We’ve had a fun first week with the opening of the Byward Wine Market, and it was so nice to see a bunch of you stop by the shop and grab some wine! For this week’s features we’re going to look at some amazing wines that we currently have available in the shop by the bottle and delivery by the case as well. Because it’s a retail there is a slight markup on the individual bottles to help cover overhead on the space, so it will always be a better deal to buy them by the case, but amazing convenience to be able to grab individual bottles to try out as well. We’re still working on the website which should be ready soon, but for now you can follow us on Instagram for wine updates and features @bywardwinemarket!

And because great Pinot and Chardonnay are some of our favourite grapes, we decided to start there with features this week. 3 great bottles of each, from 3 different places, all currently available by the case or by the bottle at the Byward Wine Market.

PINOT NOIR

BACHELDER, ‘LES VILLAGES’ PINOT NOIR 2018
$38.00 by the bottle at Byward Wine Market or $34.95 by the case of 6

Thomas Bachelder of Bachelder wines is a native Montrealer who has also made wine in Burgundy and Oregon. He’s one of North America’s most respected producers and he’s helping put Ontario and Canada on the world stage for top Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Pinot Noir does best in cool climates and Ontario is one of the coolest. What’s more is that we have a perfect blend of limestone and clay...which is what you find in Burgundy—the benchmark and mothership for Pinot Noir. So it’s no wonder that international markets like London, New York, and even Paris are really beginning to pay attention to Ontario wines because of wineries like Bachelder. Floral, perfumed, cherry fruit with minerality and nice touch of earth! Perfect Ontario Pinot.

DOMAINE JAEGER-DEFAIX, RULLY 1er CRU ‘CLOS DU CHAPITRE’ ROUGE 2018
$62.00 by the bottle at Byward Wine Market or $59.99 by the case of 6

Jaeger-Defaix is a dream team husband and wife combo based in Chablis at Domaine Bernard Defaix. Bernard’s son Didier married Helene Jaeger who’s family owned vineyards in the village of Rully in Burgundy’s Cote Challonaise. In the early 2000’s she took over these vineyards and created the Jaeger-Defaix partnership. Burgundy is the home of Pinot Noir and this beauty comes from the 1er Cru ‘Clos du Chapitre’ vineyard in the town of Rully. All the Jaeger and Defaix wines utilize eco-friendly farming techniques operating organically along with some biodynamic preparations. It’s a really elegant Pinot with pretty floral notes, red cherry fruit, and nice touch of earth and minerality. A nice classic Burg.

MASUT VINEYARD, ‘ESTATE VINEYARD’ PINOT NOIR 2016

Masut is one of the most hidden gems in all of California Pinot Noir. A small estate vineyard nestled high in the hills of Mendocino County on what is now the Eagle Peak AVA. Bobby Fetzer purchased the 1200 acre mountain property in the mid-90’s after they sold Fetzer Vineyards and planned to retire to a simpler life of farming and making high-end craft Pinot Noir. Jake and Ben Fetzer now carry on their family’s legacy by crafting the next generation of old world inspired, organically grown, unfiltered Pinot Noir.

This is a truly elegant, organically grown, unfiltered Pinot Noir. This is not an average over-ripe, over-oaked California Pinot, this is all class and everything great Pinot should be. The interesting soils, high altitude, and proximity to the cool ocean breezes all contribute to making this smooth and nuanced Pinot. With notes of black cherries, strawberries, potting soil, a hint of clove and cracked black pepper, it gives you more and more the longer it’s open.

CHARDONNAY

TAWSE WINERY, ‘QUARRY ROAD VINEYARD’ NATURAL CHARDONNAY 2018
$39.00 a bottle at the Byward Wine Market or $36.95 in cases of 6 (magnums also avilable for $76 / $71.75)

TAWSE WINERY, CHARDONNAY 2017
$21.00 a bottle at the Byward Wine Market or $19.95 in cases of 12

Owner Moray Tawse is a Burgundy nut and owns several vineyards there. So saying that Tawse is Burgundy inspired couldn’t be any more real. With a state of the art, geo-thermal, 6 floor, gravity-flow winery that was the 2nd certified biodynamic winery in Canada. Channelling the minerality of the Niagara Escarpment limestone into their old world style wines, and being as organic and ecological as possible is what Tawse is all about. Additionally, they’ve been named Canadian Winery of the year 4 times (2010, 2011, 2012, 2016), more than any other winery in Canada and one of the flag bearers of top Canadian wines to international markets.

Today, 2 Chardonnays from Tawse. Their classic VQA Niagara Peninsula which blends fruit from several different vineyards they work with across various Niagara appellations. It drinks like a classic Burgundy, but is pure Niagara. And while everything Tawse does is generally considered natural and organic, they began making this “natural” version of their Quarry Road Chardonnay with no added sulphur and zero filtration. It gets hand pumped from the barrel straight into the bottle raw. Hazy, fruity, a touch funky, and totally delicious.

DOMINIQUE CORNIN, SAINT-VERAN ‘LES SERREUXDIERES’ 2018
$59.00 at the Byward Wine Market or $53.99 in cases of 6

In the garden with popcorn and white Burgundy. #drinkgoodwine

I’m as guilty as the next guy of being distracted by the endless amount of cool new wines, made in avant-garde ways, from unexpected places, and can often forget about the classics that are classic for a reason. It’s nice to be reminded what a luxury good Burgundy really can be. It’s the undisputed motherland of Chardonnay for a reason, and this Saint-Veran from Dominique Cornin is a perfect example of why.

Certified organic and biodynamic in practice, Dominique works with his son Romain in traditional ways with horses in the vineyards that his grandfather first planted in 1938. You may recognize Dominique from the Netflix documentary “A Year In Burgundy”. This Saint-Veran from Dominique Cornin is pure terroir. Done entirely in stainless steel vats with a year of aging on the lees, with no fining and a very light filtration, this low-intervention Chardonnay from their ‘Les Serreuxdieres’ vineyard in the Cote Challonaise is rich but perfectly balanced with a nervous acidity that builds tension around layers of tropical white fruit and minerality from the soils and extended lees aging. A smile didn’t leave my face the entire time we had this bottle open. Highly recommended to any Burgundy or Chardonnay fans.

DIVISION WINE CO, CHARDONNAY ‘UN’ 2018
$59.99 a bottle at the Byward Wine Market or $52.99 in cases of 12

Tom Monroe and Kate Norris of Division Wine Co.

Kate Norris and Tomas Monroe learned to make wine together working in wineries across France in the Loire Valley, Burgundy, Beaujolais, and Northern Rhone. They decided to settle in Oregon and opened the South East Wine Collective in the super cool, south east neighbourhood of Portland. It’s an urban winery + wine bar that has become a bit of an incubator for cool new start up labels from the Willamette Valley. They don’t own any vineyards, but the outstanding wines they’ve made since they opened in 2010 has garnered them a reputation that allowed them to develop relationships and get long-term leases with some of the top growers and vineyards throughout the Willamette. A look on the back of any of their bottles will show the % breakdown of grapes that came from any number of what would be considered Oregon Grand Cru vineyards like Eola Springs and Temperance Hill.

They only work with organic and biodynamic vineyards and practice low-intervention winemaking resulting in wines that are as classic as they are natural. They tier their wines as “Un” “Deux” “Trois” “Quatre” with “Un” being their go-to primary expression of Willamette. This Chard was fermented in oak that gives a nice rich texture to the wine, there is also a touch of reduction that adds a slight matchstick flinty funk that intermingles so beautifully with the apple, grapefruit, and lees-y briche notes. These guys definitely lean more towards the rustic side of Burgundian elegance in their wines.

Please come by and see us at our new home at the Byward Wine Market inside LOLLO in the market! We’ll be rolling out new features in the store including wines by the glass to sample and more custom mixed cases!

Lastly, just a reminder that our order deadline for home delivery on Friday is by Wednesday at noon! And if you’re looking for something other than these great Pinots and Chards, maybe check out last week’s Best Value Wines or any of the past write ups on our FEATURES page.