Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
The nose of this wine reveals itself through a colourful bouquet of aromatic wildflower florals. Fragrant acacia, white clover, honeysuckle, and jasmine intertwine with zesty, expressive Meyer lemon peel and a flinty crushed granite minerality. These characteristics culminates through a rich and complimentary tone of almond honey cakes, Moro orange marmalade and ginger glazed pear to create a warm tapestry of
inviting nuance and intricacy. The palate continues to drive this weave of fruits and florals forward through that, almost saline, crushed granite core bringing focus and clarity to an impressively weighty palate of lemon oil and candied apricot.
Vineyard Notes
The year began with a fairly mild winter which transitioned into a warm spring with below average rainfall, prompting early bud break and low disease pressure. For the most part the summer months then saw a decent amount of cloud cover and above average rainfall, forcing our viticulture team to be extra vigilant to stem off disease pressure by skillful
canopy management that opened up and allowed greater airflow through the vineyards.
With the early start to the year and our summer weather, conditions, both growth and
ripening were elongated allowing for great synergy between both sugar and phenolic
ripeness by the time we reached autumn. Conditions shifted in September, offering ideal
weather for a classic Niagara vintage. Moderate warmth during the day and cool nights,
coupled with minimal rainfall, preserved acidity and freshness while also resulting in
good yields and a high quality crop.
Winemaker Notes
The 5th of October was a clear sunny day with above average temperatures when the Pinot Gris blocks were ready to be picked. We got our crew of hand harvesters out there and picked both Block 260 and 240 early that morning. When the grapes arrived at the Domaine we gently whole bunch pressed them, one block at a time, collect free run from each block and keeping it separate. After a short cold settle the juice was racked off of its primary juice lees and moved into large format oak. We wanted very minimal impact from oak character so neither block saw any new oak barrels and we used primarily 500 liter
puncheons compared to the traditional 228 liter barriques with the intention of reducing the oak to wine ratio the Pinot Beurot saw throughout fermentation and elevage. Both Alcoholic and Malo-Lactic fermentations were spontaneous and unrushed but completed by the new year. The wine sat aging in our large format oak puncheons for 14 months followed by a rigorous classification before the final decision of a three puncheons blend crafted from one single block, 260, was selected.
