Tasting Note What a gorgeous, rich riesling! It is predominantly lemon-yellow in colour as it moves towards year four. But the nose is showing some maturity with very lifted honey, petrol and paraffin waxy notes, along with all kinds of ripe apricot, ground cherry and dried yellow flowers. It is full bodied, generous on the palate, ballooning the cheeks. There is some sweetness yet excellent, piquant and almost tart acidity at its core. Interesting that it feels a bit warm, with alcohol sitting at just 11.4%. All the while there is a sense of refinement and poise. The length is excellent to outstanding. I also tasted the 2024 Laundry Vineyard Vinemount Ridge which is a bit lighter and narrower and needs a year or two in the bottle. And the amazingly opulent, rich yet poised 2015 Picone Vineyard that is drinking beautifully at 10 years and will go on another 10. Stunning!

Backgrounder In 2010, Charles Baker, employed in marketing at Stratus Vineyards, decided to focus solely on premium Niagara riesling. He made it a mission to isolate and elevate riesling from sites on the Niagara Escarpment, which he considers to be a special and rare base on which to grow wine. Perched at the highest point of the Niagara Peninsula in Vinemount Ridge, the Picone vineyard is a densely planted 2.5 hectares of Riesling (Weiss 21-B clone). The soil is shallow clay with scattered limestone, shale, sandstone and granite, atop the solid dolomitic limestone of the Escarpment. By all accounts, the quality of grapes in very warm 2022 was exceptional across the board. Unfortunately, the crop was also small, producing on average, just 50% of the yield of previous years. The winemaking involves wild fermentation, in this case resulting in alcohol of 11.4%, residual sugar 15.3g/L and TA at 10.2g/L. It was aged several months in bottle.