Twenty-three Canadian wines that rocked in 2023

Dec24

What makes a list? The question is like asking what makes a Martini dirty or how much VA is too much in sangiovese? There are some things in life that aren’t certain and others that are. The porcino is the king of all Italian mushrooms, just as the morel is in Ontario. This much is true. A young wild leek is best sautéed as briefly as possible in soft scrambled eggs while an older bulbous ramp should only be pickled. Chicken of the Woods mushrooms are the most striking fungi of them all and chanterelles are the only true frutto del bosco. Composing a best of list is not like these things but something other that takes time, a year’s accumulation of thought and above all else, patience. When more than 1,000 Canadian wines are tasted in a calendar year, narrowing it down to 23 feels like a weighty sense of responsibility and a profound task.

We are so far past discussing the merits or collective quality of wines produced in Canada. Canadian wines rock. They rock you like a hurricane, rock this joint and this town. They rock and roll all night, around the clock and the casbah. They are a rock and roll star, a rock and roll fantasy, old time rock and roll, a rock lobster and just a singer in a rock and roll band. Canadian wine is still rock and roll to me. Got it? This annual agglomeration gets easier to create and harder to define. In no particular order, in other words one through 23 are not systemized in any ascending or descending order. They are arranged to begin with this country’s most successful style of wine, that being sparkling, followed by riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet franc, red blends and Icewine. These are Godello’s 23 Canadian wines that rocked in 2023.

From the Naramata Bench

Tantalus Blanc De Blancs Traditional Method 2020, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Truly noses as blanc de blanc made from only chardonnay, orchard fruit suspended in sparkling animation. Gingery and rightly oxidative while tightly wound, grippy and ready for anything that is to follow. Flesh from the fruit of the trees fallen in to the hand even before it was picked from the stem. Croccante, succulent, a scintillant raciness in every respect, satisfying and long. Would really like to see this again after the decade strikes ten. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted blind at NWAC2023, June 2023

WineAlign National Awards of Canada judging in the Okanagan Valley

Hinterland Les Étoiles 2018, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario

Traditional Method and the archetype for making bubbles to speak on behalf of a very specific terroir whilst using estate grown Prince Edward County chardonnay and pinot noir. Hinterland is THE PEC version of Grower’s Champagne because Jonas Newman and Vicki Samaras spend more time with their vines than anything else. Considering how many waters their toes dip into that says something and Les Étoiles means business. It is a serious sparkling wine, with intense flavours and the kind of backbone most fizz can only dream of hanging their flesh upon. The 2018 is precocious and wise yet the exploits of its behaviour have only just begun. So taut, so tightly wound and yet so bloody generous. Fresh and with gingery oxidative moments but ultimately in control and introspectively complex. Re-visit as often as possible for up to 10-plus years. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted March 2023

Henry Of Pelham Cuvée Catharine Carte Blanche Estate Blanc De Blancs 2017, Traditional Method, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario

Consistently crafted as a Blanc de Blancs that sees 60 months on the lees from estate grown chardonnay. From a varietal growing season so ideally destined for sparkling wine because a cool and wet spring plus summer emerged in late August to hot days and cool nights through October. In the middle of that spell is the chardonnay pick for sparkling and as good, complex and riveting as this arch-classic Ontario bubble may have been beforev- well bring on 2017 for next level complexities. Tasty, piquant and toothsome, of toasty brioche like never before and this swirl of creamy fruits and exotic seasonings. Feels like aged Growers’ Champagne and the fact that it is from Niagara makes it all that much more satisfying. Plenty of crunch, succulence and acid-driven energy from a meticulous bubble. The benchmark for local. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Okanagan Valley

Blue Mountain Reserve Brut R.D. 2014, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Always pleased to welcome the BR R.D. into a glass and here is an old but a proverbial goody, that being 2014 and consumers must be reminded just how special this research and development is to determine the excellence of Blue Moutnain’s indagative sparkling wine. A blend of chardonnay and pinot noir, the first 10 percent more than the last with some of the most restrained, reserved and demure aromatics in the Okanagan Valley. All ways to say this is lovely, quietly generous and so settled to gift pleasure above all else. A most complex game of citrus and orchard fruit, distillate by nature, expertly seasoned with fine sea salt, white pepper and lemongrass powder. Such a gift nine years after vintage at a ridiculously reasonable price. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Trail Estate Pinot Noir Sparkling (P.N.17) 2017, VQA Ontario

Here flies from the glass a sparkling gambit that has to be winemaker Mackenzie Brisbois’ most conventional wine. Just pinot noir and from an inverted vintage that gets better and better with time. A 2017 of wildly fantastical aromas and gravitas that make every aspect, component and iterated moment shine. This is a scintillant of excitation that delivers succulence we richly desire from Ontario sparkling wine. The mix of heady perfume, intensity of palate raciness and texture sliding into structure is truly something. If you are not put into an absolute tizzy and hypnotized by this fizz you may not be paying attention. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2023

Simon Rafuse, Blomidon Estate

Blomidon Estate Winery Brut Blanc De Blancs 2016, Nova Scotia

A 2016 Bland de Blancs that saw 60 months on the lees. Super aromatic and expressive as if breezes were blowing through, Fundy winds with sea kelp and wet clay. Ideal phenolics in an idealized B de B that surely captures place, especially in a vintage like this, but truth is tells Simon Rafuse, “extreme climate event weather in Nova Scotia is making vintage cuvées nearly impossible.” Much of the fruit here comes from the estate block on the bay north of Port Williams, a sandy site that makes for more gentle, elegant and abiding chardonnay. Using old barrels helps to fatten and flesh up that fruit. Seems like an ideal match for the scintillant style of traditional method Nova Scotia sparkling wine. Super fun and energetic bubble. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted at i4C, July 2023

Lightfoot & Wolfville estate vines overlooking the Minas Basin

Lightfoot & Wolfville Cuvée Evelyn, Nova Scotia

Pinot Noir 85% Chardonnay 15%. If a bit too oxidative in tendency confirmed by the preserved lemon, well it also supports an ambitious style (reminiscent of top, top Cap Classique) that defines this traditional method, pinot noir controlled sparkler. Amazing toasty quality and just the right level of acid sourness to electrify and stretch in the finest nimble way while maintaining balance. Just has to be a top tier cuvée for this house. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted blind at NWAC2023, June 2023

Godello and Taylor Whelan, CedarCreek Vineyards

CedarCreek Pinot Noir Rosé Platinum South Kelowna Slopes 2022, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

As perfumed as it can ever get for Rosé with a salutary seasoning to elevate flavours up into a complex level of vinous gastronomy. Just scents like ripe pinot noir set up for food matching where plates like tamarind-glazed duck tacos, lemon thyme roasted game birds or anything spit grilled (a.k.a. al pastor) would willingly sidle alongside. Can handle a side of pickled onion, beet or turnip and also the truth. What a terrific use of Home Block and Simes vineyard pinot noir fruit, a white-like wine of protected aromatics, lees addendum, not to mention how blessed it is by a beautiful autumn that made sure Rosé could also be graced by true Okanagan phenolic ripeness. Perfect storm of a Rosé and we should all be thankful for the happenstance. Will age more than a bit as well. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted June 2023

Vineland Estates Riesling Elevation St. Urban Vineyard 2022, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Ontario

Credit know-how, track record and pedigree – all those essentials of a producer with varietal experience from THE place in this country where it all began. Yes, all this matters but step forward and know that Vineland Estates uses modern technology in both their farming and also winemaking practices in ways no one else seems to equal. So what does this mean for this archetype of an Ontario riesling? So much. St. Urban 2022 is the cleanest, freshest and most luxe yet, simply put it’s all about pinpointed accuracy, finesse and well, great science. The fruit is crisp, the acids purposed and the finish long, silent, salient and salty. This will age alongside some of the best, with noticeable phenolics in tow, making for sapid moments too. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted September 2023

Gabriel Demarco, Cave Spring Cellars

Cave Spring Riesling CSV 2019, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario

From the first 2019 CSV holds the intangible riesling cards and feels well-ripened, despite the vintage not being one of the warmer ones up on the Niagara Escarpment. Truth is CSV ’19 wears its phenolics on both sleeves as noted in the botanical resins, melon skins and stone fruit pit aromas. Already possessive of a subtle petrol kiss and acidity of a clear and present high number. Nothing dangerous mind you and the phenol-acid relationship in the wine is quite static, stoic and immovable, at least in this stage of early youth. Will mature quicker than some though the mineral quotient will always ride shotgun. CSV 2019 feels like healthy drinking. It will likely assist in averting the damage of cells resulting from free-radical oxidation reactions and also promote anti-inflammation capacity. More than riesling. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted April 2023

Tawse Riesling Carly’s Block 2020, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario

Stoic, cool, gelid and reserved riesling in the vein of a cool climate though the palate richness suggests a warmer vintage. High sugar and also equally so in acid, well-balanced and bespoke where the relationship between grape and geology is ideally matched. This is extremely well made. Finish is extraordinary, with tremendous grip. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted blind at NWAC2023, June 2023

ed. The 2007 Carly’s Block tasted in July during a visit to Redstone Winery also rocked for 2023. One of Paul Pender’s great works indeed.

Charles Baker

Charles Baker Riesling Picone Vineyard 2019, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario

Crisp and crunchy but more importantly indelibly phenolic and with all parts moving as one, in synch and so incredibly harmonic. Symphonic riesling from the fabulous Baker boy out of 2019 and with this amount of time now passed, increasingly uncovering proof that it is indeed a vintage for the ages. Texture and intensity with shots of umami are created as a result of that stamp of particular Vinemount Ridge ripeness. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted April 2023

August Chicken of the Woods

Westcott Chardonnay Block 76 2020, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario

The 2020 may be as ideal as it gets for chardonnay across most sub-appellations of Niagara and Block 76 from Westcott up on the Vinemount Ridge proves the theory in so many ways. The statuesque musculature and moment frozen in time visage is something else from a chardonnay so stoic, confident and the kind of act sure attitude that speaks to farming and winemaking cohesiveness. From Garrett Westcott to Casey Kulczyk – there are no holes in this chardonnay. The barrel is huge and yet subtle, the fruit pristine and treated to precision, finesse and at the end of the day, Westcott family love. Benchmark for vintage, ridge and estate. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted August 2023

Hidden Bench Chardonnay Felseck Vineyard Unfiltered 2020, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario

Estate chardonnay is a cracker 2020 for Hidden Bench and along comes single-vineyard Felseck to crank up the volume for something off the charts. The aromatic bites and flavour washes deliver a Beamsville Bench wall of varietal sound. This is driven, single-vineyard minded and stubborn chardonnay to put symphonies of sound in our heads. Like massed pianos, guitars and string arrangements from which pervasive aromatic perfume and transonic flavour intensity collect to personify cool climate Bench chardonnay. The farmer, maker and proprietor may not be the fruit themsleves, but Felseck 2020 is most definitely their wine. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted July 2023

Leaning Post Chardonnay Senchuk Vineyard 2020, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario

Not just the next vintage of the Senchuk homefront chardonnay but potentially one that will be talked about for a decade in retrospective tastings and longer. Whether or not a bottle is present, the reverberations will percolate through the ages. Not just a matter of varietal stuffing created by soils rich in clay and alluvial alloy in which stones feel pulverized into the textural fabric of this wine. You can chew this like taffy and feel the juices run as it liquifies and spreads across the palate. Hovering acidity keeps all the fruit covered, then lifted and placed just where you want this cleanest and purest of Lincoln Lakeshore fruit to be. We are all impressed and those who are not should be mystified due to reasons misunderstood. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted July 2023

Chardonnays of i4C 2023

Rosehall Run St. Cindy Chardonnay 2020, VQA Prince Edward County

The ode goes to Cindy Zwicker Reston, Rosehall Run co-founder and the honour is more about good deeds and love than it is just about name. St. Cindy is no small gift of a label and the good thing is Dan Sullivan’s work puts the saint in the Cindy. Few Prince Edward Country chardonnays were able to avoid ripening, softening, elevated alcohol and loss of tension but double R’s Cindy is the balanced one. Yes it is ripe and also rich but even more important is the pitch perfect seasoning, grip retention and finest moments where extract and tannin collide. This is really, really good chardonnay. The kind of stuff taught in chardonnay winemaking school but riffed upon in the real world. What else needs to be said? Drink 2023-2026. Tasted March 2023

Grimsby Hillside Vineyard

Bachelder Chardonnay Frontier Block Grimsby Hillside Vineyard 2021, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario

Vintage number three from Grimsby Hillside Vineyard and now more specific by way of a split, with the Frontier Block as the plot within the larger plot, along with that of Red Clay Barn. Drilling down into this historical vineyard that has risen as fast as any New World terroir, just about anywhere these sorts of things are measured. Here named for the final frontier, that being the “last terroir” in Niagara and who knows, maybe it will soon be the first rolling off of everyone’s lips. GHV-FB 2021 is a force, that much is clear from the first look. Or nose, for what matters. Cool and stony style from a wide open space where limestone, shale and gravels conspire to create something new and with absolute potential. It’s already arrived thank you very much and while words like luxe and opulent do not come to the tip, others like succulent and scintillating do. Just something so real and right at your doorstep, vivid beyond chardonnay compare, a stealth fish swimming in clear waters. Truly complex for chardonnay and it must be noted, unlike any other in the world though at the same time feeling like something you’ve known your whole life. Make an exception to delve into this exception because when it comes to chardonnay, this is what we need. Remarkable clarity and distinction, precision extraordinaire and a wine to cast nets far and wide to secure as many bottles that could be found. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted December 2023

Ramps of 2023

Stanners Pinot Noir The Narrow Rows 2020, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario

Warmest of vintages and yet as only pinot noir (especially from PEC) is want and capable of doing there is no dramatic rise in alcohol. Conversions will be conversions and they are almost always magical as it pertains to the County. The specificity of the Narrow Rows elicits a varietal human response like few, if no others out of the County and that means love. The wave of fruit effortlessly tumbling into sweet acidity and structure fitting like a glove makes all parts happy, singing and generous. They do their work with chivalry, philanthropy and love. The vintage is a conundrum for PEC reds but the Narrow Rows and subsequent actions will be judged as right in the future, in part because of the block and in part because the Stanners team abides by what this pinot noir needs to be. A top pinot for 2020 Prince Edward County. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted March 2023

Judges of the 2023 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada

Privato Tesoro Pinot Noir Woodward Collection 2020, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Inviting, sexy and rising in high spirit, song sung hitting the high notes and a pinot noir that rocks from the first. The perfume is just so very brushy hillside or escarpment and perhaps a bit northerly in location. Crunchy and succulent, judiciously oaked and spiced. mid to more than that in weight, impressive concentration without density and length – such never-ending length. This is the right pinot for the people. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted blind at NWAC2023, June 2023

Thomas Bachelder

Bachelder Old Eastern Block Lowrey Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021, VQA St. David’s Bench, Ontario

For Lowrey Vineyard go east young man, the east is the best – or at least east is oldest, planted in 1984 by the family for the legend Karl Kaiser. The lineage of alliances runs from Kaiser at Inniskillin with Jaffelin (now Rémoissenet), through Le Clos Jordanne and Bachelder forays into Oregon. Today the eastern block of old vines have passed their 35 year mark which means they are truly heritage, not only for Niagara but for anywhere in the world. A glacial heritage too, with limestone being a determining factor to make pinot like this seem soil-driven, mineral-bent and shaped by millennium. Bachleder’s job is to not fuck it up and though he never does, for 2021 he finds another gear. One that is measured and paced for pinot noir – which is exactly what it needs and wants. The sweetness and purity of both fruit and acidity is seamlessly braided to spin a wine that will surely be timeless. Truly special and deserving of much love so give it. Success? Did it come out? All his wines come out. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted December 2023

The first Morel of 2023

Thirty Bench Cabernet Franc Wild Cask 2020, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario

Full and splendid varietal expression with such a distinctly captured frank-ness in concentration that really sets the Bench on fire. All the fruit imaginable with help from ant ideal growing season and then the salt and pepper seasoning that sees wood do what’s right and also necessary. The linearity and even-keeled notions of this Thirty Bench are just so measured, persistent and incremental. Will age gracefully over 10 years time. Last tasted April 2023

If at first this may seem like middle road taken for grape and vintage, of medium specs all the way through, keep coming back to this wine. From fruit through acidity and into tannin there is harmony, seamlessly woven and without falter. Good pH balance connectivity to structure so that the cabernet franc doles in sapidity as much as anything else. Right amount of chalkiness and a temperament that is really quite fine. No mind that oak persists as a factor just on the right side of heavy for now. Should show beautifully in another year’s time and with (Bench) distinction for many years to follow. Equal parts salty and sapid is always great combination. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted blind with the Experts’ Panel, April 2023

Stratus White Label Red 2020, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario

The blend for Red is always vintage dependant but can’t say there is any shock to see cabernet sauvignon art 40 percent taking the 2020 lead. Next there is cabernet franc (27), followed by merlot and malbec (13 each) and finally petit verdot (7). Six weeks of picking between the merlot and the cabernet sauvignon with specs in the end right on par with that (latter) varietal wine. Meaning magnanimous, ambitiously structured and of a potential to see the 2020, 20th anniversary Red as becoming one for the Stratus ages. Certainly more juiciness and also fun (and pleasure) but make no mistake. These tannins bite back, the wood is far from integrated and years will be required to see this make good on its promise. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted September 2023

Peller Estates Riesling Icewine Andrew Peller Signature Series 2019, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

Densely concentrated and from the beginning an impressive balance in accord between sugars and acids so that the two move swimmingly along from the start through to a long lingering finish. One sip and the Icewine becomes one with your palate, hangs on, repeats upon itself and as far as that kind of attraction is concerned you welcome the linger. Special dedication and technique here to be sure. 179 gL RS and 10.5 percent abv. Last tasted January 2023

Good to go!

godello

Twitter: @mgodello

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WineAlign

The future is now for Lightfoot and Wolfville Vineyards

Jun26

In the throes of judging 1,700 plus Canadian wines at the WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada I slipped away to reconnect with Mike Lightfoot at his property in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. The last time I paid the family a visit, Mike, Jocelyn, Rachel and winemaker Josh Horton were planning, scheming and on the cusp of breaking new ground, figuratively and literally speaking. The new Lightfoot & Wolfville winery facility was beginning to take cerebral, engineered, augurate and anticipatory shape. It’s now well into the building phase, in fact, at some point this summer L & W’s unprecedented facility will open to the public. When it does it will change the wine landscapes that include more than just Wolfville, the Gaspereau, Annapolis Valleys and Nova Scotia. It will reset the needle, compass and artfully strategized standard for Canadian wineries everywhere.

Related – Consider the Gaspereau Valley

Mike and Jocelyn have taken a once thriving apple farm and turned its rolling hills into Nova Scotia’s most progressive organic and biodynamic winery while also perpetuating the raising of animals in the heritage meets modern agriculturist way. In 2014 I made the following ambitious statement. “Lightfoot & Wolfville will take everything anyone has ever thought about the Nova Scotia wine industry and turn it on its head. Hybrids and local varieties will continue to be a part of the stratagem. In the unpredictable climate of Nova Scotia’s wine growing regions that is a necessity but it’s what chardonnay and pinot noir will do that will put the province on the map and the world’s stage.” Mean it.

Cellar dining space at Lightfoot & Wolfville

The external vineyard planted near Avonport called “Oak Island” is perched on a hill with a view of the Minas Basin at the head of the Gaspereau Valley. “Le Corton,” as it is known, or as I like to call it, “Oak Isle Knoll” is where consulting oenologist Peter Gamble has placed 100 per cent certainty in the future success of Vinifera grapes. Vigorous vines will increase the possibilities for chardonnay, sparkling plus a host of expected and eclectic varieties, like riesling, sauvignon blanc, gewürztraminer, chenin blanc, chasselas and scheurebe.

Mike and winemaker Josh Horton ushered me through a tour of the new facility. A state of the art retail shop, quick production kitchen, al fresco pizza oven and a subterranean cellar, private dining facility and commercial kitchen to make iron chefs drool. The mammoth-sized, reemployed beams alone are pieces of reclaimed and refashioned wood to send one into a state of awe. It felt as though I were walking through the massive hull and underbelly of a great romantic period ship.

Al Fresco Pizza Oven

Mike Lightfoot has spent the past 15 years watching Nova Scotia’s wine industry transform from an unknown cottage entity to a destination that attracts thousands of visitors, heavily weighted to the summer months. He is drawing on experience but also careful to avoid repeating the mistakes some of his peers have made in trying to build and develop wine tourism at their nearby facilities. He is also grateful for what they have accomplished and how they have opened the door for the possibility of L & W’s imminent operation. Mike points out how in July and August the trail of cars moving along the Evangeline Trail is endless, cars that travel right past his property. Truly a case of “if you build it they will come.”

I sat down with Mike and Josh to taste 10 wines, some new and some revisits, for perspective and to expound on some personal theories of L & W relativity. Josh Horton is coming into his own as a winemaker and just in the nick of time. The nigh fact of this property’s history and ineluctable expansion will weigh on the ancienne ideology but Horton’s de facto ability and unaffected personality equip him with the tools to face the challenge head on. The future is now for Lightfoot and Wolfville Vineyards.

Sparkling wine you need to know @lwwines Blanc de Blanc Extra Brut 2013, from the shores of the #minasbasin #annapolisvalley #novascotia

Lightfoot & Wolfville Blanc De Blanc Extra Brut 2013, Nova Scotia, Canada ($45.00, WineAlign)

Josh Horton and Rachel Lightfoot presented an early, less leesy glimpse of their 100 per cent estate chardonnay at i4c in July of 2016. It was a different animal than this recently disgorged (late February/early March) sparkling wine. The Extra Brut lives up to its designation, from fruit grown on the shores of the Minas Basin under the auspices of a markedly warm year with exceptional phenolic ripeness and 25 per cent malolactic gain. The time relative to texture lees accumulation is approximately 40 months and it’s an accurate representation of Nova Scotia low and slow. The flavours are wisely developed ripe and spicy, leaning into a moment or two of oxygenation, but seemingly richer than the amount of lees time that was given. Now emerging from the shell of not just a warm but a great chardonnay year (as previously proven by the Ancienne released two years ago). The notion here is of a sparkling wine that has been brought home, a B de B that you need to get to know. There are layers and layers of character that fold and unfold. The precision, focus and rendering is citrus tamed, mouthfeel in perpetual expansion and contraction, length linear and elastic. And it’s just the beginning. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted June 2017

Lightfoot & Wolfville Pinot Noir Ancienne 2014, Nova Scotia, Canada ($40.00, WineAlign)

Pinot Noir Ancienne is a product of a wild ferment and here in 2014 is possessive of a larger percentage of estate fruit, but still with a significant portion skimmed from (Al) McIntyre’s Blomidon vineyard. The typical Nova Scotia growing season means this was harvested during the last week of October and at approximately 20.5-21.5 brix, but of a lower crop level. Like the inaugural 2013 this still carries the elegant, highly cool climate provincial stamp, not skinny or lean by any means but certainly lithe and helped calmly and curatively along by 3rd and 4th fill neutral oak. The ’15 will be bottled in July, which will be 100 per cent estate fruit. Here is the second image of Nova Scotia pinot, built upon a well-designed foundation and an architectural struggle in search of structure. Ancienne is old-school, traditional, hand-made, artisanal. It is a wine that others will not yet know what to do with but the launching point is precise, progressive, poignant and teeming with wonder meets possibility. The fruit purity and transparency speaks to the honesty delivered. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted June 2017

Lightfoot & Wolfville Pinot Noir Ancienne 2013, Nova Scotia, Canada ($40.00, WineAlign)

Retrospection, reflection and what we know now places this so obviously in the exact spot where it began. So now we establish a minimum five years going forward to reach the sweetest of sweet spots. This now gives perspective and a reference point for where ’14 is and will be going forward. This 2013 is less immediate, a wonder of first time luck, pomp and circumstance. It is nothing short of remarkable. Last tasted June 2017.

If de novo for Pinot Noir is to be found in Nova Scotia then count me in because the inaugural release from Lightfoot & Wolfville is the trailblazer for and from the extrinsic frontier. Tasting the painstakingly measured yet barely handled 2013 for the first time (from bottle) is like falling into a glass of Nova Scotia cherries. Somehow there is this simultaneous and virtual voyage abroad to imagine a comparison with Nuits-Saint-Georges, in its earth crusted, sanguine, welled up tension that begs questions and belies answers. A year yonder the taste from barrel and what can be said? Pinot Noir adjudicated, into a cortex of recognizable consciousness and thus into the natural Nova Scotia mystic. Ignore and forgive the dope of first returns, for no one could have imagined such ripeness and immediate gratification. Future releases will dial back in the name of structure. That said, in 2013 there is a red citrus, ferric debate that will send this to an exordium seven years down the road. Impossible inaugural release. Approximately 50 cases made. Drink 2015-2022. Tasted July 2015

Experiments are for more than sharing #perspective #teachingmoment #progress @lwwines #unfiltered

Lightfoot & Wolfville Chardonnay Ancienne 2014, Nova Scotia, Canada ($40.00, WineAlign)

The name Ancienne and the proximate irony appraised is not lost for its translation as endemic or indigenous for wines made from Burgundian grape varieties raised on Nova Scotia soil. The sophomore chardonnay speaks in a vernacular a year to the wiser but at the expense of excitement, which is actually a good thing. A step back taken will result in two going forward, as I shall explain. The same regime exercised mimics the ’13, of 20 per cent new, 18 months in barrel, but a slight course altered with some reductive play in ’14, as an experiment but also as a plan. There seems to be more lees richness and spice notes that flit like direct darts on the palate. Different clones are harvested at different times, so now the vinifications are staggered and layered, which really shows on the stratified and almost germinating palate. Another year older allows these vines to bring diversified variegation, more Nova Scotia and as a consequence, less winemaking. The growth here is fascinating and enlightening. In the interim it may compromise the flavour profile and the wow factor but in the long run it is structure, longevity and impressibility that will give the green light to estate grown, Minas Basin success. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted June 2017

Lightfoot & Wolfville Chardonnay Ancienne 2013, Nova Scotia, Canada ($40.00, WineAlign)

The ’13 seems to at first have really softened but that’s only relative to tasting it side by side with the 2014. It’s also leaner when considered side by each though still carries weight and creaminess on the palate. Winemaker Josh Horton also pours an unfiltered experimental bottle. It is so clean, almost indiscernible to the filtered ’13, except perhaps with more bite on the palate and yet less creaminess than the ’14. Lasted Tasted June 2017.

Welcome to the new Chardonnay ethos, an east coast compages for la belle nouvelle écosse, the new borderland for Canadian vinifera. The respite found in Lightfoot & Wolfville’s first release is like breathing for the first time. As I noted a year ago while tasting through (mostly older) barrel trials, I have unearthed a Canadian winery animated in the architectural rendering of Premier Cru Chablis. Full textured, creamy aromatics, layers of lace and luxe, popping acidity and with length stretched to service now and later. Approximately 135 cases made. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted July 2015

Lightfoot & Wolfville Chardonnay Ancienne Reserve 2013, Nova Scotia, Canada ($56.00, WineAlign)

The Chardonnay was planted in 2009 in a block that sits on the crest of the hill on the Wolfville vineyard site and the Ancienne Reserve is a barrel selection more than anything. It sees an additional six (to 24) months and because one of the barrels was new, it’s therefore 50 per cent new. Now tasting this for the second time a year later (the first time being at i4c 2016), the wood is melting and dissolving so all is coming together, but the unmistakeable L & W acidity meets Nova Scotia vines spice and bite is all over the palate. There is length here to last a decade. Never ending. Nothing if not a coup for new world/cold climate/NS chardonnay. You will not understand unless you taste it. Consulting oenologist Peter Gamble and his protégés Josh Horton and Rachel Lightfoot have allowed the fruit to speak without encumbrance. This chardonnay is neither stark nor beyond ripe and oak has been used with terrific restraint. I am not sure how Gamble could have known it would work but to a veteran of decades of Canadian harvests, it must be an absolute revelation. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted June 2017

Lightfoot & Wolfville Tidal Bay 2016, Nova Scotia, Canada ($22.00, WineAlign)

The blend is l’acadie, geisenheim, chardonnay and riesling plus a smidgen of vidal. Just a great year, the l’acadie coming from rocky soil and the difference maker in the use of riesling. There is some residual sulphur, still activated citrus tablet and its aromas are propitiously fresh, from lean to piercing. The palate carries terrific texture and flesh, great citrus and a bit of unction. It even suggests fleshy citrus and stone fruit, with just that minor note of peach to make this so drinkable. The vinifera provides the structure while l’acadie is the back bone and this has plenty of it. The reams of citrus are simply striking. The better to best yet, a no doubter and without argument. For Tidal Bay it’s almost perfect. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted twice, at L & W and blind at NWAC17, June 2017

Lightfoot & Wolfville Schuerebe 2016, Nova Scotia, Canada (WineAlign)

The schuerebe comes from up on the Oak Isle in Avonport, now just past the stage of baby vines, this the introduction as far as a style is concerned. That style combines elevated sugar and acidity. It’s highly floral and of incredible acidity, from vines that ripen later than riesling, though the plants are young of just a few years. Schuerebe is a wine that can beat its own sibling chardonnay in a wine competition, with some fat and flamboyance, alcohol near 9.5 per cent and those sugars (whose actual number is pointless) will track across some complex notions and age three to six years with ease. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted June 2017

Lightfoot & Wolfville Pinot Noir Rosé 2016, Nova Scotia, Canada ($28.00, WineAlign)

The Rosé from pinot noir is 100 per cent estate varietal fruit destined for this purpose and not from a bleed, or as one. At $28 it doesn’t hit the same $20 Rosé crowd, here dry, saline, south of France ringing and as a ringer. The notes are distinctly lime and grapefruit, floral but not quite meunier floral. “When pinot noir can give you structure you keep making it this way,” notes winemaker Josh Horton. Good plan. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted June 2017

Lightfoot & Wolfville Pinot Noir Rosé 2015, Nova Scotia, Canada ($28.00, WineAlign)

L & W’s will surely appear, perform and consummate as the lightest of all Rosés in any Canadian flight and as pinot noir it suffices to say all that needs in terms of rusty, rustic and taut. There is good salinity, perhaps one or two elevated blowsy notes of sulphur but all is forgiven in consideration of fine precision, presence and lightness of being. The minor leesy and lactic fromage melts into acidity and tasted blind it could be the closest of Moira cousins, à la Malivoire. Lemon and lime finish and very long. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted June 2017

Good to go!

Godello

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WineAlign

Great Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Nova Scotia?

Aug7

See the light? Inaugural releases of Lightfoot & Wolfville’s Ancienne Chardonnay and Pinot Noir 2013

It was July 2014. As my family and I grazed and lazily traversed our way around Cape Breton Island, the decisive, proximate sojourn came catgorically to mind, in lucid, axiomatic extension, extrapolated in thought as naturally and forcefully as a Fundy tide. A call to the upper Annapolis Valley, along the shores of the Minas Basin towards points in and around Wolfville and Grand-Pré of King’s County. Maybe check out the wine scene aforementioned only a week before by Peter Gamble.

I have seen & tasted the future of vinifera in Nova Scotia and its name is Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards. @lwwines pic.twitter.com/prLdloxyHb

— Michael Godel (@mgodello) July 29, 2014

What happened next could not have been imagined in any wildest dream. The samples I tasted in the barrel cellar at the yet to open Lightfoot & Wolfville winery were too good to be true. Peter Gamble told me this. “We consider the fruit from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on this property to be Grand Cru.”

The first vintage of these ground-breaking wines are now in bottle. They are called Ancienne, as in old-school, traditional, hand-made, artisanal. The irony is not lost in the use of a word that might also translate to endemic or indigenous, for wines made from Burgundian grape varieties raised on Nova Scotia soil.

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The divulge is now. The wines are currently pouring at a private function at Obladee Wine Bar and will be open for tasting at Bishop’s Cellar in Halifax from 5-7 pm EST. For Mike and Jocelyn Lightfoot, along with Rachel, their oenologist-prodigal daughter come home from Brock University, winemaker Josh Horton and Gamble, the realization, without equivocation, is that their pioneering accomplishments signal the turning point for growing vinifera in Nova Scotia. Today is the first release of Ancienne, the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir 2013’s from Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards.

The concept may seem entirely outlandish but hear this. Planting, cultivating and vinifying Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to craft Nova Scotian wine is no castle in the air, no giant beanstalk, no pie in the sky. These wines are made from 100 per cent locally raised fruit. Nova Scotia grapes. European roots.

In 2014 I went through the barrels with Josh, Mike, Jocelyn and Peter. Blending trials too. I saw the light. No, really, I walked into the tunnel and towards bright light. I knew then and even more so now, after tasting them a year later in bottle, that there is no going back. Here marches forth the future of vinifera in Canada.

Ancienne

I was duly impressed at the passion, knowledge and maturity to belay their years manifested in the tutorials from Josh and Rachel as we tasted through the wines on July 27th. The Pinot and Chardonnay are really nothing short of amazing, especially considering the absence of reference points from Nova Scotia soils. Most important are the levels of maturity and understated character. Gamble and his protégés have allowed the fruit to speak without encumbrance. They are neither stark nor beyond ripe and oak has been used with terrific restraint. Not sure how he could have known it would work but to Gamble, as a veteran of decades of Canadian harvests, it must be an absolute revelation.

Related – Consider the Gaspereau Valley

The Chardonnay was planted in 2009 in a block that sits on the crest of the hill on the Wolfville vineyard site. For the 2013 vintage of Ancienne Pinot Noir the fruit came from grower Al MacIntyre’s Racca Vineyard in the Blomidon/Canning area. These vines are approximately 15 years old. The L & W journey fell upon great fortune with the Racca Vineyard fruit, allowing the team to gauge possibilities for the future. The successive (2014) vintage will be the first year L & W harvested fruit from their estate Pinot vines (Planted in 2012 at their Avonport site). Rachel tells me that “given the philosophies behind the Ancienne tier, we will likely use exclusively estate-grown fruit in the future.” The ideology includes farming practices in adherence to both organics and biodynamics.

The Chardonnay is made from six of (eight total) barrels, using a minimalist approach, with no fining (use of a rock stopper) and an élevage of 18 months in (18-20 per cent new) and the rest, older barrels. The last two barrels will likely go to 24 months for a reserve wine. There are 1600 bottles produced with future targets currently set at 2500+. The Pinot Noir was also bottled after a light, coarse filtration (using a rock stopper), but no fining. At this point there are approximately 600 bottles produced. The goal is 1500-17oo bottles. Here are my tasting notes on the new releases:

Ancienne Chardonnay and Pinot Noir 2013 with a glass of soon to be released Rosé

Lightfoot & Wolfville Chardonnay Ancienne 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $40, WineAlign)

Welcome to the new Chardonnay ethos, an east coast compages for la belle nouvelle écosse, the new borderland for Canadian vinifera. The respite found in Lightfoot & Wolfville’s first release is like breathing for the first time. As I noted a year ago while tasting through (mostly older) barrel trials, I have unearthed a Canadian winery animated in the architectural rendering of Premier Cru Chablis. Full textured, creamy aromatics, layers of lace and luxe, popping acidity and with length stretched to service now and later. Approximately 135 cases made. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted July 2015

Lightfoot & Wolfville Pinot Noir Ancienne 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $40, WineAlign)

A sneak peak at Lightfoot & Wolfville’s Tidal Bay

More releases will be forthcoming in the coming weeks.

Good to go!

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Godello

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