Celebrating the spirit of experimentation each year, our Riesling Lab has emerged as a fun opportunity for our cellar crew to geek out over our beloved variety.
Showcasing a medium gold hue in the glass, this vibrant Riesling Lab opens with a heady aromatic medley of ripe pineapple, yellow apple, pear skin, and delicate orange blossom. Notes of young white peach and white tea weave into the nose. The palate is fresh and lively - bursting with nectarine, grapefruit pith, granny smith apple, peaches, and preserved lemons. A chalky texture and intense citrus zest carry through to a long, lingering finish. Medium sweet.
WINEMAKER'S NOTES:
This year’s iteration of our crowd favourite Riesling Lab was made up of several lots of our Ontario Riesling hard pressings. For us, the real experiment this vintage was getting to know this new to us juice-how it would ferment, how those delicate expressions we see over our long Riesling ferments would evolve over its three weeks, and where the natural balance for these hard pressings would fall.
Tasting the lots upon arrival to our crush pad, we quickly determined we would start the juice predominantly in seasoned Chardonnay barrels. We opted for a combo of barriques and puncheons as we found the juice a lot less phenolic than how our estate hard pressings of Riesling express. The barrel use helped build a nice bit of texture and mouthfeel in the wine. Another small lot was fermented in a stainless-steel tank to ensure we retained some fresh acidity when all brought together. The natural balance of the Lab this year fell at 20.8 grams of residual sugar per litre, with a lower alcohol of 10.9% abv, making this year's release a delicately medium sweet bottling.
TECHNICAL INFO
Varietal: 100% Riesling, Ontario
Alcohol: 10.9%
Residual Sweetness: 20.8 g/L
pH: 2.96
Total Acidity: 7.8 g/L
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VINTAGE NOTES
The growing season in Ontario started with a mild winter and no spring frost events. Spring was warmer than usual, prompting budbreak to occur a week ahead of normal. Ontario’s Summer and the bulk of the growing season was marked by above-average temperatures, with warm days and warmer-than-usual
evenings. The region experienced a reduced diurnal temperature range, but this resulted in intense flavours and colour development in the grapes.
The harvest season was favourable, with warm September temperatures and some humidity linked to extreme weather events. Despite some disease risk, especially for white varieties, growers who waited for their red varieties saw exceptional ripeness and good acid balance, reminiscent of the excellent 2020 vintage. October brought three days of rain, but overall, the season was dry. The 2024 vintage is expected to produce exceptional white wines marked by vibrant acidity and intense fruit character. Quality is high in the 2024 vintage in Ontario across the board.
