Mason Vineyard
We’re part of a genre of small wineries and independent winemakers that make low volumes of very special wines.
Our approach to wine is not new or unique to Niagara — we just exist in a hard to reach corner of the winemaking spectrum. And being small and obsessive means our winery businesses and activities don’t follow the convention of higher volume wineries.
Our passion is to make small lot wines from — single vineyards on exceptional terroir — which are expressions of place — following obsessive vineyard management methods and low yields — pursuing sustainable or organic practices — hand harvested in clusters with attentive hand sorting — fermented from wild yeasts — avoiding manipulation and intervention — and attentively aged with appropriate time to express the vintage.
To us, this philosophy and process is our definition of quality. And those who love Mason wine understand our passion and purpose, and that exceptional wine is as much about the people and place as it is the experience of tasting it.
The Site
We’re a single vineyard site situated in the Twenty Mile Bench with climate and soils ideally suited to the temperament of the three noble varietals that we focus on: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc.
Twenty Mile Bench Sub-Appellation
The Twenty Mile Bench stretches east to west from Fifteen Mile Creek to west of Cherry Avenue. Bisected by Twenty Mile Creek, it has a complex topography with a distinctive double bench formation west of Twenty Mile Creek, and short, varied slopes that roll to the brow of the escarpment.
With its relatively high elevation, Twenty Mile Bench enjoys long periods of sun exposure during the summer and fall. Lake breezes pushing up against the Escarpment circulate the warm air and extend warm daytime temperatures into the evening, encouraging an even and continuous ripening process.
The sheltered north-facing slopes and the air circulation from Lake Ontario provide for year round temperature moderation, setting up an ideal growing season for quality grapes.
*Source: VQA Ontario
“Our terroir, and the varietals I grow, were not a marriage of convenience or happenstance.
My life’s passion was to grow Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and so I searched for the most ideal site to grow these varieties; one which would best suit my goals for taste profile, be most favourable for the health of the specific French clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that I sought to grow —while importantly allowing me to make the wine using low intervention, native wild yeasts from the vineyard and as close to organic as the environment would allow.
I found what I was looking for with Mason Vineyard’s site.” — Kelly Mason
