Southbrook Vineyards, 2020 Saunders Vineyard Cabernet Franc
The story of Southbrook Vineyards begins back in 1941, when Bill Redelmeier's grandfather purchased a dairy farm in Richmond Hill, Ontario, which later evolved into a thriving farm market in the 1980s focused on sourcing the best and freshest products from local farmers and artisans. Bill's longtime love of gourmet food and wine inspired him to begin sourcing grapes from the Niagara Peninsula to make wine, and in 1991 Southbrook Winery produced their first 2000 cases with the help of Derek Barnett, who has since gone on to become one of Ontario's most celebrated winemakers.
Fast forward to 2005, and Bill was finally able to realize his dream by purchasing 74 acres of land in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area where he could establish his winery and develop their vineyards. In 2008, Southbrook became the first in Canada to receive organic and biodynamic certification for their vineyards and winery, solidifying their position as an industry-leader in sustainable and green initiatives.
Still family owned today, Southbrook farms 60 acres of vineyards, and sources from a few select, like-minded growers, to producer their wines, which focus on the key varieties that excel in Ontario, such as Chardonnay and Riesling for the whites, and Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and Gamay for the reds. They are working with about 8 acres of Cabernet Franc, from which they make a single-varietal Cabernet Franc rosé, as well as their entry-level Triomphe Cabernet Franc, and they are also making two single-vineyard Cabernet Francs from the Saunders Vineyard on the Beamsville Bench, and the Laundry Vineyard in the Lincoln Lakeshore VQA sub-appellation.
Since 2005, the Redelemier family has been supported in the vineyard and cellar by Ann Sperling, who is their Director of Winemaking and Viticulture, and Casey Hogan has been their winemaker since 2019.
While the majority of Southbrook's vineyards are located in Niagara-on-the-Lake area and more specifically the Four Mile Creek VQA sub-appellation, today we are looking at their Saunders Vineyard Cabernet Franc, which is located in the Beamsville Bench VQA sub-appellation, so this will be the focus of our terroir deep dive today.
So the Beamsville Bench appellation is one of three sub-appellations that fall under the Niagara Escarpment regional appellation, the others being the Twenty Mile Bench, the Short Hills Bench. The Niagara Escarpment is one of the key geographical features that make viticulture in the Niagara Peninsula possible, that along with Lake Ontario, which is to the north. The escarpment, this ridge, rises to a height of nearly 200m and helps to trap as well as circulate airflow from off the lake into the vineyards. This air flow helps to reduce disease pressure and frost risk, and the added warmth brought by the air helps to increase the overall vineyard temperatures, prolong the growing season and aid ripening.
The escarpment is comprised of layers of sedimentary rocks - predominantly dolostone, dolomitic limestones, shales and sandstones - that date to the Palaeozoic era. How hard these rocks are, or how susceptible or resistant to erosion they are, has shaped the topography of the Niagara Escarpment vineyard area. During the glacial events of the last 2 million years, as the glaciers receded, these sedimentary rocks eroded away to form the terraces, or benches, that now make up the vineyard areas of the Niagara Escarpment.
These wide, north-facing terraces make up the larger Lake Iroquois Bench that sit just above the historical shoreline of the ancient Lake Iroquois. These terraces vary in width, the degree of slope and elevation depending on where you are. The Beamsville Bench is located on the Bell Terrace, which is the first or lowest terraces on the escarpment, and the elevation ranges from around 115m above sea level to upwards to 170m above sea level. The appellation stretches about 9.5km from east to west and varies in width from about 2km at widest point in the centre of the sub-appellation, and as little as a few hundred metres wide at the eastern and western points in the appellation.
In terms of the microclimate, the Beamsville Bench is the furthest west of these benches, but it is also closest to Lake Ontario. It receives a stronger moderating influence from Lake Ontario, making it cooler overall during the growing season, but it also it extends the growing season slightly. Giving it an advantage in terms of growing degree days, at 1588, which is actually greater than that of Four Mile Creek in Niagara-on-the-Lake, widely regarded as a top source of some of the Niagara Peninsula's Bordeaux grapes. In terms of soils, across the Beamsville Bench the topsoil is mix of deeper red, yellow and olive green clay-loam tills with varying amounts of dolomitic limestone, shale of sand stone fragments depending on the vineyard and parcel. The bedrock, which is well below the surface, is comprised of layers of Whirlpool sandstone and Power Glen shale and sandstone.
The Saunders Vineyard is located in the western part of Beamsville Bench, less than 4km south of the shoreline of Lake Ontario, on a gentle north-facing slope at an average elevation of about 123m above sea level. There are two blocks of Cabernet Franc totalling about 1.2 acres, so just a little under a half a hectare, one planted in 1999 and the other in 2000. In terms of soil, it is a mix of red and olive green coloured clay-loam glacial till, with lacustrine and dolomitic limestone sediments. The vineyard is farmed certified organic, and they are employing regenerative farming practices as well. Southbrook has been working with the Saunders family to source grapes for single-vineyard wines since 2012.
In terms of winemaking, the yield off the block in 2020 was around 1.5 tons per acre. The fruit was hand-harvested and entirely destemmed. The fermentation was in one tonne bins, using indigenous yeast, with the fermentation temperature reaching a maximum of 30C. The total time on skins was about 22 days, with some punch downs once or twice per day during peak fermentation. The wine was aged for about 18 months in barriques, 5 barrels in total, and 2 of these were new, followed by blending and minimal filtration before bottling.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Southbrook Vineyards
Region: Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada
Appellation: VQA Beamsville Bench
Vineyard: Saunders Vineyard
Soils: red and green olive-coloured clay-loam till with lacustrine and dolostone sediments
Alcohol: 13.7%
