The Bachelder Wismer Vineyard ‘Winfield Block’ Chardonnay 2010 ($45, not released quite yet but available in some restaurants like Treadwell in Niagara, 94 points) — Wow! A stunner. Winemaker Thomas Bachelder calls the famed Wismer Vineyard on the Twenty Mile Bench a Grand Cru of Niagara. But Bachelder goes one better and sources his Chardonnay from a specific block from Wismer’s coveted vineyards. The wine took nearly a year to ferment, as Bachelder likes all his wines to ferment naturally in the cellar. It is a big, showy Chard that makes a statement from the first sniff. Poached pear, fresh-baked apple pie, waves of flint and stony minerality, and then the creamy vanilla spices, toffee and elegant oak that is integrated rather than over-powering chimes in. It is weighty on the palate with bold fruit matching rich and toasty spices and balanced out by racy acidity. It’s a powerful and stylish Chard with hedonistic flavours that all lead to a gloriously long finish. Bravo!