Tasting Ontario Part Six: Pinot Noir

Jul30

Gather your thoughts about pinot noir. Begin with Bourgogne and it’s really quite easy to articulate an opinion. Smells like cherries, shows earth and mineral notes of/from clay and limestone. Texture is specific to the village where it is grown. New Zealand? There’s a recognition regardless, save for a special and singular red fruit that is specific to Central Otago. What about California and Oregon? Any wine geek who knows who they think they are could surely pick them out of a blind tasting with great certainty? Now what about Canadian pinot noir? That’s a totally different story.

If it were just a simple matter of Ontario versus British Columbia that would be one thing but there is Nova Scotia to consider and within the provinces so many sites of origin and stylistic variegation making it really difficult to identify the source. It may be a challenging and oft-times heartbreaking grape but in Canada it increasingly finds a way to ripen from coast to coast. Even if that were less true just five years ago the tenets of experience, acumen and passion have taken pinot noir to heights few believed it was capable of going. That winemakers can now produce so many varied examples tells us it’s here to stay.

Bourgogne uses the word Climat to define vineyards or rather the DNA of the vineyards and the official term is specific to wine while the reference lieux-dits is an administrative one. Many would argue that while dirt makes an impact it is climate that inflicts the most drama on a wine but even more important than climate and soil, it’s the people who give the terroir its cultural identity. In Canada these notions of accumulate knowledge that can be transmuted from generation to generation are developing so that each appellation or sub-appellation is managing to produce a specific style of wine from vintage to vintage.

In Ontario there are pinot noir crus few would ague against the probability that in most vintages quality will be a guarantee. Crus like Lowrey Vineyard on the St. David’s Bench, top blocks in Prince Edward County, several vineyards up on the Beamsville Bench, Wismer-Foxcroft and many plots on the Twenty Mile Bench. In the Okanagan Valley there are many premier growing sites; East Kelowna, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Falls, Summerland, Lake Country, the Similkameen Valley and increasingly on Vancouver Island.

Producers in British Columbia may have more merlot planted than they can or want to have to deal with but in red grape terms, pinot noir is it. There are more single-vineyard, name-assigned, block-designate, terroir collection, (x) series and (Y) cuvées attributed to the grape than any other. Granted some passion projects are giving some love to gamay and cabernet franc but the attention doted upon pinot noir is unequaled and unprecedented. Proof is in the tabulated pudding, so to speak, with the final results at NWAC2018 showing what’s what.

There were 73 medals awarded to pinot noir, a staggering number that represents just less than half of the wines submitted and four per cent of all wines entered into the competition. Only red blends (93) and chardonnay (79) received more total medals but most impressive were the 28 Gold Medals in this category, plus 18 Silver and 27 Bronze. The naysayers who continue to doubt whether pinot noir is a viable signature grape in this country are not paying close enough attention to the signs, portents and in conclusion, results. Here are 30 tasting notes for pinot noir made in Ontario.

Vieni Estates Pinot Noir 2015, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario (550608, $16.95, WineAlign)

Vieni’s pinot noir shows off some pretty impressive fruit, certainly veering towards the sweet and dried fruit spectrum but hanging around with some good acidity, firm grip and proper 2015 structure. It’s more than a pleasant surprise and it’s only $16.95. Good fruit meets equally good acumen in a must try Vinemount Ridge buy. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted March 2018 vieniestates @VieniEstatesInc Vieni Estates Wine and Spirits

Château Des Charmes Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Niagara On-The-Lake, Ontario (454967, $16.95, WineAlign)

The warm sites can’t help but develop dark fruit and vintage variation seems to be in a current state of suspension. The string is alive with the ’16 pinot noir, always a matter of value for Ontario. Still just as ripe as 2015, perhaps not quite as charming but certainly generous. It holds back from cooking at a level of stovetop heat unnecessary to the execution of the dish. Gentle, resilient and restrained, far from a pressed or pressing matter and just ideal for weekdays and weekends alike. Pair this wine with everything but I recently discovered that long pasta noodles with prawns in a spicy garlic, chile and tomato sauce worked quite well, thank you very much. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted April 2018 chateaudescharmes @MBosc Château des Charmes

Château Des Charmes Pinot Noir 2015, VQA Niagara On-The-Lake, Ontario (454967, $16.95, WineAlign)

This remains one of the better values for pinot noir out of Ontario with generous thanks to some of the warmest growing sites in the province. It’s also worthy for what it does not try to do, which is too much. The Château des Charmes pinot noir is just what it needs to be from 2015; ripe, charming and generous. It shows lovely restraint and balance, finishing with some gentle spice after the reign of fruit. It’s also really easy to crush so cook up at least three courses to make it last. It will pair with just about everything. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted November 2017 and February 2018 chateaudescharmes @MBosc Château des Charmes

Coyote’s Run Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (53090, $19.95, WineAlign)

Two blocks, two soil types and two proximate meets apposite pieces of the Niagara Peninsula raise a pinot noir in get together fashion for a consistent estate style. The tonality is elevated like few other and the fruit on the nether side of fresh. It’s energy and vitality is a combination of acidity and dried or even scorched earth-derived savour. Tang and sapidity are not the result but smoulder and spice surely are. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted March 2018 coyotes run @coyotesrun Coyote’s Run Estate Winery

Flat Rock Cellars Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (1545, $20.95, WineAlign)

In true essential Flat Rock style this 2016 pinot noir deals in rusty, ropey, ripe and flattering red fruit with its always balancing note of tension. The vintage is certainly prettier, easier and friendlier than most so the fans should pile up and add to the overall success of Flat Rock representing Ontario pinot noir on the map. This is nothing but fine and enjoyable work from a true varietal leader. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018 flatrockcellars @Winemakersboots @FlatRockCellars

Kew Vineyards Pinot Noir 2014, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $23.95, WineAlign)

More high tines, dialled back a touch, lithe, again some effusive character, tart, so very tart, a whack of wound tight intent, dry tannins, so much tea. Cranberry, earthy, lots of tone and structure. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 @kewvineyards @kewvineyard

2027 Cellars Pinot Noir Edgerock Vineyard 2016, Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)

Edgerock is Twenty Mile Bench fruit with expected 2016 ripeness and just an edgy twitch like quick lightning strikes on that fruit. There is some chewiness to the fruit laced by acidity and some drying tannin that is a bit deferential for the vintage and for Peninsula pinot noir. Not sure that pinot noir can get much riper than this in Ontario and so the perfect storm of vineyard, vintage and execution is met. The nose is so very ripe to almost advanced, with strawberries macerating and flavours so well to far developed. Not as fleshy as some as a result but will soon begin to develop some nice secondary character. Good summer wine, for this summer and hopefully an indigenous one for the fall. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted February 2018 2027cellars @2027cellars 2027 Cellars

Meldville Wines Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $27.20, WineAlign)

Derek Barnett’s is a sweetly perfumed pinot noir, fully expressive of ripe 2016 fruit and with a tannic drying edge. It’s a bit lactic to be sure, seemingly argilo-calcareous in nature and really reminds me of some far away sangiovese or corvina grown on white limestone soils. Really unique, lithe and elegant for Barnett if also tangy, sweet and sour. Not sugar sweet but aromatically so. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018 meldvillewines @meldvillewines Meldville Wines

Thirty Bench Small Lot Pinot Noir 2015, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $28.95, WineAlign)

Bright and effusive, eye and olfactory opening, citrus, steeped herbal tea, with fruity accents. “All around the blooming heather,” purple fruit flavours, fiddle background and thoughts of rolling thyme hills. Good bass line, baritone underneath, full of structure, real structure. Time has had an effect. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018

The tones are elevated and the fruit is really ripe though the acidity is quite calm in this extreme small lot pinot noir. You can get a true sense of the culture and the micro-managed terroir that separates this from some less expensive and certainly more rustic Niagara cousins so the cost is quite understandable. The fruit is the thing, given all the attention and the credit. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018 thirtybench pellerwines @ThirtyBench @PellerVQA @ThirtyBench Andrew Peller(Andrew Peller Import) Emma Garner

Leaning Post Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Agent, $28.95, WineAlign)

Ilya Senchuk’s small lot (220 case) 2015 pinot noir is actually a new wine set to be released this spring. It’s a blend of fruit drawn from both McNally and Lowrey vineyards, two exceptional cru that have been the focus of previous Leaning Post single-vineyard pinot noir. The most notable difference here is how all the tension and vaporous tones melt away to create this fluid, fleecy and ductile wine. The fruit selection seems clearly developed to gain easier access with downsized structure or perhaps it just happened this way. It is here that the house style reads as a lithe Peninsula pinot noir manifesto with clarity and transparency to set up and introduce the estate’s next vintage, recently planted young vine pinot noir. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February 2018 leaningpostwine nicholaspearcewines @LeaningPostWine @Nicholaspearce_ Leaning Post Wines Nicholas Pearce

Redstone Pinot Noir Limestone Vineyard 2013, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)

The Redstone Vineyard pinot noir comes off of the ridge that is all Redstone estate fruit expect for the 40 acres riesling block (of 60 in total). There is a ferric gaminess to this pinot with its tension and dusty, tart rusticity. Intense in its litheness, like light and bright strawberry on steroids. Really lingers. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted November 2017 redstonewinery @RedstoneWines Redstone Winery

Domaine Queylus Pinot Noir Tradition 2015, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (392738, $29.95, WineAlign)

From 2015 comes a fully ripened, full advantage press taken and fleshy warm pinot noir on the dark cherry end of the fruit spectrum. The wood is fully supportive of that wealth of fruit and tension is really nowhere to be found. The tannins are sweet and also do little to distract from the fruit. What it manages to elevate in terms of energy and vitality is this lovely elegant tang from both soil and wood, short of spicy and in gentle drift. The pleasure is all now do enjoy this before the decade strikes midnight. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted February 2018 queylus @Queylus Domaine Queylus Winery

Trail Estate Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

The Peninsula ’16 pinot noir is a joint Wertsch and Wismer blend, six barrels Between the Lines and two Foxcroft. The goal is not fully in focus, even if it’s just too early to call. Niagara pinot noir from these parts is want to be rusty, red fruit volatile and so bright you gotta wear shades and this ’16’s profile reads from such a script. It’s so very different from the lemon-citronella note that County pinot often surveys. So what does Trail Estate have, at least in here? Lightness for one thing, ease of drinkability and sweet tannin. Wild ferment and no new oak got this here, plus some neutral, second and third fill. It’s got candied floral and cinnamon heart, is quite tangy but honestly quite delicate. Simple yes, quite OK and at times, volatile too. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted April 2018 trailestatewine mackbrisbois @TrailEstateWine @MackBrisbois Trail Estate Winery Mackenzie Brisbois

Pork Tenderloin and Flat-Iron Steak marinated in black raspberry lees grilled with black raspberry sauce.

Westcott Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate 2016, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

The Westcotts have to be so very pleased with the result of their 2015 estate pinot noir, a wine of great farming in loyal custodial work across an exceptional rolling terroir. This Vinemount Ridge locale is the perfect love-hate relationship builder but when sacrifices are met and zero corners are cut it will produce some very fine, albeit fortune abetting fruit. This ’15 interprets ripeness with an edge of tension by way of a gentle rusticity and mild barrel spice. A second taste weeks later also gives salumi, natural funk, cèpes, dusty balsamic earth and the angled torture or the ridge. It’s all there, wonderfully integrated and already hinting at a truffled secondary stage. Not yet mind you, but not so far away. Would it perhaps benefit from one less day or two of phenolic ripeness in exchange for half a point higher acidity? Perhaps but ultimately the vintage decides, as do the handlers who listen to the wind. A greater pinot noir vintage likely lies ahead and for this wine, further understanding. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February and March 2018 westcottvineyards @WestcottWines @westcottwines

Trail Estate Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

Hidden Bench Estate Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $31.95, WineAlign)

Really high-toned in which volatility may be in charge if checked by ballads of bright, currant-berry fruit. Cranberry, pomegranate, has got it all, but also a lovely earthy grounding. Rays of light on the mountain, “such a simple thing.” Has to be an example of a concentrated house style by a great pinot noir maker from great pinot noir terroir. Like a bench somewhere special where pinot can get through chains, “some how, some how.” Really tannic so all should be good and structure laid out cool. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 hiddenbench markanthonyon @HiddenBench @MarkAnthonyWine Hidden Bench Estate Winery Mark Anthony Wine & Spirits

Cornerstone Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $32.00, WineAlign)

Big and verging into oxidative, a raisin and fig note, almost appassimento. Could very well be or at least made in a ripe, concentrated and mimicking style. Glycerin, strawberry, leafy savour, jammy and quick to reveal itself. Immediate gratification in a really big pinot noir. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 cornerstonewine @cornerstonevino @cornerstonewinery

Flat Rock Cellars Pinot Noir Gravity 2014, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (1560, $34.95, WineAlign)

Gravity is the focus of Flat Rock’s pinot noir exploration and with a whole bunch addendum it changes gears in 2014. This is a very important vintage for Gravity, to leave behind and move forward into a new world. That it does with more ripeness, structure and less intimidating consternation than past vintages have shown and with a freshness also not before seen or tasted. The balance between ripe black cherry, linear and focused acidity, neo-classical structure, followed by an intense drive to please delivers the whole package. Well done on the first of two Gravity swan songs from outgoing winemaker Jay Johnstone. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted February 2018 flatrockcellars @Winemakersboots @FlatRockCellars

Closson Chase Pinot Noir K.J. Watson Vineyard 2015, VQA Niagara River, Ontario (Winery, $34.95, WineAlign)

From Kevin Watson’s Niagara River vineyard, a place that warms quickly and leads to very early harvests, in this case September 15th. Deals a pinot noir of whole clusters that when they come in smell like blueberry and clove but take little time to move out of that realm and into one occupied by cedar, mushroom and artificial strawberry candy. It’s a complex situation that requires opening several bottles over a few year period to really gain an evolutionary understanding of regional pinot noir, this particular Niagara fruit and Closson Chase winemaking in the hands of Keith Tyers. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted April 2018 clossonchasevineyardsClosson Chase @ClossonChase Closson Chase Vineyards

Tawse Pinot Noir Unfiltered Quarry Road Vineyard 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $34.95, WineAlign)

Unfiltered elevates and lifts Quarry Road fruit up to a forthright plateau where it generously gifts at its purest and most impulsive best. This is seriously juicy, sexy, fleshy and ripe pinot noir from the Vinemount Ridge, a windswept variegated set of rolling hills that plays hosts to the larger Quarry Road set of blocks. It is this gathering of fruit from here and there that allows winemaker Paul Pender to have a better representation of the appellation and ultimately a better balance. And so this ’16 is a wonderful example of the beautiful relationship between producer, appellation and vineyard. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted December 2017 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery @tawsewines

Stanners Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $35.00, WineAlign)

From County fruit, again in 2016 not so much a great quantity thing but for the median kind of vintage, not bad either. The fruit is exceptional, bright cherry effulgent and County radiant. Just a hint of meaty cure, salmagundi and analogously speaking, quite layered. Such a wine is poignant, with energy and drive, holding on to the past, but with a deeper understanding and thinking about the future. “When you talk about the past, what are we talking of?” In a family Stanners pinot noir we’re talking about moving from strength to strength and really the sky is the limit for what this wine can become. It’s a more complete and better structured song than before. If I feed Colin Stanners a War on Drugs lyric he’d sing “and I’m moving on a cast, shadows on my seam, I keep moving to changes, yeah, ooh.” His ’16 pinot noir is just a child right now and like the song, it will gain flesh in a year’s time, be timeless, then last a very long time. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted April 2018 stannerswines @StannersWines Stanners Vineyard

Thirty Bench Pinot Noir Small Lot 2015, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (461566, $35.20, WineAlign)

The tones are elevated and the fruit is really ripe though the acidity is quite calm in this extreme small lot pinot noir. You can get a true sense of the culture and the micro-managed terroir that separates this from some less expensive and certainly more rustic Niagara cousins so the cost is quite understandable. The fruit is the thing, given all the attention and the credit. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018 thirty bench pellerwines @ThirtyBench @PellerVQA Thirty Bench Wine Makers Peller Estates Winery & Restaurant

Tawse Pinot Noir Quarry Road Vineyard 2016, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario (Winery, $35.95, WineAlign)

It would not be a Paul Pender raised pinot noir without the triple threat of dustiness, meatiness and tension all working in a circle of Niagara Bench lands love. In Quarry Road’s case it is a very specific Vinemount Ridge condition, from a place of wind, rolling hills and variegated clay and limestone soils that deal directly with and into these vines. They are at seven years of age by this point, just long enough to speak the truth and turn this pinot noir into a wiser and more experienced wine. The fruit is remarkably delicate when you consider the grip and purpose exercised by the tannin and yet it’s all coming together nicely. I for one am really looking forward to what eight and nine years of age will mean for 2015 and 2016. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted November 2017 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery @tawsewines

Rosehall Run Pinot Noir JCR Rosehall Vineyard 2016, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Agent, $39.00, WineAlign)

Though statements of monadical hyperbole should very much be avoided, a taste of Dan Sullivan’s ’16 JCR makes one think it has all come to this. The glycerin fruit endowed with so much natural sweetness and magnificently low alcohol feels like an impossibility. In a way it is but it’s also a County reality. This may just be the least astringent PEC pinot noir ever produced and at the same time seems entirely void of tension. Yet there is structure and cohesion, two functors so very necessary to see it drink well for 10 years, with great charm and further curiosity for five more after that. Drink 2018-2028. Last tasted July 2018

Bright, red raspberry, light and effusive with a simple, liquid chalky feel. Really drinkable. The tart is part of a delight in composition. A good chew. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 Rosehall_run profilewinegroup @Rosehall_Run @ProfileWineGrp Rosehall Run Vineyards Profile Wine Group

Meritorious match alert @leaningpostwine #lowreyvineyard pinot noir with #goulash and #spaetzle

Leaning Post Pinot Noir Lowrey Vineyard 2014, St. David’s Bench, Ontario (Agent, $42.00, WineAlign)

It was a very good pinot noir vintage across the peninsula board and so not necessarily one to separate with megaphone announcement the Grand-ish Cru St. David’s Bench Lowrey Vineyard from the lower flats and the upper benches. Even though many a winemaker were opting for some percentage of whole cluster fermentation the vintage combined with this block was not such an animal. What Lowrey, Leaning Post and the vintage were meant for was a module that included grapes hand-picked, hand-sorted, de-stemmed, partially crushed and soaked on skins prior to fermentation. Three days later a spontaneous fermentation in small open-top fermenters would be followed by a transfer to French oak barrels (35 percent new, 30 one-year-old and 35 older) for 15 months. The result is another exemplar of pinot noir lithe excellence in this, the final chapter ahead of Ilya Senchuk’s newly planted pinot noir story ready to unfold out of the home (Winona) vineyard. The 2014 Lowrey is a wine that elevates a goulash game (which I can attest to because of an out of mind and body experience), but it’s also magically understated and subtly complex. It’s almost unmovable, resistant to early development all the while a joy to drink. Open it, store it, age it, wait on it. It’s all good. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted March 2018 leaningpostwine nicholaspearcewines @LeaningPostWine @Nicholaspearce_ Leaning Post Wines Nicholas Pearce

Tawse Pinot Noir Laidlaw Vineyard 2012, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario (Winery, $44.95, WineAlign)

Juicy straight up, red cherries in their ripest state, a bit dusty and lifted. Tart, dry, herbal, savoury, so interesting. Really tannic and remains to be seen if this structure will deem that fruit to drift into some elegance. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery @tawsewines

The Farm White Label (Mason Vineyard) Pinot Noir 2015, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $50.00, WineAlign)

A high-toned, effusively bright and perhaps edging into volatile pinot noir. Flavours are rusty deep, quite orange-zest scraped and scented, like Irancy. If it’s really that simple then there may not be much tension later on, so think about pairing its coolness now. Lean and verdant with shading into crimson is a very specific beneath bench Niagara speciality, replete with firm if tender emotions. This example is for the here and now. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 thefarmwines

Tawse Pinot Noir Cherry Avenue 2013, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $59.95, WineAlign)

The Tawse Cherry Avenue ’13 is hotter than July, classic soul Twenty Mile Bench pinot noir that has hit its stride because of solid winemaking, varietal-musicianship and über professional production. Five years forward is the right time to take in the firm and founded cherry fruit, aged in oak for 18 months in 40 per cent new French oak. Filled with feeling and wonder, Cherry avoids the temptations of disco and new wave to stay focused on the old world prize and can’t help but “put me in the right direction, with tender love and affection.” It’s a wine from an estate holding the Midas touch and from a time when it could be argued it was pausing at the crossroads of an illustrious career, looking in all four directions. The pinot noir exploration has fortunately continued, justified and vindicated by such a retrospective look. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted May 2018 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery @tawsewines

Karlo Estates Pinot Noir Estate Grown Wild Ferment 2016, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $65.00, WineAlign)

As with the Estate chardonnay the elévage from winemaker Derek Barnett for the second Karlo home-front pinot noir is wild ferment, barrel ferment and barrel aging. Oh if this isn’t so Prince Edward County; wild, wooly, bright and engaging, reeking of red cherry and plum. It’s also quite cedar savoury but also salumi-cured, naturally and necessarily so. The accrual is complex and driven by a devoted purpose to make something small really effin’ matters. This is fine-grained pinot noir with a sense of condiment, a relish that supports the fruit to make it tangy, juicy and real. And it’s been done without any excessive intervention or wasted notes played. Terrific origins, sense of place and quality. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted February 2018 karloestateswinery @KarloEstates Karlo Estates

Good to Go!

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WineAlign

Tasting Ontario Part Five: Varietal Whites and Appellative Blends

Jul25

There were 33 medals handed out to White Blends at the 2018 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada; seven Golds, 17 Silvers and nine Bronze. Quietly, stealthily and without great fanfare the strength of the white blend category has taken NWAC18 by storm. The quality of the wines entered has never been higher, visibly and notably spread across the country. The time has come to establish party lines, to create truly parochial white appellative blends under appropriately chosen names. Nova Scotia has long been there with their apt-scripted Tidal Bay. Ontario and British Columbia should heed the economic and marketing success enjoyed by their maritime cousins and join the appellative party.

The French regions of Bordeaux and the Rhône Valley are clearly the benchmarks and the inspiration for Canadian-made emulative examples, first from a sauvignon blanc-sémillon connection and then with blends that make use of marsanne, roussanne and viognier. A testament to expatriate excellence is noted in the seven overall Gold Medals in this year’s judging and no less than six others finishing at high Silver status on the cusp of Gold. I for one awarded five 90-plus scores to wines I clearly deemed worthy of such accolade and esteem.

It is interesting to note that White Blends centred by sauvignon blanc in the Okanagan Valley rely on much higher percentages of sémillon than their counterparts in Ontario. The simplest explanation tells us that the grape variety has trouble surviving harsh Ontario winters, especially when we look back at 2015 and 2016 when much of the province’s vines were killed by sub-25 degree temperatures. But it’s more than that. In B.C. sauvignon blanc can get pretty ripe, tropical and zaftig so it is sémillon that helps to mitigate, temper, inject a flinty-smoky-mineral streak and ultimately bring balance to the relationship.

There was a time not too long ago when after the best juice was chosen for varietal wines producers then needed to find a way to use up the dregs of their white ferments. White blends came about out of economic necessity, but like Rosé production in this country so many are now produced with a purpose. As a farmer, if you know specific blocks of sauvignon blanc are destined to join with other plots of sémillon you’re going to prune, pluck, green harvest and ultimately pick in very specific ways. Appellative blends have become a year round occupation. That much is clear.

Related – Tasting Ontario Part Four: Gamay

The top scorers at this year’s Nationals have been awarded to seriously and thoughtfully crafted wines. The winners are not entry-level, introductory products at the lower or lowest common denominational levels. They are not simple aromatic blends of vague fruit and sweet impression, in fact many are graced by beneficial and forward thinking structure. The future certainly looks white blend bright. Here are 36 recently tasted Ontario varietal whites and appellative white blends.

Summer spread

Sprucewood Shores Pinot Grigio 2017, VQA Lake Erie North Shore, Ontario (426577, $14.95, WineAlign)

Just a hint of contact it would seem, leading to a not so obvious result in platinum gold hue but more so into the floral nature of its aromatics. Some sweet melon and pear fruit with good concentration and equal if necessary acidity. Can certainly drink a glass of this. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 sprucewoodshores @SprucewoodWine @SprucewoodShores

Château Des Charmes Aligoté 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (296848, $15.95, WineAlign)

The Château des Charmes self-proclaimed “pinot grigio” alternative was never more truthfully written than in reference to this 2017 aligoté. Screwy wet summer merging into crazy hot autumn weather made for one of the latest harvest dates in the estate on the York Road in St. Davids storied history. The rare Niagara Peninsula varietal vines are planted primarily at St. David’s Bench and Paul Bosc Estate vineyards but more are going in, surely out of testimony to the sales of this more than apropos local grape. Surely no one knows aligoté like the Bosc family and yet even they could not have seen this peachy, melony, fleshy and ripe one coming. It’s like a hyperbole of Val do Salnés in Rias Baixas albariño, crisp, aromatic and marched along by natural acidity. It seems sweet but trust me it’s not. It’s the long-hung, fully phenolic fruit and higher pH talking. This is not your average Bourgogne aligoté, searing, taut and intense. It’s a departure for the house but if it could always be made this way I think they would gladly go for the style. Waxy finish too, bringing an added note of complexity. Very cool. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted July 2018 chateaudescharmes @MBosc Château des Charmes

Nyarai Cellars Pinot Gris 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $20.95, WineAlign)

This is quite a striking, rich, creamy and yogurt-leesy, a.k.a. Loire chenin blanc, fixedly in the guise of pinot gris. More skin contact then some plus so much yeasty texture combine to make for the fullest of an Ontario gris expression. This is the sort of feeling that normally comes from multi-varietal, dry white appellative Niagara blends but in a solo pinot gris it’s nothing short of remarkable. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018 #nyaraicellars @NyaraiCellars Nyarai Cellars

Tawse Winery Pinot Gris Redfoot Vineyard 2017, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)

From out of the dense Lincoln Lakeshore clay comes this flush and luxurious pinot gris, literally rolling in it. It makes for a highly aromatic take on the grape, all in for gris and not to be confused with lighter, less meaningful grigio. The Redfoot Vineyard is clearly earmarked for such a purposed way of interpretation and though the clays of the double L sub-appellation are best with syrah and cabernet franc there can’t be any reason not to allot 10-15 per cent of acreage to white plantings. In the hands of Paul Pender it seems obvious that pinot gris is the one. This dry take is just about perfectly right, with citrus and wet stone hanging around the fruit. Leaner might be more suitable but ultimately it’s balance that is most important for this rich fruit raised by the pottery soil. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted June 2018 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery @tawsewines

G.Marquis Sauvignon Blanc The Red Line 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $13.95, WineAlign)

Big love, big fruit, all about texture and juicy fruit on the palate but with some fine, wound acidity. Excellent. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 g.marquisvineyards @GMarquisWines @G.MarquisVineyards

North 42 Degrees Estate Winery Sauvignon Blanc North 43 2017, VQA Niagara Lakeshore, Ontario (547836, $14.95, WineAlign)

Quite the character this North 43/North 42 degrees sauvignon blanc, fruit amassed on the nose, from canteloupe to underripe passion fruit with a wet, coppery alloy build that translates across latitudinal lines onto the palate. The metallic flavours are undercut by an herbal tonic with a spoonful of tinned fruit cup. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted April 2018 north42wines @StratusWines North 42 Degrees Estate Winery & Bistro 42 @north42degrees

Château Des Charmes Sauvignon Blanc 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (296848, $15.95, WineAlign)

Interesting take, quite a mineral salt wiring through the green apple fruit, here some feel of barrel but not the malo-creamy effect created. Goes quite juicy and crunchy without resorting to tart. A bit more acid intensity would have sealed the deal. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 chateaudescharmes @MBosc Château des Charmes

Lakeview Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (483958, $17.95, WineAlign)

An interesting sauvignon blanc for the Peninsula because the pungency is quite Marlborough but the relaxed state and relative weight is all Niagara. Very easy drinking as far as SB is concerned with notable extraction and a green streak, herbal mostly, running through. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted April 2018 lakeviewwineco @LakeviewWineCo @LakeviewWineCo

Kacaba Susan’s Sauvignon Blanc 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $17.95, WineAlign)

Quietude in such a lovely way, mineral meets orange blossom, soft and amenable through the middle, quiet and mellow, fades off slowly, into the sauvignon blanc sunset. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 kacabavineyards @KacabaVineyards Kacaba Vineyards and Winery

Stratus Wildass Sauvignon Blanc 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (376814, $18.95, WineAlign)

t’s more Stratus than sauvignon blanc, even by regional varietal standards, whatever that is, due to the ripe flavours and long-developed phenolic ripeness. Ultimately it is the quotient of a cup of fruit cocktail and an energy level that serves to encourage a sitting back with a glass in meditative state more than a mind stimulated to invigorate. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted April 2018 stratuswines @StratusWines @StratusWines

Organized Crime Sauvignon Blanc 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (396275, $18.95, WineAlign)

Sometimes sauvignon blanc goes tropical and green at the same time, or at least it is the two poles by picked grapes that combine for such a layering. Citrus and bitters mix into the two sides and all the components walk along, separate and alone together, without making any real contact. Maybe a year will tie the room but the acidity is low so waiting is a counterintuitive idea. Drink 2018. Tasted April 2018 organizedcrimewinery Organized Crime Winery

Henry Of Pelham Fumé Sauvignon Blanc 2016, VQA Short Hills Bench, Ontario (444268, $19.95, WineAlign)

With a wink and a nod to Mondavi this lays the lumber in smoulder upon sauvignon blanc with just a wisp, like cold smoking salmon so that it breathes cool and mentholated, without char and a real smoky feeling. The fruit is light and even a bit precious, the weight quite lithe and the overall notation one of gentle demure. You have to appreciate the deft, slight of winemaking hand approach. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018 henryofpelham @HenryofPelham Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery

Meldville Wines Sauvignon Blanc 2016, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario (Winery, $20.20, WineAlign)

Derek Barnett’s sauvignon blanc may be the fleshiest of the Ontario lot, ripe, tropical and impressively coaxed from off the vine. The phenolic aggregate is a 2016 triumph even while it dances a funky step into botrytis-like rhythms. Notes here and there of herbs and tonics add to the mystique and the rapport. So bloody interesting, singular and meditative for the grape. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February 2018 meldvillewines @meldvillewines Meldville Wines

Peller Estates Private Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $20.20, WineAlign)

Massively fruit aromatic sauvignon blanc, all gathered in a tin cup found in the exotics isle. Juicy melon meets passion fruit and so much more in between, then with a side of metalloid. Raps so commercially viable and succesful it hurts my ears and my eyes. “Any awards show or party I’ll get fly for it, I know that it’s coming I just hope I’m alive for it…I just wanna be, I just wanna be.” Remarkable success for sauvignon blanc, in Ontario. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 pellerwines @PellerVQA @PellerEstates

Redstone Sauvignon Blanc Limestone Vineyard 2016, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $23.15, WineAlign)

There isn’t a ton of sauvignon blanc grown up on the Limestone Ridge but as a top level Twenty Mile Bench riesling terroir it changes the varietal course with considerable concern. As far as it goes this is quite an alloy challenged, mineralized expression, not quite flinty but certainly feeling like a mouthful of richly compressed, calcareous stones. The fruit is so anti-tropical it’s almost reductive and most certainly draws its tang from the soil. Such a curious sauvignon blanc with almost no frame of reference, save for a moment to consider Sancerre, but yet another successful effort from winemaker Rene Van Ede. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February 2018 redstonewinery @RedstoneWines Redstone Winery

Traynor Sauvignon Blanc 2016, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)

Reductive, not flinty or smoky, but reductive. This carries the gooseberry-passion fruit suitcase of fruit. I like the fruit-acid balance and the way it delivers semblances of tart and tangy. Really nicely judged wine. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 traynorvineyard @TraynorVineyard @traynorfamilyvineyard

Hidden Bench Fumé Blanc Rosomel Vineyard 2016, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (68825, $29.95, WineAlign)

The vineyard gains another year, the farming and winemaking too and so fumé blanc out of Rosomel gets better, as things often do with age and wisdom. ’Twas a great year for growing grapes on this amphitheatre of a vineyard block up on the Bench and no love lost for sauvignon blanc neither. There is tension, wound intensity and fierce competitiveness in the ’16, perhaps the most Sancerre and least Pouilly-Fumé it has ever been and so the declaration leans to saying it is “a mineral year.” Nothing against the fruit because the personality cult of lean, crisp and crunchy is in full order, though each sip after sip speaks in those Sancerre or Chablis by way of Saint Bris terms. Stellar, as always, in continuance, moving towards the best it can be. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted May 2018 hidden bench markanthonyon @HiddenBench @MarkAnthonyWine Hidden Bench Estate Winery Mark Anthony Wine & Spirits

Trius Showcase Clean Slate Sauvignon Blanc Wild Ferment 2016, Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario (Winery, $31.95, WineAlign)

Quite flinty, barrel-aged sauvignon blanc, buttery nearly, banana and cantaloupe. So much fruit along with the toasty-creamy barrel. Almost perfectly in balance but it’s wildness and sweet-yeasty lees cumulative turns to a bit of caramel and only accentuates the vanilla. A really cool take on the grape with exceptionally developed flavours. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 triuswines @TriusWines @TriusWines

Not all screw cap closures are created equal

Two Sisters Sauvignon Blanc 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $34.00, WineAlign)

Excessive tightness of screw caps does not allow any kept reduction to blow off so winemaker Adam Pearce closed here with a screw cap threading just a bit less rigid. A fine detail but an important one and the only wine to receive this attention, so just a minute amount of oxygen transfer can occur. Just released 11 days ago. The big change is now a fruit vineyard blend that is 70 per cent Four Mile Creek and (30) Twenty Mile Bench. From a cool, wet and rainy season so really it’s all about the grower in a vintage where the varietal struggled with mould and mildew. Eight per cent barrel ferment was used to augment the leanness, for body and peace of mind. A bit reductive and tight with good acid structure to the peach-yellow-plum-kumquat fruit. Good linger. Delicious. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted July 2018 twosisters_vineyards @TwoSisters_wine Two Siste rs Vineyards

Fielding Estate Gewürztraminer 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (146753, $19.95, WineAlign)

Fielding’s pays respect to how gewürztraminer has to be made in Ontario with a fleshy, off-dry style though making sure to counterbalance with a fine dose of acidity. From dosage to dose it dances the do-si-so with high quality peach-litchi fruit and grapefruit acidity. If you’re in need of a white to compliment some high-octane, multi-seasoned and possibly spicy food, Fielding’s is textbook and will do the work. It’s a gewürztraminer you can trust. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted January 2018 fielding winery richiewine @FieldingWinery @RichieWine Fielding Estate Winery

Redstone Gewürztraminer 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $21.95, WineAlign)

A sip sends a warm shiver through from a simple off-dry gewüztraminer attack more flat than round earth, trying hard to stay on the dry though the bitters and creamy fruit deliver more sweetness than what might have been intended. Some skin contact deals peach skin and those bitters while the acidity quietly abides. It’s nearly, almost and close to cloying by honey mixed in concentrate with a note of alkali. Everything lingers. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted October 2017 redstonewinery @RedstoneWines Redstone Winery

@mackbrisbois brought the past, the present and the future @trailestatewine to taste. Thanks Mack! Indeed, to my pleasure and my education.

Trail Estate Gewürztraminer 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

Few winemakers in Ontario are as curious, aloof and serious about making gewürztraminer like this,”looking through that window, into the delicate place.” The changing of mind is so important during the process because it shows an understanding of both mistake and possibility. Mackenzie Brisbois takes a spoon of Niagara Lakeview fruit (Glen Elgin/Wismer farmed), puts it through a whole cluster press, a fermentation in old oak and then wait a minute. An about face transfer to stainless steel tank (just after a few days) because it is too reductive, but then sends it back to old wood where it remains for about nine months. Bottles back in September of 2017. The result is a gewürz that finishes dry (under 3 g/L) so delicate for a customer’s palate, with lots of lemon and lime but never searing, perfect for cold smoked or tataki prepared salmon. Bitter pith note but it dissipates, as does the acidity so keep in mind this is floral and fine. “The delicate place. The questions it raise. The delicate place yeah.” Enjoy it now and gimme fiction. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted April 2018 trailestatewine mackbrisbois @TrailEstateWine @MackBrisbois Trail Estate Winery Mackenzie Brisbois

Trail Estate Skin Contact Gewürztraminer 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $40.00, WineAlign)

The 2016 gewürztraminer fruit is from the Werscht’s (Between the Lines) Niagara farm, super ripe at 24 brix and aromatics on steroids. It clocks in at a healthy 13.5 alcohol, after 13 days on skins and beyond. Close your eyes and the warm pungency will simulate a sensory experience, like standing inside the butterfly conservatory, with all the dessicating fruit, secretions and balmy, humid aromas wafting around. Or maybe even more exotic, like walking past stalls in a south asian market, with fruits cut open so you can see what they are, mangoseteen, marquesa, jackfruit and durian. There is great fun to be had in acidity and spice. Lush, floral and nicely funky. By now an understanding and a level of maturity to think on is as a classic Brisbois white. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted April 2018 trailestatewine mackbrisbois @TrailEstateWine @MackBrisbois Trail Estate Winery Mackenzie Brisbois

Malivoire Viognier Stouck Vineyard 2016, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario (Agent, $24.25, WineAlign)

From vines planted in 2010 the magic of excitable youth with just a hint of maturity has brought this block of the terrific Lincoln Lakeshore vineyard to this vintage. Warmth and ultimately ripeness have released the aromatic blessedness of viognier, which along with an unpurposed number of residual sugar will allow this to gain some further complexity with age. May just be the most varietal viognier ever produced out of Niagara but it’s obviousness as a regional example can’t be denied. It exudes confidence without even trying, is naturally oily and grippy because its acidity matches the high notes. It’s a touch boozy at 13.5 alcohol, at times metallic and at others, tropical, because that’s what viognier wants to be. It’s just a terrific effort from winemakers Shiraz Mottiar and Dan Stouck. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted February 2018 malivoire noble_estates @MalivoireWine @Noble_Estates Malivoire Wine Noble Estates Wine & Spirits

Lakeview Cellars Viognier 2015, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)

Pretty tart stuff from the get go, full of tangerine and beautifully dry. Gently pressed and kept in spirit high through the use of stainless steel tanks. Quite floral, not potpourri mind you but a fresh blossoming breath of a bouquet. Simple viognier, effectively executed and perfectly correct. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted February 2018 lakeviewwineco @LakeviewWineCo @LakeviewWineCo

Redstone Viognier Redfoot Vineyard 2016, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario (Winery, $28.95, WineAlign)

The barrel is a big time influence here, offering a combination of creamy vanilla and yet some reduction. There must be some lush viognier fruit back there somewhere but the wood is really in control. Subtle hints of varietal florals, far eastern fruit and spice linger behind the veil. Tasted blind it is the creamy texture and vanilla that makes cause for it to be considered so much like California chardonnay. Good acidity however rescues and thinks about the future. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted twice, June 2018 and then blind at NWAC18, June 2018 redstonewinery @RedstoneWines Redstone Winery

Calamus Estate Winery White Night 2014, VQA Ontario (484014, $13.95, WineAlign)

A very good use of vidal (85 per cent) gets an apple jolt from chardonnay in this very peach and grapefruit oriented white. It’s like fruit cocktail in a glass but drier than off-dry and quite savoury. Stage right spicy too, like clove and capsicum, in a way akin to Kiwi sauvignon blanc but in the end it’s white appellative blend in hybrid dominance, running all the way. Drink 2017-2018. Tasted January 2017 #calamuswinery @calamuswinery Calamus Estate Winery

Featherstone Four Feathers 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (341586, $14.95, WineAlign)

Varietal birds of four feathers (riesling, chardonnay, gewürztraminer and sauvignon blanc) flock together for a wild ride in aromatics, texture, tang and acidity. Here a notable waxiness from the gewürztraminer does oily, glück potpourri with outgoing nature and a sweet meets sour set of flavours. Runs from orchard fruit with bite into the tropical and then some bitters. Nothing simple and quite stirred. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted April 2018 #featherstonewinery @featherstonewne Featherstone Estate Winery

13th Street White Palette 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (207340, $15.95, WineAlign)

White Palette is at the top of its hyperbole game in 2016 with a light’s glare flooding a room of high aromatic and flavour intensity. Glade, polish, wax and major citrus all max factor the scents and smells. Lemon and caramel well through the palate and funky emissions deal in Peninsula clay with obvious earth. It’s a case of the curious and not fully expected in 2016. Worth a look nevertheless, with fresh seafood off the coals. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted May 2018 13thstreetwinery @13thStreetWines 13th Street Winery

Rockway Vineyards Chardonnay/Riesling 2015, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (545905, $16.95, WineAlign)

The varietal get together is both convenient and seamless, in delivery of a cool climate nose and a ripeness to imagine a warmer climate palate. It’s layering is one stacked by alternating textures and walks straight ahead, simple and for the sake of nothing, but for to enjoy. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted April 2018 rockwayvineyards @RockwayVineyard Rockway Vineyards

The Hare Wine Company Crown Land White 2016, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $18.95, WineAlign)

The blend of 60 per cent gewürztraminer and (40) riesling is a lovely mix of lemon, apricot and mild barrel notes. It’s a pithy affair, mildly battered and of a soft demeanour. Fresh with fruit skin scents, a passion fruit tang and acidity that’s pretty darn close to spot on. Chewy texture, finishing strong and long. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018 theharewineco @TheHareWineCo The Hare Wine Co.

Kew Vineyard Estate Marsanne 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $18.95, WineAlign)

The dominant marsanne (90 per cent) is joined seamlessly by viognier in a white blend rich with barrel notes, nutty and toasty. Perhaps a touch less interesting on the palate but it’s welling with presence and persistence. Metallic and effective, with great finishing bitters. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 kewvineyards @kewvineyards @kewvineyard

Tasting at Pearl Morissette, July 2017

Pearl Morissette Cuvée Blu 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)

Cuvée Blu is an appellative blend like no other, amphora fermented, 100 per cent whole cluster chardonnay, with pinot gris, riesling and sauvignon blanc. The group spent three and a half (no, not a typo) months on skins, pressed and aged in foudres. I taste this and self-reflected that I would need to taste this once a day for two weeks to wrap brain, heart and imagination around its mythology. I’d also need to understand how it pushed further then just about anything and to see what would happpen, over and over, again and again, each time anew. You can drink this immediately or anytime over the next six years. What’s the difference? How can you know what to do? Self-described by the PM team as “a chameleon charmer and a poem built from the taste of colours.” Memories of a 2017 summer recall the whimsy of hues. “Yellow, orange,” smiled Svetlana Atcheva, “it might as well be blue!” Drink 2018-2024. Tasted July 2017 pearlmorissette @PearlMorissette Pearl Morissette

Southbrook Vidal Skin Fermented White 2016, Small Lot Natural Wine, VQA Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)

The first time I tasted this blind (at Terroir Symposium) I noted it to be “vidal-like,” a touch oxidative, of this elegant paste or salve, with notes of green plum and just a touch of grapefruit. The second pass confirms it to be a fine vidal orange wine, with more texture than should or would be expected. It delivers lemon and tannin, plus a calculated layering of ample and enough acidity to carry it along. A fine example. Really mouth coating and so tannic. Takes what was learned from 2014 and 2015 experiments and with VQA category approval in its back pocket, begins the true journey forward. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC17, June 2017 and February 2018 southbrookvineyards thelivingvine @SouthbrookWine @TheLivingVine Southbrook Vineyards The Living Vine inc.

Stratus Vineyards Stratus White 2014, VQA Niagara Lakeshore, Ontario (660704, $38.20, WineAlign)

White assemblage under the Stratus label is not like spinning a single record, it’s like Rock ‘n Roll radio. Opening a bottle brings great excitement and anticipation, with a sense of wonder. What songs am I going to hear or more to the point, which grape varieties am I going to taste, in which percentages and in what order? In 2014 it’s a medley of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, viognier, sémillon and gewürztraminer. The blend spent 21 months in (15 per cent) new oak. The fruits are varied and each one (or mélange of several) represented a hit in their own right. Tutti frutti, orange blossom special, little green apples, the lemon song, kiwi, peach, tangerine and forbidden fruit. In the end I heard it through the grapevine, by way of a conduit provided by great and necessary acidity. A top quality Stratus White, worthy of repeat plays. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted twice, May and June 2018 stratuswines @StratusWines @StratusWines

Hidden Bench Nuit Blanche Rosomel Vineyard 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $40.00, WineAlign)

It’s primarily sauvignon blanc (94 per cent) but don’t discount the effect created by sémillon. This is a really lovely barrel fermented stroll through a fresh morning glade, with ripe fruit everywhere and a perfectly pointed and lifted flinty nose. A bit reductive and fresh, as it should and absolutely must be, with hints of vanilla and caramel. Quite ambitious and serious with a focus and a precision that speaks to the acumen of a specific cru that in the end, instructs for sauvignon blanc meets sémillon education. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 hiddenbench markanthonyon @HiddenBench @MarkAnthonyWine Hidden Bench Estate Winery Mark Anthony Wine & Spirits

Good to Go!

Godello

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WineAlign

Tasting Ontario Part Four: Gamay

Jul19

g’day and welcome to #NWAC18 day four ~ #playoffs #playoffbeard #upthegame

#GoGamayGo is the cry, a hashtag extraordinaire created by the one, the only Janet Dorozynski, JDo to everyone at WineAlign. I could expound upon and extoll the virtues of Canada’s great bright red varietal light but what might I be able to say that hasn’t already been sung by Treve Ring? Head over to WineAlign for a look at Treve’s succinct and exacted Gamay dissertation and the results of the Gamay flights/Medal winners at this year’s National Wine Awards of Canada.

In the spirit of the winners, competitors and Ontario growers who champion this most important and essential grape, here are 12 recently tasted local examples, including five tasted blind at NWAC18.

Adamo Gamay Noir Unoaked Huebel Grape Estates 2017, Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $17.25, WineAlign)

A bit muted and sleepy-musty but opens up into a rich and tangy, deep-fruited wine with zip and zest on the palate. Would like to know the fruit source. Means so well… so perhaps in a few months time it will shed a layer of lift and become something approaching the gamay ethereal. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 adamoestatewinery @AdamoEstateWine @adamoestatewinery

Malivoire Gamay 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (591313, $17.95, WineAlign)

Straight up juicy gamay, of blessed red cherries, tart, crunchy and if nothing more, it really doesn’t matter. This is exactly what you want from the grape. Fresh and bright, so bloody drinkable. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 malivoire noble_estates @MalivoireWine @Noble_Estates Malivoire Wine Noble Estates Wine & Spirits

Malivoire Gamay 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (591313, $17.95, WineAlign)

In every ostensible way the rule of gamay goings are perpetuated on and on from Malivoire’s entry level effort in 2016. The fruit is full to welling over the pressed edge, the acidity sharp and contrastive and the sense of place firmly etched in your face. This is Niagara gamay though I find it possessing a position one rung down on the bright and lifted ladder. It’s nothing if not a parochially produced, exemplary pleasure to drink. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018 malivoire noble_estates @MalivoireWine @Noble_Estates Malivoire Wine Noble Estates Wine & Spirits

Peller Estates Private Reserve Gamay Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $18.95, WineAlign)

Savoury and reductive gamay, turns a varietal phrase as it should with fruit and brass in pocket. Juicy and Ontario intense. Delicious stuff, full of fruit in and out complexities, crunchy and beefy layering. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 pellerwines @PellerVQA @PellerEstates

Château Des Charmes Gamay Noir Droit St. David’s Bench Vineyard 2016, VQA St. David’s Bench, Ontario (346742, $18.95, WineAlign)

Unusually reductive for the always charming CdC gamay a little bit of agitation will go along way to revealing that great gamay smile. Still it’s a game you need to play because this warm and layered 2016 is locked tight, ante-fresh and yet reeling from the air outside. The palate is deeply forged with ferric, hematic and Cru-Bojo meets nebbiolo tarry structure. The greatest of gamay tannins are sold into capture around this fruit like grains of chains surrounding un-popped plum and wild berry bubbles. While admittedly a bit heavy for gamay just wait for this to burst and give away what it’s got hidden away. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted December 2017 chateaudescharmes @MBosc Château des Charmes

Malivoire Gamay Small Lot 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Agent, $19.95, WineAlign)

Malivoire’s most important and benchmark Ontario Rosé is one of the first to the table from the 2017 vintage and why not because its quick soak and lightness of being takes no time at all to get ready. This is the antithetical beauty of Rosé and how it must be approached for best results. Malivoire does not take a step forward from the most perfect ’15 and ’16 wines but there is more fruit in this ’17. You can actually nose and taste strawberry plus a hint of tart raspberry. This will appeal to more of the general Rosé loving populace without any compromise for the provincial, provençal geeks everywhere else. It’s ostensibly a better wine in 2017 because it will attract that growing audience without having made any concessions or dis to authenticity. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February 2018 malivoire noble_estates @MalivoireWine @Noble_Estates Malivoire Wine Noble Estates Wine & Spirits

13th Street Gamay Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (177824, $19.95, WineAlign)

Here is what 13th Street does best in bring it with honesty style from their wide ranging stable of wines. The essence of Peninsula gamay is captured and with dusty, arid help from the dehydrated vintage. The fruit is ripe, dark and tangy, amalgamating blueberry, mulberry and black purple currants in just the right amount of sapid ways. This is the clean and clear gamay from 13th Street and winemaker J.P. Colas. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted October 2017 and February 2018 13thstreetwinery @13thStreetWines 13th Street Winery

Southbrook Gamay Triomphe Laundry Vineyard 2016, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario (Winery, $21.75, WineAlign)

Southbrook’s take on Escarpment gamay is more floral than savoury, heightened in timbre and lifted with a bit of awe, like flipping a coin,”heads for her, tails for me.” Not that such a sweetly scented and easily understood wine should invoke Dickens or any other literary distraction but life does seem to slow down with this in hand. It celebrates what gamay can be in Ontario; lithe, fresh, crystalline and balanced. For a brief respite from “the great crises of our laborious human lives,” try a glass of this effortless and inspiring gamay, to be “settled by the idle inspiration of a moment.” Alluring juice from Heather Laundry’s organic Vinemount Ridge vineyard. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted January 2018 southbrookvineyards thelivingvine @SouthbrookWine @TheLivingVine Southbrook Vineyards The Living Vine inc.

13th Street Gamay Whitty Vineyard 2016, VQA Creek Shores, Ontario (Winery, $23.95, WineAlign)

Pressed, with roll-up dried and leathery deep cherry. Also savoury, indelibly caked by a clay funk and then at the finish just a bit of astringency. Cru-esque to be sure but right now a bit nervy and bitter. Let it settle, amalgamate, stretch its gamay legs and ultimately deliver some much solicited and due pleasure. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 13thstreetwinery @13thStreetWines 13th Street Winery

Leaning Post Gamay Wismer Armbrust Vineyard 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Agent, $28.95, WineAlign)

Something has really changed. Call it wisdom, call it experience, call it Wismer but gamay by Leaning Post has morphed and moved into a new place. Just as cured salumi meaty as before and reeking, part fresh flower bouquet and part bouquet garni. Still firm, grippy even, but now with structure, at cru level so to know that probability’s best is yet to come. Impossibly easy to drink however, with a subdue in near absence of the Bretty attitude and then the kicker, a feeling you could very well be drinking pinot noir. Not because of density, extraction or pressing but from the bones and the delicate flesh inextricably woven through the corporeal body. That this juice spent approximately 25 days on its skins and came out this lithe, fine-grained and so very focused is a Wismer-Senchuk reality. “We like our gamay to taste like gamay but act like pinot and this wine definitely delivers” is truth self-spoken. To date this is one of Ontario’s greatest gamays. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February 2018 leaningpostwine nicholaspearcewines @LeaningPostWine @Nicholaspearce_ Leaning Post Wines Nicholas Pearce

Tawse Gamay Noir Cherry Avenue Vineyard 2016, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $28.95, WineAlign)

Good gamay. Fruit and just a hint of cru tension. A bit of hue and hewed addendum. Real fruit. Proper fruit. Really tight. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery @tawsewines

Leaning Post Gamay The Natural Unfiltered 2016, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Agent, $35.00, WineAlign)

The Natural comes dancing in, with no obvious Ontario gamay precedence and in waves of WTF as part of the Leaning Post Antique Series. It’s neither Geek (riesling) nor Freak (pinot noir) but its exotic scents and wax-resist texture make me think of Javanese batik. In the habitual way of natural wines the cloudy demure and silky tannic salve are pretty much a given but it’s almost as if there is a shell or sour candied beet glaze that locks something in, a flavour profile undefined and in terms of texture, is quite waxy. Like patterned areas on a cloth protected so they won’t receive the colour that other parts will, this gamay hides away part of its charm and winemaker Ilya Senchuck’s self-professed idiom of “can’t quite put my finger on it” runs particularly true. Fresh and light gamay it is not, nor is it the deep cru suspect of Senchuk’s magnificent Wismer Armbrust Vineyard 2016. It’s an endangered animal, fascinating, almost prehistoric, vital to varietal knowledge and with respect to gamay, very crushable. Low in alcohol, high in acidity but thanks to the whole-cluster, incessant punchdown and gentle pressing/racking elévage it turned out smoky and dreamy instead of bright and volatile. It’s the new antediluvian gamay, confounding but true. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted March 2018 leaningpostwine nicholaspearcewines @LeaningPostWine @Nicholaspearce_ Leaning Post Wines Nicholas Pearce

Good to Go!

Godello

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Tasting Ontario Part Three: Rosé

Jul18

Do not adjust your set. Magnums of Rosé by @scottzebarth and godello ~ #aldé #cabernetfranc @ravinevineyard #vqa #niagaraonthelake

The first of the 2018 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada results are now live on site with the announcement of winners in the Rosé category. The global blush explosion has not passed Canada by as witnessed through the record number of entries at this year’s Nationals held in June at the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre.

The Rosé romance is still in the honeymoon phase as sales have seemingly been rapidly rising every year for at least the last three and show no signs of slowing down. In the early part of 2018 my partner Scott Zebarth and I made 599 (sold out) magnums of 100 per cent cabernet franc with Marty Werner and Ben Minaker at Ravine Vineyard. We are officially part of the problem, I mean program.

As part of an ongoing series in which I am publishing my most recent tasting notes of Ontario wines in any and all categories, here are 20 Rosés of local origin, including a half dozen tasted blind at NWAC18 last month.

Day 3 #nwac18 shades with Rosé nails by @heatherriley29 and a 50 for the judge from Nova Scotia.

Fielding Estate Rosé 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (53421, $15.95, WineAlign)

Fielding’s latest Rosé is not only unlike the others but also unrecognizable from itself and the curiosity level is set real high. The sweetness is different, almost late harvest so perhaps Richie Roberts has taken a turn by adding a twist into experimentation and it really works. No compromise to sapidity or energy is noted and in the context of rich and ripe there is great pleasure. Nice departure here. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted May 2018 fielding winery richiewine @FieldingWinery @RichieWine Fielding Estate Winery

13th Street Pink Palette Rosé 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (275834, $15.95, WineAlign)

Pink palette is exactly as the nomenclature suggests, a painter’s tray with colours blending and layering in and out of one another. All the pink, red and orange fruits are represented here in aromas and flavours. It’s a bit of an abstract mess but it finds a way to work. Goes every way and returns to the starting point, then sets out again. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted May 2018 13thstreetwinery @13thStreetWines 13th Street Winery

Malivoire Wine Ladybug Rosé 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (559088, $15.95, WineAlign)

The blend is cabernet franc (65 per cent), pinot noir (24) and gamay (11) for the most Malivoire forward, all fruit all the time, simply rosy Rosé. Name those red fruits in their collected bunches but don’t plan to come looking for citrus. As I said, it’s all about the red fruit. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted twice, blind at NWAC18 and July 2018 malivoire noble_estates @MalivoireWine @Noble_Estates Malivoire Wine Noble Estates Wine & Spirits

Tawse Rosé Sketches 2017, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (172643, $16.35, WineAlign)

Now that Tawse is making a 100 per cent pinot noir Rosé from the Quarry Road Vineyard it puts the Sketches into clearer perspective as a provident and judicious bet for easy and easier drinking. I’d say there is a good amount of gamay in this Rosé because it delivers softer, less rusty and coppery, more wild berry-scented and leafy savoury-accented fruit. It nicely straddles the line between fruity-candied and sapid-dry for maximum amenability. You can’t go wrong here with a warm day and a big chill. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted June 2018 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery @tawsewines

Westcott Vineyards Delphine Rosé 2017, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario (498527, $16.95, WineAlign)

Delphine does not shy away from expressiveness, with a high level of Rosé complexity by Vinemount Ridge pinot noir. Sugar, tang and washed rind cheese get together with high tonality and quite the fleshy tang. Good food Rosé, especially with a vegetables accented by a smoky edge. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted May 2018 westcottvineyards @WestcottWines @westcottwines

Kacaba Summer Series Rebecca Rosé 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (227025, $17.95, WineAlign)

From gamay and an immediate response of that’s more like it. Smells just like gamay with a salt lick running through cranberry and raspberry fruit. Just enough pressing, good acidity and great persistence. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 kacabavineyards @KacabaVineyards Kacaba Vineyards and Winery

Wildass Rosé 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (71712, $18.95, WineAlign)

As per the plan Stratus will change direction and for the first time chooses the saignée method for varietal cabernet franc. As for Wildass it is a blend of sauvignon blanc, riesling, tempranillo and cabernet franc. It hints at the present and the future of Niagara Peninsula Rosé in a nutshell albeit with full-bled coverage, high level fruit phenolics and a little bump up in residual sugar. If the ’16 Wildass hovered in the five to six range this seems to be upwards of nine or ten. The fruit here is fantastic and the warmth of the vintage can be thanked, especially from the extended fall and the later picking hands of a Stratus managed wine. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted May 2018 stratuswines @StratusWines @StratusWines

The Roost Rosé 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $18.95, WineAlign)

From pinot noir, rich, very pressed and quite tannic. Fleshy, full and a bit funky. Rhubarb leads the fruit in a two-dimensional, flat-patterned, if unusual texture. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 theroostwineco @TheRoostWineCo @theroostwineco

Peller Estates Private Reserve Rosé 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $18.95, WineAlign)

A blend of pinot noir (88 per cent) with gamay and pinot meunier. Lovely in litheness, light, bright and briny blush, saline all the way through. Does the trick with fineness, tart and tight inner-vision Really lovely. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018

Huff Estates Rosé 2017, VQA Ontario (Winery, $19.00, WineAlign)

From cabernet franc, some florals, with agitative acidity and a good tartness in composure. Fruit meets salinity and a touch of currants in brine. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 huffestateswine @HuffEstatesWine @HuffEstates

80x Wine Company When Pigs Fly Pinot Noir Rosé Ridgepoint Vineyard 2017, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $19.95, WineAlign)

It’s a comedy moment reminder and also a temptation to invoke the Smithers question “will you be donating that million dollars now, sir?” The cheeky name “When Pigs Fly” is actually Rosé by pinot noir from André Proulx and (Kacaba winemaker) Vadim Chelekhov made with the help of David Stasiuk at Rockway Winery. It ain’t no big thing, nor adynaton, idiom of improbability, impractical nor rhetorical device as extreme exaggeration. And so When Pigs Fly is summer in September, harbinger of spring and varietal Twenty Mile Bench, single Ridgepoint Vineyard hyperbole captured with healthy, fresh, brackish and earthy estuary goodness. As promised, its verdant, crisp, delicate, sweet rose petal floral and rusty fruit gone down easy, on a deck, in the sun. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted March 2018 andrewinereview vadimwineguy @andrewinereview @Vadim_Chelekhov André J Proulx Vadim Chelekhov

Henry Of Pelham Rosé Three of Hearts 2017, VQA Ontario (552562, $19.95, WineAlign)

It’s a good card the three of hearts, played out in Rosé form though admittedly in sweet and sour ways. A salty cheese rind note filters in to the ubiquity of Rosé strawberry and grapefruit, that and some blanched, sweet herbs. This is a snazzy meets chic new label from the Speck brothers at Henry of Pelham and there is little doubt that the lithe and lean style is the right one to choose. From this particular bottle an overly aggressive mix of sugar and sulphur detracts from the overall impression and pleasure. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted April 2018 henryofpelham @HenryofPelham Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery

Southbrook Vineyards Organic Triomphe Cabernet Franc Rosé 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (279117, $19.95, WineAlign)

Mostly cabernet franc (85 per cent) with merlot in this tart and rich blush. Currants and blackberries, good flow and integration, very solid if typical and correct, highly market saturate and soluble commercial Rosé. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted blind at NWAC18, June 2018 southbrookvineyards thelivingvine @SouthbrookWine @TheLivingVine Southbrook Vineyards The Living Vine inc.

Malivoire Rosé Bon Vivant 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (498535, $19.95, WineAlign)

C’est bon this Maliviore, from what is just the most perfect, antithetical, apposite Rosé vintage Niagara has perhaps ever seen. After the coolest of summers the great resurgent warmth of September delivered great ripeness into this Beamsville Bench fruit, even when picking for Rosé is completed before the full monty is reached. The result is nothing short of bring it on. Salt, brine, stone fruit, citrus and sonic, tonic injections had never gathered so collectively in synch at this price, from this place. This is brilliant Ontario blush and all should be so lucky to emulate and live as cohabitant with the Vivant. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted April 2018 malivoire noble_estates @MalivoireWine @Noble_Estates Malivoire Wine Noble Estates Wine & Spirits

Southbrook Syrah Rosé 2017, VQA Four Mile Creek, Ontario (Winery, $22.25, WineAlign)

Ann Sperling’s small lot, organic and biodynamic syrah shows what the vintage is for Rosé, that being stellar and why did Ann make such a varietal Rosé? “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” It’s still a good idea. Great acidity, faint white peppery red fruit, namely raspberry and then that blush catalyst called texture. Salty, fruity, energetic and well-commanded. Proper. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted April 2018 southbrookvineyards thelivingvine @SouthbrookWine @TheLivingVine Southbrook Vineyards The Living Vine inc.

Malivoire Rosé Moira 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Agent, $24.95, WineAlign)

Hidden Bench Locust Lane Rosé 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (68833, $22.95, WineAlign)

Locust Lane is always in the echelon of premier Ontario Rosé and from a prized piece of real estate on the Beamsville Bench. This takes autumn warmth and bottles it as blush sunshine with zippy fraise cocktail essence and ever-berry flavour that goes on forever with an added good shake or two of maldon salt. Great quality right here and well worth the price of admission. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted May 2018 hidden bench markanthonyon @HiddenBench @MarkAnthonyWine Hidden Bench Estate Winery Mark Anthony Wine & Spirits

Tawse Quarry Road Vineyard Rosé 2017, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $27.95, WineAlign)

The inaugural Tawse single-vineyard Rosé launches with a whisper, as Rosé should, from a saignée methodology in search of layering and structure. The way this pinot noir of Vinemount Ridge Quarry Road grapes lightly treads into this world means that it can build, layer and ultimately capture our attention. It’s decidedly dry and brings many fruit thoughts to the bowl but more than anything it’s lime-doused cherries, a shot of ginger bitters and the ever-proper feign of sweetness that really isn’t there. This is terrific varietal pinot noir in blush clothing, properly sour and briny to keep pace with similar renderings by cabernet franc. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted June 2018 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery Tawse Winery

Thirty Bench Small Lot Rosé 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (414227, $29.95, WineAlign)

“I am not in love, but I’m open to persuasion.” So tell me what a $30 Ontario Rosé can be. Here presents a next level of expectation from the Thirty Bench Small Lot and yes it obliges with a profile that begins in flavour bursts to supersedes its regional and price category. With open armed, elevated and trading hands this Small Lot at first offers pressed juicy fruit, then fresh picked strawberry and finally packets of fruity umami. The triumvirate workings of saignée cabernet sauvignon, cold-soaked pinot noir/pinot meunier and direct-pressed cabernet franc mean business. Rosé is meant to gift wrap an equation executed through chill, quaff and relax, which you can do with this example but it requires a little bit more attention. Give it that love if you’ve got the mind and the meditation, “but this time with a little dedication.” Sing it, sing it. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted May 2018 hirtybench pellerwines @ThirtyBench @PellerVQA @ThirtyBench Andrew Peller(Andrew Peller Import) Emma Garner

Pearl Morissette’s Svetlana Atcheva with Cuvée Roselana

Pearl Morissette Rosé Cuvée Roselana 2016, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

Roselana is a gamay-pinot noir saignée blend that pulls no pleasure punches. “We like Rosé of colour, like Tavel,” notes Svetlana Atcheva, “but in a more accessible style.” Her name folds into a Rosé that was sold out as it was bottled, a blush of so much gifting flavour and unlimited pleasure. The specifics of aromatics, berry, citrus or otherwise defined tastes is not important. Just drink it. Next vintage. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted July 2017 pearlmorissette @PearlMorissette Pearl Morissette

Good to go!

Godello

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Stoked for Cool Chardonnay

Jul13

This time next week I’ll be parked front and centre at White Oaks Resort in Niagara for the i4C 2018 School of Cool, presented by VQA Wines of Ontario, The Wine Marketing Association of Ontario, the Grape Growers of Ontario and Wines of Chablis. You can to if you manage to grab one of the few remaining tickets.

Session One, The Perception of Chardonnay will be moderated by Dr. Jamie Goode, Session Two, Desert Island Combo – Chardonnay and Cheese by Peter Rod and Session Three, Raising Chardonnay by John Szabo, MS. I’ll continue on to join in the cool festivities all weekend long. Friday evening’s Flights of Chardonnay event will be held once again at the Niagara District Airport and the Saturday night Cool Chardonnay World Tour Tasting & Dinner will take place at Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ontario. On Sunday morning Ravine Vineyard will play host to the Moveable Feast Brunch.

This year, 63 winemakers from ten countries will be pouring 165 wines in Niagara from Friday, July 20th to Sunday July 22nd. Let’s get into the spirit and check out 11 of my most recently tasted chardonnays.

Westcott Chardonnay Lillias Unoaked 2017, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (425322, $12.25, WineAlign)

Lillias is petit chardonnay, unoaked, made in a decidedly Petit Chablis style, slightly lactic and fresh as picked calla lilies without too much scent. The texture and palate feel on Westcott’s 2017 is richer than it was before, with thanks to a hot September and so weight meets alcohol are up there with some barrel-aged cousins. Minus the vanilla and butterscotch of course. Easy drinking to be sure and just might lead to a good time. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted July 2018 westcottvineyards @WestcottWines @westcottwines

Cave Spring Chardonnay Musqué Estate Bottled 2016, Cave Spring Vineyard, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (246579, $17.95, WineAlign)

Very floral, of course, a potpourri that includes roses, orange peel, geranium and south asian fruit. It’s almost tropical like viognier or even gewürztraminer so you could wonder if this is 100 per cent musqué but really it’s just a matter of a warm year making for soft chardonnay. Drink 2018-2019. Tasted July 2018 cavespringcellars thevineagency @CaveSpring @TheVine_RobGroh Cave Spring Cellars The Vine

Malivoire Chardonnay 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (573147, $17.95, WineAlign)

It almost seems a guilty pleasure or even a shame to be this taken by Malivoire’s entry-level chardonnay because it seems as though it will steal the lime, spot and ultra-violet light away from the serious and essential Mottiar and Moira chardonnays. Winemaker Shiraz Mottiar has really taken the varietal by the horns but the thanks has to begin and be granted the excellence of viticulture in these Beamsville Bench vineyards. How at this price you can strike such a mutually beneficial accord between fruit and wood is beyond me, first with so many thoughts of apples, pears, peaches and nectarines, then the verdant sweetness of lime-caramel and spiced vanilla. It;s all very subtle but also generous. Regional level chardonnay in Ontario at its finest. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted July 2018 malivoire noble_estates @MalivoireWine @Noble_Estates Malivoire Wine Noble Estates Wine & Spirits

Cave Spring Chardonnay Estate Bottled 2016, Cave Spring Vineyard, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (256552, $18.95, WineAlign)

High quality fruit with the creaminess of apple purée keeps its bite with thanks to proper barrel use though I can’t help but think this almost feels unoaked, relatively speaking. This might also be a result of the floral perfume, perhaps by musqué but also a vintage feel. The wood comes through late with a white peppery pique of spice. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted May 2018 cavespringcellars thevineagency @CaveSpring @TheVine_RobGroh Cave Spring Cellars The Vine

Thirty Bench Winemaker’s Blend Chardonnay 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (547877, $19.95, WineAlign)

In many ways there is more richness and warmth from the Winemaker’s Blend, a multi-vineyard broad expression that could also be called “Signature,” as in typical of the estate style but not necessarily something that defines the winemaker. It’s a boozy chardonnay by regional standards, with full advantage taken from sun and wood. Notes of caramel, vanilla and spice form a malleable shell around creamy orchard fruit. Calls for whole grilled fish, sweet herbs and citrus. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted May 2018 thirtybench pellerwines @ThirtyBench @PellerVQA @ThirtyBench Andrew Peller(Andrew Peller Import) Emma Garner

3XP Chardonnay 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Agent, $20.95, WineAlign)

3XP is the triumvirate styling of Tawse winemaker Paul Pender, Ontario wine importer Nicholas Pearce and Sommelier Will Predhomme. It’s the latest song release in the epic Pearce-Predhomme négoce journey, a progressive-art-album rock venture replete with eleven-minute opus material, but this one is the hit with a recognizable and catchy hook. It’s Hungry Heart, I Will Get by and Lucky Man wrapped up into one three-minute chardonnay play. The sip-swirl-swallow trilogy is like verse-chorus-verse and repeat. It’s straightforward sharp, tart and flavourful chardonnay that only Paul Pender could make and it’s consume-ability factor is one of threefold manifest destiny. The number three is a very important number in biblical and mythological study. It “is the first number to which the meaning “all” was given. It is The Triad, being the number of the whole as it contains the beginning, a middle and an end. The power of three is universal and is the tripartide nature of the world as heaven, earth, and waters. It is human as body, soul and spirit.” As for this PPP chardonnay, just drink it up and enjoy. For the next three years. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted July 2018 pearcepredhomme nicholaspearcewines tawsewinery @PearcePredhomme @Nicholaspearce @Tawse_Winery Nicholas Pearce @tawsewines

Jackson Triggs Niagara Estate Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $20.95, WineAlign)

A classic Marco Piccoli composition, optimum ripeness of orchard phenolics-developed fruit and plenty of generosity from aging in barrels. Yes chardonnay is different to everyone and Piccoli takes full advantage of the chameleon, even simplifying with that unblemished fruit and lots of wood. It’s like perfect apples in the top-end market from which you may not get that organic fuzzy feeling but you will get the perfectly modern and scientifically successful bite of life. Then take the fruit and make it richer, brown buttery and soft. All good if only there was less wishful thinking for more synchronicity and length. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted twice, first blind at NWAC18, June 2018 and then July 2018 jacksontriggsniagara #ArterraWines @Jackson_Triggs @JacksonTriggs

Tawse Chardonnay Sketches 2014, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (89037, $21.95, WineAlign)

At this point in time Sketches represents terrific value in Ontario-bred chardonnay because with an extra year or two in the rear-view mirror it has settled into a lovely place where nuts, caramel and baked goods are all beginning to show. It was a lean chardonnay to begin with so don’t expect any overtly creamy textural notes, least of which might be creamed corn. Bigger oaked versions in vintages like 2014 might go to such a comfort zone but this Sketches stays the green apple and piqued spice course. There are some lingering notes of melon and flowers at dusk so just enough freshness persists to carry this through another year or so of open window drinking. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted June 2018 tawsewinery @Tawse_Winery @tawsewines

Flat Rock Cellars Chardonnay The Rusty Shed 2016, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (1552, $26.95, WineAlign)

The 2016 is less a matter of chardonnay spirit and more falling along rich, buttery and vanilla-caramel lines. Might be the most zaftig Rusty Shed tasted in quite some time. Go after this FRC chardonnay with immediate and desperate intentions. It will really satisfy for a year or two. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted July 2018 flatrockcellars @Winemakersboots @FlatRockCellars

Rosehall Run Chardonnay JCR Rosehall Vineyard 2016, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)

First and foremost there is so much charm here, from great fruit, mostly orchards of apple and citrus, then just a hint towards tropical. All impressive from a pottery vineyard coming of age into its later teens and capable of retaining soluble nutrients during stressed times. An elemental and kissed wet stone design runs through like veins carrying white blood cells to the fruit’s organs and extremities and so the drought vintage was no worthy adversary to the JCR. Dan Sullivan’s top chardonnay comes replete with high level, quality and pointed fineness of acidity. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted twice, blind at NWAC18 and July 2018 rosehall_run @Rosehall_Run Rosehall Run Vineyards

Closson Chase Vineyard Chardonnay 2016, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (148866, $29.95, WineAlign)

A terrific vintage for the Closson Chase fruit, easily ripened and developed of phenolics all in and more glycerin than might ever be expected. It’s punchy and reductive chardonnay with a savoury candy shell protecting real, honest to goodness PEC fruit. There is a decided level of vanilla and caramel folded into fruit like great batter at the rippled stage just before its poured into the pan. Makes for wonderful expectation to see how it might taste once the baking is done. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted July 2018 clossonchasevineyards @ClossonChase @ClossonChase

Good to go!

Godello

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Alternative and unexpected California

Jul3

Pop goes @california.wines unexpected whites with phenomenal insight by @hawk_wakawaka ~ Thank you Elaine, Paula @CalifWines_CA

Elaine Chukan Brown came to town and if you’ve never heard her speak on the subject of California wines then you have yet lived. The California Wine Fair has been rolling through Canada for coming upon forty years running and this past April she and the show stopped in Toronto. It has continued to exist as the largest Canadian gathering of that state’s wines under one roof you are ever going to find. The American specialist at JancisRobinson.com, contributing writer with Wine & Spirits Magazine and eloquent meets erudite penner of Hawk Wakawaka Wine Reviews was the keynote speaker at the trade luncheon but it was her morning presentation of California’s unexpected white varietals that got me thinking. Thinking about California wine.

Elaine Chukan Brown

Unexpected might also mean alternative though when talking about grape varieties grown in a place where nothing is truly endemic and everything is expatriate, is there truly such an animal? I could digress into commentary about immigration policies but I’ll stay the course and stick to wine. Brown’s seminar was appropriately referenced with more than one headline because it wasn’t just about varietals. The lecture indeed touched upon malvasia bianca, vermentino and chenin blanc but it also spoke of sparkling, Rosé and iconic blends made by archetypal producers. Not a singular notion by any means of conferral and so ultimately necessary to be expressed in diversified terms. Alternative and unexpected but not without a hit of developed orthodoxy and a whack of doctrinal emigration.

The cross-Canada celebration of California’s wine community began as a single-city event in Ottawa in 1980 and is now the largest annual wine tour across Canada. The California Wine Fair is is the hands of Praxis PR’s Paula Oreskovich and I would be shocked if there is a more successful regional tour, especially at this scale. The 2018 edition was no exception and adding Elaine Chukan Brown to the bill was both a coup and a stroke of brilliant thinking.

There were 10 wines involved in the determinate and evaluative discourse. I could kudize the selections and the seamless flow from reception wine Rosé through epiphanic Brut and across a swath of right proper showing white wines. I could but I’d rather concentrate on Brown’s photographic mind and ability to convey California wine growing region geography, topography and climatic influences. To present these things to a Toronto wine body politic eager for information. This presentation was science incarnate, pure and motivating. It dispatched the essence of the California dialectic and if you understand varietals, growing conditions and economics, what you soak in may actually allow you to write down what will happen in the future, much like you might write down the history of the past. A California history that speaks of cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and pinot noir. A California future that is alternative, unexpected and wide open.

Folded Hills Lilly Rosé 2017, Santa Inez Valley, California (Winery, WineAlign)

From the Bush family, Rhône varietals are the impetus with this second fruit from a Rosé vineyard set situated in proximation of Ballard Canyon, where things ripen quite formidably. It’s a top location for pinot noir but here an even better place for grenache and syrah. The wine spent 24 hours on skins, was fermented and aged in neutral oak. Crisp acidity speaks to the area’s growing conditions and in its way acts as grenache vin gris, of tart pink to red currants in a glass. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted April 2018 folded hills @foldedhills Folded Hills

Caraccioli Brut Cuvée 2010, Santa Lucia Highlands, California (Winery, WineAlign)

Caraccioli Brut Cuvée 2010 is a pinot noir speciality transferred to sparkling for flinty, smoky, salty and briny sea fresh character from out of a cold Alaskan bred Pacific current. Top, absolute upper end of Brut with 12 g/L sugar and high natural acidity, which is essential. Four years on lees, but that burgeoning acidity works more magic than the yeasts do for texture. As tart as sparkling wine gets and it’s from California. A journey that began in 2010 for only 96 cases made. Price is $52 at the winery. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted April 2018 caracciolicellars @caraccioliwines Caraccioli Cellars

Palmina Malvasia Bianca 2016, Santa Ynez Valley, California (Agent, WineAlign)

East of centre in the valley, just crossing into Ballard Canyon, from sand over chalk. These are soils that warm up fast, ripening a variety that wants to be bitterly phenolic but finds a way to make use of fog from coastal influences in a nook where the mountains run west to east. The limestone in turn acts as the conduit in delivery of great acidity. From green apple to south asian tropical fruit but I can’t say I’ve ever tasted anything like it before. Yes, the acidity is grand and yes, there is a bitter phenolic note though it’s like great gin. A wildly aromatic wine. There are 62 cases made. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted April 2018 palminawines barrelselect @palminawines @BarrelSelect Palmina Winery @barrelselect

Ryme Cellars Hers Vermentino 2016, Carneros, Sonoma County, California (Winery, WineAlign)

From just over on the Sonoma side of Carneros, the last vineyard before you hit marshlands in San Pablo Bay. Alto, musky and floral notes on the nose, a deep sax, A Love Supreme. What’s curious and high level is the texture, which speaks to place, soil and I suppose, winemaking. It’s part malolactic from neutral oak to further explain, with a mix of stainless steel to keep it Trane chord change airy, elevated, ante-flat earth society vermentino. Approximately $25-29 US. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted April 2018 ryme_cellars @RymeCellars Ryme Cellars

Matthiasson White Blend 2015, Napa Valley, California (Winery, WineAlign)

Ostensibly an example of a ribolla gialla led, Friuli styled blend by Steve Matthiasson. It’s a grouping of sauvignon blanc, sémillon, ribolla gialia and tokai friuli (friulano) as the components, turning the Friuli a bit on its head but its more about fruit than pyrazine with a ribolla lick off the ground. There is a nutty note, namely almond from tokai and a flinty strike by sémillon. Unilaterally fermented in neutral barrels and then eventually transferred back in. Great balance, complex and long as the coastal range. Come back to it and it has a wonderful savoury, candied childhood memory feeling. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted April 2018 matthiasson_wine @matthiassonwine Matthiasson Wines

J Vineyards And Winery Pinot Gris 2016, Russian River Valley, California (Agent, WineAlign)

Introduced by Elaine Brown as “a testament to the notion that pinot gris is a noble grape, that expresses its place and adaptation from place to place.” A wine as child of western Sonoma County daily fog incursion, absorbed by the clay, a gift of natural refrigeration, non-pushed sugar development, working for gris, not just noir. Semi-mouth watering freshness, unctuousness and notable sweetness.”Round and hovering,” full and tart, mid-range in the mouth. Minor barrel fermented plus 15 per cent new, as kisses for a nutty depth and orange marmalade flavour. Quite delicious, full of texture and flavour. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted April 2018 #jvineyardsandwinery gallocareers @JWinery @gallocareers J Vineyards & Winery Gallo Family Vineyards E. & J. Gallo Winery

Birichino Chenin Blanc Jurassic Park Old Vines 2016, Santa Ynez Valley, California (Winery, WineAlign)

From a site protected from wind, a diurnal temperature shift with more of a breeze effect, above the fog line at a high (1100 ft.) elevation. All this to say that you’ll end up with increased aromatics, from own-rooted vines planted in the 70s on sandy soils. Chèvre funky, tangy on the acid notes, with layers of ripeness, but with no developed botrytis and then some fruit picked in December mixed right in. It’s green, white, pink and yellow. It’s all in, not overly punchy but very expressive. From apple to brine and back again. This may be the vintage that has it all. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted April 2018 birichino_official #birichino Birichino

Chateau Montelena Riesling Potter Valley 2016, Mendocino, California (Agent, $36.95, WineAlign)

The first wine Montelena ever released was in fact riesling, a Bo Barrett obsession, slightly inland in the far north on Mendocino. It’s a high elevation at 900 ft., on highly oxygenated, well-draining, gravelly-loam soils with a touch of clay. Made in a combination of stainless steel and neutral oak. The lullaby phenolic and dreamy glycerin fruit content is high, with help from minor (4 g/L) of RS and what is essentially an arrested acidity. A very underdeveloped riesling, youthful and rich, just bloody delicious. Lime, snappy green apple and gravel stone bleed. Riesling as good as it gets in California, from Mendocino all the way down. Perfect for this desert life. “If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts. You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast…Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me.” Drink 2019-2022. Tasted April 2018 chmontelena rogersandcompanywines @ChMontelena @rogcowines Chateau Montelena Winery Rogers & Company

Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc To Kalon Reserve 2014, Oakville, Napa Valley, California (Agent, $44.95, WineAlign)

The Reserve is the top level for fumé blanc (aside from the I-Block) and a wine made since 1966. There must be more sémillon in 2014 because it’s as smoky and flinty as it ever has been. A portion of the 1945 I-Block vines generously add sauvignon blanc in this wine. This is the original, the history of California wine, the alternate varietal spoken ahead of all the others. Reduced vigour vines from volcanic, well-draining soils for purity and decades long honesty. Always absurdly fresh, integrated, with an ability to age low and slow. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted April 2018 robertmondavi #constellationbrands @RobertMondavi @cbrands Robert Mondavi Winery Constellation Brands

Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit De Tablas Blanc 2015, Paso Robles, California (Agent, 735506, $44.95, WineAlign)

From the far western side’s folded, undulated hills on the western range that bring in cold air through its streams. A place of cold night and even some persistent cool air during the day. It’s roussanne based, but this ulterior vintage means an elongated ripening so the roussanne was low in acidity, therefore more picpoul was employed for acid. It’s fleshy, creamy toffee, candied floral and candied citrus plus orchard fruit and mango. Should turn waxy and seem more mineral as the alloys emerge and the fruit dissolves. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted April 2018 tablascreek @TablasCreek @ChartonHobbs Tablas Creek Vineyard CHARTON-HOBBS QUEBEC

Pop goes @california.wines unexpected whites with phenomenal insight by @hawk_wakawaka ~ Thank you Elaine, Paula @CalifWines_CA

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Monthly Archives: July 2018

Tasting Ontario Part Six: Pinot Noir

Tasting Ontario Part Five: Varietal Whites and Appellative Blends

Tasting Ontario Part Four: Gamay

Tasting Ontario Part Three: Rosé

Stoked for Cool Chardonnay

Alternative and unexpected California