Natural Wine Styles

A whole cluster fermented Frontenac Gris grown in our vineyard.  

Cooked field berry aromas, zesty acidity with a blood orange finish.  Pairs well with curries and other big flavours.  

This wine was a lot of work and a lot of fun to make.

First the story behind the inspiration. When I was a kid, living at home, my mother always had gardens. She loved her gardens; she would come home every night after work and tend her gardens. They were beautiful. She always had books about flowers, herbs, vegetables, whatever it was that she was growing. It wasn't just coffee table fodder; she loved it. In my early teen years, she planted a herb garden at our house, and I started to become interested in them.

When I started building my own homes, I would plant herb gardens. At first, I started making herbal teas with them (tarragon, peppermint and honey is the favourite from my gardens). Then I started to experiment with tisanes. I found it fascinating how the various herbs impacted the flavours of the wines.

I am always researching and learning about new things and one day I was reading about Vermouth. Vermouth is traditionally a fortified wine infused with herbs, spices, flowers(and in the past wormwood). When I started reading about the ingredients used in the old world to flavour vermouth, a light bulb went off. We have either a local grower or native version of many of the traditional herbs, spices, and flowers that are used.

When I learned this, our path was set. I started to enlist local growers (shout out to PEC Lavender for the lavender and hyssop contributions), and began to forage from our farm. We had pails and pails of lilac, juniper, chamomile, hyssop, sumac, lavender and many other seasonings steeping in the wines. We collected everything fresh and infused the wine with them.

If you're looking for amazing cocktails, use this in your wine. It's floral; it's brilliant and delicious. We use it for an aperitif and serve cheese plates with it. Spritzers are amazing or try some in a chai tea or Moscow mule. Seriously.

But to finish my story, in honour of my mother Donna who inspired my love of plants, herbs, and food I have named this offering Madonna.

 

Vermouth should be stored upright and once opened can keep for a month in the fridge.

 

Cocktail Suggestion

Vermouth Mule

Per Serving

2 Ounces Madonna Vermouth
1/2 Ounce Lime Juice
Island Soda Ginger Beer (to taste)
Garnish with lime wedge and mint leaf

Instructions:
In a rocks glass or small mason jar, stir together Madonna Vermouth and lime juice over ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish. Cheers!

The Pét-Nats are our first wines in a collaboration series.

The collaborative effort between Traynor Family Vineyards and The Courage Bar demonstrates the unique spirit of the County. It is evidence that by the willingness to experiment and to allow space for new ideas and approaches, and to celebrate and reward the hard work it takes to help all those things materialize, that The County is one of the most exciting wine regions in the world today. Trifecta celebrates both an ancient technique as well as the desire to innovate and play.

The Trifecta series is comprised of a white, an orange and a red wine and are made with much care, enthusiasm and love for experimentation.

Pét-Nat (Petillant Naturale) is perhaps the oldest method of making sparkling wines. With method Traditional (think Champagne) you take an aged still wine, inoculate it with yeast and sugar, bottle it, it ferments, ages, gets disgorged, dosage (filling the bottle back up again), and capped. But Pét-Nat, it is much less complicated, much less intervention in the wine, much more natural. Towards the end of primary fermentation (let's say 2% sugars remaining in the juice), the wine gets bottled... and that's it. What is left is probably the freshest, most fun wine you have had.

The Trifecta White is where the experiment began.

Around the end of August, shortly after Courage Bar opened and slightly before harvest was due to begin, I was at Courage enjoying a pint with Tyler (one of The Courage founders and natural wine enthusiast), and the conversation turned to wine. Tyler mentioned that he was trying to source a Pét-Nat in Canada and was thus far striking out. I wasn't really sure at that point what a Pét-Nat even was but when we discussed it further, it fit what I wanted to do to perfectly.

At that moment, we started along the path of creating an entirely new wine category for Canada. The Trifecta series is a Canadian first. A blend of Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc, this wine is a ton of fruit fun. It has a lot of bubbles, so when you open it just crack to capsule a bit and serve from the foam, about a third through pop the top. It's a classic fun wine.

Our Pet-Nat Red, is a naturally carbonated sparkling red.  Its delicious and fun.  Lots of bubbles and lots of flavour.  Perfect for celebrating.

Vintage:  2017

Alcohol:  12.1%

A rarity for PEC, a 100% estate grown Sauvignon Blanc. We whole cluster fermented the wine on the skins for ten days. We pressed and racked into barrel where fermentation was completed. It is still on its heavy lees.

White pepper, lemon grass, and guava. Zesty and bright. Approximately 13.5% alcohol. Only 250 bottles produced. Release late spring, early summer.

A field blend of Estate Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, whole cluster fermented and macerated on the skins for a little over two weeks. Huge mouthfeel, rich, creamy, dominated by butterscotch, honey and cooked apple. Some volatility that lifts the palate and aromas and a bit of tannin on the finish.

To date it has been in used oak barrels for 15 months and is still on its fermentation lees. It will come out of oak soon and will be settled in tank before being bottled. Anticipated release late spring/early summer.

We only made around 360 bottles of this very special wine, so pre-order soon because when it is released it will not last long.

We have not done final lab testing on this wine, but it is close to 14% alcohol. Its a bomb.

This awesome Pet-Nat is a blend of Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc.  It has a bunch of funk up front, but it blows off quickly and then you start tasting all the tasty fruit.  Lots of bubbles and flavour.

Vintage:  2017

Alcohol:  10.8%