Cooper’s Hawk CHV Soaring Red Blend

WINEMAKER’S NOTES

This amazing off-dry red wine will make you feel like you are soaring over our vineyards at  CHV Winery. We have blended 5 of our own grown grapes to create a full bodied, balanced wine.

TASTING NOTES

On the nose you will find rich black cherry and ruby plums with hints of red licorice. This wine bursts with juicy raspberry, ripe red currants, and a touch of cocoa on the finish. It is a balance of fruit and acidity.

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

This will be your summer patio wine, pairing with assorted charcuterie, salty nuts, olives and sharp cheeses. For winter dining, pair with seared duck breast in Bing cherry sauce. It will also complement a Black forest cake.

VINEYARD

Cooper’s Hawk Vineyards is an estate winery located in 70 acres of land within the Lake Erie North Shore viticultural region.  This blend is made with 25% HG, a grape variety developed in Essex Country Canada. The letters in the name stand for Harrow-grafted, named for where the grape was developed. It was first made into wine in 2010 from the 2008 vintage. HG was developed when local viticulturalists Peter Pfeifer and John Fancsy were looking to develop a grape that would reflect the terroir of Essex Country, much like the Bordeaux grapes or Chianti grape reflects the soils in which they were developed. Along with truly showcasing the taste of Essex County, the HG grape is also heartier and more disease-resistant than other grape varietals grown in Canada, making it better-suited to the climate of this part of the world. Fanscy and Pfeifer’s work received a Premier’s Award for Agro-Food Innovation Excellence in 2010.

VITICULTURE

Lake Erie North Shore, often abbreviated to LENS, is an appellation at the southern tip of Ontario. Covering Essex County and the Pelee Island appellation, the Designated Viticultural Area (DVA) is largely defined by water, with Lake St Clair to the north, Detroit River to the west and Lake Erie to the south. The water-moderated climate here is well-suited to the production of wines made from Riesling and Vidal, as well as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

The main maritime influences in Lake Erie North Shore come from Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes. The lake effect is more pronounced in these shallow waters, and the lake heats up faster in the warm summers and cools down quicker in the winter. This has a profound effect on the growing season, which starts and finishes earlier than in other parts of Ontario. Unobstructed winds from the lake during the growing season bring cooling influences, and when combined with the area’s high sunshine hours, this makes for a long, slow ripening process that allows for the development of acidity alongside rich varietal character.

Ancient glacial lakes are responsible for a wide range of geological deposits at Lake Erie North Shore. Predominantly sandy loam and heavy clay soils are layered over various gravels and limestone bedrock, providing good drainage for the vineyard sites. Ample precipitation during the growing season makes irrigation largely unnecessary, and lake-effect snow in the winter helps to insulate the dormant vines against freezes. The early onset of winter here due to cooling influences of the lake makes Lake Erie North Shore well-suited to the production of ice wine.

Wine production in Lake Erie North Shore began in the 1860s, when growers established the first vineyards in the southerly sub-region of Pelee Island, and viticultural pursuits spread quickly onto the mainland, before reaching the Niagara Peninsula.