Distinctive Winery

The Tawse Winery is nestled in the gentle slopes of our 32-acre vineyard located on the Vineland Double Bench of the Niagara Escarpment. In designing our facility we had three goals in mind. First, design a winery that uses the naturally sloping terrain to create a six level gravity flow processing facility. By using gravity, we gently handle our fruit and juice from pressing to bottling with minimum manipulation that can bruise or aerate the wine, releasing some of the intense bouquets and flavors.

energy & eco friendly design
Our second quest was our goal to be energy and eco friendly. We dug three cellars, 72 feet long, 28 feet wide and 12 feet deep. Each cellar has 6 to 8 feet of earth overtop keeping the ambient temperature between 10 and 16 degrees Celsius, with natural humidity of around 85%. These deep natural cellars are crucial as our wines are barrel aged for 18 months and prefer to be at a constant temperature. The high natural humidity reduces the amount of “Angel's Share” or evaporation over the long élevage period of the wine.

geothermal heating & cooling
The processing areas of our winery are heated and cooled by a state-of-the-art Geothermal Energy system that uses heat pumps to control temperatures as they are needed at each level of the winery. By using the ambient temperature of the water in our pond outside, we reduced our use of traditional forms of energy by 80%. Our Wetland Biofilter system allows us to completely reuse all of our sanitary and winery process water. It goes back into our pond to be used for landscape irrigation as well as supporting a wetland habitat for the abundant wildlife that live on the escarpment. Our last goal was to build a perfectly engineered process facility that operates efficiently with a small staff. Each task was carefully thought out reducing the manpower needed to move hoses or equipment within the winery. Construction began in the spring of 2002 and was finally completed for the harvest of 2004 making Tawse one of the most state-of-the-art, completely gravity-fed wineries in Canada.

6 processing levels
Level 6 Red fermentation tanks
Level 5 Grape receiving and press
Level 4 Stainless steel, temperature controlled settlement tanks
Level 3 Barrel cellars
Level 2 Blending tanks
Level 1 Bottling room