Dobbin Estate Vineyard

About Dobbin Estate Vineyard

The Dobbin Estate vineyard is nestled in the heart of Niagara’s Twenty Mile Bench sub-appellation. Naturally low yield land, excellent moderation and air drainage bless our unique combination of both north- and south-facing slopes. Deep, calcium-carbonate rich soils with excellent percolation, ideal to produce classically styled, cool climate Chardonnay, have been for decades organically farmed, nurturing a rich biodiversity of beneficial microbes, insects, natural vitality and complexity. Well composted and with minimal compaction, the soils optimize the potential of our vines - - a meticulous selection of varieties, clones and rootstocks specifically tailored to this terroir, taking into account the impacts of climate change and encouraging higher acidities, lower natural alcohol and, in general, overall balance and greater elegance.

The viticulture boasts optimal spacing (approaching double the Niagara norm, at 2520 vines/acre vs 1285), intensive underdrainage, freeze protection to ensure the optimal health of our vines, laser bird scarers to avoid nets that reduce both airflow and sunlight penetration, and upwards of 30 hand operations per vine per season.
Only handpicked grapes by our own highly trained team are utilized, and often multiple passes are undertaken to ensure optimal selection.

The winemaking is equally painstaking, with only one wine at a time on the crush pad and detailed double sorting with the finest equipment. A gentle (optional) destemmer and a legendary JLB basket press best prepare the grapes for wild fermentations and minimal winemaking intervention in a cherished collection of variously sized French oak barrels, concrete eggs, amphoras and stainless steel.
Elaborate temperature and humidity control permit slow, classic elevage where the wine style demands it; and top-flight winemaking with local knowledge and a track record ensure meticulously crafted small batches that embody the outstanding terroir of our unique Niagara vineyard.

Working with only Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Riesling, our goal is to produce a focused line-up of the finest estate-grown wines in Canada - - ageable, complex, harmonious, and refined.

Representative Biography

Peter Gamble, Executive Winemaker

Peter Gamble, a lifetime wine industry professional whose career has encompassed roles as a distinguished professional winemaker and consultant, an internationally recognized wine taster and judge, and the founding Executive Director of the VQA, has long worked alongside Canada’s most passionate winemakers to achieve greater heights with our finest appellation wines.
Since 2000, Peter’s company has been dedicated to prestige wineries in their start-up phase, providing expertise in a range of areas critical to the successful establishment of ultra-premium winemaking operations. Along with international work, Peter has been the lead consultant in significant Canadian projects including, in Niagara, Stratus, Ravine, Cloudsley, On Seven and Stonebridge; and in Nova Scotia, Benjamin Bridge Vineyards and Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards.
With the purchase of a top-flight ancient Malbec planting in Mendoza, Argentina, in 2008, and the opening of Sperling Vineyards winery in the Okanagan, Peter and his winemaker wife, Ann Sperling, broadened their company’s winemaking activities. But Niagara remains their cherished home base, and among other prestigious winery start-ups here, including York Vineyards, Kirby Estate and the revitalization of Lailey Vineyard winery, Gamble turned his attention to the vineyard development and winemaking launch of Dobbin Estate on Niagara’s Twenty Mile Bench.
Notable awards for Gamble over the years include the inaugural Tony Aspler Award for contributions to the Ontario wine industry and, in 2019, the inaugural Karl Kaiser Winemaker Emeritus Award for Outstanding Services to the Canadian Wine Industry.
Most recently, Gamble was delighted that the first vintage of wines made at Dobbin Estate earned them the distinction of “The Most Thrilling White Wine of 2023” in the highly respected year-end report by Wines in Niagara wine journalist Rick VanSickle.

Why We're Cool

Our own kind of Cool!
Even though we’re new on the scene in Niagara, the Dobbin Estate has been cool for a long time.
Located in the Twenty Mile Bench sub-appellation, and organic for nearly 30 years, our soils are derived from the ancient Lake Iroquois Bench including extremely high levels of active calcium in deep, moderately drained clay till. We grow chardonnay in threes – three distinct blocks on the property and three clones – 96, 76 and 15.
We stay cool in several ways – our 50 acre property has only 17 acres of vineyard planted, surrounded by ravines with forests of native trees, drawing away excess moisture and humid air while providing diverse habitat for a huge range of species. Our gentle north-facing slope mitigates the summer sun’s intensity; and even our south-facing slope abuts our very own seven-acre lake in the heart of the vineyard, providing a cool sink to moderate changes in daily temperatures. The organic farming with regenerative practices includes permanent cover crops to keep soil surfaces cooler while drawing down seasonal rainfall.
Founding winemaker, Peter Gamble, who designed the vineyard plantings with moderately high density (2520 vines per acre), walks each block to determine ideal harvest timing followed by hand harvesting with selection and individual handling throughout the winemaking process. After wild fermentations in French oak barriques, and wild malolactic fermentations, barrel lots are assembled 18 to 22 months after each vintage to produce two or three unique bottlings.

Tony Aspler - A Wine Lover’s Diary, Part 882: Dobbin Estate (Posted on June 5, 2023 by tonyaspler)
Dobbin Estate Chardonnay 2019 ($75, Twenty Mile Bench)
Golden straw colour; spicy, toasty, apple nose with fragrant apple blossom notes; medium-bodied, dry, elegant, beautifully balanced with apple and lemon flavours and well-integrated oak. Lovely mouthfeel. Reminiscent of a Chassagne-Montrachet. (95 points)

Dobbin Estate Chardonnay 2019 (Estate fruit, bottled in magnums only, $260)
Bright golden colour; rich, expressive nose of vanilla, apple, lemon zest and oak spice; full-bodied, richly extracted apple flavour tinged with oak. Lovely mouthfeel, great length. Very Burgundian in style. A sensational Niagara Chardonnay. (96 points)

Rick VanSickle - Wines in Niagara - June 2, 2023
“The new Dobbin Estate winery on the Twenty Mile Bench is a showpiece for the region and will help raise the bar for luxury Niagara wines in the years to come.”
Dobbin Chardonnay 2019 ($75, 93 points) There are only 190 cases of this soulful Chardonnay available. It’s a mix of estate fruit and a neighbouring Twenty Mile Bench vineyard. It’s anchored with grapes from the estate’s small Charlene Vineyard which consists of the original organic plantings. It was whole cluster pressed and wild fermented in French oak barrels. Secondary fermentation was also wild and aged for 18 months in French oak of varying ages. It has a penetrating nose of ripe pears, yellow apples, chalky/saline minerality, subtle savoury notes, lemon tart and perfectly integrated fine oak spice. It’s rich and luxurious on the palate with a silky texture, a textural theme that is common in all these wines, to go with concentrated pear, quince, lemon preserves, and more tantalizing spice notes that lead to a lingering and finessed finish.

Dobbin Estate Chardonnay 2019 ($260, magnum only, 94 points) — This is a unique offering from Dobbin that is taken from one barrel of the estate’s Charlene Vineyard. … It shows a light golden colour in the glass and has a rich and concentrated nose of ripe pear, wildflowers, stony minerality, yellow apples, lemon zest and integrated spice notes. This is such a deep and concentrated Chardonnay on the palate with swirling chalky/flinty minerality, stone fruits, zesty citrus notes, toasted almonds and spice with a long, finessed and echoing finish. A treat of a Chardonnay that will improve for 5+ years in the cellar.

(At the time of printing, the 2020 Chardonnays have not yet been released or presented to the press.)