Tasting Note Of all the selections in this post, here is the wine you want to open and drink tonight. It is the most mature, elegant and smooth, thanks to an excellent 2020 vintage in Niagara, but also because there is no cabernet sauvignon involved. It is a smooth, even and well-balanced blend of 85% cabernet franc from the Twenty Mile Bench on the Escarpment (which has dealt its delicacy) and 15% merlot from Four Mile Creek (which has added some padding). Without cabernet sauvignon, the structure is lighter and more rapidly evolving. It pours mid ruby garnet. The lovely nose wafts very complex raspberry/currant fruit, tobacco, cedar, leather and lifted fresh herbs that are a bit of a Niagara trait. Not green, but delicately herbal. It is medium bodied, fairly smooth, tender and elegant, with fine tannin. The length is excellent. Best now (aerate) through 2030. Tasted December 2025.
Backgrounder The Dobbin family purchased a large, well-placed but tired vineyard in the Twenty Mile Bench sub-appellation. But they only did so under the advisement of Canada’s foremost winemaking consultants Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling, who have instituted a rigorous renewal process. The Dobbin portfolio is meticulously thought out, with viticulture at its core. The public facing is a beautiful, isolated tasting room tower that overlooks a large pond (small lake?). Still early days for this project but already very impressive .
