Old World style comes to Niagara
For Ryan Corrigan, wine should not be this pretentious or this hip thing, but a beverage everyone should enjoy.
“We look at it as an ingredient in a meal,” says the winemaker who has been in charge at Rosewood Estates winery for just under two years.
The graduate of CCOVI at Brock University can name drop some big places in the wine world having worked with Pascal Madevon at Osoyoos Larose in British Columbia, Kim Crawford in New Zealand and Opus in the Napa Valley
Corrigan returned to Niagara for the challenge and to expand his winemaking.
“The reason I came back from being abroad for better or worse every vintage here is going to be different.”
He admits it couldn’t have had a more different vintage in 2017 from 2016.
“It was hot, dry, drought, this year was flooding.”
Early on, he also spent time learning in Italy and France that helped fortify his love of old world wine styles.
“For me, the focus has always been in the old world style.”
“Here with every vintage being different and working in a handsoff way you end up with a product that is authentic and reflective of a specific point in time,” says Corrigan.
“I also believe taking styles of winemaking from the old world to Ontario where were not as restricted in terms of what we can grow.”
“A lot of the new world wineries are focused on technology,” he says understanding that it works well for them because of the mass production.
“Here Pinot, Chard and Riesling are the focus with very low yields, uncompromising quality and high expectations in developing good cellar practices.”
It seems his style of winemaking is a good fit for Rosewood. A family owned operation that has garnered more and more attention.
“I like to work on this scale as opposed to larger winery size.”
“We take the time to release when they’re ready at their best and showing well. We’re on a small scale so we can afford to do that.”
While the winery is often associated with their Mead wines, they have built up a loyal following of their reds and white wines including the Sussreserve Riesling that Corrigan convinced me to try.
Fresh and inviting, Sussreserve refers to the blending of unfermented juice into the wine bringing a little bit of sweetness and balancing the acidity. Very easy going, perfect for a warm late summers day or to serve with seafood or goats cheese appetisers. And of course, it is excellent on its own as a sipper. If you’ve never tried the Sussreserve, this is an excellent example from Ontario.
Ryan then poured a glass of 2016 Locked and Loaded White which builds on the success of their Locked and Loaded red.
While I shy away from oaked Chardonnays, for this vintage the Locked and loaded is all Chardonnay, this lightly oaked interpretation is all about the freshness of Niagara. Aromas pear, peach entice you. With only 10 per cent of the wine aged in oak, the palate has bright acidity while giving a mouth feel that you would associate with a bigger Chardonnay. Light notes of minerality fill out a crisp citrussy finish. A good wine for those who like Chardonnay, but necessarily something overly big and over oaked. Priced at $16.95, value for sure.