Little Farm Winery is a small production winery located in the Similkameen Valley run by Rhys Pender MW and Alishan Driediger. Their wines are low / no intervention from start to finish. They use wild yeast, neutral barrel, lees ageing and little to no fining or filtering when the wines are bottled. I received two bottles of their Chardonnay. One is their Little Farm Winery Mulberry Tree Vineyard Chardonnay 2020 while the other is their Mulberry Tree Vineyard Pied de Cuve Chardonnay 2020. The grapes come from the same vineyard and generally use the same treatment for vinification. What is the difference?
The Difference – Pied de Cuve
From the winery, “The Pied de Cuve wines, those with the colourful stripe on the label, are the result of our passion for and fascination with natural wines. For those not familiar with the somewhat controversial title of natural wine, these are wines that receive almost no intervention from start to finish and are therefore a pure reflection of the place, the grape and the vintage. We have named this range of wines Pied de Cuve. Pied de Cuve is a technique to start a fermentation using only the yeasts that are naturally occurring on the skin of the grapes.
About a week before harvest we pick a bucket of grapes, crush it by foot and leave it to ferment in the vineyard. It is kept in the vineyard and away from the winery so the grapes’ own yeast can start the fermentation, rather than in the winery where ambient yeast living in the winery from previous vintages could take over the fermentation.
The hope is to see flavour differences that might occur from these natural yeasts and by using the natural vineyard yeasts we hoped to produce a wine that had even more of a sense of place. After a couple of days, the bucket was frothy and fermenting nicely. When the rest of the crop is harvested, we add the Pied de Cuve to the pressed juice to kick start the fermentation.”
My Wine Tasting Notes
Little Farm Winery Mulberry Tree Vineyard Chardonnay 2020 (BC $27++)
Appearance: A bright, clear medium-plus lemon plus gold colour in the glass. Tears are visible on the sides of the glass after swirling.
Nose: Medium-plus intensity aromas of toast (most), with lesser amounts of pineapple, and a touch of butterscotch. Same aromas after decanting but a little lighter in intensity.
Palate: Dry, medium-plus body, with a silky smooth, round, thicker mouthfeel. Not quite mouth-filling. Ripe pineapple with hints of apple, butterscotch, and oak. You get a lighter mouthfeel after decanting and feels a bit leaner. The flavours stay the same.
Finish: A medium-plus length finishing with some apple skin bitterness, pineapple, light butterscotch and pepperiness at the very end. A round and thicker mouthfeel to the finish. No change to the finish after decanting.
A quality Chardonnay. It has intense aromas and flavours when first opened, but gets lighter and more elegant after decanting, so decant.
Rating: 
– 
This Chardonnay has a deeper lemon plus gold colour in the glass. Medium-plus aromas of toast, pineapple and a touch of butterscotch. It is dry with medium-plus body and smooth, thicker mouthfeel. Pineapple with hints of apple, butterscotch and oak on the palate. Medium-plus length.
Little Farm Winery Mulberry Tree Vineyard Pied de Cuve Chardonnay 2020 (BC $31++)
Appearance: A bright, clear deep golden colour in the glass. Tears are visible on the sides of the glass after swirling.
Nose: Lighter aromas of toast, pineapple, butterscotch, dried apricots, and touches of mint / sweet spices and floral that fades with time in the glass. After decanting you can add roasted apple aromas and remove the floral component. The sweet spices is present again.
Palate: This wine is dry, fuller-bodied to start, round with a thicker mouthfeel. There is a light acidic prickle on the palate. The wine does have a lighter mouthfeel from the mid-palate to the finish. Rich, ripe stone fruits and pineapple flavours. Some apple blossoms and toast on the mid-palate. The wine becomes smoother, lighter flavour intensity, no acidic prickle or apple blossom flavour, and a lower acidity feeling after decanting.
Finish: A medium-plus length finishing with floral, pineapple and light oak flavours, plus some bitterness. A touch of pepperiness and sweet spices at the very end with time in the glass. the only change I noted after decanting on the finish was no floral component.
An intriguing wine. You get two different wines with decanting. The undecanted wine has a bit more range of aromas and I like the light acidic prickle along with the blossom on the palate. The decanted wine has a thicker mouthfeel and is missing the acidic prickle, but does become much smoother and the flavours a little less intense. I prefer the undecanted version.
Rating: – 
without decanting. A Chardonnay with a deep golden colour. Lighter aromas of toast, pineapple, butterscotch, and dried apricots. This wine is dry, fuller-bodied, round with a thicker mouthfeel. Rich, ripe stone fruits and pineapple flavours. Some apple blossoms and toast on the mid-palate. A medium-plus length.
Where Can I Buy These Wines?
These wines can be purchased online via the Little Farm Winery website. The Pied de Cuve Chardonnay is available at two Everything Wine stores and two BC Liquor stores at the moment.
