The newest jewel in the Von Mandl crown is quite something to see. The construction of the winery is finished, but there is so much construction still going on around it that it’s difficult to believe it when you see it for yourself. We have trouble finding the front entrance in fact, and are relieved to see our guide come outside and flag us down so we can start our tour and tasting!
And, what a guide we have…..the winemaker himself, Shane Munn, is taking us on a little tour of the winery. We actually have TWO HOURS booked for this experience and are very much looking forward to it.
Shane takes us on a thorough tour of the winery, the sorting areas, production facility…it’s really quite spectacular. They have clearly spared no expense, and it shows in the quality of the wine.
Along the way, Shane presents us with a little “welcome wine”. Lots of wineries do this, but it’s not usually THIS good.
After the tour, we head inside where we are pleased to find a selection of their wines, ready for us to taste. As with their Von Mandl-partner, winery Checkmate, they focus on just two varietals. Whereas Checkmate does just Merlot and Chardonnay, Martin’s Lane produces just Riesling and Pinot Noir.
During the tour I had asked Shane if he ever planned to do an ice wine. Well, they had already done one, and he was happy to let us taste that as well. If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know how I feel about ice wine, and this one is right up there with the best ever.
What a fantastic experience, and Shane was a terrific guide through our tour and tasting. We look forward to our next visit.
SAFETY SCORE: 9
About half of the tour was outside, the rest of the tour and the tasting were inside, but there were literally just the three of us in the building, we didn’t come across another soul. Shane was seated across the huge table during the tasting, nothing to be concerned about there in terms of ‘social distancing’.
Up next: That’s it for the wine this day. We had a wonderful dinner at Home Block at CedarCreek after the Martin’s Lane tasting (right next door) and then headed back to our room to relax and rest up for the next day of tastings, beginning at Tantalus!
Confessions of a Huge Wine-R 