Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, CanadaThomas Bachelder, long heralded with his skilled hand at chardonnay and pinot noir, has turned his eye towards gamay, with a series of releases from the 2019 vintage, including two from Wismer-Foxcroft Vineyard, the special Twenty Mile Bench site known for its exceptional chardonnays and pinot noirs. Planted in 1993 to magnesium and limestone laced soils, this gamay was 52% whole cluster. This opens with a swing of reduction before moving into a dense, yet elegant palate of fleshy raspberries, cherries, candle wax infiltrated with ample mineral salts, and livened with a green balsam twinge. Very well knit, this is drinking well now and with time ahead.Tasted: 30 August 2021Tasted by: Prices:
ON
$27.95
750ml
winery online/direct
Producer: Mary et Thomas Delaney-Bachelder et FillesDistributors: Winery Direct Grape: Gamay NoirUPC: 185729000743
Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, CanadaWinemaker Thomas Bachelder's first gamay was made in this vineyard, and he says the site "made us think of making an ageable 'Cru" Gamay Noir." It would appear using 52 percent whole bunches does just that, amping up the fruit and intensity to a level reminiscent of the lighter Beaujolais crus. The second generation Wismer family supplies the fruit for this wine from the Vineland Bench, where they have been growing grapes for 20+ years. The Foxcroft lies 5.2 kilometres from Lake Ontario, about 100 metres above the water in magnesium and limestone-laced, glacier-derived soils. With more clay and silt, the heavier soils add some weight to a very pure expression of gamay from what has turned out to be an excellent year. Look for wild cherries, wild game, bloody/iodine notes with pleasant undertones of spice on the finish. There is no rush to drink this, given the freshness and balance of this wine. Well done.Tasted: 22 May 2021Tasted by: Prices:
ON
$27.95
750ml
winery online/direct
Producer: Mary et Thomas Delaney-Bachelder et FillesDistributors: Winery Direct Grape: Gamay NoirUPC: 185729000743