A long while back, Anton and Hildegard Sproll moved to Canada from Germany and established Sproll’s Fine German Bakery, and it was a great success. They retired from this to establish Trail Estate on a 14 acre property in 2011. There were just an acre and a half of vines when they purchased the estate, and they initially had no plans to start a winery, but this all changed, and they planted more vines, including Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Their children Alex and Sylvia are now involved in the winery too.

Winemaker Mackenzie Brisbois joined in 2015, and she has led the wines in a very interesting direction, working quite naturally, and experimenting with skin contact. Indeed, about a third of production is now orange/skin contact wines. For a small winery, there are a lot of wines, most made in small quantities. As with many of the wineries in the County, they also source fruit from Niagara.

Trail Estates Foxcroft Riesling 2016 Niagara, Canada
This is fermented in older barrels with low sulphite additions and wild ferment (including natural malolactic). Complex, dense and pithy with nice intensity. Some limey notes, and a sort of oily texture. Powerful wine. 88/100

Trail Estates Chardonnay ‘Vintage Two’ 2017 Prince Edward County, Canada
The second of the estate wines, this is fermented in French oak (20% new) and has just 30 ppm SO2. Linear and fine with lovely lemony detail to the palate which also has mandarin and white peach notes. Very fine and expressive. 93/100

Trail Estates Foxcroft Chardonnay 2016 Niagara, Canada
No new oak here. Lovely stuff: powerful but balanced with sweet mandarin, peach and citrus fruit. Has lovely intensity. Very fine. 94/100

Trail Estates Pinot Noir ‘Vintage Two’ 2017 Prince Edward County, Canada
Two barrels, one old and one new. Supple and fresh with nice brightness and a slight meatiness. Very floral cherry fruit, with some sour cherry notes on the palate. Elegant and focused with great acidity. 93/100

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com

PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY

• Huff Estates
• Stanners
• Hinterland
• Closson Chase
• Trail Estate
• Rosehall Run
• Lighthall
• Morandin
• Grange of Prince Edward
• Hubbs Creek
• Karlo Estates
• Traynor

Here’s a report from my first visit in 2013