In Niagara (14) Westcott, a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay specialist
Website: https://www.westcottvineyards.com/
I’ve been following Westcott with interest over the last few years, and have visited twice before this current visit. The story: Grant Westcott and his wife Carolyn Hurst made money and banking and tech, and then decided they’d like the much harder job of establishing and running a vineyard in Niagara. They bought the farm in 2006 and moved from Toronto in 2008. After a lot of research they planted 26 acres of vines in a favourable site on the Vinemount Ridge. This is a gently sloping site at 170 m, with high calcium carbonate content in the clay till soils. The first wines under the Westcott name were made garagiste style in 2012. The home vineyard is planted with Chardonnay (clones 96, 95, and 76) and Pinot Noir (clones 777, 667 and 115).
Things got serious when they purchased a second property in 2018, a well-stablished vineyard called Butlers Grant on the Twenty Mile Bench. This came with a large grand old house, and that’s where they now live. It’s a 43 acre site with 28 acres of vines, and brought some new varieties into the Westcott range. The oldest block is Riesling from 1980, which is ancient history for vinifera in Niagara, but they also have Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir planted in 1984. But they are currently in the process of readjusting the vineyard as they think some things were planted in the wrong place. ‘If we’ve learned one thing, vineyard management is different for all varieties,’ says Carolyn. ‘So if you do a whole bunch of varieties you can’t be excellent. You have to focus.’ They are in good company here: neighbouring vineyards are Wismer’s Parke and Wingfield.
Also in 2018, they got a new chief winemaker, Casey Kulcyk.
Vintage variation is a fact of life in Niagara. ‘We never have two vintages in a row that are the same,’ says Casey. ‘We can hearken back to other ones, and see what was similar, and this is why experience is so necessary.’
Of recent vintages, ‘2020 was the hottest, driest year I have seen in Niagara,’ says Casey, ‘and it was during Covid. They [the Pinots] are a bit bigger, more tannic and extracted than I’d like but we worked hard to maintain finesse in them.’ 2022 was a vintage where there had been lots of bud damage, and was a warm season but not hot. It led to more concentrated wines.
They stopped using new oak in their Pinots in 2019. They use a portion of whole cluster in open top fermenters, with no cold soak, but an extended maceration of 30 days, and they just try to keep the cap wet. For these wines 75-80% of recovery is free run.
Westcott have begun using geotextiles because their estate vineyard, which is planted on the top of the Niagara escarpment, has suffered from winter damage. ‘We have 7 acres under the geotextiles,’ says Grant. ‘We realised we were harvesting earlier because the vines started better. We pick three weeks up in the season.’ He adds, ‘it’s a lot of work and a lot of money but in just one year it pays for itself. We would have lost seven acres in just one winter.’ In order to use them he had to bring the fruiting wire down. ‘They form an igloo and you can’t go too high.’ Another wire has to be added above the fruiting wire for the geotextiles and it can’t be more than 20-24 inches high. Grant says he learned this from Shana White when she was at Adamo. ‘She was at Collingwood in northern Ontario, which is very cool.’
They prune after the first hard frost then 2 canes are tied down to the lower wire, below the fruiting wire. The blankets go on either side and are stapled at the top. They don’t take the blankets off before May 24 so by this stage they have 6 inches of shoots that are very pale green in colour. These are then trained them back to the fruiting wire. They are ahead of the other vines.
THE WINES
Westcott Blanc de Blancs 2021 Twenty Mile Bench
They are taking traditional method sparkling seriously, and this comes from the old vines at Butlers Grant. Chardonnay, barrel fermented in neutral oak, 2.5 years on lees, then bottled with no dosage. This is textured and rich with lovely pear and citrus fruit with some depth. It has a hint of apple and shows lovely precision with depth of flavour. Very stylish with chiselled citrus fruit. 93/100
Westcott Brilliant Blanc de Noirs Cuvée 1 NV Vinemount Ridge
Three barrels made each year in neutral puncheons. One third goes back to one barrel, to make a perpetual reserve and tirage liqueur is frozen from the previous year, so no added yeast or sugar. Do some cryoconcentration of the juice that they freeze, but still they need to add more liquid at tirage, so this means they can pick for the base wine a bit later. Texturally the wild yeast makes a difference because of the protein and the effect this has on the mousse. Five years on the lees. Started perpetual reserve in 2018, so this is 2018 and 2019. Complex and layered with toast, honey and spice as well as a touch of marmalade and cherry, with nice lemony freshness. Beautiful stuff that will only get more interesting as the perpetual reserve ages. 94/100
Westcott Estate Chardonnay 2021 Niagara Escarpment
13.5% alcohol. Bright, fresh, linear with a saline edge to the pear and peach fruit. Has nice richness but also lovely freshness with spicy peach and a touch of apricot, showing a friendly side but with a touch of complexity. 93/100
Westcott Butlers’ Grant Old Vines Chardonnay 2022 Twenty Mile Bench
13% alcohol. 100% French oak, 20% new. Pied de cuve. Complex and mealy with nice richness to the pear and peach fruit. Nice depth and concentration with fine spices and minerals. Good weight of fruit with a twist of iodine and a lovely saline twist on the finish. This is really good. 94/100
Westcott Reserve Chardonnay 2022 Vinemount Ridge
13% alcohol. Nice texture here with pear and white peach. Textural and open with nice depth and weight. Crystalline and mealy at the same time with nice depth of flavour. Has a hint of pastry character. So supple and refined. 94/100
Westcott Block 76 Reserve Chardonnay 2022 Vinemount Ridge
13.5% alcohol. Planted a couple of years later, and has alluvial soils. The southeastern-facing slope component of the vineyard. One of the few south-facing slopes in Niagara. Very fine and linear with some pear, apple and citrus fruit. Delicate and restrained with bright acidity, but not lacking in concentration. Rather than 10 months in barrel, it is racked into neutral puncheons for a further six months, and it’s bottled unfiltered. So fine and tense. 95/100
Westcott Estate Pinot Noir 2020 Niagara Escarpment
12.5% alcohol. This is really fine, sappy and detailed with some sweet strawberry and a touch of iodine as well as good acidity, with a touch of sweetness on the finish. There’s slight sour cherry on the finish with just a bit of lifted acid, and it works really well. Very appealing. 92/100
Westcott Butlers’ Grant Old Vines Pinot Noir 2020 Twenty Mile Bench
12.5% alcohol. Nice richness here with a core of sweet cherry and raspberry fruit. Sweetly fruited but with nice fine tannins keeping things focused. Grippy finish. This has potential to develop and shows lovely fruit. 94/100
Westcott Reserve Pinot Noir 2020 Vinemount Ridge
12.5% alcohol. There’s some freshness here, allied to richness, with red berries and cherries as well as some fine spiciness. Nice sappy green hints in the background with some spicy tannins as well. Nice detail on the finish: very fine and expressive. 95/100
Westcott Carolyn’s Block Pinot Noir 2020 Twenty Mile Bench
From the front block in front of the house at Butlers’ Grant. 100% whole cluster. Very fine and delicate with lovely precision. Floral and bright with nice finesse and poise, showing some subtle herbal hints and fine spices. Such focus and delicacy, with some structure on the finish. Pure and elegant with cherry and strawberry fruit. This is really fine. 96/100
Westcott Butlers’ Grant Cabernet Franc 2020 Twenty Mile Bench
Sweetly aromatic and ripe with cherries and plums with some spicy blackcurrant bud notes. The palate is fresh and intense with bright black cherries and some herbs, showing a lovely spiciness. Nicely edgy with sweet acidity and some spice on the finish. Nice weight. 92/100
Older notes:
Westcott Vineyards Violette Sparkling Rosé NV 2018 Niagara Escarpment
Lively and bright with fresh red cherry and some spice. Has a bit of flesh and lovely weight. Lively with nice sweetness on the finish. 89/100 (06/22)
Westcott Vineyards Reserve Chardonnay 2020 Vinemount Ridge, Canada
Very bright and fine with subtle pear and peach fruit as well as some citrus. Fresh and linear with a nice stony, mineral twist. 92/100 (06/22)
Westcott Vineyards Butler’s Grant Chardonnay 2018 Twenty Mile Bench, Canada
This is finely textured with pear and peach and a touch of mealiness, as well as some citrus brightness. Very expressive with good balance and a stony edge. 93/100
Westcott Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir 2018 Niagara Escarpment, Canada
Textured with some wild strawberry and dried herbs. Has red cherry and spice, too. There’s a bit of grip here: very stylish with a lovely grainy character. 93/100
Westcott Vineyards Butler’s Grant Pinot Noir Old Vines 2019 Twenty Mile Bench, Canada
Fine, expressive sappy nose with supple, juicy cherry and plum fruit and nice orange peel and red cherry characters. 93/100
Westcott Vineyards Estate Chardonnay 2018 Niagara Escarpment, Canada
12.5% alcohol. Attractive nose with ripe pear and peach fruit as well as a hint of butterscotch. The palate has depth with some peachy richness and notes of nuts and honey, but also nice acidity and focus. Very stylish and expressive, with depth and complexity: it has that typical mid-palate richness common in Niagara Chardonnay. 92/100 (05/22)
Westcott Vineyards Butlers’ Grant Riesling 2019 Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara, Canada
10% alcohol. This comes from a 4.4 acre plot on the 28 acre Butlers’ Grant vineyard planted in 1980, which Westcott recently purchased to supplement their home vineyard. Elegantly packaged and wax-dipped, this is really delicate and mineral-laced, with keen acidity under the focused lemon and lime fruit. Such precision and purity here with an amazing acid line, this is one of the best Niagara Rieslings I’ve tried. It’s very restrained and linear, but has a tapering finish. Age this with confidence. 93/100 (07/20)
Westcott Vineyards Chardonnay 2018 Niagara Escarpment, Canada
12.5% alcohol. This is a great example of Niagara Chardonnay. There’s some richness, with toast and spice as well as some pear and peach fruit, but there’s also nice acidity and freshness. With a hint of honey, there’s a lemony core running through and grounding the richer notes here. Complex and beguiling, showing some of the richness that comes from a warm growing season, but also the nice focus from cooler autumn ripening. 93/100 (06/20)
Westcott Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir 2016 Vinemount Ridge, Niagara, Canada
12.5% alcohol. There’s a nice combination of the sweet and savoury here. It shows strawberry and cherry fruit with some subtle cedar and spice from the oak, and hints of undergrowth. Quite mellow and focused, with appealing texture and a pleasing savoury dimension taking this away from simply being about sweet red fruits. 91/100 (06/20)
