Winemaker's Notes

From the celebrated Eastman Vineyard that lies between our Estate and Moira vineyards on the Beamsville Bench. Don Eastman's vines are a minimum of 15 years of age, which along with the reputation of wines produced over the years would give it "Grand Cru" status in France. Like all vineyards in Niagara, yields were compromised by winter temperatures dipping below -20°C. The hot, sunny summer produced grapes that made up for quantity with quality.

Hand harvested on October 5 at 22.0° brix, 7.3 g/l titratable acidity and 3.6 pH yielding 25 hl/ha. sorted, destemmed and lightly crushed. Skin contact was 36 hours. Pressed to 1.4 atmospheres and fermented slowly and cool with S. cerevisiae yeast strain VL1 to dryness. Bottled on August 23, 2006 under Stelvin® with 3.5 g/l residual sugar and 13.6% alcohol. Drink now until 2008.

Food Pairings

Great with spicy pulled pork with caramelized onions on toast. Also try with shrimp curry mild and creamy or done Creole style, or with an Alsatian pâté of pork with onions, black pepper and allspice. Great with a thin crust white pizza with Munster cheese and caramelized onions, or nut crusted salmon with fiddleheads, wild leeks, spicy lemon zest and coconut emulsion. Try with sliced radish salad with peach wedges, yellow plums, Balsamic caramelized onions, fresh black pepper tossed in a peach vinaigrette.