We decided, based on Jag’s recommendation, to drive to the winery that made the sauvignon blanc we had with dinner, Adamo Winery in Mono Ontario Canada. It was about a 45 minutes drive through some foothills.
Adamo Winery History
Mario Adamo, originally from Calabria, Italy, remembered the vine-covered hills of his hometown fondly, deciding that the hills of Hockley Valley could also be suitable for growing grapes. He followed his instinct and planted some test vines, before long, those vines grew and in early spring, Mario knew that the vines were hearty enough for extended planting – and so, in 2015 Adamo Estate Winery was born. It is a small boutique winery with about 28,000 vines. Using the best grapes from the estate and grapes from other top growers in Ontario they make their wines. Mario passed but his legacy lives on at Adamo.
We asked about what happens all winter to the vines. They have figured how to save them by wrapping them in netting then covering them with huge blankets..The real trick is when to uncover the grapes. The vines begin to regrow once a few days of warm weather happen under the covers so they need to uncover them but in the area another freeze could occur so it is a fine balance in making the decision. Once the grapes are uncovered they have fans that provide a breeze over the entire crop that can raise the temperature about 2 degrees but they have experience a deep freeze after uncovering the vines and have lost some crop on several occasions. They do not grow all of their grapes there that are used in making the wine, rather they purchase some grapes from other vineyards in Ontario.
Tasting and some lunch with Norma (we called her “Norma Jean”)
It is a beautiful building with a tasting room on the first floor, an outdoor area that is right next to the grapes. We were planning on eating lunch but since there was a wait we decided to do the wine tasting first and lunch later.
Norma asked us questions so she was able to pick out what 4 wines we might enjoy for the tasting. They had a no OAK Chardonnay so we tried that, it was fabulous, Janice had stopped drinking Chardonnay along time ago because the OAK flavor became over whelming. We also tried another white which was good but no nearly as good as the Chardonnay. Since we had already had a taste of the Sauvignon Blanc at Uncorked, we passed on tasting that again. Next we tasted their Cab..it was spectacular..she also let us taste one of the more expensive Estate Cabs with the spice..it was excellent but could not live up to the taste of the first Cab. At this point we decided to just have cheese and meat right there at the tasting counter and finish our different tasting glasses. Of course we could not resist have a full glass one of the Sauvignon Blanc and the other the Cab It was a great choice to spend the time there.
We have never left a winery without a purchase, so we bought four bottles of the Cabernet Sauvignon and four bottles of the Non-Oaked Chardonnay.