Henry of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Baco Noir 2018
A dense and concentrated wine with brambly fruit character and an intense core of minerality.
Country: Canada
Region: Niagara Peninsula, VQA Ontario
Grapes: Baco Noir
ABV: 13%
Food match:
Venison, lamb or steak, spicy pasta with rich tomato sauce.
From their oldest Estate vineyards in the Short Hills Bench, shovel-planted by the Speck family starting in 1984, this wine is made from Henry of Pelham's top Baco Noir vineyard, enjoying the most southern exposure in Niagara. All are clonally selected vines except in a few special cases where the plantings are old enough to predate this practice, making this unique vineyard block an opportunity to add qualities that cannot easily be reproduced.
Baco Noir's origins go back to 1894, when French grape creator François Baco crossed Folle Blanche with an unknown member of the American Vitis riparia family.
His intention was to create phylloxera-resistant vines that retained their Old World French character. At one time Baco Noir was grown in Burgundy and the Loire, but it was gradually phased out of the Old World and has since become one of North America's more successful hybrids.
