Ontario VQA

Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier

Dry Wine 

This charming Sparkling made from the Charmat method (a winemaking process that traps bubbles in wine via carbonation in large steel tanks) is refreshing and authentic. The bubbles are full of energy and the wine displays great bursting acidity. The Palate offers flavours of citrus, pear, and apple. The wine was pleasant on its own but upgraded to WOW with our mussels & pasta!

Food pairing: mussels & pasta, charcuterie board

Drink now until 2024

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Niagara Escarpment

100% Chardonnay | Dry wine (RS 4.79 g/ltr)

*New Release*

Here are our notes from the previous vintage:

90pts Carl’s Wine Club

This is a wine of elegance, purity and honesty. Honesty in price and flavours! This wine gives you the expected aromas of pear, green apple and white flowers with the expected flavours of melon, citrus and a tad of tropical fruits. I love the salty minerality that brings an extra layer to the bright and shiny acidity. Great length and perfect vintage representation!

Food pairing: shrimp cocktail, BBQ chicken

Drink now until 2026

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Vinemount Ridge

50% Pinot Noir, 50% Gamay | Dry wine (RS 5.4 g/ltr)

89pts Carl’s Wine Club

This is the posterchild of a great value wine. The classic and versatile $20 wine that everyone is looking for. Fresh, light to medium body, Temperance Red is great on its own and can be served with an array of different dishes. Bright, fresh and fruity on the nose offering notes of cherry and raspberry. The palate follows in the exact same footsteps with the addition of a light spice on the finish to add an extra layer of complexity. The creamy texture also adds a very pleasant feature to this very well-made wine.

Food pairing: lightly spiced tomato sauce pasta, beef stir-fry

Drink now until 2025

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Niagara Escarpment

100% Pinot Noir | Dry Wine (RS 2.5g/ltr)

91pts Carl’s Wine Club

This is where Niagara meets Burgundy. The bright and solid structure announces a medium body wine with great finesse and fantastic length. The nose offers cassis, leather and forest floor. The palate is creamy, soft and balanced with aromas of raspberry, cherry, plum and a touch of earth. The light black pepper and clove are hitting their stride right now and the tannins are very soft. This wine is really priming right now and is drinking very well!

Food pairing: Tomato pasta, veal Schnitzel

Drink now until 2024

 💥  Wine Club Member Exclusive  💥 

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Twenty Mile Bench

100% Pinot Noir | Dry wine (RS 2.5g/ltr)

92pts Carl’s Wine Club

Okay, this is serious business here! Only 100 cases made, for big time Pinot Lovers, this wine can be a reminiscence of the Pommard Village, in Cote de Beaune. Round but powerful, with incredible depth and concentration. The nose offers Raspberry, leather, forest floor and cloves, but I feel like it’s a little muted at the moment and asking for more time to be more expressive. The palate has a classic style with creaminess, lots of dirt, licorice, cassis, red currant and potpourri. The tannins not aggressive, quiet round for a young wine and will definitely soften-up in the next 2 to 3 years.

Food pairing: roasted quail, mushroom risotto

Drink between 2023 and 2028

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Twenty Mile Bench

100% Pinot Noir |Dry wine (RS 1.5 g/ltr)

91pts Carl’s Wine Club

This is the counter-part of the Butlers’ Grant Old Vines Pinot Noir in terms of flavour profile and characteristics. Carolyn’s Block is a fruit forward and more modern style of Pinot Noir. This wine is about richness, depth and concentration. A powerful wine up front, with more obvious oak style and unpretentious flavours of blueberries, raspberries and roasted plums. The mid-palate is dense with notes of tobacco leaves and licorice before leading you to a snappy and racy finish. The back end will definitely soften up with time as long as you can keep this wine in the cellar, and not give in to the major temptation to put it on the dinner table.

Food pairing: BBQ ribs, pork tenderloin

Drink now until 2026

Winery price: $59.99 | 750ml

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Twenty Mile Bench

100% Pinot Noir | Dry wine (RS 2.0 g/ltr)

91 to 93pts Carl’s Wine Club | Silver Medal at Decanter World Wine Awards

This one will reward you after a few more years in the cellar. The nose has a mix of fruitiness with dark cherry, as well as earthiness with forest floor and dry flowers. The tannins are omnipresent, especially so on the front palate. Explosive flavours of dark cherry, black currant and baking spices, this wine has the structure to age for a very long time. If the tannins soften up and move towards the mid-palate, this wine can hit Rockstar level.

Food pairing: venison steak, roasted partridge

Drink between 2023 and 2028

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Vinemount Ridge

100% Chardonnay | Dry wine (RS 2.5 g/ltr)

Not Rated Yet

This is the Chardonnay with the most oak influence in Westcott’s portfolio. This incredibly rich and balanced wine was barrel fermented (100% wild ferment) and aged in 100% French oak for 10 months, which 25% was in new oak barrel, a fairly big amount knowing the Westcott philosophy and the strength of the 2020 vintage. You can expect a big and creamy Chardonnay with next level concentration. This one can sit in the cellar for multiple years.

Food pairing: Coho salmon with creamy dill sauce, coquilles St-Jacques

Drink between 2023 and 2027

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Twenty Mile Bench

100% Chardonnay | Dry wine (RS 3.0 g/ltr)

94pts Carl’s Wine Club

This was one of my highest rated Westcott wines, while visiting Niagara in the fall of 2021. Low intervention, low sulfur, wild ferment and malolactic fermentation, barrel fermented and aged 9 months in French oak, of which only 12% was new. These very precious grapes were meticulously sourced from 30 year old vines at Butlers’ Grant Vineyard. Flavours of sweet Meyer lemon, pear and honeydew on the front palate, this generous wine has no limitations in terms of concentration and complexity. The spectacular finish brings caramel and white pepper to a spectacular bottle of Chardonnay.

Food pairing: filet of halibut, shrimp paella

Drink between 2023 and 2028

Ontario, Niagara, VQA Vinemount Ridge

100% Chardonnay | Dry Wine (RS 3.9 g/ltr)

91pts Carl’s Wine Club

This is the purest and the most authentic Chardonnay of Westcott’s portfolio. This single block, single clone Chardonnay is fermented in neutral oak and aged for 16 months providing good texture but also tension and laser-focused acidity. The palate offers flavours of bright lemon, green apple and a slight touch of melon before turning towards white flowers, white peach tea and a drop of ginger. I recommend cellaring this wine for another 2 years. Only 70 cases produced.

Food pairing: salmon tartar, tuna steak

Drink between 2023 and 2027

Westcott Vineyards is located in Jordan Ontario, within the Vinemount Ridge sub-appellation on the Niagara Escarpment.

Established in 2006 as a farm with the goal of growing grapes, they bottled their first vintage in 2012. 

I chose to feature Westcott Vineyards for the love, passion and dedication behind this amazing project.

Founder Carolyn Hurst and Grant Westcott left Toronto and their lives as executives to pursue a life-long dream of growing grapes and making wines.

The quality of their cold-climate Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays is truly World Class and second to none. 

The Westcotts have also stayed true to the land and their beliefs. They are located on one of the best pieces of land to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the world…so they grow and make unique Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. And they do it very well!!! 

Cheers,

Casey is excited to lead winemaking at Westcott Vineyards. He is thrilled to define the wines of the domain, focused on depicting place by paying tribute the unique character of some of the best vineyards in Niagara through artfully crafted still and sparkling Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Casey loves watching Formula One while sipping Brilliant Sparkling Brut that he's personally hand-riddled and labeled. Go Ricciardo!