2020 DAM CHARDONNAY
Willms Vineyard 1983 Vines
$23.73 Licensee
99 Cases Produced | 16 Magnums
Harvest Date: October 3, 2020
pH: 3.46
TA: 5.8 g/l
Alc: 13.6%
RS: 0.3 g/l
This wine is called Dam Chardonnay after a contentious discussion within the company on what wine we were going to make next. The conversation ended with one of the partners saying “Fine, You can have your damned Chardonnay”.
2020 was an exceptional growing year, in spite of a challenging year for humanity. We had the opportunity to work with the Chardonnay plot from Erv and Esther Willms. These vines were planted in 1983. We agreed to purchase this fruit without hesitation having had the chance to taste quality wines made from this vineyard from other well known Niagara producers.
Harvest day was one of the highlights of 2020. It was an opportunity to get a small team of close friends to help us pick the fruit from vineyards that looked like they had been photoshopped by mother nature. What a better way to distract from COVID restrictions than socially distancing in one of the most glorious parts of Niagara on the Lake.
This wine was fermented in a 2nd and 4th fill puncheon slowly with indigenous yeast. Our intrepid winemaker Adam kept a close eye on the long, slow ferment over several months. There was one moment in January of 2021 that we were forced to cover our puncheons in blankets to raise the temperature. We feel our patience was rewarded with a Chardonnay that delivers a full spectrum of flavours from beautiful peach notes to what André has described as “Electric Mango Juice”.
Chardonnay is always a challenge with food pairings – but we feel the cool nights during the 2020 summer helped us maintain a beautiful acid foundation to hold up to the unrestrained fruit flavours. We hope you enjoy this bottle as much as we enjoyed putting it together.