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Bachelder Wismer-Foxcroft “33% Whole Cluster” Gamay Noir 2020 Niagara Cru

Canada, Ontario

Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Region	Niagara Peninsula
Sub-Ava	Twenty Mile Bench VQA
Producer	Bachelder Wines
Vintage	2020
Color	Red Wine
Varietal(s)	Gamay Noir

¥6,050 (incl. tax)

Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Region	Niagara Peninsula
Sub-Ava	Twenty Mile Bench VQA
Producer	Bachelder Wines
Vintage	2020
Color	Red Wine
Varietal(s)	Gamay Noir

Data

Closure	Cork
Volume	750ml
Alcohol	14%
Product Code	A017R00620
UPC	185729000484
Inventory	In Stock (28)

Owning & Enjoying

Cellaring

Enjoy thorugh 2033

Press

96Decanter (UK)

Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW. Rare plot of Gamay in a vineyard known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, on stony, silty, clay soils. Bright ruby colour and vibrant acidity, with a chalky texture, firm tannins and good depth of fruit. Iodine tinge on the finish which is echoed in the Pinot Noir.

94Wineanorak (Jamie Goode)

This is meaty and spicy on the nose with a reductive savoury twist to the red cherry and plum fruit. There’s a slightly charred, spicy, mineral, irony reductive note that adds some interest without being too much of a distraction. The palate has more of this savouriness, with a firm grip, notes of blood and iron, and vivid raspberry and cherry fruit. It finishes grippy and taut, showing freshness and depth. Ageworthy, no doubt: this is a substantial wine but it’s all angles and grip right now.

93WineAlign

Michael Godel - Foxcroft fruit is always destined for something exciting and new and at 33 per cent whole cluster it can handle the 2020 truth. Were that number more or less it would be impossible to say no or yes in how this gamay would fare but looking ahead hindsight will surely be 20/20. For now the middle road is taken, the beautifully amenable and handsomely accessible are achieved and this is indeed the gamay noir to win both heart and mind. In 2020 that is, so stock up y’all. Fine tannins will see this do well for five-plus years. More stems please. Drink 2023-2027.

92WineAlign

John Szabo, MS The Foxcroft vineyard has distinguished itself as a premium spot for gamay (and pinot and chardonnay) in the Niagara Escarpment over the years, yielding on the whole a more complete and structured expression of the variety, with a tendency to take longer to unfurl in the bottle and glass. Even here in the forward 2020 vintage there's still some notable reduction - a cry for oxygen - that should see this evolve rather slowly. The palate is where the majority of the action is at, delivering a marvelously sapid and saline expression, taut black and red fruit-inflected, fresh but generous, with genuine, mouthfilling density. Stem inclusion, here 1/3, is neither over nor under-exaggerated, even if I have a slight preference for Bachelder's other 50% whole cluster bottling of this same vineyard. Best 2023-2028 or so

Production

Appellation

VQA Twenty Mile Bench

Vintage Notes

This wine, vinified with 33% whole grape clusters, is the finer, more closed, and more structured (for ageability) of the two Foxcroft Crus. Incredible presence and verve. It possesses a slightly longer and more tannic finish, with a more iron-like minerality. If ever there was proof that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” the polemic over Foxcroft 52% Whole Cluster vs. Foxcroft 33% Whole Cluster is undoubtedly just that. In our ad hoc survey over the last two summers, roughly just over half preferred the higher percentage. Still, we find the 33% whole cluster speaks a little more clearly to us about its gravelly, iron-tinged soil origins, and since the taste of the land is what we are all about, we make a little more of that cuvée. Still, it is immense fun to compare them young and wonder about their ageability. Two beautiful siblings. Ageing-Improvement Potential: 3-10 years.

Vinification

Aged in neutral oak for 18 months

Vinified with 33% whole grape clusters

Producer

Producer Description

In just over a decade, Thomas Bachelder has made a name for himself as a producer of world class, terroir-based, organic Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Burgundy, Oregon and Niagara. With their two young daughters in tow, Thomas and his wife Mary Delaney have unwittingly become wine gypsies, following their passion to produce terroirrevealing wines from these two most noble Burgundian grapes.

Made with intention

They make wines from local terroirs using ‘wild’ (indigenous) yeasts, using organic vineyards wherever possible. Everything goes to barrel for long ageing. The intent is to make pure, suavely-textured wines that sing lightly and clearly of their vineyard origins with as little makeup as possible – wines that are finely-perfumed and tightly-wound, offering the classic refined fruit and textured minerality of the delicate silt, clay and dolomitic limestone-laced ancient lakebed terroirs of Niagara.

A little note from Thomas and Mary

We’re inspired by the love of our spiritual home – Burgundy – where the grapes we love originally evolved, where even the tiniest of vineyards are put separately into a bottle. Our aim is to help discover, quantify and name the Terroirs of Niagara, one-by-one, from west (just outside Hamilton) to east (just outside the “Old Town” of Niagara-on-the-Lake) – and to deliver their energy and their purity of spirit to your glass! Pull the cork and dream of the vineyard from which it comes!

Santé! Cheers!
Thomas & Mary Delaney-Bachelder