Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, CanadaThomas Bachelder is one of Canada's leading chardonnay and pinot noir specialists, honed through time in Bourgogne and Oregon, as well as years in the vineyards of his Niagara home base. Cuesta is 5km from the lake at an altitude of 133 metres on the Twenty Mile Bench, on soils rich in dolomitic limestone and silt. After a native ferment, this rested in older French oak for around 16 months, sans bâtonnage. Ripe and round, with creamy perfumed pear, yellow apple, lemon curd, lit with a buzzy limestone hum, and lingering with ample exotic spices. This weighty wine would be a good match for creamy risottos (lobster ideally).Tasted: 17 June 2022Tasted by: Prices:
ON
$44.95
750ml
winery direct
Producer: Mary et Thomas Delaney-Bachelder et FillesDistributors: Winery Direct Grape: ChardonnayUPC: 185729000866
Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, CanadaBachelder worked with Cuesta for years as a consultant, all the while adding it to his vineyard memory bank. It sits on the Twenty Mile Bench in rich limestone and silty soils that balance their electricity with a creamy texture. Cuesta, the "old lake coast", is a charming chardonnay with a nutty, garlic lees undertone set off by its mineral, stony, flinty, floral, marine flavours that slide down effortlessly. Randy Ullom (Kendall Jackson) first mentioned the notion of a "filet mignon" section to me decades ago, referring to a block of vines in a Santa Barbara chardonnay vineyard. So it's only sensible to hear it from another chardonnay guru as Thomas waxes about "that far-off bit back near the forest escarpment ravine – no wonder it ripens late! We just 'dig' the Far-Eastern end of the vineyard, Man!" Super value.Tasted: 29 November 2021Tasted by: Prices:
ON
$44.95
750ml
winery direct
Producer: Mary et Thomas Delaney-Bachelder et FillesDistributors: Winery Direct Grape: ChardonnayUPC: 185729000866