Southbrook Vineyards, 2020 Saunders Vineyard Cabernet Franc, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario, Canada
Cab Franc du Jour #126
The story of Southbrook Vineyards begins in 1941, when Bill Redelmeier’s grandfather purchased a dairy farm in Richmond Hill, Ontario, which later evolved into a thriving farm market in the 1980s focused on sourcing the finest local produce from farmers and artisans. Bill’s longstanding love of food and wine eventually inspired him to begin sourcing grapes from the Niagara Peninsula, and in 1991 Southbrook produced their first 2,000 cases with the help of Derek Barnett, who has since become one of Ontario’s most celebrated winemakers.
In 2005, Bill was finally able to realize his vision by purchasing 74 acres of land in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area to establish a winery and develop their vineyards. In 2008, Southbrook became the first winery in Canada to receive both organic and biodynamic certification for their vineyards and winery, cementing their position as an industry leader in sustainable and regenerative practices. Still family-owned today, Southbrook farms 60 acres of vineyards and sources from a small number of select, like-minded growers to produce wines focused on the varieties that excel in Ontario: Chardonnay and Riesling for the whites, and Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, and Gamay for the reds.
The estate works with about 8 acres of Cabernet Franc, from which they produce a single-varietal rosé, an entry-level “Triomphe” Cabernet Franc, and two single-vineyard expressions: one from the Saunders Vineyard on the Beamsville Bench and another from the Laundry Vineyard in the Lincoln Lakeshore VQA sub-appellation. Ann Sperling has served as Director of Winemaking and Viticulture since 2005, with Casey Hogan joining as winemaker in 2019.
The Beamsville Bench VQA Sub-Appellation
While the majority of Southbrook’s vineyards are located in the Four Mile Creek VQA sub-appellation in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Saunders Vineyard Cabernet Franc takes us to the Beamsville Bench, one of three sub-appellations under the Niagara Escarpment regional appellation alongside the Twenty Mile Bench and the Short Hills Bench.
The Niagara Escarpment is one of the defining geographical features that makes viticulture possible in the Niagara Peninsula, alongside Lake Ontario to the north. This prominent ridge rises to nearly 200m and plays a critical role in trapping and circulating air from the lake into the surrounding vineyards, reducing disease pressure and frost risk while raising overall temperatures, prolonging the growing season, and supporting ripening.
The escarpment is composed of layers of Palaeozoic-era sedimentary rocks, predominantly dolostone, dolomitic limestones, shales, and sandstones, whose varying resistance to erosion has shaped the escarpment’s topography over time. As the glaciers of the last two million years receded, these rocks eroded to form the wide, north-facing terraces, or benches, that now define the Niagara Escarpment vineyard area. These terraces form part of the larger Lake Iroquois Bench, sitting just above the historical shoreline of the ancient Lake Iroquois.
The Beamsville Bench occupies the Bell Terrace, the lowest of the escarpment’s terraces, at elevations ranging from around 115 to 170m above sea level. The sub-appellation stretches about 9.5km from east to west, varying from about 2km wide at its broadest point in the centre to just a few hundred metres at its eastern and western extremities.
As the furthest west of the Niagara Escarpment sub-appellations, the Beamsville Bench is also the closest to Lake Ontario, giving it a stronger moderating influence from the lake. This makes it cooler overall during the growing season but also extends the season slightly. Despite that cooler character, the sub-appellation records 1,588 growing degree days, actually greater than that of Four Mile Creek in Niagara-on-the-Lake, widely regarded as one of the peninsula’s top sources for Bordeaux varieties. Soils across the Beamsville Bench are a mix of deeper red, yellow, and olive green clay-loam tills with varying amounts of dolomitic limestone, shale, and sandstone fragments depending on the location. The bedrock, well below the surface, is composed of Whirlpool sandstone and Power Glen shale and sandstone.
The Saunders Vineyard
The Saunders Vineyard is located in the western part of the Beamsville Bench, less than 4km south of Lake Ontario, on a gentle north-facing slope at an average elevation of around 123m above sea level. The two blocks of Cabernet Franc total approximately 1.2 acres, just under half a hectare, with one planted in 1999 and the other in 2000. The soils are a mix of red and olive green clay-loam glacial till with lacustrine and dolomitic limestone sediments. The vineyard is farmed organically with regenerative practices in place, and Southbrook has been sourcing fruit from the Saunders family for single-vineyard wines since 2012.
In the Cellar
Yields from the block in 2020 were around 1.5 tons per acre. The fruit was hand-harvested and fully destemmed before fermenting in one-tonne bins with indigenous yeast, reaching a maximum temperature of 30C. Total skin contact was approximately 22 days, with punchdowns once or twice daily during peak fermentation. The wine was aged for about 18 months in barriques, five barrels in total with two new, followed by blending and minimal filtration before bottling.
Wine Details
Producer: Southbrook Vineyards
Region: Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada
Appellation: VQA Beamsville Bench
Vineyard: Saunders Vineyard
Soils: red and green olive-coloured clay-loam till with lacustrine and dolostone sediments
Alcohol: 13.7%