After the NY tasting event at Tastecamp, what else do you do but try and find more wineries that you haven’t visited. As we came along Stone Road we saw the handmade “OPEN” sign along the road. I recalled that Rick Van Sickle had written about this new winery up earlier in the year and decided to stop in and say hello.
A super nice couple, Fred and his wife Pik Ching greeted us in the small tasting room. Super friendly, and eager to chat about the winery, their adventure, and the wine, we ended up spending about an hour touring the entire operation. They literally have done everything themselves and most of it by hand. What’s even more amazing is that Fred is now 70, showing it is never too late to start something you have a passion for. They have been commuting every weekend between Toronto and NOTL, but Fred indicated that there should be someone at the winery daily this summer.
Fred has great stories about getting the land leveled and the swamp in one corner dried up, and the crazy amount of labour that has gone into building this dream of his. The tasting room itself is totally constructed by hand by Fred himself, from the floor tiles to the display shelves. In the back room are a fresh set of signs to help advertise the winery and he admits that he needs a bit more road presence.
His 10 acres is fully planted now, with the first harvest being 2007. He pulled less than 1/2 ton per acre, preferring to drop more fruit and concentrate what remained. He uses low pressure on his press (2 Bar on reds, 1 bar on whites) and leaves a lot of juice in the pulp that remains. His reds spend almost 3 years in the barrel and he now has a great variety of new and used barrels, with many older barrels borrowed from other wineries in the area (the earlier vintages were mainly in new oak). With the bumper crop in 2010 and the long aging time, his production area is pretty packed with barrels.
We enjoyed both of the Chardonnays (2007 and 2008). The red wines are huge and so are the tannins – these are going to need some time before they settle out and integrate the fruit and the oak. The 2007 red blend Mélange de Frederick (Shiraz, Merlot and a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon) seems loaded with Shiraz, reminiscent of a much hotter region than Niagara is known for. The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon again has echos of huge jammy fruit masked for now by the oak.
The De Moura Reds
We bought a couple of each of the reds and will likely hold them for 5+ years before trying again.
In the meantime, we look forward to seeing what Fred does for an encore!
The De Moura Winery Way
545 Niagara Stone Road
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
L0S 1J0
CANADA
Phone: 416.283.0320
Mobile: 416.508.9553
