Matthew Kin with me

• Unique winery as the only one in the Ottawa area & most northern winery in Ontario
• Property use to be a cow farm when the Kin’s bought it. They researched the ground and found it to have (15) different minerals as a result of the area that use to be Champlain Sea.
• Plantings are only of Chardonnay & Pinot variety, and vineyard is south facing with a gradient of 90 degrees from the tip to the bottom.
• Last harvest was October 16, and this year they’re hoping for even a later date.

• Vineyard is organic & sustainable, but not certified as in certain years they need to spray in order to mitigate the challenges from insects that can destroy rows of vineyards.

• Challenges:
  • Ottawa is not a warm climate area, therefore has a shorten growing & harvest season. Bottom of vines are covered with soil to lessen frost issues, usually in May. South facing vineyards help.
  • Main issues are insects, disease, birds & racoons.
    • Japanese beetles started to appearing 3 years ago and like to eat the leaves. Originally Kins would cut the growth down, which is the norm for grapes to be exposed to sun & mature. However, the beetles would eat the leaves which over exposed the grapes. Therefore, they had to grow the vines taller so that the beetles would only eat the top portion of the vines. They planted (rose bushes) in front of the row of vines, which the beetles would eat and lay their eggs. Birds, such as crows & robins would then feast on the beetles on the leaves and rose buds. Sunflower plants that are also grown in front of the rows would attract these birds, which then would go after the beetles. Another issue is wasp, which feed on the grapes during harvest time.
  • • Racoons love Pinot and at times they ate 3 rows of vines, which would make several hundred bottles of wine. They installed electric fence and use ammonia around the property. The ammonia has similar sent to coyotes, which the racoons think they are around.

• • The rose bush leaves give an indication if there is stress on the leaves prior to the grape leaves having the same effect. This way they can try to mitigate the disease when they spot the rose bush leaves starting to die off.The vineyard has several sounds of stressed bird sounds, which signals to other birds that there is danger around the area.

• • 2023 has been their best year for Chard that they had enough grapes to start their first traditional method Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine, and an orange wine.Wine making is made in a small building. Inside is unpretentious, housing a few tanks & barrels that are mostly 10+ years old.

• Their onsite restaurant is open from May until harvest (late September/early October. They have a restaurant in the village of Carp, The Twin Muses, which open year-round, but temporarily closed for renovations.