Score: 95

Deep gold colour; floral, spicy, lychee and grapefruit nose; medium-bodied, off dry; great tension between honeyed sweetness and lime and grapefruit flavours. Amazing length. 

~ Tony Aspler, tonyaspler.com 

Wines in Niagara’s “Most Thrilling White Wine of 2023”

Score: 95

The newbie Dobbin Estate, under the guidance and care of winemaker Peter Gamble and viticulturist Ann Sperling … has set its sights on Riesling as one of its superstar varieties ... It’s made with purpose, utilizing multi picks, a selection of botrytis-affected grapes and a combination of vessels for fermentation and aging. It truly is a marvel, a style that will appeal to serious Riesling lovers and, hopefully, inspire a new generation of winemakers to get Riesling the recognition it so richly deserves. 

~ Rick VanSickle, winesinniagara.com

This is a serious wine that is complex and layered; a result of several different pick dates and collecting portions of botrytis affected grapes during the harvest for separate vinification’s in a mix of stainless steel and neutral larger format oak barrels. The nose offers peach pit, Meyer lemon, stone fruit and the classic green apple common to Riesling, however it’s more discrete here. There is a slight tropical note, pear and a hint of wildflower honey on the mid-palate. The wine is structured with a seamless acidity, minerality, and great weight. This is a well-rounded Riesling that finishes on a pleasing tart acidity with great length and notes of lime zest.

Designed to improve with age until 2029 and may be cellared until 2039.
Best served between 8-10 degrees Celsius.

pH: 3.48
TA: 7.53g/L
Alc: 13.4%
RS: 10.5g/L

From the vineyard:
Under the vision of Peter Gamble we have developed a Riesling that is truly impressive and we refer to as a “Rich” Riesling. Multiple picks over the course of a month from our small Charlene Vineyard delivered a rich tone without standing out as sweet and appealing to those who might typically shy away from Riesling. We couldn’t be happier with Peter’s vision and are excited for this to become part of our tradition with our newly planted Riesling grapes.

Score: 95

Perfumed notes of sweet nectar and lemons are reflected on the palate with beguiling flavours of apricots and honey. Delicate with excellent concentration and persistent finish. Focused winemaking builds texture and balances generous fruit flavours with freshness—another wonderful example from this producer. 

~ Magdalena Kaiser, Decanter

Score: 94

This complex and ripe expression of riesling comes from an exciting new producer in Niagara. Grapes from the vineyard west of St. Catharines were harvested over a month-long period to craft a wine with intriguing complexity and satisfying structure and texture. An enticing flavour suggests grapefruit, green apple and honey with some kerosene/petrol aromas that add to the complex character.

~ Christopher Waters, Globe & Mail

A classic Niagara ‘Bench’ Riesling. The grapes were manually harvested in several different passes over a period of nearly a month in order to provide some additional complexity through the varied acidities, ripeness, and flavour profiles of the grapes. Some short portions of skin-time and extended fermentations in primarily stainless-steel barrels maintained the wine’s brightness. On the nose, is a streak of green apple, citrus lime, and a hint of petrol that will develop nicely with ageing. The mid-palate is consistent with the fruit on the nose and has a tight structure with a racy acidity that gives way to a long lingering finish. The fresh acidity is the backbone of the wine that will hold the mid-palate together for years of cellaring.

Designed to improve with age until 2027 and may be cellared until 2034.
Best served between 8-10 degrees Celsius.

pH: 3.5
TA: 7.03g/L
Alc: 12.5%
RS: 8.7g/L

From the vineyard:
What we refer to as the “Dry” Riesling is noted only by its black capsule in a throwback to the wine making in Alsace which influenced this motivation and absolutely must be tried to be understood. Made under the close guiding hand of Peter Gamble who’s mission it is to bring serious Riesling to Niagara under the Dobbin banner.

Score: 94

This is a unique offering from Dobbin that is taken from one barrel of the estate’s Charlene Vineyard. It was wild fermented and aged on its lees in second fill French oak for 18 months. The nose is rich, elegant and concentrated with lovely perfume, ripe pear, baked apple, saline/chalky minerality, lemon tart, creamy/toasty notes and spice box. It has an elegant creamy texture on the palate with concentrated stone fruits, bergamot, stony minerality, toasted almonds, spice, fresh saline and finesse through a lifted and long finish. Contemplative Chardonnay that will impress further with another 5 to 7 years in the cellar.

~ Rick VanSickle, winesinniagara.com

We are very excited to offer our single barrel reserve Chardonnay Magnum from our old vine Charlene Vineyard.  This magnum format offers the ability to be aged easily for 10+ years but is balanced enough to be enjoyed now if you can’t resist the temptation.

This one is very special to us – it is our first and only offering that is uniquely of the estate. Taken from one barrel of our Charlene Vineyard, this magnum is an exciting indication of where we are going and what possibilities lie in the terroir of our special location. These are extremely limited, but we wanted to share a few as it sincerely has us anticipating what we will get out of our estate plantings.

Only 135 bottle made.