Notes from the Vineyard-2006 Pinot Noir Harvest
The hurricane to the south brought on heavy rains as we prepared to harvest the early crop of Pinot Noir. Harvesting Pinot is always a labour-intensive process and although conditions were stressful, we succeeded in bringing in a very successful crop. The cooler harvest temperatures were in our favour.
Hurricanes aside, we’ve had optimal conditions for the Pinot Noir that’s grown for both our red and sparkling wines. We started picking Pinot Noir in early September to capture higher acid levels for the Brut. Approximately three to seven bunches were hand picked from each vine with the remaining left to ripen for red wine. The berries were plump and ran with a good clear juice.
Two weeks later, we started picking Pinot for red wine. At this stage of full ripeness the thin-skinned berries are very delicate and susceptible to spoiling on the vine. Clusters are tight and the challenge is to pick them before they start splitting. Only the best grapes will make it to the winemaking process. When we pick by machine a crew is sent ahead to hand cull inferior berries. The reserve Pinot blocks are picked exclusively by hand. But whichever method we use, the grapes are brought to a sorting table for a more concentrated culling. Because of the heavy rains the sorting process was more intense than usual.
From year to year, our strategy with Pinot Noir grapes varies. Weather often makes major decisions for us. Will we be producing more sparkling wine or red wine, or one to the virtual exclusion of the other? Last year (2005) the summer heat caused the grapes to ripen too quickly, past the point where they could be used for sparkling. However, the juicy and flavourful berries made for a magnificent Pinot Noir. 2006 will be a brilliant vintage for both sparkling and Pinot Noir. When you’re dealing with a temperamental grape, flexibility is key.
Pinot is both demanding and rewarding. We’ve discovered that to get the quality we need to produce exceptional sparkling and red wines, we have to grow it ourselves. Which is why we’ve planted another 9 acres this year.
Notes from the Winemaker
Ron Giesbrecht talks about Pinot Noir, “the holy grail of wines”
I love Pinot Noir and when I go shopping for wine I always come away with at least one or two bottles from various places. Is Pinot Noir worthy of its poetic accolades? Certainly, but so are other varieties yet to fully surface. The film Sideways certainly boosted its popularity and it’s part of the current craze for red wines. Today over 55% of wine sales are red wines - 15 years ago the reverse was true. These trends come and go. I won’t diminish the fact that Pinot Noir is the holy grail of wines – I certainly find it to be the most interesting.
Pinot Noir is notoriously difficult but certainly no more so than other varieties that have to cope with our climate. We’re classified as ‘cool climate’ but, early September can sometimes be hot and wet, especially when we’re on the tail end of hurricanes. Pinot Noir ideally needs warmish days and cool nights but with good controls in the vineyard we can have excellent crops. I want to stress that no area in the world is perfect for Pinot Noir, not even Burgundy can do it infallibly - in fact, that would make the whole idea of vintage dating irrelevant.
Sandrine and I are always looking at different approaches and we recently went over a number of experiments we want to conduct on Pinot Noir in the cellars this year. We’re always weighing the appropriateness of traditional Burgundian technique or new Californian or Australian techniques - reworking the old and the new for best results. Each year you have to be prepared to shoot from the hip because one method may work on a batch from a particular vineyard and another batch could require something very different.
Techniques employed may include:
- Délestage, a process that extracts colour and tannins from the skins. During the red wine fermentation stage the entire volume of juice is taken out and, later the same day, is put back on top of the solids. This rack and return process is generally used three times during fermentation.
- The traditional “punch down” method whereby the floating cap of skins is pushed down into the juice. This method is also frequently used.
- The “pump over” method in which the juice is circulated immediately back over the cap. This is used most often with Baco and Bordeaux-style reds and less so with Pinot Noir.
To gain complexity I like to keep the wine ‘dirty’ meaning not cleaned up or clarified. I like to keep the lees, the yeasty sediment, with it. And I prefer to have the malolactic fermentation occur in barrel rather than in the tank, if possible. Barrel aging is important, as it is with other red wines. With Pinot Noir, a low percentage of new oak is preferable. Pinot can be overpowered by new oak.
Pinot Noir can be made in a fresh fruity style but we make a more “serious” Pinot in which there is intended to be structure, complexity and longevity, not just silky tannins and juicy up-front fruit as many are making – it’s a difference in preferred style, not wine quality. Our Pinots are at their best two to five years after the vintage date. And, depending on the vintage, they can be cellared for a decade or more.
The 2005 Vintage
We’ve just released the 2005 vintage. That was a difficult year for the crop in Niagara as the winter was unusually cold, but we had good results; the vines were protected by the wind fans in the vineyards. The quality is fantastic: softer tannins, good structure, and a more intense colour. I detect cherry and raspberry notes, spice and herbal nuances that include thyme and rosemary. I’m really enjoying the 2005 and it will age well.
Serving suggestions
Open the bottle and let it breathe for a few hours before serving. And if you don’t finish the bottle, just cork it and set it on the counter. Drink in 1-2 days. With a young red wine this can actually be good.
Food suggestions
Pinot Noir is incredibly versatile and will complement meat dishes, pastas and hard cheeses. My favourite pairings include rosemary marinated chicken, pork tenderloin with cherry compote, and mushroom dishes.
Sparkling Wines
Cuvée Catharine BrutCuvée Catharine Rosé Brut
When we think of sparkling wine we all tend to associate its uncorking with celebrations and special occasions. Yet we often overlook the fact that it’s one of the most versatile wines to put on the dinner table. The freshness, acidity and bright fruit tones complement any food that would be served alongside a Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc.
The Brut and Rosé Brut undergo similar processes but their beginnings are quite different from our still table wines. As a general guideline, our sparkling Brut is composed of two-thirds Chardonnay and one-third Pinot Noir. The Rosé Brut is usually a blend of two-thirds Pinot Noir and one-third Chardonnay. In each case, these numbers can vary substantially. Harvesting for the grapes for sparkling wine takes place early to get the grapes at a lower stage of ripeness. We’re looking for less sugar and higher acid levels.
Grape clusters are handpicked and gently placed in boxes so they are not crushed. They are immediately dumped from field boxes into the press, bypassing the usual process of crushing and de-stemming. The pressing method is different as well; the grapes go through a very gentle cycle. The main volume of juice that comes out early in the pressing cycle is the cuvée – this is the premium quality sparkling juice. During the second part of the press cycle the tailles, or lesser quality juice, is extracted and held back. We will determine later whether we will use the tailles for blending – sometimes the tailles portion has more fruit but fruit that is generally short-lived. We have to be very careful with its use because the tailles can be slightly bitter. Bitterness in a sparkling wine is very noticeable and not desirable. The tailles is sometimes blended with other wines in which this trait would not be discernable.
The sparkling wine undergoes a white wine fermentation at cooler temperatures (18° C). The aging takes place in stainless steel tanks and a small percentage of barrels for seven to nine months. The wine is clarified, blended and a charge of sugar and yeast is added for the second fermentation in the bottle. Thirty to thirty-six months later, the sparkling wine is ready for the next steps.
The final steps in producing a traditional bottle fermented sparkling wine are really intriguing. After the wine has lain in bottles at cool cellar temperatures for thirty to thirty-six months, the yeast sediment that remains in the bottle must be removed to clarify the wine. All sorts of technological and even biotechnological solutions for sorting out this clarification problem have been proposed and tried, and equipment has been developed that successfully mimics the traditional by-hand methods. Nothing has been found that produces the same desired results as leaving the yeast in the bottle for months and years, then slowly turning the bottles, one direction then the other, while bringing them to a position where the bottle is almost upside down, with the yeast sediment eventually resting at the opening of the bottle. The process of turning the bottles, called riddling or remuage, can now be done by machines but the process was traditionally done by individuals working in the caves, turning bottles by hand, a partial turn in one direction, then firmly setting the bottles down at a slightly increased angle in the A-frame racks called pupitres, then the other direction on another day– up to 50,000 bottles per person per day. Talk about risk for carpal tunnel syndrome!
At this point, the yeast sediment is still in the bottle and skilled hands would traditionally be required to open the bottles while in the inverted position, angling the bottle upward while opening it, allowing the sediment to eject itself with the pressure that is inside the bottle, and almost instantly sealing the bottle again with a thumb, so as not to lose volume or pressure from the bottle. This is indeed a skill! I wish that I could say that I have mastered this and I continue to try on occasion but again, in this case, we now have a nifty machine that does this disgorging process. Bottles are still handled one at a time, but the precision of such modern equipment is a real advantage.
While on that same piece of equipment a small amount of specially selected wine is made up and is injected into each bottle in small and precise amounts to top and slightly sweeten the final wine. In the tradition of Champagne, this dosage is used in the case of our Cuvee Catharine wines to bring the sweetness to a level that still tastes very dry, and is referred to as Brut. The cork and wire hood are now applied, bottles are cleaned, foils and labels are applied and the bottles will sit for at least another month, allowing the dosage to marry into the wine.
As anyone who knows me can attest to, I am very proud of our Cuvée Catharine wines and since the year 2000, when Sandrine Epp and myself visited the Champagne region, we have been very enamoured of the process and the product.
Why Sub Appellations and Place Matter
The Vintner’s Quality Alliance (VQA) was first formed in 1989. When we wrote the rules our intention was to create a set of standards that fine wine production would have to follow in Ontario. We borrowed the best from Europe and the U.S. and created our own rules that I believe are still some of the most comprehensive and innovative in the wine world. The VQA is about truth in labeling. When you see these three letters on a bottle of Ontario wine they guarantee that the wine is made from 100% Ontario grown grapes. If VQA is not on the wine bottle it most likely contains a blend of foreign made wine with some Ontario wine. These wines are called “Cellared in Canada” and the label further reads “from Imported and Domestic wines”.
The sub-appellations are very exciting since we have further delineated the Niagara Peninsula into 10 smaller and very distinct regions. Henry of Pelham is located in the “Short Hills Bench.” We are the largest growers in this appellation and are pleased that our area has been recognized for its unique soils, topography and climate. Short Hills Bench is blessed with a shale and limestone basin, 30 – 40 feet of clay and silt and a 1 – 2 foot mix of clay and soil to top it off. We are required to under-drain the vineyards to remove water since it does not drain through the clay quickly enough. The clay restrains the vines’ natural tendency to produce large crops thereby creating lower yields with higher concentrations of flavour. Clay also contains minerals that produce flavours in the wine as the vine grows older and sends its roots deeper into the soil.
We have vineyards dating back to 1984. These established vines produce our best fruit and feature predominately, but not exclusively in our Speck Family Reserves and Reserve Unfiltered wines. Our Baco Noir is a product of these vineyards. You will soon start to see “Short Hills Bench” on our 2005 vintage wine labels. It’s your assurance that 100% of the wine comes from this designated sub-appellation.
Many people suggest this is too complicated. They say most people do not even know what the VQA stands for and they may be right! I believe you have to start somewhere and the time is now to start focusing on what makes Niagara special. Anyone can make “Chardonnay” but only Henry of Pelham or other Ontario wineries can craft distinctive Chardonnays that have been grown on the Short Hills Bench. That is the majesty of fine wine. We will continue to try to make unique wines that are true to our soils and unique location in this big world. To learn more about our region, I invite you to visit our Short Hills Bench page.
Paul
