York Vineyards and Ravine Vineyard Vintage in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area recently received outstanding ratings from British magazine Decanter, one of the most respected wine publications in the world.Supplied
In a recent tasting held by British magazine Decanter, wines from two Niagara-on-the-Lake estates, Ravine Vineyard Vintage Brut 2011 and York Vineyards Reserve Brut and its Blanc de Blancs Brut, earned top marks over sparkling wines from the United States, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
The magazine's recognition of York Vineyards's Reserve Brut and its Blanc de Blancs Brut brings positive attention to Martin and Rachael Werner's efforts to focus their operation on sparkling wine.Supplied
“What bowled the judges over was the quantity and quality of the wines from Canada,” says Andy Howard MW, one of the three-member panel that tasted through the array of samples from North and South America. (Founded in London, England in 1975, Decanter continues to be one of the most respected wine publications in the world.)
Ravine Vineyard's high-scoring Vintage Brut 2011 spent 10 years on the lees after secondary fermentation in the bottle.Supplied
The labels from Ravine and York Vineyards received the only Outstanding ratings (95 to 97 points) awarded, while 37 other Canadian bubblies earned Highly Recommended scores (with 90-94 point scores.) Canada had 79 entries of the 131 sparkling wines under consideration, showing the increasing interest in traditional method (aka Champagne style) wine production across the country. Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia producers were represented.
The strong showing for York Vineyards adds more excitement to the launch of Martin (Marty) and Rachael Werner’s sparkling wine focused operation. The Werners started producing base wines for their sparkling wine venture more than a decade ago, but only opened the tasting room at the home vineyard this summer. More information is available yorkvineyards.ca
Ravine’s top-scoring sparkling wine is a chardonnay from the 2011 that spent a surprising 10 years on the lees after secondary fermentation in the bottle to gain richness and complexity. The remarkable wine was started by Ravine’s winemaker at the time, Shauna White, and lay undisturbed in the cellar until current winemaker Lydia Tomek took an interest in finishing it for release. The small batch (90 cases) bubbly is $135 per bottle, available from the winery. ravinevineyard.com
In other results, Blomidon received strong results for the Blanc de Blancs Brut 2011 and Brut Réserve from its 16.9-hectare estate in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Fielding Traditional Method Brut from Niagara also rated 93 based on an average of the three tasters scores.