The Estate

Situated on the lower slopes of the Niagara Escarpment, Tawse is a family-owned organic winery. A life-long lover of wine, Burgundy in particular, founder Moray Tawse purchased the Cherry Avenue property in 2001 after realizing the great potential of the Niagara Escarpment as a word-class cool-climate wine region. In 2005, he opened his state-of-the-art winery in Vineland, complete with a six-level, gravity-flow design, geo-thermal system and a wetland bio-filter. The inspiration for Moray’s eponymous Niagara property came from his love of Burgundian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Uniting traditional winemaking techniques with state-of-the-art technology, Tawse and the award-winning winemaking team of Paul Pender and Rene Van Ede, is dedicated to producing terroir-driven wines of exceptional elegance, depth and character.

At Tawse, winemaking begins in the vineyards. They proudly apply rigorous organic methods to every aspect of their production from grape-growing to winemaking and Ecocert seals appear on all wines made from their estate fruit. Today, having acquired over 200 acres (5 vineyards) and being named Canadian Winery of the year in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2016, Tawse Winery now produces 30,000 cases of wines and has one of the largest portfolios of organic wines in the Niagara region.

Viticulture and Vinification

At Tawse, winemaking begins in the vineyards. Healthy vines yield quality fruit and allow the winery to craft terroir-driven wines of great elegance, depth and character. Promoting the health of the vines and vineyards requires a labour-intensive and hands-on approach. The team tuck and thin the shoots by hand to increase sun exposure and air flow. Yields are kept low by cluster-thinning to ensure that all the energy of the vine is focused to ripen fewer higher-quality grape clusters. The grapes are harvested at optimal ripeness and sorted to select the very best fruit. Organic farming is proudly practiced.

The reds are de-stemmed before pressing and the whites are gently whole cluster pressed to avoid the bitter characteristics from the stems, skins and seeds. Aromatic whites are fermented in stainless steel, while Chardonnay is barrel-fermented in French oak using wild yeast. All the reds are fermented in oak fermenters and then aged in French oak from 12 to 18 months depending on the varietal.

Wines Produced

Whites

RIESLING

QUARRY ROAD VINEYARD RIESLING

LIMESTONE RIDGE VINEYARD RIESLING

LAWRIE VINEYARD PINOT GRIS

GROWER’S BLEND SAUVIGNON BLANC

QUARRY ROAD VINEYARD GEWURTZTRAMINER

CHARDONNAY

QUARRY ROAD VINEYARD CHARDONNAY

ESTATE CHARDONNAY

ROBYN’S BLOCK CHARDONNAY

Reds

GAMAY

NATURAL GAMAY

CHERRY AVENUE VINEYARD GAMAY

QUARRY ROAD VINEYARD PINOT NOIR

CHERRY AVENUE VINEYARD PINOT NOIR

TINTERN ROAD VINEYARD PINOT NOIR

GROWER’S BLEND CABERNET FRANC

DAVID’S BLOCK CABERNET FRANC

LAUNDRY VINEYARD MERLOT

MERLOT CABERNET

MERITAGE

Ice wines

BARREL AGED CHARDONNAY

CABERNET SAUVIGNON

Critical Praise

Named Canadian Winery of the year in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2016 by the Canadian Wine Awards that have been held annually since 2000 by Wine Access Magazine

GENERAL INFORMATION

Country:  Canada

Region:  Ontario

Appellation:  Niagara Peninsula

Founded:  2000

Annual Production: 30,000 cases

Farming: Organic