Mason Vineyard, 2022 "The Landed" Cabernet Franc, Niagara, Ontario

No.45 | What's In My Glass

Kelly Mason is one of Ontario’s finest winemaking talents. Having started her career as a winemaker in 2007, she purchased her namesake vineyard in 2012. Located just outside the village of Vineland in the Twenty Mile Bench VQA sub-appellation, the vineyard was planted between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s with varieties well-suited to Ontario’s climate like Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc. Prior to taking over the 13-acre vineyard, it was farmed for quantity rather than quality, and as a result she spent the first three years re-pruning the vines from a four-arm kniffin training system to a more quality-oriented, double guyot system.

The vineyard sits at about 135m above sea level on the Bell Terrace, which is the first or the lowest of the wide north-facing terraces that define the Niagara Escarpment vineyard area. The 2 acres of Cabernet …