Geeking Out on Terroir in Prince Edward County

The level of “toast” or “char” inside the barrel will effect the taste of the wine.  A heavily charred barrel will impart a weightier feel and taste and a lighter char, a more subtle taste and texture.  If a vintage is hot, such as 2012, a heavy char isn’t necessary because the grapes are already big and ripe, and the influence of heavy toast could be overkill.

The Wines

Truth be told, like spoiled children we took home a little of everything, but what we thought an excellent example of regional terroir is Norm’s Pinots.

Norman Hardie “Unfiltered” Pinot Noir, VQA Niagara Peninsula, 2009
$39 available at the winery
We talked about this wine after trying it at Taste Ontario a few weeks ago.  It’s powerful, rich and wonderfully textured, with fine grain tannins, ripe red fruit and spice.

Norman Hardie “County” Pinot Noir, VQA Prince Edward County, 2009
$35 available at the winery
Beautifully elegant, this Pinot has flavours of red raspberry, soft floral notes and pleasing minerality/earthy notes.

Norman Hardie “Cuvee ‘L'” Pinot Noir, VQA Ontario, 2009
$69 available at the winery
Norm’s highest tier wine is only made in exceptional years.  This is a blend of 60% Niagara fruit and 40% County.  Rich and supple on the palate with flavours of red and black berry fruit, crushed black pepper spice, graphite and floral notes. It’s both elegant and vibrant.

The Vineyard

In the words of most of the great winemakers we know, “Great wine starts in the vineyard.”

Before you can even get to the wine making stage that we were learning about at Norm’s, you need to be vigilant with your vines.  We headed off to Rosehall Run to talk to proprietor and wine maker Dan Sullivan about dirt terroir.

Truth be told, terroir, doesn’t really translate into English, but can maybe be best described as “sense of place,” so it’s not all about dirt. It’s also about climate, microclimate, vineyard slope, sun exposure, rainfall, and the overall feel and atmosphere of where the wine is grown. Dan was gracious enough to stand with us in the freezing cold to show us his vineyards, which like most of the County, is predominately calcareous, rocky, limestone.

It’s poignant the day was as frigid as it was, despite the bright sun, because one of the dangers of Prince Edward County, is that it can get very cold – like minus 26 degrees Celsius, cold.  Surprisingly enough, PEC doesn’t get a lot of snow, which can be just as harmful as snow can act as an insulator to vines, and without proper covering, vines can suffer serious damage, as many found out in past years when cold snaps killed off or severely damaged fragile plants in this young wine region.

But invention is the mother of all necessity, so after one particular devastating winter, winemakers discovered burying their vines with the soil from the vineyard, is the best way to keep them safe.

As Dan explained to us, after the harvest, next year’s cordons (the thick, twig-like things that grow from the vine’s trunk) will be tied down close to the ground, so they can be buried under the soil and insulated from the winter chill. In the spring, they will be dug up, and re-tied to wire about a foot higher, at a slightly more civilized and less back-breaking way for workers to attend the vines and fruit during the spring, summer and harvest.

Hard, Cold Fact

The winter of 2002-2003 has become legend for PEC winemakers who recount the tale ruefully.  That’s when temperatures dropped past minus 30 degrees Celsius, and killed any exposed canes and buds — as well as any dreams of a good harvest.  That harsh winter seemed to be a turning point for many winemakers who quickly adopted the practice of burying vines, and therefore managed to make it through another harsh winter the following year. 

The Wines

Rosehall Run is across the street from Norman Hardie Winery, and also specializes in Chardonnay & Pinot Noir, but we think Dan also does an exceptional job of Pinot Gris and Cabernet Franc, which has become a happy part of our collection.

Rosehall Run “Cuvée County” Cabernet Franc, VQA Prince Edward County 2010
$24.95 available at the winery 
Cab Franc is one of our favourite grapes and this is a beautiful example of what Ontario can do with it. Juicy with red raspberry, sour cherry and savoury herbs a pepper spice this is powerful and vibrant.  Perfect with rare red meats.

Rosehall Run “Cuvée County” Pinot Noir, VQA Prince Edward County, 2010
$21.95 available at the winery 
Pale ruby in the glass, this is a light, mineral, cranberry, raspberry driven Pinot with added complexities of humidor and cedar spice. Very enjoyable with game birds or cedar planked grilled salmon.

The Dirt on PEC

After a quick lunch in the village of Wellington, it was on to Closson Chase. Unlike Rosehall or Norm Hardie, which are just off Loyalist Parkway (Hwy 33), Closson Chase is up the hill a little further, nestled amongst six or so other wineries, and conveniently located on the corner of Closson and Chase Roads.

Even though it’s only about a 10 minute drive from Loyalist Parkway, we were told that by being up the hill, with a greater south facing slope, it means the vineyards at Closson Chase are slightly warmer, and in some years they may warm up as much as a week earlier than those further down the slope, though they also can get cooler a week earlier, too.

But that’s what terroir is all about, and why when you get into the hearts and minds of wine makers (and wine lovers), this notion becomes more than a philosophy, it is a way of life.

Probably the most famous example is Burgundy, where a vineyard site may be considered a Premier Cru, and the wines prices as such, but the patch right beside it is not, and also priced accordingly.  That’s the hair splitting differences in terroir.

At one point in time, this part of Ontario was covered in water, and sea life obviously made their home here.  Today, there is still evidence of that in the vineyard, as the limestone soils, are also brimming with aquatic fossils.

Limestone is very soft rock, and to even the untrained eye — like The Wine Sisters — you can see impressions of shells and other stuff imbedded in it.  There’s two major benefits to this: 1) Because limestone is so soft, it’s also porous and well draining; vines don’t like have their feet wet, so good vineyards need well drained soil. 2) As the water flows through the rock, it’s taken up by the roots of the vine, the flavours (or terroir) of that fossilized limestone come through in the wine, which is why you will often here people talk about the minerality of a wine.

Closson Chase winemaker Deborah Paskus has been called the Queen of Chardonnay.  The winery, much like others in the County, focuses on the Burgundian varietals Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  While we’ve been told they’re not officially certified, the vineyards are organic and quickly moving to biodynamic.

The Wine

Nothing illustrates terroir better than trying to wines from the same vintage, treated identically, but from neighbouring sites. We loved both wines, and found the first Chardonnay to be powerful and rich, while the second, more sophisticated and feminine.

Closson Chase Chardonnay, VQA Prince Edward County, 2010
$29.95 available at the winery
A powerful and rich Chardonnay seamlessly woven together with creamy flavours of baked apple, pineapple and spice. A beautifully balanced wine.

Closson Chase “South Clos” Chardonnay, VQA Prince Edward County, 2010
$39.95 available at the winery
Elegant and restrained with white peach and floral notes. Intense and uplifting, with ripe pear, mineral & lightly honeyed fruit notes. Very pretty.

The Legends & Tall Tales

Our last stop of the day was at By Chadsey’s Cairns, one of PEC’s oldest wineries located right on Loyalist Parkway.

With an cemetery on-site, you know the lore surrounding this winery has got to be good.  And it is.

The name of the winery comes from the original owner, Ira Chadsey, a successful farmer and landowner, who in the 1800’s surrounded his land with large stones — or cairns.

This was done to not only mark the property line and fence in the cows, but as Gaelic legend would suggest, to show his reincarnated spirit (which he thought would be a white horse) the way home once he passed on to the after life. Cairns were very popular in Ireland and many were erected to mark battle sites, lost villages or famous people.

Of all the stone markers he erected, 13 remain today. We’re not sure about the white horse spirit, but apparently, there are some locals who are more convinced …

Ira out lived his wife Roxie by seven years, until at the age off 77 he built a bonfire in his maple sugar shack, and shot himself.  His body was consumed by fire and all that was found was the metal barrel of his gun.

The Wine

By Chadsey’s Cairns Chenin Blanc, VQA Prince Edward County 2011
$27 available at the winery
Racy and energetic, this bright wine has flavours of lemon/lime, fresh tarragon, orange zest and wet oyster shells. Perfect as an appertif or with grilled seafood.

By Chadsey’s Cairns Gamay Noir VQA Prince Edward County 2011
$24 available at the winery
One of Ontario’s best produced, but most overlooked varietals, in our opinion. This is juicy with fresh strawberry, black pepper spice and a mineral notes. Taut acidity and balanced alcohol make this a food friendly sipper paired with anything from roast chicken to beef stew.