Tasted Note:   Niagara’s most expensive riesling is sourced from old, organically tended vines on the estate. It pours bright, deep burnished gold — more mature in appearance than I expected from a 2021. Aromas and flavours are very advanced as well, almost into the realm of a botrytis-affected, late harvest wine. The nose is a bit reserved but captures very complex, very ripe and exotic apricot, marmalade, honey, sponge toffee, linden florality and a touch of mossy greenness. It is medium-full bodied, richly textured and smooth yet essentially dry. The alcohol stands at 11.2%. Love the understated acid-sugar balance. Great flavour intensity and drive, with fine acidity quietly propelling the flavours. The length is excellent to outstanding, with some minerality and bitterness on the finish. An intriguing anomaly. The Black Cap Riesling 2021 is a blend from this site and a vineyard in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It shows very similar weight, richness and very good acidity, in a more youthful less late-harvest style, but is not as well balanced.

Backgrounder The Dobbin family purchased a large, well-situated but neglected vineyard in Twenty Mile Bench sub-appellation. But they only did so under the advice of Canada’s foremost winemaking consultants, Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling, who have instituted a rigorous renewal process. The Charlene Vineyard, the source of this wine, was already well established. The 2021 vintage was not easy in Niagara, with considerable rain during harvest. So this riesling was hand-picked with multiple passes (mindful of Sauternes), then manually sorted. It was fermented with wild yeast in stainless steel barrels, then aged 18 months on its lees, then a further two years in bottle.