 www.13thstreetwinery.com |
St Catharines based 13th street winery recently hosted a new-releases lunch at Didier restaurant in Toronto. The annual lunch is a platform for 13th street to showcase new releases, and this year in particular, it was an opportunity to showcase a new series of wines by winemaker Jean-Pierre Colas…
13th Street winery was founded in 1998 under the premise of producing handcrafted small lots of still and sparkling wines. Over the years, the winery has gone through all sorts of transformations. The facility has moved from its original location on 13th street to new digs on Fourth Avenue in west St. Catharines. Ten years after the winery was founded, the original partners of the winery decided it was time to move on and the winery eventually sold to new owners. Then, last year, winemaker Jean-Pierre Colas (Peninsula Ridge Estates, Domaine Laroche) came on board to assist Herb Jacobson with winemaking. Herb retired this year, and Jean-Pierre took over full time.
Jean-Pierre and Peter Bodnar Rod (Director of Hospitality for 13th Street Winery) collaborated with celebrated chef Didier Leroy to create a five course tasting menu, each dish paired with wines from the boutique shop. We started with the 13th street Premier Cuvee NV ($29.95), a new sparkling wine made from 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, set to be released in Decemeber. The wine recently won bronze in the category of ‘Sparkling’ at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Wine Competition. It was paired with Oeuf en Cocotte Périgourdine — baked eggs with black truffles and bits of foie gras, all sitting in madeira sauce. Rich spoonfuls elevated by the truffles and rich foie gras, then cut by the acidity and fruit in the sparkling wine.
Fluffy herb stuffed cheese soufflé followed, along with glasses of 13th Street’s 2009 Essence Sauvignon Blanc ($34.95), part of a new signature series of wines from the winery. The Essence sub-brand is Colas’ baby, and is used as a platform to create wines from exceptional vintages, representing fruit at its highest intensity and ripeness. The grapes aren’t always from estate vineyards, but in Colas’ opinion, will offer some perspective on the work of exceptional grape growers in the region. Colas sourced the Sauvignon Blanc grapes by accident while looking for Gamay Noir. He visited a family farm in the Niagara-on-the-lake region and proceeded to eat his way through the vineyard.
“I was tasting so many berries, dissecting them, eating the skins, breaking the seeds. I couldn’t believe the ripeness, the elegant fruit, still very fresh and balanced.” Colas explained. What surprised Colas the most, It was the first week of November and the grapes were still on the vines. The healthy grapes were hand-picked and transported back to the 13th Street facility, there 40% of the fruit was fermented in oak while the rest was cool-fermented in stainless steel. After a few months, both wines were blended in chilled stainless tanks until bottling, which took place in July. The Sauvignon Blanc bursts with tropical fruits and citrus and some minerality on the palate. While the herbaceous soufflé adds some flavor to the pairing, the Sauvignon Blanc’s presence was bright and ripe.
It’s difficult to dissect chef Didier’s classic French interpretations when every dish has near flawless expression. As we started to sip on 13th Street’s 2009 Sandstone Chardonnay ($19.95), an elegantly presented dish of seared sea bass with cauliflower puree followed. Simply a no brainer – the citrus, acidity, and minerality from the chardonnay, with the creaminess from the fish and puree.
The second ‘Essence’ followed, the 2009 Pinot Noir ($44.95) with a story identical to the Sauvignon Blanc.
“This wine is like the younger sister to the Sauvignon Blanc. Can you believe, Pinot Noir, harvested in the first week of November? Ripe with lots of fresh sour cherries, richness and full of aromatics,” Colas extolled on a wine that he once vowed never to make. In this case, the truth was in the fruit. “After tasting the fruit, I knew I wanted to make this Pinot”.
Similar to the Sauvignon Blanc, 60% of the Pinot was aged in oak while the remaining 40% in stainless steel tanks. After nearly six months in oak, the wines were blended. The resulting wine has predominant ripe cherry flavours. With the wine, a plate of boned Quebec quail which was stuffed with guinea fowl mousse, sour cherry and merguez sausage. The quail sat on a bed of peppered squash surrounded by jus. Pairing here was almost flawless albeit the room expressed slight hesitation with the merguez.
Lunch concluded with an array of Mignardises. Valrhona black chocolate truffles with manjari cocoa, palmier, and almond cream cookies. Glasses of 2006 Ratafia Rouge were passed around.
“The Ratafia Rouge is Jean Pierre’s version of a French specialty from the Champagne region and Burgundy. It’s called a Vin de Liqueur or a Mistelle by the French and different versions are made throughout France by blending the region’s notable spirit with pure, unfermented regional grape juice. The most well known versions would be Floc de Gascogne in Armagnac and Pineau des Charentes in Cognac. Jean Pierre’s version is very ripe Merlot juice mixed with pure fruit spirits and then aged in oak barrels for a year or two. The one we poured is quite young so won’t be finished and released for a while yet, but it’s an amazing chocolate match and would often be consumed alone before a meal as an aperitif.” Peter explained. The Ratafia is slated for a spring release.
Peter is responsible for all the innovative events that the winery continues to host. With the mantra that Ontario wines and produce can only shine when showcased on the world stage, he continues to assemble unique food and wine events where local and international ingredients (including international wines) share the table.
For more information on upcoming events, join the winery’s mailing list.
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13th Street Winery
1776 Fourth Avenue
St Catharines, Ontario
1-905-984-8463
www.13thstreetwinery.com
Didier Restaurant
1496 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
www.restaurantdidier.com
Day 47 – 13th Street Winery Essence Wines
13th Street Winery and Buster Rhinos BBQ
Wine Wednesday – 13th Street June’s Vineyard’s Riesling 2008
Norm Hardie and Didier
