much in Riesling,” Woody said. “Maybe it’s over-planted but the grapes we work with are on premium sites.”
You have to admire the tenacity of Woody and Steele; they’ve been making their Rieslings in Niagara, starting in a garage, since 2019, only for themselves, friends and family. To date, they have not made one single dollar on the 46 cases of Riesling they have made over several vintages. That is about to change.
Woody and Steele met in 2004 while going to high school on Vancouver Island and reunited in Niagara after both finished university. They bonded over their shared dream of making only Niagara Riesling and began to seriously explore the region’s Riesling after “falling in love” with the 2008 Reserve Riesling from Henry of Pelham.
Woody had been working in the vineyards and cellars of Bench properties since 2013 and has spent two winters doing harvests in the Bellarine Peninsula (Victoria, Australia). He has since moved permanently to the Okanagan Valley where he is the viticulturalist at Tantalus Vineyards. Steele, above, had been working in Niagara wine hospitality since 2014 and passed his WSET III with distinction in 2018. In 2023, he returned to B.C. to join the Okanagan Crush Pad, where he is the direct-to-consumer manager.
In a previous interview with Wines in Niagara, Woody and Steele outlined their vision for Horseshoe Cellars. “We are hoping to simply share the diversity of Riesling, especially Niagara Riesling, with anyone who is interested in exploring this most noble of varieties. We love Riesling for its expressiveness. It is one of the most intense and complex varieties and shows terroir more fully than almost any other grape. It has wonderful flexibility depending on where it is grown. It can be done sweet, dry, or sparkling. It can be drunk young or old, with food or on its own. Each and every time you enjoy a sip of a quality Riesling, no matter what the context, you can be assured that the vintage, the land and the winemaker will speak to you with a unique, unabashed honesty, he said.
“When properly treated, this variety has the most beautiful balance, the most incredible intensity and most marvelous complexity. In short, it is simply sublime, and we cannot think of a better life spent than pursuing the perfect expression of this amazing grape.”
The very first wines I tasted from Horseshoe Cellars were two Rieslings from 2019 — a single vineyard batch from Wismer’s Foxcroft Vineyard on the Twenty Mile Bench, and a reserve bottling from a blend of two vineyards — Stouck Vineyard in Lincoln Lakeshore and Henry of Pelham on the Short Hills Bench. I was impressed enough with where this project was going that I have followed their progress leading up to the release of their first official Riesling, now available. I love the fact that another Niagara wine project, however large or small the production is, has decided to focus on just Riesling and explore how far you can go with it.
I met with Woody just as harvest was beginning in Ontario. He made a quick trip east from the Okanagan Valley ahead of harvest, where he now lives, to finish up details on the new licencing for the Horseshoe Cellars Kelson Block Riesling 2024 sourced from the Grimsby-Hillside Vineyard.
The first commercial release of Riesling, from what was once just a passion project in a backyard shed and makeshift fermentation room, has officially grown into a full-fledged virtual winery. Through it all, the focus has remained the same, Woody and Steele say. “Crafting wines of intensity, complexity, and balance that speak honestly of their origin. For us, Riesling is more than a grape — it is both passion and obsession. Every bottle from Horseshoe Cellars is an invitation to experience the beauty of Niagara through its truest voice.”
For the first wine, the Horseshoe team looked to the Grimsby Hillside Vineyard, above, owned by the Franciosa family since 2002. Under the guidance of vineyard manager Josh Mitchell since 2019, “they have embraced a holistic approach to viticulture, one that balances vine health, fruit quality, and the broader ecosystem,” said Woody. “We fell in love with the vineyard.”
The Kelson Block was planted in 2008 with the 21B clone. It anchors the northern edge of Grimsby Hillside Vineyard, just 560 metres from the base of the Niagara Escarpment and 2.5 kilometres from Lake Ontario. Though close to the Gravel Creek Blocks, the Kelson Block speaks with its own distinct voice. With less influence of water runoff from the Escarpment and greater sun exposure, the block is consistently drier and slightly warmer through the summer, fostering earlier ripening and fruit of notable concentration. Rooted in reddish Trafalgar clay loam layered with red clay and green-banded shale over Queenston bedrock, the site provides both structure and complexity.
This first release in only 70 cases, available now through Collab Wine and Beverage here. The wine started its winemaking journey at the Niagara Custom Crush Studio and was finished at Collab. Horseshoe is planning more Rieslings in the future, with a 2025 vintage coming from Grimsby Hillside and a 2024 coming from Picone Vineyard.
Here’s what I liked from the current release:
Horseshoe Cellars Kelson Block Riesling 2024 ($35, only through Collab Wine and Beverage, 94 points) — As with all Horseshoe Rieslings made to date, Woody is most interested in harmony in his wines. “I’m not looking for sugar, I’m looking for balance. That is the key for me.” The technical details are as follows: picked on Sept. 24 at 19.6 Brix, finished at 12 g/L of residual sugar, titratable acidity at 8.2 g/L and abv at 11.1%. All great Rieslings, especially in Niagara, begin and end with saline freshness, and this has that in spades, to with stony minerality, juicy lime, pear skin, peach pulp, floral notes, honeysuckle, apricots, guava and just a hint of ginger spice. It’s pure and racy on the palate and begins with profound wet stone minerality, more tropical notes and mango and guava, then pear, flint, nectarine, wild honey notes, and pulpy grapefruit in a rich, layered and textured style that absolutely sings on the finish with mouth-watering acidity on a long, echoing finish. An ethereal wine and one that fans of this Niagara style will want to buy and hold through 2038, tasting a bottle or two along the way.
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