Tasting Note My personal favourite of the four Small Lots 2021s, this is the most voluminous, yet somehow delicate and refined. More stuffing and more sweetness perhaps but not necessarily more power. It pours medium lemon. The nose displays generous, ripe, very well-integrated peach, yellow pear, fruit with a hint of petrol, beeswax, linden florals and citrus. The alcohol is only 10.1% but the wine feels bigger, perhaps due to more residual sugar. Yet there is a lovely acid line here, as well. It is rounded yet refined, and the length is excellent to outstanding. This should drink well for 10 years. Of the other Small Lot Riesling, the Wood Post 2021 was similarly broad and powerful if more firm, while the Steel Post 2021 was leaner, higher in acid and more mineral. I also tasted a Triangle Vineyard 2014 that was fully evolved with satiny texture and classic apricot-honey aromas, although showing oxidation.

Backgrounder The original single-block, old-vine rieslings — Steel Post, Triangle and Wood Post vineyards, planted in 1980 — are the backbone of Thirty Bench. The winery did not open officially until 1994, with a co-op of amateur winemakers led by Dr. Tom Muckle. In 2005 it was purchased by Andrew Peller and, in 2010, Emma Garner, with several years experience at Trius, was made head winemaker. In 2015 she was named Winemaker of the Year at the Ontario Wine Awards and, that year, Thirty Bench was recognized as Canada’s Best Small Winery at the National Wine Awards of Canada. The Small Lots Wild Cask Riesling is from the Dr. Muckle Vineyard. It was partially wild fermented in oak puncheons at warmer temperatures, and partially cooler fermented in tank. The lots were aged three months then blended and bottled. The alcohol is 10.2%, Sugar 23.5 g/L.