Harvest at Laughing Stock
While staying in Naramata I had the excellent opportunity to go and work with David and Cynthia Enns at Laughing Stock Vineyards for a day. They've visited Ottawa a number of times in the last few years, so it was good to finally see them at home in their element where the magic happens.
On a day to day basis, Cynthia takes on the role of the vineyard manager while David is the head winemaker. As great as they both are at their new jobs, they came to this later in life after successful careers in the investment business. They decided that Laughing Stock would be a high-end, tongue-in-cheek take on their life in the investment business; and this leitmotif is evident throughout their branding: they have small nods to Bay and Wall Streets around the estate and refer to their wines as Liquid Assets that are sold on Futures and have names like "Blind Trust" and "Portfolio" with the TSX ticker tape from the day of harvest wrapping the bottle. For the great back-story on their name and how the winery came to be check out this video I did in 2009 with David and Cynthia in Ottawa.
Its been clear for years that they produce some of the best Rhone and Bordeaux Blends in Canada, but it was really great to see how they do it because they also have some of the most interesting methods I've ever seen. The winery itself is built to two levels onto the side of a hill on the Naramata Bench and they use this layout wisely to efficiently sort, de-stem, crush and cold soak the grapes above then ferment them below. Here is a quick video of David simply (and very accurately) dumping crushed Merlot with a forklift from the 2nd story into an open top ground level fermenter. This is gravity flow, Laughing Stock styles...
I had never seen or heard of using a 'pulse-air' system to break down the cap on fermenting reds. But David rigged up this beauty when he found that pump-overs weren't breaking down the caps well enough on his big reds in the large tanks. So this 'pulse-air' is attached to a 120psi compressor regulated by a rheostat to inject pulses of air through a hose and a metal tube into the tank to help break down the cap from within using the juice for a more even extraction. Take a peek at this video quickly shot on my Blackberry. The sound is rough, but if you listen carefully you can hear David explaining the idea and process.
Finally here are some photos from the rest of my day at Laughing Stock: filling 500L barrels with whole berry Malbec for barrel fermentation, emptying "The Fermenator", and an introduction to all of David's Eggs...
For their wines in Ontario please contact Lifford Wine & Spirits, and for their wines outside of Ontario please contact the winery directly at 250 493 8466.