Winemaker’s Notes
According to Derek, the humidity levels remained high throughout September giving some concern for breakdown in many varieties of grapes.  The grapes for this wine are grown very close to the shores of Lake Ontario where light breezes off the lake tended to keep the intense heat and humidity at bay just a little bit.  Â
Grapes were harvested in great condition, crushed and destemmed before transfer to small fermenting bins. Punch downs were done by hand 2-3 times daily, extracting colour and flavour from the skins. After 20 days of skin contact the wine was pressed off the skins and moved to tank for a couple of days to settle off the heavier sediment. Following that it was transferred to French and American oak barrels where malolactic ferment was completed. The wine continued to age in the barrels for another 18 months. The wine was lightly filtered before bottling.
