Undercurrent wines are the curious rarities and exciting B-sides of the Creekside wine portfolio; too untamed for the polished Reserves and too interesting to lose in a larger blend.

Unusual, nonconformist, and often provocative these wines are the rebellious fringe of the Creekside cellar, comprised of barrels and batches with a fierce sense of independence and individuality. Undercurrent are never scripted, formulated, or confined to conventional winemaking norms, instead arising from our winemakers’ penchant for experimentation and, as such, promise to delight any wine geek with a palate for the extraordinary.

Produced in extremely limited volumes, these wines are available exclusively at the roots of this unconventional movement: Creekside Estate Winery in Jordan, Ontario.

Those eager to experience the Undercurrent should be warned that each these wines is a uniquely numbered bottling that will never be repeated. If you happen to find an Undercurrent wine during a visit to Creekside don’t put off securing a bottle, these highly collectible misfits won’t see the light of day for long.

Undercurrent


2007 Undercurrent Gewurztraminer

Undercurrent File #: 07GEW082208-02
Appellation: VQA Twenty Mile Bench (appellation information)
Varietal Composition: 100% Gewurztraminer
Bottled:Bottled September 22nd, 2008. 37 cases.
Unit Size:750mL
Drinkability: Drink or Hold [As of Apr. 09]

• Old vines Gewürztraminer from Butler’s Grant Vineyard; harvested October 4th, 2007.

• Extended skin contact post-crushing with several hours of maceration for higher extraction of flavour and aroma compounds from the skins

• Juice racked to two six-year old French oak barrels, an old world method for fermenting aromatic whites. Neutral wood adds complexity and texture through barrel ferment and aging, without imparting oaky character

• One barrel was permitted to undergo “wild” fermentation, using indigenous yeast, a practice generally understood to create added complexity and a little “funk”. The 2nd barrel was inoculated with VL1, known to liberate bound terpenes, an aromatic family of compounds found in relatively high levels in Gewürztraminer. The aim was to increase aromatic and flavour profile intensity and emphasize varietal character.

• Fermentation was halted based on sensory evaluation of acid/sugar/flavour balance. Fermentation of inoculated barrel was 12 days, the wild barrel was 24 days. Wine aged on original ferment lees for 10 months with no lees stirring.

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Undercurrent


2006 Undercurrent “Headless” Shiraz

Undercurrent File #: 06SHZ092508-03
Appellation: VQA St. David’s Bench (appellation information)
Varietal Composition: 97% Shiraz, 3% Viognier
Bottled: Bottled September 25th, 2008. 61 cases.
Size: 750mL
Drinkability: Drink or Hold [As of Apr. 09]

• Single vineyard Shiraz/Viognier co-ferment from Creekside’s Queenston Road Vineyard

• Shiraz fruit sourced from smaller Shiraz block trained to VSP (majority of the planting is on Scott Henry)

• Fermentation process identical to batches destined for Broken Press Shiraz

• Vinified for Broken Press Shiraz: lightly pressed Viognier skins were added to Shiraz ferments at ~3% by mass

• “Headless” – this batch was fermented in a new French oak demi-muid (with the barrel head removed).

• Co-fermentation, as opposed to post-ferment blending, provided lifted aromatics and complex palate structure, due in part to the higher ferment temp, presence of alcohol extracting more/different flavour compounds from Viognier skins as compared to cold skin contact before pressing and fermentation

• After ferment, the wine was bucketed out, the barrel head replaced, and put back to the same barrel: “Heinz”.

• Aged 21 months in a new French oak demi-muid

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Undercurrent


2007 Undercurrent Muscat/Sauvignon Blanc

Undercurrent File #:07MSB082208-01
Varietal Composition: 52% Muscat / 48% Sauvignon Blanc
Bottled:Bottled September 22nd, 2008. cases.
Unit Size:500mL
Drinkability: Drink or Hold [As of Apr. 09]

•    Muscat fruit from a tiny planting of Muscat d’Alsace (0.69 acres) at the Butler’s Grant Vineyard; Sauvignon Blanc from Creekside’s estate vineyard ‘Short Rows’ block

•    Light pressing of Muscat to preserve delicate aromatics produced 120L, too small to fill a barrel

•    Four days later “Short Rows” Sauvignon Blanc was harvested at Creekside and a plan was hatched to try co-fermentation and top the half-full barrel
•    The Muscat juice was racked into a seven year old French oak barrel; barrel was then topped up using the Creekside “Short Rows” Sauv Blanc.  Barrel was inoculated with VL1 yeast, known to act on bound terpenes, an aromatic family of compounds found in relatively high concentrations in Muscat.

•    Co-fermentation seemed to allow for weird and wonderful integration patterns between the neutral oak barrel (for structure and complexity) the yeast, and the 2 varieties. This blend is currently considered unrepeatable because of these factors combined with unusual extreme ripeness of the ’07 vintage.

•    Aged 10 months on original ferment lees with no lees stirring

•    Muscat can have an extremely potent, potentially overwhelming aromatic pungency; the more acidic, grassy character of the Sauv Blanc seems to have both tempered the Muscat, and complemented it to create a fragrant nose and very cool palate structure.

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