Announcing the Best Performing Small Winery of 2018
Two Sisters Vineyards
By Michael Godel
What does it take to become the Best Performing Small Winery at the National Wine Awards of Canada? In the case of Two Sisters Vineyards it’s a matter of location, passion, off the charts acumen and on the wine spectrum intelligence. Family is the key, natural architecture provides the landscape and time may just be the ultimate luxury in life. Time is what Two Sisters provides their wines so that when they are presented to the world they are allowed to show so well. In time, when they are ready.
Timing is everything. On Tuesday, July 17th I spent the morning tasting through the Niagara-on-the-Lake winery’s entire portfolio with winemaker Adam Pearce, co-founder Melissa Marotta-Paolicelli and Director of Marketing and PR Joanna Muratori. During that sit-down I received a text from the WineAlign office saying that the winery had won this award. I had the great pleasure to share the news right then and there. The special moment showed in their collective faces; that sense of pride meeting vindication and great happiness meeting humility.
Adam Pearce is one of Ontario’s great young winemaking minds. He is the fortunate recipient of Niagara River vineyards planted to cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and now chardonnay. In his own words he’s all about “crafting exceptional wines true to varietal character and respecting terroir…huge for me which is why I try to take a non-interventionist approach to winemaking, to ensure that the grapes speak for themselves.”
Adam Pearce, Winemaker
Two Sisters is spread across 60 acres – 20 acres planted to each of three red varieties; merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. The million dollar question is why Niagara River? The reasons are understood. Early spring, late fall and a very specific microclimate in this section of the appellation that lies closer to the lake than any other vineyard (besides the River Bend Inn’s non-commerialized small plot). It is the most easterly vineyard in Niagara that receives a lake effect, but it’s also a place to think ultra-premium. “We’re not trying grow grapes, we’re trying to grow wine,” says Pearce. Also it’s extra cold when its cold in the winter, but the aid of river stone soils and unique, sustainable farming leave no risk to losing crop.
The strong finish for Two Sisters is anchored in the Platinum Award winning cabernet franc which comes from a winemaker who clearly understands the necessities and the potential of a grape suited to excel in Ontario. Adam Pearce’s work will travel under the radar no more and he will always remember 2018 as the year when his exceptional cabernet franc sat perched at the top of the national peak. The 2014 Niagara River cabernet franc may still be a ways from reaching its full potential but it has certainly hit its stride. It beat out 45 other cabernet franc also awarded medals in 2018 and this speaks volumes about its quality amongst an entire class of national compositions.
Two Sisters Vineyards
It’s not the amount of medals earned by Two Sisters that justifies their excellent and consequential 2018 showing. It’s the colour of those medals; one Platinum, four Gold and one Silver. Impressive indeed.
Riesling is a bit of a newcomer for the Pearce-Sisters venture but it has quickly established itself to join many others as classic album side material. The Gold Medal winning 2016 is a joint Wismer-Foxcroft and (Daniel) Lenko Vineyard get together that celebrates and expresses the specificity of limestone rich Escarpment benches. Silver is nothing but brilliant for the 2016 unoaked chardonnay and Gold for merlot from 2013 tells you all you need to know about growing these grapes in the Niagara River appellation. As for the other medalling wines, it is the Eleventh Post 2013 that stands out as one of the estate’s signature accomplishments. The popular premium red combines the three original and essential estate varietals; cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot for pure, unbridled and seriously joyous Two Sisters phraseology. Finally there is Stone Eagle, the Bordeaux-styled big red blend that is the flagship red and wine of great wooded architecture.
This award for Two Sisters Vineyard has happened in a year when the largest and most comprehensive wine competition in Canadian history saw 1,850 wines from 257 wineries entered. Every one of these top medal winners survived multiple elimination rounds and only 42 per cent of all wines entered were awarded medals. Congratulations to the entire Two Sisters team. Your future is wide open.
Two Sisters’ Medal Winning Wines
Two Sisters Cabernet Franc 2014
Two Sisters Eleventh Post 2013
Two Sisters Unoaked Chardonnay 2016
A note from the National Wine Awards of Canada organizers: We continue to wrestle with the name of this singular award: Best Performing Small Winery. The word ‘small’ makes it sound diminutive and somehow lacklustre but that is not our intention. It would be tidy if the concept was to award Estate wineries, but that implies 100% ownership of the process which is far too difficult for us to enforce and ‘boutique’ seems so last century. The goal is to honour smaller wineries, those producing less than 10,000 cases, and within Canada there are hundreds. If you have a better descriptor please send it along and we will consider a change next year.
If you have missed our far more detailed commentary on the various categories – with a few being rolled out each day over the past several days – see the complete list of winners here.
