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Tawse ‘Spark’ Laundry Vineyard Blanc de Noir 2013

Canada, Ontario
92 wc 92 Points (winecurrent)
92 WA 92 Points (WineAlign)
91 WA 91 Points (WineAlign)

Crafted in the Traditional method, from 100% Pinot Noir grapes from the Laundry Family Vineyard, this wine spent 6 years aging on lees. A very elegant and pleasing wine with aromas of ripe apple and brioche, with hints of marzipan. At first the palate shows sweet notes and a creamy mouthfeel. The finish is generous, tart and crisp.

Country Canada
Province Ontario
Region Niagara Peninsula
Sub-Ava Lincoln Lakeshore VQA
Producer Tawse Winery
Vintage 2013
Color Sparkling Wine
Varietal(s) Pinot Noir
¥5,500  (incl. tax)

Crafted in the Traditional method, from 100% Pinot Noir grapes from the Laundry Family Vineyard, this wine spent 6 years aging on lees. A very elegant and pleasing wine with aromas of ripe apple and brioche, with hints of marzipan. At first the palate shows sweet notes and a creamy mouthfeel. The finish is generous, tart and crisp.

Country Canada
Province Ontario
Region Niagara Peninsula
Sub-Ava Lincoln Lakeshore VQA
Producer Tawse Winery
Vintage 2013
Color Sparkling Wine
Varietal(s) Pinot Noir
Data
Closure Cork
Volume 750ml
Alcohol 12.5%
Product Code A001S00313
UPC 670459010983
Inventory In Stock (18)
Owning & Enjoying

Tasting notes

Crafted in the Traditional method, from 100% Pinot Noir grapes from the Laundry Family Vineyard, this wine spent 6 years aging on lees. A very elegant and pleasing wine with aromas of ripe apple and brioche, with hints of marzipan. At first the palate shows sweet notes and a creamy mouthfeel. The finish is generous, tart and crisp.

Pairing

Always a pleasure to food pair with, Sparkling wine is extremely versatile. Forego the typical seafood pairing - this  wine wants rich fare such as chicken liver mousse, caviar with crème fraiche, baked brie with cranberry compote, or goat cheese and fig phyllo parcels. Of course, it is delicious all on its own!

Cellaring

Enjoy through 2030!

Press
92winecurrent
Vic Harradine - Pleasing aromas of apple, minerality and leesy notes provide segue for a tangy, delightful surge of prickly fine-bead bubbles riding a wave of delectable palate flavours with excellent tang sporting notes of lemon citrus, caramel and passionfruit with all persisting through the lengthy, mouth-watering finish and aftertaste. Clean and crisp, tasty and refreshing. Pour on its own or alongside your favourite cheeses or charcuterie board.
92WineAlign
Michael Godel - A Spark about which winemaker Paul Pender exults by saying "2013 is my favourite vintage for all our sparklings." Traditional method, pinot noir from Heather Laundry's double L vineyard and a fizz that fits and sparks. Gingered and toasty, crunchy, wave cresting and fulsome by six years on the lees. The dosage was five to six g/L, in that Pender sweet spot all around, just right, so well and good. A little romanticism goes a long way where science is concerned, especially in this medium and in Spark Blanc De Noirs 2013 one is simply good for the other.  Tasted July 2021.
91WineAlign
John Szabo, MS.  A pure pinot noir from the Laundry Vineyard in the Lincoln Lakeshore sub-appellation, with an uncommon six years on the lees, this is remarkably fresh and youthful for a 2013, indeed still shockingly fruity, with lovely, sapid, strawberry-raspberry-red currant flavours and an intriguingly saline-briny finish. There's genuine vinosity and concentration here to be sure, and excellent length - a fine wine from Tawse at an attractive price. Tasted December 2020.
Production

Appellation

VQA Lincoln Lakeshore

Viticulture

From the 15-year old vines of the Laundry Vineyard. Farmed sustainably. Viticultural practices included vertical shoot positioning, shoot thinning, leaf thinning and hand-harvesting. Hand disgorged.

Vinification

Crafted in the Traditional method, from 100% Pinot Noir grapes from the Laundry Family Vineyard, this wine spent 6 years aging on lees. 

Producer

Producer Description

Situated on the lower slopes of the Niagara Escarpment, Tawse is a family-owned organic winery. A life-long lover of wine, Burgundy in particular, founder Moray Tawse purchased the Cherry Avenue property in 2001 after realizing the great potential of the Niagara Escarpment as a word-class cool-climate wine region. In 2005, he opened his state-of-the-art winery in Vineland, complete with a six-level, gravity-flow design, geo-thermal system and a wetland bio-filter.

The inspiration for Moray’s eponymous Niagara property came from his love of Burgundian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Uniting traditional winemaking techniques with state-of-the-art technology, Tawse and the award-winning winemaking team of Paul Pender and Rene Van Ede, is dedicated to producing terroir-driven wines of exceptional elegance, depth and character.

At Tawse, winemaking begins in the vineyards. We proudly apply rigorous organic methods to every aspect of our production from grape-growing to winemaking and Ecocert seals appear on all wines made from our estate fruit.

Today, having acquired over 200 acres (5 vineyards) and being named Canadian Winery of the year in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2016, Tawse Winery now produces 30,000 cases of wine and has one of the largest portfolios of organic wines in the Niagara region.

Viticulture

ViticultureAt Tawse, winemaking begins in the vineyards. Healthy vines yield quality fruit which allows us to craft terroir-driven wines of great elegance, depth and character. Promoting the health of our vines and vineyards requires a labour-intensive and hands-on approach. We tuck and thin the shoots by hand to increase sun exposure and air flow. We keep the yields low by cluster-thinning to ensure that all the energy of the vine is focused to ripen fewer higher-quality grape clusters. Our grapes are harvested at optimal ripeness and sorted to select the very best fruit. We also proudly practice organic farming.

Organic Farming

Organic farming feeds the vines and controls diseases without the use of synthetic insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers. We strive to create a diversified balanced ecosystem that generates health and fertility from the vineyard itself. Healthy vines mean less need for outside substances to control diseases and promote growth. By being present in the vineyard, we are able to anticipate and prevent issues. We also get help from our friends from the animal realm, chickens feed on bugs, our sheep eat the lower vine leaves to expose the grapes to the ripening sun.

Winemaking

Our grapes are harvested at optimal ripeness and sorted. Our reds are de-stemmed before pressing and our whites are gently whole cluster pressed to avoid the bitter characteristics from the stems, skins and seeds. Aromatic whites are fermented in stainless steel.  We barrel-ferment our Chardonnay in French oak using wild yeast. All our reds are fermented in oak fermenters and then aged in French oak from 12 to 18 months depending on the varietal

Environmental Responsibility

The architecture of our winery was carefully conceived to be environmentally-friendly. Our 6-level design allows us to use gravity as much as possible to gently move the wine as is processed, from pressing to cellaring. Our Chardonnay and our reds are aged in underground barrel cellars covered by 6 to 8 feet of earth, which keeps the ambient temperature between 10 and 16 degrees Celsius, with a natural humidity of approximately 85%. This relatively stable temperature and high humidity allows our wines to age gracefully with a minimum amount of evaporation. Our modern geo-thermal energy system has reduced our use of traditional forms of energy by 80%. We also have a wetland bio-filter which allows us to re-use of all our sanitary and winery process water.

The Team

Paul Pender - Director of Viticulture and Winemaking

Paul Pender joined the Tawse team in 2005 and became head winemaker in 2006. Under his leadership, Tawse achieved Ecocert organic and Demeter biodynamic certification and was named Canadian Winery of the year in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016. He earned the title of Winemaker of the Year at the Ontario Wine Awards in 2011.

Former carpenter and graduate of Niagara College’s Winery and Viticulture program, Paul adopts a “non-interventionist as far as possible” philosophy. He is a firm believer that the start of every great wine begins in the vineyard and he is passionate about crafting wines that express a sense of place.

 

 


Jessica Otting - Winemaker

Jess has been enthralled by the world of wine since a very young age; at seventeen she completed her first vintage for her high school placement. After graduating from Niagara College’s Winery & VIticulture program in 2011, Jess took her skills abroad where she took part in a harvest in South Australia and in Tasmania the following year, with a Canadian vintage in between for good measure. Her passion for cool climate wines brought her back to Niagara, and it was not long before she joined the Tawse team to perform all of the laboratory analysis required to make delicious Bench wines.

After working closely with the winemakers for over four years, Jess took on the Assistant Winemaker role in 2018, and shortly after became Distiller as part of the team that pioneered the new spirits program at Tawse. 2020 brought about more big changes, as she earned the role of Winemaker for Tawse Winery.

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