Adamo Winery, Mono, Ontario
On Jag's recommendation we drove out to the winery that had made the Sauvignon Blanc we enjoyed at dinner, Adamo Winery in Mono, Ontario. It was about a forty-five minute drive north through the foothills.
Adamo Winery. Mario Adamo, originally from Calabria, Italy, remembered the vine-covered hills of his hometown fondly, and decided the hills of the Hockley Valley might suit grapes just as well. He followed his instinct and put in some test vines; before long they had grown, and one early spring Mario knew they were hardy enough to plant in earnest. So in 2015 Adamo Estate Winery was born. It is a small boutique operation, about twenty-eight thousand vines, making its wines from the best of the estate fruit and grapes from other top Ontario growers. Mario has since passed, but his legacy lives on at Adamo.
We asked what becomes of the vines all winter. They have worked out how to save them, wrapping them in netting and then covering them with great blankets. The real trick is knowing when to uncover them. The vines begin to wake and regrow once a few warm days build up under the covers, so off the blankets must come; but another hard freeze can still arrive, and it is a fine balance. Once the vines are bare they run fans to push a breeze across the whole crop, which can raise the temperature about two degrees, and even so they have been caught by a deep freeze and lost part of a harvest more than once. They do not grow all their own fruit either, buying some grapes from other vineyards around Ontario.
A tasting with Norma Jean. It is a beautiful building, with a tasting room on the first floor and an outdoor area right beside the grapes. We had meant to have lunch, but there was a wait, so we did the tasting first and ate after.
Norma asked us a few questions and from our answers picked four wines she thought we would like. They had a no-oak Chardonnay, which we tried, and it was wonderful; Janice had given up Chardonnay years ago because the oak had grown too heavy for her, so this was a happy discovery. We tried another white, good but not its equal. Having already had the Sauvignon Blanc at Uncorked, we passed on it, and went to the Cabernet, which was spectacular. Norma let us taste a more expensive Estate Cab with some spice to it, excellent, though it could not quite live up to that first Cab. At that point we decided to have our cheese and meat right there at the tasting counter and finish our glasses.
Of course we could not resist a full glass each, one the Sauvignon Blanc and the other the Cab. It was a fine way to spend the afternoon.
We have never yet left a winery without a purchase, and we did not break the streak here, carrying off four bottles of the Cabernet Sauvignon and four of the non-oaked Chardonnay.
