Calamus Estate Winery is quite unique, as it is the only winery in the Niagara Bench area that has a telescope on site. Plus, it’s also proud to be a democratic winery, where their wine club members are a part of the process of picking wines. Our host, Andrea Morris, speaks with Peter Van Helsdingen, the owner of the winery, regarding the many events they host featuring astronomy and wine, and about his approach to winemaking.

They share found memories of their fathers while tasting a wonderful double barreled Cabernet Sauvignon. During the course of the episode, Peter also coined one of Andrea’s new favourite slogans: life is too short to have a glass of wine you don’t prefer.

Produced by Lukas Sluzar. Recorded October 30, 2024

Show notes: Calamus Estate Winery: www.calamuswines.com

Wines sampled: Crackle Sparkling wine, Pinot Grigio, Unoaked Chardonnay, 2020 Meritage
Reserve, 202 Appassimento, 2019 Williams Double Barreled Cabernet Sauvignon

Andrea sat down with Peter, the passionate owner of Calamus, for a behind-the-scenes look at a Niagara gem that’s redefining what it means to enjoy wine.

Inside This Episode:

• Stargazing & Sipping: Did you know Calamus hosts epic stargazing events with the Niagara Astronomy Society? We learned that these experiences (live music included!) are so popular, they routinely sell out.
• Family & Fierce Women: The secret behind Calamus’ success? An amazing team of women (including Peter’s daughter and wife!) who manage barn events, retail, and make sure every guest feels at home—even on marathon weekends of weddings, parties, and patio service.
• Award-Winning Wines: We tasted through a flight of their standouts, like the approachable and fun “Crackle” sparkling wine (perfect for any night of the week), a refreshing Pinot Grigio, and their Double Gold-winning Un-Oaked Chardonnay. And for red fans? The bold Meritage Reserve and showstopping Appassimento had us swooning—plus a special Whiskey Barrel-aged wine, inspired by Peter’s father. (Trust us: You haven’t had a wine quite like this.)
• Innovation in the Vineyard: Calamus isn’t afraid to break with tradition. Peter shared how they’re planting hybrid grapes like Marquette (hardy to -35°C!) to keep things fresh, sustainable, and ahead of the curve.
• Wine Club with a Twist: At Calamus, wine club members don’t just receive bottles—they help decide what gets made next! Forget branded socks: you get exclusive access to limited releases and real influence over the winery’s future.
• Pairings & More: From steak nights with bold reds, to local cheeses (ever tried black licorice Gouda?), we left inspired to host our own wine & food nights at home.

Andrea’s Takeaway:
This is a must-visit spot. A beautiful barn and patio overlooking Balls Falls, incredible hospitality, and wines that overdeliver at every price point. Whether you’re new to wine or a seasoned enthusiast, Calamus embodies what we love about Niagara: heart, passion, and a sense of fun.

Andrea Morris [00:00:00]:
Hello, friends. I’m Andrea Morris, and welcome to another episode of Spill the Wine, a podcast about wine. Yay. Where we get to enjoy wine with friends and also learn that you don’t have to know a whole lot about it to enjoy it. But part of the journey of this podcast is actually teaching you about various things about wine as we go along, and introducing you to some really great wineries in the Niagara Region. And on this episode, we are visiting an a really cool winery called Calamus. I am here with Peter. Hi, Peter.

Peter [00:00:33]:
How are you?

Andrea Morris [00:00:34]:
I’m great. How are you?

Peter [00:00:35]:
Fantastic. And you’re the

Andrea Morris [00:00:36]:
owner of the winery. Correct? I am

Peter [00:00:38]:
the owner of the winery.

Andrea Morris [00:00:39]:
Yeah. Now one of the cool things about Calamus, you have this really great little location here, a little higher in elevation, and you guys have a telescope.

Peter [00:00:48]:
We do. And, when we purchased a winery back in 02/2018, it was a personal project of the former owner. And since we have purchased in 02/2018, as well as with the other events we host here, we’ve taken them to a next level. Since 02/2018, we host about six stargazing events a year, and we’re very honored to have the Niagara Astronomy Society come in who facilitates that we do live music. And they’ve been sold out every one of them since 02/2018. And everybody knows me as the guy that does events at the winery, but he knows I came from a a thirty two year history of owning an event and playing catering company and I’m okay with that because now we produce some fantastic wines and 80% of the people that come to my winery may have never been here before and I they get to taste the wine And I’m very proud, especially the wines we’re gonna be tasting today. You know, four to six of them are claimed winners and awards, so I’m very proud of that.

Andrea Morris [00:01:39]:
That’s fantastic. And I’m I’ve tried to come to some of those stargazing events, and they’re always sold out. Maybe I have an in now. I can make it to one. But I do know that when I have come here on the weekends, you’re you’re always incredibly busy with, weddings and the like as well.

Peter [00:01:57]:
We’re very honored. I mean, I’m I’m very lucky because my daughter, Mikaela, is the one that hosts all the events, here, and she has now taken it to a level that we never thought we were going to. This 02/2024, we’ve hosted just over 84 events here this year in the barn, and we’re very happy. And that’s only from May 1 till today, which is our last wedding was last Friday, which is the October. So it is condensed over six months. So the hardest thing with teaching my family is we do not take a day off from May 1 to October 31, but we do play even harder from November till April.

Andrea Morris [00:02:34]:
But it’s a beautiful event space, and, and the barn is great. I’ve done I’ve gone to one of your events there. There was a charcuterie event and for, for 2027, actually.

Peter [00:02:45]:
Yes. In 2027, we’re we were at one of the first wineries. You know, we’ve we’ve done since we purchased in 02/2018, we were one of the first wineries to serve beer on our patio. And then the next thing was our great winemaker, Kevin Patanakan, owned his own brand, which is 2027. So we were proud, and we fought against the AGCO to have two retail stores under one roof. And, as you can see by my last name, I am have a Dutch heritage. And after we were told no three times that it couldn’t happen I went to Toronto and I sat in the stoop. And three days later I came back with approval to have the two wineries under one space.

Peter [00:03:21]:
And as now has morphed into a new partnership Niagara crush which is locally here. Because of our volume since 2018 has almost tripled that since when we have purchased it, we have now outgrown our current facility here. So we are happy with Kevin and a new partnership that he has with Niagara Crush. We’ll be making a lot of our wines and processing a lot of our grapes now over at Niagara Crush just due to the volume that we sell here.

Andrea Morris [00:03:45]:
That’s great. We’re very happy. Nice to hear that growth story in this region.

Peter [00:03:49]:
That’s because I surround myself with four women. They do all the work, and I take all the credit at the end the night.

Andrea Morris [00:03:55]:
Well, come on, Peter. You’ve gotta name them now to give them some credit. Who are these women? We know your daughter, Mikaela.

Peter [00:04:00]:
My daughter, Mikaela, and then we have Rosalie, who is the retail manager. Yes.

Andrea Morris [00:04:03]:
And she’s my wife.

Peter [00:04:04]:
That’s where and you there, we have and we and our biggest joke around here is we have two Karens that work there, but they’re really good Karens that work in the retail store. Rounding off Mikaela’s team is also Lauren. So there’s actually six women that are here that actually do, and they stand on their heads every day. As you mentioned, there are some days that we have a wedding here for 140. We have 20 group tours coming in, and we have a restaurant full of our patio overlooking Balls Falls with 120 people on it. I don’t know how they do it. I will be the first one to admit that I I’m the proud head to groundskeeper on some days. I go in the venue, and I start cutting grass with my headphones on, and these women amaze me every time I get off the lawnmower to what they just did that day.

Andrea Morris [00:04:44]:
Oh, that’s so cool. Yeah. Women have the power.

Peter [00:04:46]:
They do have the power. Around here, they rule they rule everything.

Andrea Morris [00:04:49]:
Now is your winemaker from Kalamazoo a woman, or is it is it is it Kevin?

Peter [00:04:53]:
So it’s Kevin. So I’m very proud. All of my wines that you have in front of you here, I feel and one of my purposes when I purchased this winery in 02/2018, my background came from event in catering. So since my father started a company in 1971, called Feastivities Events and Catering. During that process, we opened up six local wineries as the event and catering consultant. They would be the Hans Burgers of the world, the Hernders of the world, Sue Ann staff. We were there for twenty one years. After doing that for so many years, my daughter was getting to the age where she was grew up in the business.

Peter [00:05:26]:
Thus, we came into making the final decision of, let’s do this, and we purchased it in 02/2018. We sold the event and catering company three months before COVID.

Andrea Morris [00:05:36]:
Wow. Thank you

Peter [00:05:37]:
very much. And, to this day, that company is still striving with over 150 employees now locally. So everybody knew me as Peter from the event catering background, being involved with those wineries. So the one thing I’ve done with my wine is I I believe that winemaking should be a partnership. Many wineries will, will hold their winemaker to a claim. I’m very proud as the owner to say you have six wines in front of you. They’re made from three different winemakers. Because I truly believe there’s certain winemakers in the region that specialize in that certain line.

Peter [00:06:07]:
And if I want that line to be made, I do not have

Andrea Morris [00:06:10]:
to hang my hat on one of them.

Peter [00:06:11]:
I’m proud to have multiple. So Kevin is our lead winemaker here. And we have Nicole, another woman that stands behind him. Like myself, she does all the work. Kevin comes in, but Nicole does all the work. And then we in cooperation with other wineries, we will purchase their grapes or we will they will make it. And a good example is I’m very proud to be great friends with Mauro from VNE. They have the Charmat style tanks to do the sparkling wine.

Peter [00:06:37]:
So all my wines are done there. You have one of the most beautiful red wines in front of you here, which is my appasemento, and that is made also by Mauro because he has a specialized drying machine to dry the grapes. So when I’m looking for to make a certain wine that I have a passion for or my customers are looking for, I go to the leading winemaker in the region that makes that wine. If I and I ask them one thing I just want you to be able to put your name on the bottle as well as I am. And this year it just happened to be you’re gonna be tasting five of the award winning wines but I’m very proud that we have a winemaker that specializes in that certain area. So very proud of that.

Andrea Morris [00:07:15]:
That’s great. And and now you purchased the winery in 02/2018. Correct. But it had been along around for longer than that.

Peter [00:07:21]:
It started in, in, basically, they planted the first set of grapes here in 02/2018 and February.

Andrea Morris [00:07:27]:
Okay.

Peter [00:07:28]:
So the the we are very lucky to go on-site. Now we have made a huge transition to the grapes that are here. On-site now, we have close to 28 acres. We have our award winning Pinot Grigio, which is right behind us. Then we have our Cab Franc. We have Chardonnay Riesling. And something that I have just planted as of two years ago, we’re looking forward to the first harvest of 02/2025. Again, trying to be ahead of the trend is Marquette.

Peter [00:07:51]:
Marquette is a very, very hardy, hybrid grape that goes to minus 35. So we had a very low swell up here that we always had a problem with some of the grapes freezing out. So it was my decision is why are we trying to do something ever living the same way as here? That’s the definition of an insanity. So I went to the next level and said to my vineyard manager, we’re ripping out five acres and putting Marquette in. He goes, Peter, you’re ripping out five acres of award winning wines that may come to be great wine, may not be, and we’re looking for more of a quality wine rather than a quantity wine. So although I might not harvest like other vineyards do locally, I feel like we’re getting a better quality grade.

Andrea Morris [00:08:28]:
And Marquette would be used for what kind of wine?

Peter [00:08:30]:
So Marquette can be, and it’s grown typically in Prince Edward County or in Ottawa regions, which I which I mentioned had the winery before because of its cold hardiness. It was designed by the university, and I get it wrong every time someone on this podcast is gonna catch me on it. I believe it’s the University of Minnesota who has cloned that certain grapevine to be hardy to minus 35. And I believe that VQA will bring it into full within one or two years just like they did with the front and I blanc in Ottawa. It is catching on, and it is now used in Niagara mostly with blending wines because it’s very hardy deep purples everything else but I see it coming in and I’m trying again being ahead of the trend. I can grow it out like everybody else does here. I’m just trying to keep my wines number one, to what my customers are asking for, and I’m known for my deep red purples. And as I call them, my purple wines, my dark cherries, and everything else which you’ll be trying today.

Andrea Morris [00:09:30]:
I’m really excited to to think about that Marquette in years to come because I’ve never I don’t think I’ve ever tasted that.

Peter [00:09:36]:
It is something very unique, and that’s what I’m hoping every customer says when they walk through the door starting next year is what you just said. What is Marquette? It’s going to be challenging because you’re trying something new.

Andrea Morris [00:09:44]:
That should be a new t shirt that you have. Like, what is Marquette?

Peter [00:09:46]:
What is Marquette? I I think that’s a great idea. And

Andrea Morris [00:09:49]:
I’ll take a cut of that.

Peter [00:09:50]:
That’s right. And I’m at at my Ottawa winery now, I’m very proud because we already have four acres planted. So the the the goal of purchasing the winery in Ottawa now is to use both grapes and blend as needed and to use each now now I have all cold hybrids, and I also have the Vinadera grapes that are here. So with blending those wines, I’m hoping just to make bigger and better wines moving forward.

Andrea Morris [00:10:11]:
That’s great. Well, let’s taste some of your wine then. Perfect. I thought we would start with our crackle,

Peter [00:10:16]:
and our crackle was named after. It’s a light sparkling, not over the top bubbly wine. But the crackle itself was, the name from it came from one of the the the former owners and we decided to carry it all the way through on here. So this is a sparkling, but unlike a normal sparkly, you’re not going to have the mass bubbles that are coming up to it. Again, this was made, by, another winery, Mauro, who I have great respect for. But when you’re tasting it, cheers, by the way. Cheers. Cheers.

Peter [00:10:44]:
I’m hoping you like it just as much as me. Flavors of apple, lemon, honey, and a touch of floral notes at the end.

Andrea Morris [00:10:53]:
It does have a very I think it’s got a very, apple y kind of nose. But it’s a little on this it’s it’s sweet, but not overly sweet. It’s just like one of these really nice introductory bubblies. I think that, like, you could have this you could serve this just, like, for fun. They’re like, hey. Let’s play cards and drink some crackle.

Peter [00:11:15]:
And that’s the whole goal of it is to have an everyday sparkling one that you don’t have to crack just for a special occasion.

Andrea Morris [00:11:22]:
It’s not a $70 bottle of bubbly.

Peter [00:11:25]:
Correct. This one comes in around $24.95.

Andrea Morris [00:11:27]:
That’s

Peter [00:11:27]:
And the goal is I have a couple of wine club members that I always joke that I I enjoy a bottle of red wine in the evening, and this is the one that I enjoy. And they will say, Peter, we love your crackle because it’s that easy drinking, and I don’t need a special occasion to open it every time.

Andrea Morris [00:11:39]:
Yeah.

Peter [00:11:39]:
It’s not a $50 bottle of sparkling sparkling wine. And I wanted to pair it with more dishes than a typical champagne. And I think this is what our goal is, and we use it at a lot of our events.

Andrea Morris [00:11:49]:
Oh, I can imagine. Yeah.

Peter [00:11:51]:
But it’s not a heavy sparkle. So, again, on the scale, it’s probably one of the lowest bubbly. So we find a lot of our wine club members who like it better because it’s more palatable palatable to them. Right. And, again, we’re making wine for them.

Andrea Morris [00:12:03]:
And it’s not a dry wine. Correct. It’s not a dry it’s bubbly. It’s like it’s it’s effervescent and

Peter [00:12:09]:
This is the the method.

Andrea Morris [00:12:11]:
Ah, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Really, really, really approachable and really fun.

Peter [00:12:16]:
That’s what people say about me, so I appreciate that. So

Andrea Morris [00:12:19]:
Is that what you said? Hey. Design design a bubbly that’s my personality.

Peter [00:12:24]:
Exactly. That’s it. So

Andrea Morris [00:12:26]:
No. I’ve you know what? I’ve had this I’ll be honest. I’ve had this before, and I really enjoyed it, and I’ve even bought several bottles of it because Oh, great. It’s the kind of wine that I will open up on a Friday night just by myself and be like, I think I’m gonna binge watch some Apple TV shows and just have some crackle and just relax.

Peter [00:12:42]:
And I will say it’s a celebration. It is. Yeah. And you don’t need to have one, but at at the price point that we are selling it for, again, our biggest feedback is saying we can open up this every night, and I cannot eat it with chicken. I can eat it with fish.

Andrea Morris [00:12:53]:
I can enjoy it with it. It’s great with the charcuterie board.

Peter [00:12:56]:
It is. Because and people, you know, they grab a tweak towards the red when they go to a charcuterie board. I’m exactly the opposite because I like my white cheeses. So I like it with my white wine. So everybody I mean, the first thing we said to people when they come into Calamus, and we’re not pretentious. There’s many wines that I I own I own two wineries now. And there’s not not there’s probably one or two wines at each winery that I personally don’t prefer, but they are our number one selling wines. So when you walk in and I train my staff, number one, is we want people to enjoy.

Peter [00:13:27]:
Life is too short to have a a glass of wine that you don’t prefer. So the job of a tasting is not only to find the ones that you like, but the ones you dislike.

Andrea Morris [00:13:35]:
Mhmm.

Peter [00:13:35]:
When someone comes and does a tasting and they taste all eight eight wines at one time or they do a premium tasting and they’ll spend money on that and they go, everyone was perfect. Don’t change anything. Then I know the person is full of shit because there’s no way that you like every wine that was just served to you and all their just like myself when I have those two wineries. And but I did make sure that all the ones that are in front of me today are my favorites because I was meeting with you today.

Andrea Morris [00:13:59]:
Oh, that’s so perfect. Yeah. I I you know what? And it’s also I’ve said this. Everyone has their own palate, and what I like, you might not like. And I’ve gone to wine tastings with friends where I have liked every single wine, and they’ve been like, I hated them all. And it’s because we all have our own specific taste, and also the I I find too that it changes as you as you get older as well because you might something that I liked maybe five years ago, I can’t stand now.

Peter [00:14:27]:
It’s true. Same with many many wines that I like. I used to like a medium, and now I can’t I can’t go near a medium red wine or a light red wine. Everybody asked me why you don’t make a pinot noir. I will never make a pinot noir because that is not a wine that I preferably like. And and I’ve had it with many wineries before where, you know what, they were close to what I would like, but it’s not one of my personal favorites. And that’s one thing that everybody says, well, why don’t you make this? And I see some wineries, you know, they’ll have 27 different wines on the shelf, and they’re trying to cater to everybody. I cater to my market of my customers that come in every day and purchase wines.

Peter [00:15:05]:
And my wine club is my focal point for what I’m going to be harvesting next year and what they’re looking for. I use them as focus group all the time.

Andrea Morris [00:15:13]:
Oh, that’s great.

Peter [00:15:13]:
And we’re looking forward to coming up in December. Our, we have our big party here. And at that party, I propose what I’m gonna be bottling for the next year, and they get to vote on it. So it’s really cool. And I you know, next year, we’ve already sat down with the winemakers. We have chosen to bottle six out of barrel. They will decide which three out of those six we’re gonna actually be doing.

Andrea Morris [00:15:32]:
Wow. So

Peter [00:15:33]:
we get to have some fun with them at the same time.

Andrea Morris [00:15:35]:
That’s kinda cool. It’s like, you know, majority rules. Right?

Peter [00:15:37]:
Oh, and and

Andrea Morris [00:15:39]:
It’s a democratic winery.

Peter [00:15:40]:
It’s a democratic winery. Yes.

Andrea Morris [00:15:42]:
And then they all go

Peter [00:15:42]:
in the cellar, and they start, when we get to the big bold reds, when we start talking about the whiskey barrels, they they love that.

Andrea Morris [00:15:47]:
And Oh, yeah.

Peter [00:15:48]:
We wanna be interactive with them, and they are our core groups. I mean, they’re the ones who sell out every one of our events for the last since 02/2018. So we really rely on them and we respect them, and we want them to be part of the process of making great wines.

Andrea Morris [00:16:01]:
That’s really cool because there’s so many wineries, like, the the one you like, it’s really really great when you’re a wine club member and you feel like you matter. And that’s really, really cool that you put your wine club members, like, so so high up in, you know, in your esteem that you let them choose your wines.

Peter [00:16:18]:
Definitely. And, I mean, I joke with all my wine club members. If you want a pair of socks in your wine box, this is not the one to go to. If you want a hat, if you want a corkscrew, then don’t join my wine club. Join one of those other wine clubs that will give you that swag all the time. I’m giving you great wine, and I need your help to make them the decisions, and they go overwhelming success. Not when I have someone come back and say, how come I don’t get a pair of socks in my box? So this is our 02/2023 Pinot Grigio. 02/2024 was a very hard season here in Niagara.

Peter [00:16:47]:
With the abundance of grapes that were here, not many of the wineries being able to produce here because of the rowing. The Hino Grigio in 2024 was the most phone calls that I received as a winery owner for the acres that I have here. All the other calls were, can can you buy can you buy can you buy? This one, we got many calls on saying we need this wine. This wine has to be a bottle. So I’m sure if you speak to many winery owners, they’ll tell you that this year Pinot Grigio is to us on the forefront. So we’re very proud to have this growing right behind the winery here. And this Pinot Grigio here in 02/2023 is aroma of lime, apple, honeysicle, and lemon, light bodied with a hint of minerality.

Andrea Morris [00:17:27]:
I can really, really nice, nose. It’s got a honeyish kind of aroma to it.

Peter [00:17:34]:
Honey and nectarine at the end.

Andrea Morris [00:17:36]:
Don’t taste the honey at the end, but it is very citrusy. I don’t know if I’d taste nectarine, but it is citrusy. I can’t get the nectarine. Nectarine is one of those fruits that I’m, like, not a big fan of.

Peter [00:17:49]:
And, again, everybody’s taste is different.

Andrea Morris [00:17:50]:
Exactly. So I’m just like, I don’t wanna taste nectarine. I have It’s like if you told me there were beets on this, I’d be like, ew.

Peter [00:17:57]:
Well, I have a tasting bar full of people, and they’ll all try to be no Brijo, and every person will say something different out of it. And if you go into most liners, like, no. What do you mean? It’s it’s honey, and it’s nectarine. No. It’s not. It’s what that perception of that person thinks is coming out of that line.

Andrea Morris [00:18:10]:
Feel it’s more like honeydew melon.

Peter [00:18:12]:
Yeah. And the minerality is one of the hardest things to explain to a someone that has not tried a wine before also. Mhmm. The minerality should be there, and it’s to the extent of the winemaker of what or what he or she wants to do. And with Kevin, Nicole, and myself, we’re always negotiating what what should the final product be. But one of the wines that Kevin makes, I I would say this is one of my favorite stuff.

Andrea Morris [00:18:32]:
It’s a really nice pinot grigio. And, it’s light, but it’s also, like, it’s very welcoming. And I it would pair well with with fish, I think.

Peter [00:18:42]:
I definitely. Anything white, white fish, your your chicken, your porks, anything else like that. Refreshing wine.

Andrea Morris [00:18:48]:
That’s what how I I would like to do it. And with, you know, cools on a summer afternoon hot summer afternoons, sitting out there on your patio, watching the stars.

Peter [00:18:57]:
I’m a big bold wine drinker. There’s one that I will go to when I’m sitting on the deck in the summer besides our rose is the Pinot Grigio before I go to any of our other whites. Yeah. That excite me.

Andrea Morris [00:19:06]:
Well, I mean, I would go to Crackle first because I like a bubbly, and then I would go to Pinot Grigio.

Peter [00:19:11]:
I had one of my wine club members come up to me and and and almost with a tear in a riot, one of our events, she goes, Peter, I put I put a little bit ice in your Pinot Grigio. I said, you gotta do you. She goes, but yes. I don’t I’m not trying to water it down. She goes, I just like it better, and I’ll even put it in the freezer sometimes. And, again, we’re not Yeah. You enjoy the wine like you enjoy the wine.

Andrea Morris [00:19:31]:
Yeah.

Peter [00:19:31]:
I prefer to drink red wine than if it’s it has to be decanter for half an hour. Some people can drink it right out or, you know, put in the, you know, the tap tap and drink it right out of the bottle. So everyone has their own personal things.

Andrea Morris [00:19:41]:
And Yeah.

Peter [00:19:42]:
It’s totally different for everyone.

Andrea Morris [00:19:44]:
We did a, a a podcast episode with Via Romano, and they chill their reds. I go to Italy.

Peter [00:19:51]:
I I’ve been to Italy Three times now, and I’ve never had one that’s not chilled. When I’m going to somebody’s personal home Mhmm. In a restaurant, they’re still doing a traditional style. But if you’re going to somebody’s home, they’re grabbing that wine that comes and served in a one liter container, and it’s served by my friend in Italy, and it’s chilled. And I look at him, and he knows right away what I’m going to say because I have two wineries. And he says, do you like? And, of course, I always. You know, my biggest, my big when we first opened this winery, we I lived in a cul de sac in Niagara Falls. We had six Italian families and us, one Dutch Canadian family.

Peter [00:20:22]:
And I started bringing wine home, and they make they all made their own homemade wine. And my biggest success, everybody always asked me, since opening this winery, all of a sudden I came home after the first harvest, and there’s a demijohn on my front porch. And next door to my friend Louie,

Andrea Morris [00:20:37]:
hey, I have to make no more wine anymore, your wine’s good, I like it. Here’s my all my wine equivalent. He dropped it off. The the

Peter [00:20:44]:
next year, the two other neighbors dropped it off. Now I always tell my wife that it’s because I give them the wine for free, but no, they don’t they enjoy it because they don’t have to make it now. And to me, that’s my biggest success is all these people made some great Italian reds, and now they’re doing it, and now they’re enjoying ours. So that’s me and my my personal success story.

Andrea Morris [00:21:02]:
And how did you like their reds that they made?

Peter [00:21:05]:
Some of them are absolutely horrible. You could start my car with if I had to in the morning. But isn’t that with anybody’s homemade wine? And there’s always great years and bad years. And I could tell you there’s some some years we have some great bad years. 02/2020 was one of the best years in Niagara wine making history. And then you go to the next year, 02/2021, and all the reds look like a rose. So they challenge and when you make it at home, they have the opportunity to go and buy a juice in a bucket. Unlike here where you have the vineyards, and we can try to do our best to get what we want off the vineyard before we pick them.

Peter [00:21:38]:
So that’s the difference.

Andrea Morris [00:21:39]:
When I lived in Leslieville in Toronto, I lived next door to a, a Portuguese man who made his own wine, and he would always bring me, like, a big bottle, like a huge bottle. And, that shit was so strong that I would drink a couple glasses with friends and just be knocked

Peter [00:21:57]:
Knock right on.

Andrea Morris [00:21:57]:
Like, it was, like, like, crazy strong, but it was it was actually quite tasty. So so you never know. Right? Because he didn’t have it at the LCBO. They’re telling him what he could put it, you know, like alcohol volume wise. So No.

Peter [00:22:10]:
He didn’t. And that’s when some of our wines, we have to be careful because everything’s regulated.

Andrea Morris [00:22:15]:
So now we have another white to get to.

Peter [00:22:18]:
So this is exciting. This is our un oak chardonnay, and this is the 02/2023. And we’re very proud of this wine because we also make a barrel kiss chardonnay, which is something that we actually go through a process of giving it in in a barrel. This one, we decided to do an unoaked chardonnay 02/2023, and we were very quite proud, that we entered in the first competition of this wine, and it went double gold right across Canada.

Andrea Morris [00:22:41]:
Wow.

Peter [00:22:42]:
Other competitions has received bronze, and this is some this is a wine that has now this is one of the wines you wish where you made 10,000 cases of it, and we did not. So I wish we did.

Andrea Morris [00:22:51]:
So your wine club members get it all? Is that what you’re saying?

Peter [00:22:54]:
Exactly. So and that’s it. And at that price point, it’s still at $18.95. So it’s something that a double gold wine that you’re trying to, you know, I’d be the first one to put it up to $39.95 if I can. But this is a wine that I’m hoping that you enjoy, and find that the same with my leading for this past year, 02/2023, this is the why.

Andrea Morris [00:23:16]:
Wow.

Peter [00:23:17]:
It’s amazing.

Andrea Morris [00:23:18]:
Yeah. It’s,

Peter [00:23:19]:
Lemon, pear. What do you what do you find?

Andrea Morris [00:23:22]:
I’m getting citrus on it. Not so much pear, but I am getting that citrusy kind of thing. I’m getting more like I kinda feel like a little bit of apricot.

Peter [00:23:30]:
Medium bodied, or do you think it’s a lot more

Andrea Morris [00:23:32]:
I think it’s definitely medium bodied.

Peter [00:23:33]:
Definitely medium bodied.

Andrea Morris [00:23:34]:
Yeah. It’s not a very it’s not a very light chardonnay, but definitely medium bodied, but really, really, tasty. Like, citrus fruit forward because I’m really tasting, like, the citrus on it.

Peter [00:23:46]:
And we think that’s why everybody enjoys it. As soon as you’re trying it, it’s that fruit forward wine. Refreshing. Mhmm. Again, everyday wine. Everybody knows about the ABCs of Chardonnay. And this one here debunks all the theory. And I’m very happy that both of the winemakers are arguing back and forth, but this came off the vineyard in 02/2023, which was a good year for our whites, and we’re very proud of it.

Peter [00:24:08]:
And we’re looking forward to see what 02/2024 comes in.

Andrea Morris [00:24:11]:
Well, this is really, really spectacular. But, you know, it’s it’s funny. I was gonna tell you before we started the podcast that I have been coming to Columbus for quite some time, and the quality of your wines has significantly improved.

Peter [00:24:24]:
Great.

Andrea Morris [00:24:24]:
Like, I would say in this past the past year, I’ve been really blown away by by the wines I’ve tasted here. And I think that’s, like, really, really it makes me really happy because it’s like I love to see I love to see my neighbors, you know, like like, just, like, soaring. And I just think that, like, this Chardonnay is fantastic. Also, I love the crackle as you might have guessed. But

Peter [00:24:49]:
And we’d love to be underrated because when we purchased it, we were underrated. There was this little winery we called.

Andrea Morris [00:24:54]:
Mhmm.

Peter [00:24:55]:
And I remember the little stories. I I called my best friend in Niagara Falls, One of the largest hotels, and he goes, I’m buying a winery in. He goes, where is that in Prince River County? So we’ve had an uphill battle from 02/2018 to put it on the map. And I think the quality of the wines that we’re doing and now all the accolades and, you know, Rick last night, Rick Van Sickle, which you might know as a great wine writer here locally, He just opened up a bottle, a seven year old bottle of wine, said it was one of his best. And most of you’ll see some of ours are have the screw top on it. And it’s now proven that screw top is actually better than a cork. So that it’s going through those battles and and and training people to know what your wines and why you make your wines that I think now they’ve come to that level, and I’m very proud of.

Andrea Morris [00:25:36]:
I’ve also heard, though, but I’ve heard that that whole argument that screw tops don’t age.

Peter [00:25:40]:
It’s if you’re asked for when you’re looking at mine from there, will will will I ever put my my deep, bold reds in screw cap? No. Mhmm. But under the analogy, it’s it’s like anything else. If you put 10 winemakers in room and 10 wine review writers, they’re gonna argue on both sides when it comes to the corking for the cap. But all the studies, I look more of a scientific study. And I’m fortunate because even with my whites, I’ve never had a wine that goes more than a year and a half when I have bottled

Andrea Morris [00:26:07]:
it, which

Peter [00:26:07]:
is a good problem to have, but sometimes it’s not. Yeah. But the reds now, like, we’re being forced when we bottle it now is is to let it age. And the hardest thing that you’re trying to do, especially when it’s under cork, is, you know, it’s it’s great to make a wine, but now how long do you let it sit in bottle? You go through the bottle shock. You come through that, and when do you want it? Especially when you have customers wanting it. I bet you, Paulette, it’s about one of the the great arguments we have with the winemakers is when are we gonna actually pull it out of and start selling the wine. And when we get to the reds, I’ll show you some examples of that.

Andrea Morris [00:26:36]:
Great. Yeah. Yeah. But the whites are, so far, spectacular. Fantastic. Every single one of them has been beautiful and approachable and just, like and also

Peter [00:26:47]:
affordable. And that’s the point. And Yeah. I mean, when you get to some of our regs, you’ll see why through the processes why we have to do the price point, but I have never sold a white here over $25, and that’s my goal. Mhmm. I wanna make it affordable and enjoyable for everyone.

Andrea Morris [00:26:58]:
That’s really and it’s that’s, you know, a very Dutch thing to tell you. That’s right.

Peter [00:27:04]:
I’ve learned very, very well from my father. And you could sell a white maybe for 30 and, you know, different wineries will will have the same will have a Chardonnay, and they’re selling it for $74. And I don’t you know, it’s all in the eyes of the beholder and who’s tasting that wine, what what what that quality of the wine is. Yeah. I know what it cost me to put it in the bottle. I’m happy to sell it here in my retail store. I want people to enjoy it and not walk out the door thinking that what did I just pay for? And I think that’s what makes our customers keep coming back and back every time.

Andrea Morris [00:27:31]:
Well, it’s one of the things I wanted to do with this podcast as well is to explain that you don’t have to spend a ton of money. Like, because wine is expensive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. It’s just that that’s your perception that you automatically think, oh, this wine is, like, $90 a bottle, and I’ve tasted wine that was $94 a bottle that was crap.

Peter [00:27:51]:
I have

Andrea Morris [00:27:52]:
a question. Think that you it’s about knowing what it is is about being true to your palate. What is it that you like? What is it that makes you that makes you happy? And if that’s a a a $20 bottle of wine, that’s great. If it’s a $60.70 dollar bottle of wine, that’s also great. It’s like whatever you whatever makes you happy is what’s great.

Peter [00:28:14]:
One of my favorite stories is when my son was in Italy for nine months working at two different wineries, and he was the South Of Tuscany. So I went to go visit him. I got off a plane. It was one of those delayed flights ten and a half hours before I got off. Got on the rental car, stopped at the first roadside gas station to get a large 1.5 liter bottle of water. I went back to the to the store, 1.5 liters was $6.38 euros. I walked up to the cash register in Canada, in the world, chocolate bars are kept.

Andrea Morris [00:28:41]:
Yeah.

Peter [00:28:41]:
That’s where all the red wine is kept. I looked down and there’s a $4.85 bottle of Sangiovese. And I look around, like, I’m on camera, like, this is, I’m being pranked, and I I picked up two bottles of Sangiovese and I put the water water back.

Andrea Morris [00:28:58]:
It’s just like in Mexico where water is beer is cheaper than water.

Peter [00:29:02]:
But I can tell you, I was expecting when I I got back to to my room and I opened up the first bottle, I’m saying this is not going it was probably one of the best reds that I’ve had from Italy. Yeah. And then I looked up the vineyard and I made it a point when I was there to go meet the winemaker and, you know, it is yes. This particular wine is mass produced, but the quality of it, you are correct. It’s not the the price of the bottle. That’s my personal thing. The the the for my wines, it’s the process that goes into it is why at the cost of it is. When when we get to the reds, I’ll be explaining some of that to you.

Andrea Morris [00:29:34]:
And we are getting to them now.

Peter [00:29:35]:
Fantastic. Well, the first one is the Meritage Reserve. So the last one was gold, so I had to serve you just to keep you rolling and keep you smiling.

Andrea Morris [00:29:43]:
Well, the last one was double gold.

Peter [00:29:44]:
Double gold.

Andrea Morris [00:29:45]:
I like to do the gold. Single gold.

Peter [00:29:47]:
So It’s it’s not a letdown. You can’t say it’s a letdown.

Andrea Morris [00:29:51]:
I mean, come on.

Peter [00:29:52]:
I mean,

Andrea Morris [00:29:53]:
I mean, I mean, I mean,

Peter [00:29:53]:
go downstairs and get my

Andrea Morris [00:29:55]:
Get your medals. So because you you would have to wear two for that one, and now you have to only wear one for this.

Peter [00:30:02]:
So as I mentioned to you, 02/2020 was the best year

Andrea Morris [00:30:06]:
Oh, for sure. Yeah.

Peter [00:30:07]:
In the past in my experience, twelve to sixteen years of making wine. When when this wine came off, I mean, the smiling faces of of my vineyard managers and not saying don’t you dare sell any 02/2020 because of what it is. So make sure you do it. So a typical heritage is a blend, of course, three wines. So when we are making this wine, that’s when the argument starts of what wines that you’re going to put into it. So this is a blend of cabsof, excuse me, cab franc and a hint of Merlot on there. And this is That’s like a classic Meritage. It is.

Peter [00:30:38]:
Yeah. In in the eyes of so when you’re tasting this one, I hope it’s again, you’re looking at the red currant, the blackberry. Again, this is full bodied, rich, and I’m hoping I’d do it.

Andrea Morris [00:30:48]:
Deep, deep red with, like, beautiful legs on it, which means good alcohol content. Really nice, like, black cherry nose.

Peter [00:30:56]:
Tonight is steak night at my house. This is the first wine that I’ll open while I’m cooking.

Andrea Morris [00:31:00]:
Wow.

Peter [00:31:00]:
And when I’m enjoying my steak, I get a little bit of epacemento.

Andrea Morris [00:31:03]:
Absolutely fantastic. It’s full bodied. It’s got that nice, nice really nice, like like I I smelled like black cherry kind of raspberry on like, more more so black cherry on the nose, but a lot of, like, cherry, really fruitiness on on the back of my tongue. It’s just really

Peter [00:31:26]:
Spice licorice.

Andrea Morris [00:31:27]:
I don’t I don’t taste licorice at the end.

Peter [00:31:29]:
Taste licorice at the end?

Andrea Morris [00:31:30]:
Not. I know. You’re Dutch, so

Peter [00:31:31]:
you love licorice. That means black black licorice for me. That’s why we

Andrea Morris [00:31:35]:
don’t Don’t get me wrong. I love why we sell

Peter [00:31:36]:
a black Gouda downstairs. We sell black Gouda cheese because

Andrea Morris [00:31:39]:
of the Gouda. Gouda. Gouda.

Peter [00:31:41]:
If I start speaking Dutch I’m gonna tell people on your podcast where to go to hell and I won’t do that.

Andrea Morris [00:31:46]:
Yeah. But when I was I was in The Netherlands visiting a friend of mine and I was it was drilled into my head that it was gouda.

Peter [00:31:52]:
Gouda.

Andrea Morris [00:31:53]:
It wasn’t Gouda. It was gouda. Gouda. But you have to say within the phlegm.

Peter [00:31:57]:
You do. Gouda. And if I go my my relatives, they always correct me, especially when I went over and negotiated the contract to purchase all this cheese. Uh-huh. He looked at me like I had two heads. Like, are you Dutch or are you Canadian?

Andrea Morris [00:32:06]:
Yeah. You’re like, no. It’s.

Peter [00:32:08]:
Now we’re selling it at both wineries, and it’s we we we try to get people, just like with our wines, a different experience. So we’re selling the wasabi, the black licorice wine, and ones that they can’t get

Andrea Morris [00:32:17]:
out of the wine. Black licorice?

Peter [00:32:18]:
Yeah. It’s like a black lemon. Shut up. It sells out all the time, and I can only get it in, like, one block at a time.

Andrea Morris [00:32:24]:
That sounds amazing.

Peter [00:32:25]:
So you have to come back and try some. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:32:27]:
Oh my gosh. We should have done I should have said we’re gonna do a cheese and wine tasting.

Peter [00:32:31]:
I could have had it all cut up and

Andrea Morris [00:32:33]:
ready to go for it. Oh, god. Can we,

Peter [00:32:35]:
like, cut and pause and

Andrea Morris [00:32:37]:
read it? That’s right. I love you know, when I was in The Netherlands, I loved that super old age howdah. That was, like, fourteen years. It was just so crisp and just, oh, the taste was amazing.

Peter [00:32:51]:
The new trend of smoke now, and I’ve tried to smoke it myself at the house, and I failed every time. And now I’m leaning towards because my big bold bread’s going into more of a smoked Gouda, and I’m enjoying it more. And I enjoy my wines more with that type of cheese. So if you’re trying to find something to complement it

Andrea Morris [00:33:07]:
That would be fantastic.

Peter [00:33:08]:
Everybody comes over and that’s that’s what they’re enjoying.

Andrea Morris [00:33:10]:
This is a really I have to say this is a really great wine. This Meritage Reserve is spectacular.

Peter [00:33:16]:
I’m glad you enjoy it.

Andrea Morris [00:33:17]:
And it’s just like it’s so full bodied, and I just want to sit here and drink like bottle after bottle.

Peter [00:33:23]:
Well, you’ll notice I was only sipping the whites and now I’m

Andrea Morris [00:33:26]:
gonna drink the whole drink. Yeah. He’s like, yes. The whites are great. I can’t believe you didn’t down your, you know, your double gold medal. But

Peter [00:33:36]:
I was waiting for the big bold reds to come up. I

Andrea Morris [00:33:41]:
know. I’m much more I like you know what? It’s funny because it’s like I love red wine, but I do appreciate white as well. And I love, like we we just had a a beautiful Gamay, earlier today, and it’s like like I’m I I forget. Sometimes I dismiss Gamay because I think it’s like a, you know, like a like a wannabe red. But then I’m like, I try and I’m like, it’s so good. Like, what’s my problem?

Peter [00:34:08]:
To try to try something different.

Andrea Morris [00:34:09]:
I know. I know.

Peter [00:34:10]:
And that’s to me, that’s what life’s all about, is to try something different. Yeah. When When I go to Lee every time I go to Lee, I’m trying to try wines that I’ve never and it’s great, and it’s hard to find wines that you’ve not had in your life before. Yeah. That’s one of my favorite things about visiting new new wine regions or emerging wine regions. You go to Prince Edward County, you’re you’re tasting stuff stuff that you might not even heard of before.

Andrea Morris [00:34:28]:
Yeah. I

Peter [00:34:28]:
know. Hybrid different types.

Andrea Morris [00:34:30]:
Yeah. Yeah. But I’m One day we’ll one day our podcast will go to Prince Edward. Once we exhaust this region, then we’ll move to Prince Edward County and, like, you know, hopefully, by that time, we’ll have sponsors and we’ll people to pay for our travel. But

Peter [00:34:43]:
It’ll just be a matter of time.

Andrea Morris [00:34:45]:
It will be because you know what?

Peter [00:34:46]:
A matter of time.

Andrea Morris [00:34:47]:
I think so. But this I have to say, I’m really impressed with your Meritage Reserve.

Peter [00:34:51]:
I’m glad you enjoy it.

Andrea Morris [00:34:52]:
I love it. I don’t enjoy it. I love it.

Peter [00:34:54]:
And now the next one is, like, the big, big, big, bold, hardest wine to make in Niagara Region by far.

Andrea Morris [00:35:01]:
The Passimento.

Peter [00:35:02]:
The Passimento.

Andrea Morris [00:35:02]:
Because you’ve gotta dry those grapes.

Peter [00:35:04]:
Correct. If anybody doesn’t know that, it’s our Maroney style, which just like our sparkling, we can’t call it champagne. So Right. Our our maroni style of Passimento wine here in in Italy where they’re hanging the grapes on bamboo over the vineyards. In Canada, there’s only now a few wineries that do have the specialized drying machine. Like any other trend, I believe in four to five years that every winery in Niagara will be making some type of opossum mental style. I walked into a winery the other day, and they have decided that every one of the reds is gonna be in the opossum mental style. Wow.

Peter [00:35:34]:
Now that’s with the price because the price point. But the process that goes through to make this wine is that the wine definitely has to be babied all the way through. So when I say

Andrea Morris [00:35:44]:
makes the price point a little higher?

Peter [00:35:45]:
Very much higher.

Andrea Morris [00:35:46]:
Because you no. I assume when I say a little higher, it’s a lot higher because there’s so much more love and attention that goes into it.

Peter [00:35:51]:
Well, I can tell you our average acre price for taking care of a grape that is going to be an apposimento is three times the cost of what it would be if you were not making apposimento.

Andrea Morris [00:36:00]:
Wow.

Peter [00:36:01]:
Because it cannot have any bruising. It cannot have, it has to be all handpicked. Where most of the wines we have here are machine, machine put picked. The passamento is the only one that is has to be handpicked. So the cost of this wine and then the process of making the wine, that is why it is what at the price point of what it is. But as far as every other region too, you’re looking at a, an epaugmental that you can buy locally now. Whoever would ever thought for $34 up to $700 for the exactly the same process. So these drying machines now are popping up at all the local wineries here, and some are specializing in it, which are doing very well.

Peter [00:36:37]:
And again, this wine here was where I took it to another winery, and I said, here’s my grapes. And they turned me down the first year and said, no. We’re not using those grapes. This is the way that you’re going to give us these grapes. And by the way, no. This is how we’re going to tell you how to make it. So they the winemaker typically goes in the vineyard once a week.

Andrea Morris [00:36:58]:
Mhmm.

Peter [00:36:58]:
The winemaker will make an appasemento will go in daily. Wow. And we’ll find that grape. So it’s exact and the one that you’re enjoying here is a cab salve

Andrea Morris [00:37:06]:
Mhmm.

Peter [00:37:07]:
That was dried in the process of it. And out of the tonnage that we’ve chosen, which was about eight tons to make, we only were able to use about four and a half to five because because the winemaker was not happy with the other quality.

Andrea Morris [00:37:18]:
Wow. What did you do with the rest of them?

Peter [00:37:19]:
The rest we’d let drop to the gram. Really?

Andrea Morris [00:37:21]:
Because this is

Peter [00:37:22]:
the process of it. Wow. It was very heavy.

Andrea Morris [00:37:24]:
Use them for another

Peter [00:37:26]:
We decided not to. And because we and we’ve already picked on that farm, and we have three farms. So we’ve already picked on that farm. And our goal was with our vineyard manager was, well, let’s take them all off. At the process of handpicking, that is where the apposimento came from.

Andrea Morris [00:37:39]:
Wow. And out

Peter [00:37:40]:
of all the bins that we picked, and I already paid for the labor.

Andrea Morris [00:37:42]:
Uh-huh.

Peter [00:37:43]:
So even paying the labor cost. But that’s why this this wine will come in at our cost, our at our price of $69. Wow. But I’m hoping it’s something that you’re going to see.

Andrea Morris [00:37:52]:
Sense because, again, when you know I think when you know what goes into it, when you know the work and the love and all the effort that went in, it justifies the price. And it’s and it’s got your telescope on them.

Peter [00:38:05]:
It does. Yeah. So and we wanted to make it our own. Yeah. So this came off our vineyards that were on Greenlane that we’re very proud of. Again, different, grow. When I say different, you’re you’re it’s only five minutes away, but at the same time, you’re

Andrea Morris [00:38:17]:
It’s not a different, and it’s not a whole different, appellation. Correct.

Peter [00:38:20]:
Yep. But cheers. Hopefully, you enjoy it

Andrea Morris [00:38:22]:
as much as

Peter [00:38:23]:
I do.

Andrea Morris [00:38:23]:
Look at the legs on this baby. You know that that’s fantastic right away. It’s got a really deep rich, I think, like, dark cherry nose. It’s just

Peter [00:38:34]:
Earth default.

Andrea Morris [00:38:34]:
It smells really sweet on the nose.

Peter [00:38:37]:
One of the few wines that I made that a lot of people make the comment of chocolate, they’ll taste a chocolate undertone to it. Again, personal choice, but it is something I

Andrea Morris [00:38:45]:
think you’re right. It’s one of the first times I’ve actually tasted it, but I I yeah. Very chocolatey on the back of my mouth on the back of my tongue.

Peter [00:38:53]:
But that is a special wine.

Andrea Morris [00:38:54]:
And I don’t normally like fruit with chocolate.

Peter [00:38:56]:
Yeah. I’m like Again, I’m very happy. That came

Andrea Morris [00:38:59]:
from the year of 02/2020. That’s really beautiful.

Peter [00:39:02]:
Which had, I mean, one of the best growing seasons we had. So I’m very lucky. We have tried to make it in in other years, and we have failed. So there it’s not not something that you can plan on growing, I believe, mass produced. Some wineries try. But this is something that has to be when it comes to handpicking, this is small batch.

Andrea Morris [00:39:19]:
Oh, for sure. I mean, it’s it’s so rich. It’s like drinking dessert. You know? Like, I can really taste, like, the chocolate and the cherries together, and it’s just it’s just a really beautiful wine.

Peter [00:39:36]:
Tonight, when I’m cooking my steak in about an hour from now, I’ll turn the barbecue and the smoker on. I will drink my Meritage Reserve to open my palate. Then when I’m sitting down enjoying my steak, I will open up this decanter for a minimum of an hour and enjoy this with my rib eye steak tonight. This is something special that I this is steak night for me.

Andrea Morris [00:39:54]:
Oh, for sure.

Peter [00:39:54]:
And I’m letting you enjoy my steak night because now we’re we’re actually starting here. So that’s it. So next

Andrea Morris [00:40:00]:
time you’re gonna have to join me for the steak. I will definitely do that. Yes. Yeah. I would definitely do that.

Peter [00:40:05]:
I smoke my rib eye, and then I put it into Oh

Andrea Morris [00:40:08]:
my god.

Peter [00:40:08]:
On my grill. Garlic butter over top. So there we go. Oh,

Andrea Morris [00:40:12]:
I’m like, literally, I feel like my dog now going.

Peter [00:40:14]:
Oh, god.

Andrea Morris [00:40:15]:
You did?

Peter [00:40:16]:
And I always do steak night midweek because midweek, you’re all you’re on the hump.

Andrea Morris [00:40:20]:
Mhmm.

Peter [00:40:20]:
Right? And you need someone to pick you up to get you through the last two days, and that’s why we do steak night every Wednesday night.

Andrea Morris [00:40:25]:
Wow. Well, now I know. My little steak night. I’ll show up here Wednesday nights from now on.

Peter [00:40:29]:
There you go.

Andrea Morris [00:40:30]:
And look

Peter [00:40:30]:
at I mean, the weather time

Andrea Morris [00:40:31]:
is so blessed. Guess who? Oh, no. This is, this is really it’s a beautiful wine and worth every penny, I would say.

Peter [00:40:47]:
Again, this one here, we had the pull. We pulled half of it, and it’s already in our cellar. And this is something of wine. I mean, we’re now twenty twenty. We’re only twenty twenty four. This wine will continue to open in age. I can’t wait to taste this wine in four to six years from now. I think it’s just gonna develop, and I think it’s gonna be gorgeous wine moving forward.

Andrea Morris [00:41:06]:
I think it I think that in four to six years, it’s gonna be even more magnificent, but I couldn’t keep that for four to six years in my house. So I’m just saying.

Peter [00:41:15]:
We’ll do steak night in four to six years.

Andrea Morris [00:41:17]:
Here’s to that. Cheers. I would’ve hold you to that, Peter. With some howda.

Peter [00:41:23]:
Yeah. Oh, with a howda. That’s right. Our final wine, and it’s really exciting because it’s it’s it’s a personal thing for me. And why it’s personal to me is my father used to be a Scotch drinker.

Andrea Morris [00:41:34]:
Oh. And So was so was mine.

Peter [00:41:36]:
And and I don’t know if it’s a Dutch the Dutch in him, but he was also a red wine drinker with dinner, and then he went to Scotch for the rest of the evening. And when on our trip, when I was probably twenty five years ago, I would had the honor of going down, and we all went to different wine regions. But when I was in California, I went to the the the pyramid known as Robert Modavi. And I walked into the winery, and there’s something called a double barrel wine. And I went up to her, and I paid my, whatever it was, $35 tasting fee for Robert Mondavi’s. And I I put this wine to my lips, and I said, what is this? And she goes, this is something a process of calling a double barrel. So that day that day, I was sold. It wasn’t wasn’t as popular as it was.

Peter [00:42:15]:
I think was the only winery that was doing it back in the entire Napa Valley at that time. And I vowed to all the winery owners that I work with locally here is why are you not making this? And they all shone to me saying, Peter, we’re not going to take our wine and then put it in some type of barrel. It’s crazy. So one of the first things that I did was when I purchased this winery was I said to my winemaker, all that beautiful cab salve we have, we’re gonna go down to Kentucky, and we’re gonna figure out how we put this into a barrel, and we’re gonna make this double barrel wine. And my three winemakers looked at me and said, you’re the craziest Dutchman. That cab soap that you have in barrel has been aging for two to three years and some of the best cab soap that we’ve ever had. And now you’re gonna put it into some whiskey barrel. I drove down to Kentucky.

Peter [00:42:58]:
I grabbed four barrels, and and it took seven distilleries for them to empty it because I didn’t wanna buy a souvenir barrel. Distilleries? I’d have to then you’d have to come over for steak night to find that out. But I promised them they wouldn’t use their name. But when you go down to the cellar, you’ll see it stamped on the side

Andrea Morris [00:43:11]:
of the barrel. Okay.

Peter [00:43:12]:
And anybody that goes down, that’s one of the reasons why they wanna go down.

Andrea Morris [00:43:14]:
Okay.

Peter [00:43:15]:
But it starts with a d, and I’ll leave it at that. But to make that process of wine, I did not want a souvenir whiskey barrel. I needed someone to take out that in front of me and get wine into it in the next twenty four hours. Because anybody that knows anything about whiskey is the secret between a great whiskey is the charring on the inside

Andrea Morris [00:43:31]:
of the barrel.

Peter [00:43:32]:
So I bought these four barrels back, which just had whiskey and then driving up seven, eight hours. And, of course, at the border, I was on a saying that I was making my wife a coffee coffee table and I brought these first four over and the winemaker and I’m unloading him out of the car and he’s denying me denying me and then all of a sudden the process began where I took four barrels at the first time and I put it in these Kentucky whiskey barrels. And my passion was to name it after my father, which is William, my father William. And so we named this, and we let it sit. And four months later, we started to argue. A good argue was when are we going to put this wine into a bottle? How long should we age it for? We did all the research. We did everything else, and every winemaker, just like any chef, was telling us different times. When we went to go bottle the wine about six months later, we had three to four inches of chunks of wood coming out of the whiskey barrel.

Peter [00:44:20]:
We went through a triple filtration process that probably drove my winemaker absolutely crazy. It came to a point where when we were making this wine, the first one came out in 2018, and this is a 2019, one that we’re gonna be trying today. It was something special, and it makes me think of my father every time that I enjoy it. And as far as when when you’re when you’re enjoying it, it is two years in French oak, and then it goes into four to six months into the whiskey barrel. And my wine club members on the first vintage actually helped me hand bottle it. And they were corking it. They were putting the all the foil on top. At the after the first time, we figured out it’s not a good thing to let them start drinking before they do that.

Peter [00:45:03]:
So we figured that out very quickly. So no drinking allowed before we bottle this great wine, but I hope you enjoy it.

Andrea Morris [00:45:11]:
Oh my gosh. You know what? You can smell the whiskey on the nose of that.

Peter [00:45:15]:
On on the palate, it’s something special because it’s not overwhelming.

Andrea Morris [00:45:18]:
You can really smell the whiskey on the nose. I’m letting I’m letting Lucas, my producer, have a have a have a, like, a a scent of that before I even taste it. Again, you you can, can you?

Peter [00:45:31]:
And what you’re tasting is the actual the the char on the on that Kentucky Oh my god. And it’s a wine that is something

Andrea Morris [00:45:38]:
That is that’s a whiskey wine. I gotta try it. That’s fantastic.

Peter [00:45:46]:
That is a special wine. And even if you’re if you’re not a a a fab of whiskey, that is a wine that it truly blends. And the secret is, and I’m

Andrea Morris [00:45:57]:
Well, you know, and here’s to your dad and my dad.

Peter [00:45:58]:
Well, I cheers. I appreciate it. I wouldn’t be nothing if it wasn’t for my father.

Andrea Morris [00:46:02]:
Same here.

Peter [00:46:03]:
And that’s the reason why the waterfall is named after him, my father and my mother. They were the true kings of hospitality. They all had their door open forever. We had all the parties at our house growing up. I want my kids to do it as far as hospitality whenever I think of him. That’s what I’m thinking of is how the king of hospitality brought us to where we are today.

Andrea Morris [00:46:22]:
This is absolutely beautiful. I am in love with this wine. It’s so good.

Peter [00:46:29]:
It is something unique. And that

Andrea Morris [00:46:31]:
this one unique. It’s like, oh my god. That you can you can taste the whiskey in it, but it’s not overpowering. It’s just, like, so complimentary to the red. It’s, like, it’s absolutely stunning.

Peter [00:46:41]:
And at $49.95, it’s a process that’s very difficult, especially with the filtration. Oh. And I

Andrea Morris [00:46:47]:
could drink this forever. Because it would just, like, it would be, like I feel like my dad would be with me. Yeah. And you could see the legs on that one. Oh my god. The legs are beautiful. It’s like I think I I actually prefer this to the Appascimento.

Peter [00:47:00]:
And that’s fine.

Andrea Morris [00:47:00]:
I think for sentimental reasons.

Peter [00:47:03]:
Maybe that’s fine.

Andrea Morris [00:47:04]:
But it’s also, like, I’m a whiskey drinker.

Peter [00:47:06]:
That’s because you’re still thinking about the Gouda. So

Andrea Morris [00:47:08]:
Koda. Koda.

Peter [00:47:09]:
Koda. Koda. That’s right. I’m trying

Andrea Morris [00:47:12]:
to keep it great for

Peter [00:47:13]:
all all the podcast listeners. That’s right. Because now this is gonna be all over Apple. This is gonna be, like, number one within two or three years.

Andrea Morris [00:47:19]:
I know. Right? It’s gonna be, like, you know, what everyone’s gonna be going, like, they’re gonna be coming to your door knocking down going like, hey, I wanna try the Alhouda with the the licorice one. And you’ll be like, shit, we’re out of it. We’re out

Peter [00:47:30]:
of it. What

Andrea Morris [00:47:31]:
what what what are we doing? Hey, hey, everyone will be here on Wednesday going, I hear it’s steak night.

Peter [00:47:36]:
Well, every every everybody keeps asking me, okay. You bought a winery in Niagara. Now you bought one in Ottawa region. Where are you going to next? So my all poll all your next is going to be BC.

Andrea Morris [00:47:45]:
No. Go to Prince Edward County.

Peter [00:47:47]:
Well, it is close to Prince Edward County for us, but it’s something that, I mean, evolving. It’s, to me, it’s the wine. If I if I still have that passion for wine in three to four years, but I am ready now. I’m only 53. I wanted to retire when I was 50 when we sold Decatur

Andrea Morris [00:47:59]:
in your company.

Peter [00:48:00]:
Mhmm. But I’m very proud that both my kids have the work ethic of working ninety hours a week, and they have turned these two wineries into what they are now.

Andrea Morris [00:48:07]:
Mhmm.

Peter [00:48:08]:
And if they can do that, it’s gonna be their desire if they’re gonna be opening a next one in British Columbia, be it in Italy, be it in Australia, but I will support them wherever they like to go. But if they put the work ethic they put into these two, nothing’s stopping them of having 12 wineries within ten years from now.

Andrea Morris [00:48:23]:
Well, there you go. Cheers to that.

Peter [00:48:25]:
Cheers.

Andrea Morris [00:48:26]:
That’s fantastic. This is a really beautiful wine. Like, it’s it’s rare. Like, I’ve I’ve tasted many whiskey barrel wines, but this is the first one that I’ve ever tasted that actually I could taste the whiskey. It’s just so prevalent, but it’s not overpowering. It’s just a really nice compliment to the wine with that it’s I I, like, really love this.

Peter [00:48:49]:
And and again, in the bottle, what I look forward to seeing that wine in two to four years from now. From what it is now to what it’s going to be in two to four years, my hardest thing is it’s it’s, this is sold out except for what we have in South. So every year, our wine club members will come to us in December. We have one pickup party, and we allow them to buy a limited number of back vintages. This is the one every year, and everyone gets their phone calls. And so we have to limit it to, like, one or two bottles of what they can buy. Wow. So we’re very proud of this wine.

Peter [00:49:19]:
And, again, that’s what it’s named after.

Andrea Morris [00:49:20]:
Really? Like, it’s absolutely stunning. It’s, like, really I’m just in love with this. It’s so good. It’s the nose is beautiful. The taste is beautiful. Like, everything about this wine is so great.

Peter [00:49:34]:
Campfire blanket. Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:49:37]:
You’re

Peter [00:49:37]:
it’s it’s

Andrea Morris [00:49:38]:
not watching home movies of your dad, you know, like, just yeah. Yeah. Looking through photo albums and going, yep.

Peter [00:49:45]:
You’re making the producer cry. So

Andrea Morris [00:49:50]:
Yeah. Well, if I was like, if I’m gonna remember my dad, it would be watching football games with the Browns because my dad, like, my dad just passed away. And, and he would, like, yell at the Browns games and go, like, you are suck.

Peter [00:50:04]:
I gotta tell you, I went to a Browns game on Sunday.

Andrea Morris [00:50:06]:
Shut up.

Peter [00:50:07]:
And I was there for the Ravens fan.

Andrea Morris [00:50:08]:
Won?

Peter [00:50:08]:
And they won, I was in the end zone when they did that, and I almost went crazy. And, the my my my, my daughter’s boyfriend, Derek, is a Ravens fan, and the poor guy was sitting there. And it was the I mean, the announcer passed away, unfortunately.

Andrea Morris [00:50:21]:
Yeah. Jim Donovan, God rest his soul. He was awesome.

Peter [00:50:24]:
They did a beautiful memorial, and I looked over to him and going, this crowd, I don’t know what’s gonna happen in this game. This is weird. And the quarterback comes out who would never play, like, four or five games and have won the game. So sorry to get off on wine, but it was a good weekend. No. That’s

Andrea Morris [00:50:37]:
no. That was great because, like

Peter [00:50:39]:
hall of fame. We were drinking wine. We, we went to the flats where I had a friend I met, and I brought him some of this double barrel wine.

Andrea Morris [00:50:45]:
Oh.

Peter [00:50:45]:
And he really enjoyed it. We’re drinking. Here we are in the Cleveland Flats drinking my father’s double barrel wine, so it was fantastic.

Andrea Morris [00:50:50]:
Oh, that’s so great. My dad would have been so happy. He should it’s like, yeah. He would have been happy the Browns probably won a game.

Peter [00:50:57]:
But Against the Ravens. So it was, I totally unexpected. It was fantastic.

Andrea Morris [00:51:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. That was like I I didn’t get to watch it because I was out at winery. So yeah. I was doing research for my podcast. Okay?

Peter [00:51:08]:
The research is fine.

Andrea Morris [00:51:09]:
What? I I the the girls gotta keep working in order to be successful. So that’s why

Peter [00:51:13]:
you have to and as you’re an owner, what we do is we call it quality control.

Andrea Morris [00:51:16]:
Yes. So I

Peter [00:51:17]:
do a lot of call quality control around in and around the winery, and this is one part of it is is tasting wines to make sure they’re exactly what they should be.

Andrea Morris [00:51:24]:
And this is exactly what it should be. This is absolutely so fantastic. Peter, this has been an a complete pleasure. Like, I have had so much fun with you today. It’s, like, it’s so great. I love your wines. I’m so happy to have, like, had this experience with you.

Peter [00:51:40]:
Well, it’s an honor to have you here, and I look forward to, in the future, maybe coming back and trying some of these wines when they are another four to six years. And we’re gonna sit down. We already know we’re having rib eye steak. We are We are

Andrea Morris [00:51:50]:
we’re gonna have steak night. Put up some of these quick things. You know what? I I will be more than willing to do that. I will make dessert or whatever. It’ll be so much fun. And you know what? I hope you, the listener, have enjoyed this as much as I have because this has been such a great experience. And you really have to come to Calamus because not only can you, like, have amazing wines, but there’s a beautiful patio here. If you, like, you know, like, if you can beat out the wine club members, you can see use the telescope, you can see the stars.

Andrea Morris [00:52:21]:
It’s such an amazing place. And, like, I’m so happy that you’re a part of this region because I really, really enjoy your wines, and I really enjoyed our company. And you, the listener, if you are listening now, make sure you follow and like spill the wine because we have to get more followers, and we need you. And if you have any topics or suggestions that you wanna explore or do you have any comments about our episodes, then you can check us out on Instagram, spill the wine underscore podcast. That’s our Instagram logo, spill the wine underscore podcast. We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to our next podcast.

Peter [00:53:01]:
Cheers.

Andrea Morris [00:53:02]:
Cheers.