Fourth Wall - Dialectic

Character

CS + PV. Black cherry, blackberry, damson plum, graphite, whisps of smoke. Violets, cranberry, raspberry, sour cherry. But they don’t sit still. They like each other. They take each other’s chairs. They are restless. They want to play all night. What will they become? Will you help them?

Composition

52.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47.4% Petit Verdot

Winery & Winemaking Team

The Organized Crime Winery; Greg Yemen.

Vineyard Origins

Organized Crime Winery’s home vineyard sits in a pristine segment of the Beamsville Bench, sloping elegantly with a stunning view of Toronto. Soils are clay-dominant loam atop bedrock of limestone. Vines were approximately 20 years old at time of harvest.

Behind the Music

2022 was a tremendous growing season. Sun was incredible and disease pressure limited. (Not blockbuster heat like 2020, but better than the average year.) Across the region, numerous vineyard owners were walloped with crop loss and vine damage. By divine intervention, luck, and some combination of natural site advantage, O.C.’s vineyard was largely spared.

It’s no secret that wines from Beamsville have a beautiful elegance about them, and I’ve long admired Greg’s talents for coaxing the most out of his fruit. Parsing through the barrels of his stellar 22s was like being a kid in a candy shop. Bordeaux varieties out of this appellation aren’t supposed to have the kind of depth, power and substance – everything was a winner.

Bench trials revealed a curious proposition: an almost 50-50 blend of two grapes that belong together yet are rarely blended exclusively together. We selected an older 500L barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon, and two well-used 225L barriques of Petit Verdot. One is sturdy and serious, one is vinous and vibrant. Both grapes have their own personality, and the interplay between them as the wine opens is so satisfying.

The name “Dialectic” comes from my Grad School days… no, nobody wants to learn about German philosophers like Hegel… but if I can brutally/imperfectly summarize the idea, it is: a Thesis leads to an Antithesis, which creates a Synthesis. Think of new art reacting against old art. These two grapes act and react against each other, and I hope you love the result.

Bottled August 25th, 2023.