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About
the winery
The Partners (Douglas, Funk, Jacobson
and Willms families) have been active in the wine industry
for several decades.
At a social event in 1997, the Partners
decided to build on the extensive wine growing and winemaking
talent in the group, and create an enterprise that expresses
our common interest in a good bottle of realistically priced
wine.
Founded in 1998,  The
Thirteenth Street Wine Corp. specializes in small lots of
estate grown and handcrafted table and sparkling wines.
In 2006, winegrowers (and market gardeners) Doug and Karen
Whitty joined the partnership.
This enterprise has become
a labour of love and on any given day (mostly weekends because
we have real jobs), there is a fair chance that you will
find one or more of the Partners at the winery working on
the current vintage.
We are never too busy however to take time
to meet with fellow wine enthusiasts. Phone or e-mail Ken
or Mary to be make sure that one of us is there to meet
you.
Ken at 905.641.1900
Mary at 905.562.5900
craftwines@
13thstreetwines.com
About our vineyards
We like to believe that our vineyards produce
some of the highest quality grapes that Ontario has to offer.
The G.H. Funk vineyard at the winery site was planted in
1976. Located on a thick sandy loam soil, the vineyard provides
Riesling, Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo and Sauvignon Blanc grapes.
We place great value in canopy management and small crop
size, and are constantly tying, tucking, thinning, leaf
stripping and hand hoeing in the vineyard.
The Sandstone Vineyard located on Line
2 in Niagara-On-The-Lake was planted in 1983. This vineyard
is in a warmer zone and the soil is composed of loam and
stones that retain heat. It is an excellent counterpoint
to the G.H. Funk vineyard, producing grapes that benefit
from a longer, hotter growing season. Our Gamay, Meritage,
and Chardonnay are produced from the grapes grown at this
vineyard.
Our control over the vineyards, allows
us to harvest when we feel the pH, total acidity Brix (sugar)
and grapes flavours are optimum for the wine we are producing.
Because we hand pick and field sort our grapes, we are able
to maintain much better control of the fruit. This ability
to manage both the harvest and fruit quality, we can minimize
the use of SO2 (a necessary antioxidant) and eliminate other
additives employed to stabilize wine.
We also purchase limited quantities of
grapes from other growers who have the set the same high
standards in their vineyards.
 Our
wines
Our overriding philosophy is that great
wine begins in the vineyard. We consider ourselves to be
winegrowers first. Our winemaking therefore employs methods
that complement and emphasizes the fruit. The 13th Street
partners use only hand picked grapes, and rely on cold processing
and small lot fermentation to yield the varietal intensity
and silky mouth-feel that has become our trademark style.
We like to believe our wines are not mainstream
North American. Our small scale production allows us to
employ methods that are rooted in Old World techniques but
are adapted to New World technology.
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