Treadwell Restaurant is a wine bar, an Ontario extrapolation on farm-to-table cuisine and an iconic Niagara experience. It opened its doors in Port Dalhousie in 2006, has always been ingredient based and has help to usher in a niche simply called “Niagara cuisine.” Now located (since March of 2013) right in the heart of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Treadwells must be experienced at least once.
In June I had the fortune of visiting the restaurant twice. While Chef Stephen Treadwell‘s plates are the show, they are also the support and the reason for Sommelier James Treadwell‘s wine. Ontario and more specifically Niagara are explored, above all else and righteously beyond the pale. I taste more Niagara wine than the average geek. At Treadwell there is no shortage of new discovery. It’s a veritable playground for Ontario wine. The Chef de Cuisine is Matthew Payne. With chef’s eyes I watched him closely on my first visit. I wanted to climb over the counter, to contribute and execute for him, but did there was no reason to. His team was right on line.
Hoison Glazed “VG’s” Beef Short Ribs, potato purée, pickled red onion, summer vegetables
My visits to Treadwell were made possible by Magdalena Kaiser, Joanna Muratori and the presence of our provincial marketing treasure, Wine Country Ontario. I had the opportunity to sample more than 20 Niagara wines during the two visits. After judging day two at the WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (#NWAC15) the group was entertained at Treadwells and despite a power outage that put NOTL in the dark from 6:30 until nearly 10:00 pm, Stephen, James, Matthew and their incredible staff soldiered on and produced a most exceptional meal. Amazing.
WineAlign judges, a rainbow and the American Falls
Before we made our way to Niagara-on-the-Lake team Rosé donned vermillion ponchos, climbed aboard the Hornblower run by Niagara Cruises and took the most famous of all Canadian boat excursions to the base of Niagara Falls. Then off to Treadwells.
Aboard the Hornblower approaching the Horseshoe Falls
We tasted a few bubbles but they were all wines I have reviewed on previous occasions. The only note I wrote was for a bottle of Sussex fizz brought in by British wine writer Jamie Goode. Thank you Jamie for that treat and the portal into a new market to explore. The winemakers who joined us that night were Shiraz Mottiar (Malivoire), Jay Johnston (Flat Rock), Amelie Boury (Château Des Charmes), Ilya Senchuk (Leaning Post), Brent Anomyces (Associate winemaker at Pearl Morissette) and Martin Werner (Ravine). Here are notes on 14 of the wines tasted and assessed spread across the two visits.
Nyetimber Classic Cuvee 2010 and its excited purveyor Dr. Jamie Goode
Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2010, Chiltington, West Sussex, England (Winery, £31.95 – BBR)
From the English house with as much accumulated wisdom and experience as any, theClassic Cuvée spent three years on the lees and it shows. Has trod a textured path laid down by the stirred solids towards an increased noblesse. Certainly lean, direct and adaptable, to equivocate a bubble of yeast, toast and a baker’s kitchen, replete with apples and honey ardent in their crust. The residual sugar plays a minor while the acidity (approximately 9 g/L) tintinnabulates in a major key. Citrus pushes all the right elements. This is not your Uncle Monty‘s English fizz. “Free to those that can afford it, very expensive to those that can’t.” Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2015 @Nyetimber
Back 10 Cellars The Big Reach Riesling 2013 and Bachelder Pinot Noir Parfum 2013
Back 10 Cellars The Big Reach Riesling 2013, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario (Winery, $22.95, WineAlign)
Here Riesling that has reached back and risen up into a breach, beyond the average and the norm. More than a hint of residual sugar catapults and disintegrates into the stratosphere at the hands of linear, direct, pointed and piercing acidity. The citrus is pure squeezed lemon, so natural and circulating in the elemental. The Big Reach takes chances, tries to go where many fear, to extend “and bend our backs and hearts together standing in the breach.” With a few years time it will return from its fissure in the sky and settle into more comfortable closure. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted May 2015 @back10cellars
Flat Rock Gewürztraminer 2012, Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $23.15)
Crafted in the warm vintages, the fruit is a mix from Niagara Benchlands and Estate vineyards. If not fundamentally necessitous this does hit all the right, bright ’12 and 20 Mile notes with clean vision gazing far and beyond to the eastern horizon. Grinds nuts into paste, to a pulpy, whizzed and pure taffeta to tussah. This solid palpation rises above and beyond the expected florals and sweetness so receptive its money. Texture is ultimately key and indispensable in the absence of unmitigated acidity. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted June 2015 @Winemakersboots@brightlighter1
Initially muzzy, moving past the nose for a moment the residual is noted as set to high. It’s immediately interesting to taste such a sweetness, one in line with the Riesling Reserve ’13 yet also in belay of Ravine’s ’14 step back in such matters, tasted same night. The ’13 Gewürztraminer does not concern itself with striking connectivity, but instead concentrates on the corporeity of botrytis and texture. Yet another 2013 in which Martin Werner pushes buttons, envelopes and ways of the Peninsula world. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted June 2015 @RavineVineyard@marty_werner
Even without prior knowledge that the botrytis number was down (to 30 per cent) in this late fall, estate picked organic St. Davids Bench ’14, such a vector is indicated by the salinity on the nose. The miasma reduction, depressed pedal ere impressed metal suppresses sugar, as does the voluminous yet lightning-free (9.6 g/L) total acidity. The unconventional aspect has come back to the appellative norm, like tropical fruit picked in seasons void of rain, humidity and late afternoon storms. This strides into oversized footsteps, in and out of ages, but not to where the wild things are. Winemaker Martin Werner has reigned in the impulse to freak out with this Riesling, in part to see how the other half lives and also because brilliance is a bumpy, two steps forward, one step back road. With the right botrytis and a look at Riesling from both sides now, the ’15 should have every reason to be revolutionary, trend setting and iconic. Damn if waiting to see what will happen won’t be high on the Niagara periscope agenda. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted June 2015
It may hail from the Foxcroft-Wismer-Twenty Mile Bench triangle of Grand Cru territory but this does not go where Rieslings have gone before. The vintage declares tyranny on typical, but it’s not exactly shocking. There is a controlled litheness to be sure, a lime road, an extraction that while not as expansive, is dense somehow. A Senchuk take on Wismer, colour upon colour, in abstraction, time after time.
From my earlier note of April 2014:
Marks a return to the variety for Senchuk, with a dynamic and resounding charge. This barely resembles what may be pigeon-holed as Niagara Peninsula Riesling as it disses the lean, citrus pierce of the dry norm. Don’t panic, it’s not that different, but it does comment on “homes, places we’ve grown, all of us are done for.” From 18 year-old (south block) Foxcroft vines, 15.8 grams of residual sugar and 11.3 grams acidity. Bottled just eight days ago, this is a wine that was “left to develop on its own,” on it lees and with no stirring. “It’s not late harvest, it’s mature, with just enough sugar to make it palatable.” Makes a cold play for warmth, extract, viscosity and natural sweetness. Reaches for complexity beyond acidity, to places old and new, to Germany and to Niagara. Gotta citrus back, endgame palate. I can’t say with certainty that in time this vintage will push the sweetness to the background and develop leathery, gamey and earthy characters. I can say that given some more experience, Senchuk will develop the acumen to make it happen. “There’s nothing here to run from ’cause here, everybody here’s got somebody to lean on.” 200 cases made.
Kevin Panagapka’s take on Niagara Riesling is specific enough for the need to look deeper than its broader Twenty Mile Bench roots. The plot thickens within the confines of Craig Wismer’s Vineyard, to the Foxcroft block where Chardonnay and Riesling are meant to be. Kevin is not alone is making use of this exceptional fruit. Tawse, Leaning Post and now Two Sisters all work from there, but no one puts the spirit into Foxcroft like Panagapka, as he does similarly with his Foxcroft Chardonnay. If the electric spin were toned down a touch in ’12 and ’13, here in ’14 the plug is back in, the amplification turned up to 11 and the house is simply rocking. This probes and punctures citrus fruit to burst, crackle and pop but it has no aspirations for weightlessness and atmosphere. It is so very concrete, grounded on 20 Mile terra firma, present, accounted for, looking straight into your eyes. Pale to purposed, striking in its missive for anti-tropical flavours and nearly massive in its thin delight. Dramatically truthful Riesling. Drink 2015-2022. Tasted May 2015 @2027cellars
Treadwell’s Pan Seared East Coast Scallops, caramelized cauliflower, guanciale, caper vinaigrette and Ontario Asparagus, poached “Bertha’s Bounty” egg , truffled burnt butter vinaigrette
Big Head Wines Chenin Blanc 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)
The grape that begat Big Head is so versatile that even in the technical and experimental hands of winemaker Andrzej Lipinski it retains true identity. Appassimento treatment and aging in old oak barrels may add layer and viscosity in the reds but in the whites the leesy funk remains, as does an off-dry, mineral bent. Dried earth, salinity and bitter pith join the fruit wrecking party. This is a bold expression with a big head. We’re the fruit strong enough to defend itself it would be something very special. Poured from a magnum at Treadwell restaurant. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015 @BigHeadWine
Here is a clean, almost silky Beamsville addition to the Ontario Melon de Bourgogne game, of melons picked ripe with no need for trucks and travel, just cut ’em in half and pull out a spoon. Cool climate lime juice acidulates the melon, it’s that direct and simple. Acidity need not distract from the purity but it’s there, off to the side, on a need to know basis. Glug, glug Melon, a white wine that would pour so fine from the tap. As in wine on…Drink 2015-2017. Tasted June 2015 @MalivoireWine@ShirazMottiar
Château Des Charmes Old Vines Riesling 2008 Ravine Vineyard Reserve Riesling 2014
Château Des Charmes Old Vines Riesling 2008, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (277228, $16.95, WineAlign)
Perhaps the assessment seven years later creates an unfair advantage but come now, a great wine is a great wine from its humble beginnings. At $16.95, in 2008 or 2015, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, on the Peninsula, this type of emerging propensity is more than gold or platinum, it’s money. This is a Riesling to vacuum up global accolades, to open eyes wide and to enjoy drinking Riesling. The ’08 CdC does what the vintage demanded; created a union for off-dry reasoning, denaturant gleaning, acceptance of petrol, lime condensation, salinity and herbal behaviour. If it were ever once a rough sketch, it is now and will continue to be all those things, a candy’s room full of treasures. With Riesling “if you wanna be wild, you got a lot to learn, close your eyes, let them melt, let them fire, let them burn.” In time, in capable hands, it all comes together. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2015 @MBosc
Château Des Charmes Equuleus 2012, Paul Bosc Estate Vineyard, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (319525, $30.00, WineAlign)
The Cabernet Sauvignon (50 per cent), Cabernet Franc (25) and Merlot (25) Paul Bosc Estate Vineyard confluence produced in heteroclite (warm, warmer and warmest) years has learned from itself. Where at one time the scarce Niagara heat was a blessing, the ability in winemaking consistency in the present and going forward can determine adversity should the winemaker’s hands play the heavy. Subtlety is key, as in here, the moorish weight shed and the black, wood shrouded fruit left behind in the old stable. The oak may not so much have changed as much as the wisdom of the start to finish process, especially in the picking and the soak. The red fruit has been avowed of purity so 2012 affords an increase in legerity, by hand and in kind for the classic Bordeaux assembly. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted June 2015
The Parfum is a departure for Thomas Bachelder, a path not previously taken to pick, ferment and vinify in the name of perfume. The aromatics and legerity have delighted into a Pinot Noir for a licensee song. Don’t be fooled by the sachet of felicity. This wine is also built on extraction, intensity, volupté and richness. A slight rust is observed, one that never sleeps in a Bachelder world, one that works harder with eyes closed, thinking, mulling, fuelling the next thought. The Parfum makes and leaves an impression. It’s quite beautiful and accesible. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April and June 2015 @Bachelder_wines
Malivoire Melon 2014 and Pearl Morissette Gamay Cuvée Mon Unique 2014
Pearl Morissette Gamay Cuvée Mon Unique 2014, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $29.00, WineAlign)
In December of 2014 I counted the ’13 CMU Gamay as one of my mind-blowing wines of the year. Once again we are witness to the authentic, raw and natural impossibility of the wine, from 100 per cent whole clusters sent to cement fermenters. The hue is just impossible, the wine sulphur-free. That ’13 Gamay did not last. I tasted again this winter and it failed me. It may return. This ’14 will never leave. It is natural to the 14th degree and yet its rich, smokey chocolate centre and structure of pure physical stature will not let it slide, into a dumb phase or oblivion. This Gamay will strut. It already does. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2014 @PearlMorissette
Has reached near-nirvana. The intensely focused withdrawal, the inward spiral to a fully condensed state is so very close. This is Pearl Morissette’s most shelf-talking Chardonnay, of lemon preserved, reversed, jammed into its own half shell, like a honey-tart sorbet, creamy, fleshed and inward. This is true wine of impression, a marvel in rewind.
From my earlier note of July 2013:
Tragically singular in expression, regardless and in spite of the terroir, mixes metaphors and pulls it off. “Takes arms against a sea of troubles,” by convincing ADHD fruit of an uncertain vintage to settle, play nice and “by opposing, end them.” Now entering the load out zone, this Hamlet cuvée is “the first to come and the last to leave, working for that minimum wage.” A sentimental ballad here to stay, be remembered and to set the stage for all dix-neuvième to come.
As a Canadian today’s self-imposed question and self-reflective contemplation is unavoidably this. What to do on Canada Day? Some will do what they do every day by stopping once, possibly twice at a Tim Horton’s drive-thru. They will also #TextLikeaCanadian. Others will do very little. As hard-working folks they will have deserved the rest.
The sedulous people I know best will have spent many waking hours thinking about the wines they will open, share, taste and flat-out consume on Dominion Day. Last week I joined the WineAlign team to judge at #NWAC15. We plodded through nearly 1,500 entries at the annual, just, equitable and severely necessary WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada. Canadian wines showed well. Really well.
Though he may be the pioneer, the leader, THE Ontario guy, Shawn McCormick, also known as Uncork Ontario, a.k.a. #ONWineChat is more than qualified to lead a charge for wine speak, talk and direction on #HappyCanadaDay. Anyone who knows is sure to follow Shawn to keep track of what is happening in Ontario and around the country.
Three years ago I had this to say:
“What’s in a name? So many expressions define our national day of unity. Today we simply say Canada Day but let us not forget Le jour de la confédération, Dominion Day and La fête du Canada. The country united may see its wine regions separated by thousands of Kilometres but thanks to Bill C-311, they are now inching closer than ever. Let’s see wines from both provinces sharing the same table this weekend. “A bottle of red, a bottle of white, ” perhaps a bottle of rosé for Canada Day.”
Again in 2015 the angels of the Canadian wine diaspora declared another celebration of the wine extolling #CanadianWineDay (or #CdnWineDay). June 28 on Twitter marks the anniversary of Bill C-311 and furthers #CanadianWineCulture. The LCBO does their part be bringing wines together from across the nation. Just a few days ago the VINTAGES June 27th release saw some offers that more than qualified to service Canadian wine consumers on this 148th anniversary of the dominion. You could not go wrong by opening any of these five.
From left to right: 13th Street Merlot 2012, Southbrook Triomphe Cabernet Franc 2013, Sperling Vineyards Gewurztraminer 2013, Culmina Hypothesis 2012 and Queylus Reserve Du Domaine Merlot Cabernet Franc 2010
13th Street Cabernet/Merlot 2012, VQA Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (56598, $19.95, WineAlign)
The 13th Street Cabernet-Merlot was and persists as such a smart buy it clearly is deserving of another go. Clean and gleaned of generous oak, this is a blur of Bordeaux ability and yet a promise of Creek Shores for expatriate greatness, in a vein akin the Lincoln Lakeshore. The integrity and layering are complete, from clay baked berries on the correct side of ripeness, with chewy flavours and nibs of chocolate. A joy to sip, a tender result after “waiting for that feeling to come.” Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2015 @13thStreetWines@Noble_Estates
Six months have amplified the current, running in a direct aromatic-flavour line from strawberry to black currant. Such healthy up front fruit with nary a moment of humidity shines while the wine remains just grounded enough to call it Niagara.
From my earlier note of December 2014:
Still organic through and through, despite only a small portion of estate fruit contributing to the overall design of the Triomphe Cabernet Franc ’13. Contracted growers fuel and fulfill the Southbrook ideology, to seek purity in healthy berries. The red fruit here shines on with Daliesque impunity. Its agglomeration makes a juicy, gregarious offer to sip. The vanilla-lavender streak brings elegance, more so than in ’12, along with an elevated sense of savour and really compounded red, red fruit. A natural sweetness and long finish are easy on the gustatory senses. Will be available at VINTAGES in February 2015, when the ’12 runs dry.
Sperling Vineyards Gewurztraminer 2013, Kelowna, VQA British Columbia (242958, $21.95, WineAlign)
The Sperling Gewürztraminer vines are pushing 30 years, an appointment that offers anything but foist for a variety in need of experience to counter tropical foible. The 2013 climbs to aridity from out of gravel grit and upwards, as if aboard an invisible beanstalk. The rough mineral nudge and creamy kernel conjoin and emulsify, creating a gorgeous texture, stabilizing and articulating the high oil content by the omnipresent and enzymatic Sperling citrus. The role of aromatic grapefruit and pomello is like copper ions in the oxidation of ascorbic acid. Gewürztraminer has the problematic ability to rapidly change in physical character, to oxidize and go nut-brown in lack of orchestration. This ’13 is not to tropical but its accents are spiced far out east. It hints at south asian fruits yet always returns to its citrus and stone roots, rocks and reggae. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted June 2015 @SperlingVyds
Culmina Hypothesis 2012, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (414243, $39.95, WineAlign)
Irrefutably west coast red with a warm shroud of (70 per cent new) French oak. Deep, dark and handsome, well-dressed and coiffed to the salon’s hilt. Merlot (57 per cent) drives the varietal Cadillac, with Cabernet Sauvignon (24) and Cabernet Franc (19) sharing the shotgun seat. This is marked by all sorts of decadent chocolate and coffee from bittersweet to naturally bitter beans. The tannins are fierce but somehow tenderly sweet, in embrace of the cocoa kernels and the black raspberry fruit. They make friends to encourage a long and fruitful relationship. After the chocolate, carry the chocolate, same as it ever was. In the end the fruit succeeds, pushes through the wood, delves into great depth with a long future ahead. Drink 2017-2024. Tasted June 2015 @CulminaWinery
Queylus Merlot/Cabernet Franc Reserve Du Domaine 2010, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (406462, $39.95, WineAlign)
Winemaker Thomas Bachelder refers to the work of Alain Sutre, a consulting Bordeaux winemaker who identified specific grape varieties, clones and rootstocks appropriate to different soils. This early output of a Domaine Queylus Merlot/Cabernet Franc was profoundly influenced by Mr. Sutre’s terroir matching ability. The Queylus lands of the Neudorf farm and the Lincoln Lakeshore have a sense of Bordeaux like no other locale in Ontario. This ’10 exhibits classic dusty plugged in aromatics tagged by a zesty, orange rind grind into the earthy plush. Berry fruit and refined tannins make for a pure, instant impression that will pay it forward in expression, for five to seven years. Relying ponderously on Merlot, that might just be the balancing, tempering and rendering needed to quell the sharp Cabernet Franc, to mingle warmth with cool, to raise the temperature up into a comfort zone, to set the alcohol gauge at 13 per cent. The ripeness and ardor are a Merlot discussion, saved for another day. At the end of the day, these varieties from those clay soils, blended with Bachelder acumen, cement, stamp, seal and deliver. Drink 2015-2022. Tasted June 2015 @QueylusVin@Bachelder_wines@LiffordON
After the final day of preliminary round judging was wrapped and tied with a computer algorithm’s bow at the WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada it was time to take to the skies. The judges and WineAlign cognoscenti embussed into autogiro cabins at Niagara Helicopters. With a quick and nearly non-discernible thrust we rose like knives through butter up into the Niagara sky. A zig over the cartoon city adjacent the horseshoe and American cascades and then a zag across the Whirlpool Golf Course later, the choppers headed for the Falls.
Flying to Trius with fellow #NWAC15 judges Nadia Fournier and John Szabo
Viewing the tumbling wonders from this vantage point is a thing of extraordinary exhilaration. The two-dimensional flatness of the river careening towards a three-dimensional, 90-degree downward fall into the gorge below is a trompe l’oeil for the eyes. With nothing but a thin glass veil acting in separation, I would have thought that a Dolly Zoom effect might occur. On the contrary, from within there would be no semblance of Hitchcock technique in recession to simulate vertigo. The weightlessness and effortless glide is a situation akin to being a kid in a candy store. I highly recommend the experience.
Niagara Helicopter
Minutes later the helicopter did soar, headed east and descended upon the agricultural and viticultural wonder of Niagara-on-the-Lake. From high above, the acreage of vines looked like tiny peas all in a row. As the land crept up into view the dots came into focus and to see the canes and their early summer foliage as such a magnanimous maze from above is a perspective all should experience.
Niagara Falls, Ontario
The elapsed time between landing at Trius and diving head first into a glass of Marco Piccoli‘s Jackson Triggs Entourage Grand Reserve Brut 2011, Méthode Traditionnelle, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (234161, $24.95, WineAlign) happened in the blink of a transmogrifying eye. A Sparkler or four, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir or six and some quick tasting note scribbles later we were seated at a ridiculously long harvest table beneath the arbour and ready for dinner.
The vines of Trius Estates at Hillebrand
Winemakers and from several Niagara wineries were on hand to join us at Trius. J-L Groux (Stratus), Arthur Harder (Westcott), Adam Pearce (Two Sisters), Ann Sperling (Southbrook), Kent Macdonald (Henry of Pelham) and Marco Piccoli (Jackson Triggs) extrapolated on the passion of their work, in their wines and for Niagara as a community. Four courses and fourteen wines were touched, nosed, tasted and assessed. But for the Trius and by extension Peller staff, ushered by the grace of uncompromising and unparalleled generosity at the hands of Magdalena Kaiser and Joanna Muratori from Wine Country Ontario, this was an event to commit to heart and to memory. On a very personal note that night now belongs and rests in reminiscence within this log.
WineAlign team at Trius
Peller Estates
Signature Series Sauvignon Blanc 2013, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (405043, $24.95, WineAlign)
The 2013 Signature Sauvignon Blanc carries forth from the ripe, mature, oxidative and intensely flavourful 2012. This next vintage cements the full-on style, even while it candies the fruit, seemingly in reaction to temperatures and precipitation that came and went with inconsistent extremes. There is a kid in a candy store, multi-coloured ribbon of taffy sensation, curiously antithetical to the rusty, yeasty, platinum scenting elixir. The effects of barrel fermentation (80 per cent) and concrete egg fermenter (20) dispatch has this Sauvignon stretching, pulling and elastically boomeranging about the glass. Magnetic to be sure, not always a success, but encouraged. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted June 2015 @PellerVQA
Soubrook Whimsy! Orange 2014 and Westcott Vineyards Violette Sparkling
Winemaker Arthur Harder makes no bones, excuses or sets the goals too lofty in this second Lillia’s unplugged. “What you get is what you get,” from seven year-old estate, pristine fruit in 2013. Infrequent but texture stirring lees has mottled the nose with glycerin and avoirdupois while bottling early in the spring in advance of warm days has locked in freshness. Expression arrives by way of herbiage and lime. Continues where ’12 left off, further akin of Chablis. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted June 2015 @WestcottWines
Like the aviatrix muse Violette, the inaugural Westcott sparkler is pioneering and flies out of the glass. Made in the Charmat method at Vieni Estate where bubbles are quickly becoming a thing, this is from the 2012 vintage, though it is not noted on the bottle. Come down from the high horse and embrace the nascent, lambent breezes of Violette. After all, texture is rarely negotiated in Charmat as it is in this lemon concentrated fizz. It finishes with a dash of good bitters. In these respects the Violette has earned her wings. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted June 2015
The barrel fermented and aged Estate Chardonnay spent 12 months in two-thirds new and one-third second fill wood. Lees stirring is slightly increased as compared to the unplugged. Again, it’s about aromatic intensity leading the way to palate density. By the sounds of Westcott’s comments “we’re pleased with its remarkable irony — dry and sturdy, yet creamy and rather curvy,” you might think the team was stirring with impunity. Not so. The Estate Chard does the dance of mild spice and butter on toast to reach a texture that would appease savages. Unavoidable and typical low yields from the Vinemount Ridge picked at the right moment and handled with caring tabula rasa are the spirit in this wine. Delightful and charming. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2015
Once again, from the challenging and commercially impaired soils of the Vinemount Ridge, a wine of richness, layering, intellect and intrigue. Riesling and Cabernet Franc are the axiomatic varieties to speak of the Ridge’s terroir but this Westcott reinforces the Pinot habitation, defined by Tawse (Quarry Road, Lauritzen and Laidlaw), now complimented by Big Head, Le Clos Jordanne, Vieni and Westcott. Natural soil given tendencies to ferric aridity, spice and limestone silk fill this Harder composition, softened by the warmth of the vintage. Concentration talks, a touch of VA walks and expected tannic grip secures the lustrous, dark cherry fruit. This is a stygian version of a VR Pinot Noir with tones that go for big and structure that supports the hyperbole. It should not be ignored. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted June 2015
Ontario asparagus and hot smoked salmon
Stratus Vineyards
Tempranillo 2012, Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $42.00, WineAlign)
In 2012 the J-L Groux take on the expatriate Spaniard is warm, rich, cake-driven and yet balanced in ways the 2010 was unable to exhort. This vintage appeases Groux’s ends of the earth search for aromatics, picking on them, executing vinification to encourage them and barrel-aging for the purpose of cementing them. The 2012 is an aromatic success. It exudes red fruit, flowers, baker’s kitchens and wet Niagara on the Lake earth. This is a clean and jerk Tempranillo, a bouquet to success. The palate, mouthfeel and mellow finish return the favour of 2010 when it was noted that the variety in this place is a stretch, overweening perhaps, certainly self-effacing if admittedly short of contumelious behaviour. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted June 2015 @StratusWines
Cabernet Franc 2012, Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $38.00, WineAlign)
A Cabernet Franc of settled, harmonious tones, of oak that sets sights and heights to heah, now integrated at such an early age. The grape succeeds and bleeds an exemplary, stalwart varietal suspension within the Stratus pantheon, a sanctuary where fiddles are yet played by other outfits across the region. Cabernet Franc will increase in the Stratus red, for good measure and reason. This ’12 is simply smothered in an embarrasment of red fruit, smoky from raspy reds to plugged in currants. It is of a favour in flavour that reminds of Swedish berries, in modulated hög, though not in sweetness. Drink 2015-2021. Tasted June 2015
Beef Rib-eye and Pastrami beef shortrib
Two Sisters
Merlot 2012, VQA Niagara River, Ontario (Winery, $48.00, WineAlign)
“The river man runs, the river man runs.” With this turn a phrase and changing of a guard Merlot, winemaker Adam Pearce ushers in the new Two Sisters oeuvre, for the betterment of all. No longer over-produced yet still ambient, the ’12 sets the turntable for less oaky Sisters’ reds to come. With new barrels on the way out and older and ductile wood coming in, Bordeaux varieties in Pearce’s hands echo and play notes within notes, strum electric in mature chords, then finish with strings and saxophone brass. The 2012 is a true Niagara Riverman, adhering to intrinsic warmth and carrying with it the deep clay rich earth and a wild raspberry luxuriance. It will take seven to ten years to peel back the layers of uberty in this Noel cake Merlot from Niagara River. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted June 2015 @2SistersVine@KVH_Wine
Southbrook Vineyards
Whimsy! Orange Wine 2014, Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $34.95, WineAlign)
The post blind-tasted discovery that Ann Sperling’s Orange was in fact a 100 per cent Vidal made perfect regional sense, something expertly opined at the time by Rick Van Sickle. Having poured the natural saffronage on tap at Barque Smokehouse for two months I was curious to view it through another lens, to see it tipped from bottle. It has settled now, the acidity squeegeed and rolled out a TA point or two. What was grapefruit in demand is now grape in fruit cup. Still viably fresh, it is now pretty, accessible, settled comfortably into its skin. The verve will yet persist through this temperate time in the temporal lobe. Drink 2015-2016.
From my earlier note of December 2014:
“We’ve been waiting to do small batch, stem fermentation,” Ann Sperling tells us as we have a good look at the lustrous, foggy glass of orange-yellow colour more micro-described as either croceate or gamboge. “Now we have the infrastructure to do so.” Stems add architecture (and a preservative effect), something that is otherwise compromised in a sulphite-free wine. This nameless natural wine was biodynamically-raised, indigenously-yeasted and freed from the constraints of temperature control. No wood was used, only stainless steel and glass carboys. The orange and natural classification comes by way of the complex ebullition (closest in style to the Collio hills wines of Josko Gravner), in colour, weight, elegance and the dichotomy of skin fermentation. Sperling used acumen derived from the concept at Argentina’s Versado, where skins are employed in a similar way when making Malbec with husband Peter Gamble. This young wine is filled with terpenes and is highly, desperately aromatic. Lemon curd is up front and centre. It’s got a tart tang and at (approximately) 11.8 per cent alcohol, the gravity is impossibly beautiful. Sperling’s take is “a fair reflection on the vintage” and it’s the mouthfeel that sets it apart. What’s the varietal make up, single or a blend? If the latter, was it co-fermented? Ann will only tell us that it was harvested over a two week period in October. The big question is will it receive VQA approval. Viognier and Pinot Gris should certainly be options but I’m not aware of Southbrook ever having employed their use. Sperling’s Whimsy! Winemaker’s White uses Muscat so perhaps we could go that direction but the aromatics don’t jive. Riesling is the simplest road to take and if the Southbrook Connect Organic White 2013 is any indication, the combined effect with Vidal could certainly steer this Orange ship. But If I were made to guess, to have some fun with concept, I would suggest that it’s a blend of white and red grapes, but Southbrook does not grow Pinot Noir so that should rule out Chardonnay as well. So I conjure up a song. “Well I had a dream I stood beneath an orange sky.” With a union of grape varieties standing by. Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc feed my Spidey senses, so under the auspices of that marriage, what we might have here is an offspring, a Cabernet Sauvignon. A very natural one. An orange one.
Last tasted June 2015
Poetica Chardonnay 2011, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $49.95, WineAlign)
The 2011 has entered an uncommunicative phase though the soft tones and whispering harmony offer faint prefaces to honey and burgeoning viscocity. The next flip of the calendar will tell a story. Drink 2016-2021.
From my earlier note at Gold Medal Plates, Toronto, November 2014:
There is still a tough outer layer to crack. A poem of many stanzas has only just begun. Mute yet delicate, the stratified vineyard is the Poetica’s poetry; tight, yet forwardly futuristic towards the ephemeral and the aerified.
From my earlier note of July 2014 note:
Has integrated nicely though certainly persists as a big, lush Chardonnay. If there were splinters or sinewy bits they have melted away.
From my earlier note of May 2014:
The Poetica underwhelms at the present time, or perhaps hides in her youth. She’s a calm, buttery, mildly toasted, supportive softie and more accessible than her Sperling west coast sistren. Like a cool Chardonnay soffit hiding beneath a warm bench, the Poetica speaks not for the vintage but more for the current vineyard, a warm and hip spot in the Four Mile Creek appellation. The site remains (at least to me) understood but the unctuous aspect in texture and gathering sweetness with time in the glass will realize a richesse yet unseen. Poetica’s refrain is like “wind on the weathervane,” her tragically subdued fruit quiet, but able to travel long. Time will be the reveal, so be patient.
Last tasted June 2015
Poetica Red 2010, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $54.95, WineAlign)
At the young adult age of five the Poetica ’10 has retreated and redacted from the heat of that scorching vintage, centred itself and found balance. Gravity no longer shackles the gathering, shaped from Cabernet Sauvignon (51 per cent), Cabernet Franc (31), Merlot (15) and Petit Verdot (3). The next Poetica (2012) used PV as an adjuvant, something the 2010 would now be singing along with were they to have known then what they know now. The ’10 now heli-glides, as if hovering in kind to a set of blades on high whirl, up to where energy is effortless and tension keeps the craft afloat. More of that intensity will continue for 18 months to two years, after which the blades will loiter and wind down for a five to seven years further finale. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted June 2015 @SouthbrookWine@AnnSperling
Southbrook Vineyards Poetica Red 2010 and 2012
Poetica Red 2012, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $54.95, WineAlign)
Now that the Poetica ’12 has seen release, it of course ironically submerges into slumber. The natural palate funk, chalk, talc and clay condensed grain are the gravity while pepper-savoury aromatics catalyze the supply. Credit time with future comings out. Drink 2020-2027.
From my earlier more of December 2014:
The Poetica Red ’12, slated for a Spring 2015 release, is amazing and intriguing on many levels. But for the fact that Petit Verdot (26.5 per cent) plays such a major varietal role, what must first be declared is the disseminated learning applied to this application. The dos and don’ts of previous (only produced in) warm vintage Poetica Reds will see a shedding of those don’ts in this 2012. Ann Sperling ushers in a new era for Niagara Bordeaux assemblage and if this wine is any harbinger, others will follow suit. Here celebrates a love for the land (environment), poetry and more specifically, Canadian poets. Chief Dan George, he of North Vancouver and the Hollywood screen, penned “Words to a Grandchild.” In it he wrote, “in the midst of a land without silence, you have to make a place for yourself.” Poetica Red ’12 will have done that when viewed retrospectively, 10-15 years from now. It will have grown old, but also wise. As for now it’s brooding, melancholy even. It’s all of that and this; endemic, entrenched, crenellated, ensconced and indoctrinated with Niagara knowledge. Has a dusty, earthy, even funky poetry. More depth than many, much realized acumen and will live long. Given 30 minutes of air it showed the ribbons of classic Niagara reds. All these concepts combine to see Poetica Red ’12 not so much as huge, but with depth and complexity.
Last tasted June 2015
Thirty Bench
Small Lot Benchmark Red 2010, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula (winery, $60)
The landmark red from grit inducing Bench soils has added a splenetic pitch to its already peppery temper. Like “dry and wet ice, they both melt,” the modest Merlot plus two Cabs mix is in a frenetic, edgy place. Allow for three more years before having a new listen and taste. Drink 2018-2023.
From my earlier note of February 2014:
Indoctrinated Right Bank agglomerate built on 62 per cent Merlot, supported by equal parts Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon. Impressively warm and dusty, large, bursting berry dominated with a peppering dredge all around. So much flavour abounds, blanketed by a shaker full of vanilla spice, like “an endless ocean landing on an endless desert.” Still the Benchmark is modest, oaked (18 months) but not overly soaked, pure and in balance. The berry concentration renders it as a resident of the dark centre of the Niagara red blend universe. Last tasted June 2015 @ThirtyBench
Auspicious opening for the top end, new Trius Sparkling wine, based on Pinot Noir (70 per cent) from Four-Mile Creek (Lawrie Vineyard), with support from Pinot Meunier (30). Five is the number of years slumbering on lees, a voyage into triage to transport this singular Niagaran into the stratosphere of the region’s pantheon. Arid, toasty and slightly oxidative as per the wild ferment, Craig McDonald style. The toast is spread with a tapenade of (more) lightly toasted nuts, tarragon, morel and earth. There is a feeling of berries, void of pigment, slightly tart and very fragrant. Also the not so pungent but forest emergence of basidiomycete fungus. Delicate, complex, creamy and simultaneously, so very dry. A wine to sip at a large gathering around an antique harvest table or deep into the next decade. Drink 2015-2028. Tasted May and June 2015 @TriusWines
Ziti N. 69, sage, spinach, garlic, olive oil, reggiano
Last week there were bubbles and yesterday I gave you whites. Today five reds (well, four plus one very aromatic Rosé) from the VINTAGES, June 13th, 2015 release.
From left to right: Fielding Estate Rosé 2014, Montebuena Cuvée K P F 2012, Château Eugénie Cuvée Réservée De L’aïeul Cahors 2011, Ambra Santa Cristina In Pilli Carmignano 2011 and Louis Jadot Château Des Jacques Moulin à Vent 2011
A tree full of blossoms fills the air, with a fresh vegetal-herbal rub of vine leaves and grape skins. Aromas from vegetation determinate and indeterminate join the fray, you name it, they’re in there. Fruit notes run through strawberry, peach, rhubarb, tomato and cherry. A bowl of fresh petals adds to the al fresco potpourri. Not done there. Shoots, tender tendrils and slices of fruity flesh add a textural junction. As for the idea of Ontario Rosé, not only why not, why not this Fielding? Acidity seals in the juices and the deal. A squeeze of grapefruit and a chew on a few sections goes for the win. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015 @FieldingWinery@RichieWine
Montebuena Cuvée K P F 2012, Doca Rioja, Spain (211029, $15.95, WineAlign)
This young and taut Rioja is of the buenaza kind, giving and good-natured. From a ripe vintage, out of pure if elevated extraction. Life may sometimes be described in the old Spanish proverb “no todo el monte es orégano,” but a taste of this cherry filled Tempranillo will lift the spirits. It’s quite intense, with accents of plum and orange zest. The Montebuena is ready, willing and able. It is a fine value, a working Rioja in a permanent position to be consumed in the present. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted July 2014 and June 2015 @oenophilia1@RiojaWine
Château Eugénie Cuvée Réservée De L’aïeul Cahors 2011, Ac Southwest, France (295949, $20.95, WineAlign)
Initializes in a semi-reductive, verging on carbonic state. The miasma is excitable, especially for Cahors. The wine passes its early days in an ante-room, waiting for its life to begin. That will happen with air time or a few years of slumber, when it will drive past fennel seed and through the town of funky Calcaire. Following the brief mineral respite in a pit of alcoholic heat it will fuel up on desperate tannin, remain hot and bothered and then relax along the long lost highway into the sunset. This is Cahors mind you and a huge expression with plenty of fruit to carry it long. It’s a bit black like Barossa Shiraz but with a searing southern French mentality and a Malbec heart. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted May 2015
Ambra Santa Cristina In Pilli Carmignano 2011, Docg Tuscany, Italy (705376, $23.95, WineAlign)
You have to appreciate a good Carmignano. This developed, cured, slightly oxidized but beautifully auctioned Bordeaux varietal-augmented Sangiovese is on target. Like proper modern Rioja with ancient feelings, or Chianti Classico of same. Here Sangiovese does the right dance on the line, with so much earth, liquorice and plum, not to mention cherry. It is decidedly warm, slightly baked but there is a cool centre and intensely proportioned acidity. This Carmignano yet swells, cracks and churns. Does it soften in the end and is it too bitter or charred? No. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted May 2015
Louis Jadot Château Des Jacques Moulin à Vent 2011
Louis Jadot Château Des Jacques Moulin à Vent 2011, Ac Beaujolais, France (700187, $29.95, WineAlign)
This Moulin à Vent exhibits as much natural, yeast induced funk as Gamay has or is likely to find, potentially offend and yet ultimately please. The novel and vertiginous perfumatory experience mingles with pure fruit, namely cherry and layers of caked, hard-packed earth. This is ferric, tannic, ionically structured and filled with thick droplets that seem distilled from anthropomorphitic ability. The reducing glycerin texture and slow developed flavour makes for exciting, Cru Beaujolais. Spice, chalk, grit and an anti-commonality add to the conductive charge. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted May 2015 @ljadot@HalpernWine@DiscoverBojo
Aromatics, spice, flowers in distillate of petals, viscosity, texture and the dichotomous, symbiotic posit tug between fruit and mineral. Are these not the explorations acceded in the neverending search for estimable white wine? Here, from a deep pool agglomerated by the VINTAGES June 13th, 2015 release are those attributes found in varietal determination; in Traminer, Viognier, Pinot Bianco, Assyrtiko and Riesling.
Two Ontario stalwarts have recently been reviewed and heretofore positioned in this posting format. They both hail from the most righteous and excellent growing sub-appellation known as the Twenty Mile Bench. The Flat Rock Cellars Chardonnay 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula (681247, $18.95, WineAlign) flat-out rocks. The Jay Johnston Chardonnays “they dig a funky spiel, they’ll make some spiel.”
Rockway Vineyards Small Lot Riesling Block 150 183 2013, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $19.95, WineAlign) will become a “rock, rock, rock, rock, rock ‘n’ roll” Riesling. It just wants to have fun and get some kicks.
As for the following five old world superstars from Italy, France, Greece and Germany, well they just know a thing or two about antiquity, acumen, eccentrically distributed stresses and just doing it right. Enjoy the sunshine folks, get out there and pour some whites.
From left to right: Flat Rock Cellars Chardonnay 2012, Rockway Vineyards Small Lot Riesling Block 150 183 2013, Villanova Traminer Aromatico 2014, Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Viognier 2013, Le Monde Pinot Bianco 2013, Argyros Assyrtiko 2014 and Max Ferd. Richter Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2013
“Just as the sand made everything round, just as the tar seeps up from the ground,” this Gewürztraminer ringer is a bitter dancer, ever turning, metallic and exotic. An orange grove of aromatics, longan, lychee, mango and guava in four-part harmony, like fleet foxes, overtly tropical and melodic. A waxy skin coats the palate and herbals too, so oily, nutty, very, very nutty. Much exuberance and personality while it holds its notes and then finishes on plain, quick and painless. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted June 2015
Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Viognier 2013, Vin De Pays D’oc, France (673236, $14.95, WineAlign)
Another terrific value in Midi Viognier. Such a clash of energies and riotous expression. Floral, tangy and juicy with spice notes and quite a colossal yet composed mouthfeel. The spice recycles into the acidity and persists through a held finish. Has presence of mind and body to punch way above its weight and price. Cuts right through the crap. “The South is up but the North is down,” so here in the Midi, all is in balance. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted June 2015 @LaurentMiquel@LiffordON
Le Monde Pinot Bianco 2013, Doc Friuli Grave, Italy (372417, $16.95, WineAlign)
Really expressive Pinot Blanc that pins a direct impression and leaves behind a lingering floral elegance. While typically tangy-mettalic as per the Friuli mirror conspiracy, white wine predicament corporation, this one treks to new territory for the variety, “pour voir plus clair,” into orange blossom and lemon curd, to peach tree and crisp freshness. Viscous and juicy, piquant and on the wilder side of le monde varietal spectrum. Thievery from Friuli, of hearts and palates. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted June 2015
Every release of the Argyros Assyrtiko is like a new Greek morning. Sunspot aridity, citrus salinity and innate volcanic ability define the wine’s blinding brine and naturally occurring bitter ooze. One sip and ” can’t you hear that rooster crowing? Rabbit running down across the road.” Can you not imagine the stone crag, the whitewashed mineral cliff, the late afternoon sunshine gazing into the shimmering Aegean from an Oia perch?
The most distinct, pure and crisp expression of Assyrtiko comes from this Argyros bottle, magnified with more platinum rock bonding in ’14 than even in the previous few vintages. Exotic evolution has arrived early in this stoic and timelessly chronic Assyrtiko with dramatic fleshing, a hint of hloro tiri and ashen black sand grit. A volcanic goddess in patina hued dress, very mineral, very direct, that drives straight for the lumbar zone. Saline, full of shells and mollusc brine. Anything grilled on charcoal, of white flesh, whether porcine, foul or sea sweet will shine alongside, as it always does. Drink 2015-2019.
When a Mosel Riesling sings in a high tenor voice the impression is wheedling and the stoic, stony flint echoes from and for So2 is par for the commanding Wehlener Sonnenuhr course. The poured elemental strike causes wheezing and coughing when the wine is this young, also due to aridity and stones infiltrating every atomic pore. Yet the tropical, seemingly mature palate with blanketing creamy mango is a reminder of the impossibly, beautifully dichotomous relationship that, when gathered and surrounded by popping acidity, can only mean one thing. Classic Mosel Kabinett. This rocks and rips it up in every way, Riesling purported to “walk on out unto the sky.” Gains a little richer aspect with each pass. Never relents, taking neither breath nor break. Awesomeness from a great vineyard, with texture, a long and bitter finish. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted June 2015 @WinesofGermany@HHDImports_Wine
A Gamay Masterclass, Terroir Hospitality Symposium, May 11, 2015, Arcadian Court
The Terroir Hospitality Symposium took place on May 11, 2015 at Arcadian Court in downtown Toronto. The one day food and wine colloquium was a massive simmering feast set in sprawling fashion within an undersized, intricate urban labyrinth. Despite the frenzied and condensed action in the downtown venue, that congress merely offered a look at the tip of the proverbial Terroir iceberg. With upwards of 3o team members leading the charge, the movement left the big fat city address and trekked to set up shop at a local farm and out to the rock at the eastern outermost edge of the country. Terroir moves outwards, onwards and upwards, taking it to the fields and the oceans.
The Terroir Best Practice Culinary Mission went to St. John’s, Newfoundland from May 14th to 17th. The One Fish expedition travelled “to meet fishing industry experts, to explore and examine both the history and the current realities of an Atlantic community built on an economy of the fishing industry.” There was also “the feast that keeps on giving,” at which the Feast Ontario team was hosted at Grandview Farms in Thornbury, Ontario
Led by Founder & Chair Arlene Stein, Vice Chair & Awards Rebecca Leheup, Terroir Talk the dextrosinistral/sinistrodextral enterprise is an undertaking of the extreme variety.
Terroir is an event, a series of gatherings, a notion, a philosophy and a way of life. Its mandate is this: “Terroir Hospitality brings together innovative and creative influencers from the field of hospitality, including chefs, food and beverage experts, writers and business leaders.” It’s also not without detractors. There are some who feel it is a negative representation of the culinary and cultural scene in Toronto. That it’s “white, urban, Euro-centric. It ain’t Canada, or 2015. Not funny.”
If the list of participating speakers, chefs and winemakers had been correlated with shortsighted discrimination, ill-curated and preordained with exclusive, malice prepense, you would have been hard-pressed to get an interview with any guest who would have chosen to speak about the called-out lack of representation or narrow-minded decision-making. If the culture and the colour of the event needs to change it will do so with holistic bias and sympathy, with the right sort of urging from the global culinary and vinicultural community. If the pundits are correct, future sessions will reflect the will of the people. In 2015, the atmosphere was wholly copacetic.
The connection between food and wine is an intrinsic one. They are like chicken and egg, contrary to reason in electing which comes first. Chefs and winemakers, purveyors of the land from which their produce grows, transmuted into cuisine and fermented into wine. Facilitators of terroir, harvesting at optimum ripeness and then initiating the transmogrification with immediate haste, in urgency, to capture, lock in and bottle aroma, flavour and texture, before any chance of deterioration or spoilage.
But what the fuck is terroir? The most used word in the language of wine is in fact, terroir. Nothing else compares, comes even remotely close, or causes as much debate. Except for minerality, but those who concern themselves in the matters of ridicule, dismissal and denial ignore the fact that the opposite of fruit is simply, unequivocally and finally, incontestably, mineral.
Were the notion of terroir to be a belief as simple as “what happens in the vineyard, through environment, by geology, geography and topology, from naturally occurring elements and microbes in the soil, by air and of climate. Were it just a matter concerning “the impossible creator of perfect storms, from out of riddle and enigma,” well, then, we could all just go home. It’s much more complicated than that and real.
Most winemakers will agree, in principle, to this. “The final goal is to make the finest wines that express terroir.” Organic and biodynamic are important. Terroir is more important. But winemakers are no fools. They know that “during the grape’s life cycle, genealogy and climate shape its development. But even after it is plucked from the vine it still carries no true identity, in so far as what it will become as a wine. This is the point where nature gives way to nurture. Environment now acts as the catalyst to shape the wine’s life. Wine does not evolve because of natural selection. It evolves at the hands of the winemaker.” Anti-terroir?
At this year’s Terroir Talk Symposium, Gamay was chosen as the first wine session’s go to grape variety, to investigate both the serious and not-so serious sides of its existential weightlessness. To revel in its lithe, brightness of being and to unearth its deep roots. That we have come to a time in history where both aspects can be studied in Burgundy and in Ontario is fortuitous indeed. As a Gamay groupie, I feel blessed to be born under a good sign, at the right time.
As a reminder, it’s always the right time to be with the Gamay you love. I have been urging Ontario farmers to plant, cultivate and nurture Gamay; for winemakers to make it more and more. I made “a proclamation in favour of a great grape and one that forges signature wines out of Canadian soils. I am an ardent supporter of and a willing rider on the Gamay bandwagon, in the name of connaitre and savoir, kennen and wissen, recognition and understanding.”
It’s working. Rosewood Estates just planted it for the first time. Gamay is poured at the cellar door, at tasting events and in private gatherings all the time now. Bottom line is Gamay costs half of the price compared to Pinot Noir and Syrah and it thrives in Ontario. It can make serious Cru quality reds and even at the highest end, sell for less than $30. It has been, continues to be and will always be #GoGamayGo time in Ontario.
Moderator Chris Waters and the Gamay Masterclass panel: Jamie Drummond, Magdalena Kaiser, Martin Malivoire, Shiraz Mottiar, Bill Zacharkiw and Guillaume de Castelnau
The first Masterclass: Gamay The Next Little Thing
“The intent of the first of the three wine sessions, was meant to investigate how it performs in Ontario and elsewhere in the world.”
The Panelists:
Winemaker Guillaume de Castelnau, Chief Winemaker/Director, Château des Jacques, Louis Jadot Beaujolais (Beaujolais, France)
Vigneron Martin Malivoire (Malivore, Beamsville Bench, Ontario, Canada)
Winemaker Shiraz Mottiar (Malivoire)
Wine writer/Sommelier Bill Zacharkiw (Montreal Gazette/Wine Align, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
The Moderator: Wine writer Chris Waters (Vines Magazine/Intervin, Ontario, Canada)
To many, Gamay is a wonderful drug and though much maligned, its suitors and supporters can never tire of its freshness and its lightness of being. Moderator Chris Waters refers to Gamay as “a gateway grape, to transition drinkers from white to red wine.” In a world according to Guillaume de Castelnau, “Gamay is lazy, generous and fragile.” Bill Zacharkiw minces nothing, not words, nor feelings. “I love Beaujolais.” In the Terroir Master Class, there were 13 variations on Gamay, from semi-carbonic to old and baked, with many shades, hues, intensities and variations in between. Here are my notes.
Shiraz Mottiar refers to the young, Beaujolais impressionist as “Sammy Carbono,” a semi-carbonically macerated Gamay, with one foot in Nouveau and the other in a dusty, freshly spirited aromatic whirl. The tanky feel makes it accesibly gulpable. Like a leaping horse it is also twitchy, hopping in dressage, popping in the mouth. Fun if beside the point. Drink 2015. Tasted May 2015
Malivoire M2 Small Lot Gamay 2013, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $19.95, WineAlign)
A month later the pepper runs from white to black, by way of red. Terrific sour edged fruit. Strawberry and cranberry tied together by citrus. Will need two years minimum to fully integrate.
From my earlier note of April 2015:
The profundity of tart, keen, briny berries dilates in its own very useful layers of citrus, tannin and concentration, beyond even what was observed in 2012. The zesty, spritely argot resonates from the unfurling of floral essentia out of a Gamay in desperate need of time. The flavours and overlay are somewhat impenetrable and yet leave quite an impression. While patience might be the virtue and the reward, if #gogamaygo is the modus operandi, a swig from the bottle like gentlemen of the road is certainly not out of the question. Drink 2016-2021.
Last tasted May 2015
Leaning Post Gamay 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $25.00)
A year has clarified the must into a venerable, beneficial decay, like effulgent, liquid rust. The shine of antiquity and then a blast of cinnamon dominates for the first major swirl. So lithe and profound like wise Pinot Noir, minus the Niagara coat of arms and lacquered veneer. Whatever anxiety may have held down the brightness has eased to deliver this current, optimum drinking window. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted May 2015
From my earlier (tank sample) note of May 2014:
Guiltless and virtuous straight out of stainless, the meaty side of Gamay game boldly goes where few from the Bench have gone before. Like a rare venison steak sitting in a silky pool of lavender-scented demi-glace. Floral like Fleurie and despite zero new oak, vanilla joins the gravy. A Senchuk steal of quality Wismer (McLeary…sort of) fruit sets this Gamay up for easy sell success.
Time has been a friend to the ’13 Fielding Gamay, a wine who’s elevated tones of floral fruit and acidity have settled in the name of structure. Dusty ground nubbins and mint swirl with layered if yet rigid fruit. Low-cropped vines are on display, in single-vineyard like attention to specific detail, akin to Malivoire’s Courtney. This is in fact sourced from a single-vineyard up on the cool Vinemount Ridge sub-appellation. The site is a couple of kilometres south of Peninsula Ridge’s McNally Vineyard, the source of Ilya Senchuk’s terrific Leaning Post 2012 Pinot Noir. The Procyshyn family has been farming this plot (without fanfare) for decades in Beamsville. The pristine fruit that Theo and Shelley Procyshyn grow, along with their three sons, Nolan, Dalton and Brayden, yield as low as 1.5 tonnes and up to 3.5 tonnes per acre, depending on the year. The ’13 was around 3 t/a. Fielding has never labelled this Gamay ‘single vineyard’ because they have always hoped to bring in new Gamay blocks on as part of that wine, but that’s not yet worked out. The ’13 is very, very red raspberry, with a craggy, spiked point of liqueur, like a weeping peak upon that Vinemount Ridge in the afternoon sun. Has Beamsville’s upper reaches written all over its corporeal self. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015
13th Street “Sandstone” Gamay 2013, VQA Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $19.95, WineAlign)
May just be the first Gamay with a simulacrum towards a style best described as appassimento, what with the overripe fruit, aromatic cure, baked and sun-dried flavours. Sniff the confluence of black raspberry, scorched earth and roasting game bones, its sinew crackling over humid old growth wood. Gets rich into the vanilla, reeking of late harvest lavender and then a mutton funk. Could easily pass for a wealthy, unforgiving style of Cru Beaujolais, like Chénas from Christophe Pacalet. Or it could just be acting older than its age, by seven or eight years. Most prepossessing and confounding Gamay. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted May 2015
Stratus Gamay 2012, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $29.00, WineAlign)
Esteem elevated by structure, matched in poise and presence mottled in smears of darker, richer black cherry. If a slight absence of brightness is sensed due to the syrupy compression, like New World, west coast Pinot Noir, the gleaning from acidity and tannin times perfectly the effluent escape.
From my earlier note of April 2015:
It may not be the most idiosyncratic Gamay in Niagara but the Stratus 2012 is without a doubt the most advanced and complex. Gamay fusion is on display, at once a bottle of Niagara’s finest pulchritudinous veneer and then a charcuterie board laid ample with cured bovine parts and sun-dried grapes. Maximum ripeness and then even later picking, to no one’s surprise, have led to this. Two years of ageing in neutral oak barrels has brought about a humid roundness and yet the centre is controlled by Oz-like mint and eucalyptus notes. The jam is gelid, as opposed to temperate. Rarely does Gamay go to such depths, of blackberry, chalk and grain, with an overlord of tannin. Quite serious stuff. Drink 2017-2020.
Last tasted May 2015
Château-De-Jacques and Malivoire Courtney in the Gamay Masterclass
Château-De-Jacques Morgon 2013, Ac Beaujolais, France (653584, $24.95, WineAlign)
The flushed scarlet animation is active and astir, like a soft serve swirl of dusty, cherry molasses, bathing in its own natural acidity. Has the presence of wine to integrate chalk, grain and Morgon tannin, in equal, opposite and variegated layers. Nothing shy about this gateway Cru Beaujolais. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted May 2015
Château-De-Jacques Morgon Côte du Py 2013, Ac Beaujolais, France (Agent, $53.95)
In this rigid and stoic Morgon, the south-facing, blue volcanic slopes of the Côte du Py have provided a measure of firm fruit that will require a minimum two to three years to crack. The gears of the Gamay machinery may be grinding but the windows are yet open, the doors locked tight. This is the least forward, most inwardly introspective and least gregarious of the CdJ Beaujolais. Sharp sapidity, biting tang and piercing penetrating tannin deny immediate or even short-term access. Even the middle palate seems lifeless, devoid of cherry fruit and seamless layering, medicinal even. Judgement should be reserved, with knowledge of pedigree and how a bottle such as this will suddenly, effortlessly spring to life with time. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted May 2015
Château-De-Jacques Moulin a Vent 2010,Ac Beaujolais, France (Agent, $36.95)
The undergraduate’s blend comes from the appellation’s Château des Jacques parcels; Carquelin, Rochegrès, Champ de Cour, Thorins and La Roche. Granite soils from each spice with symptomatic diversification and combine for a flippant funk that hitches straightforward out of the gate. Here Gamay leaves dusty behind with an urging away from humble and towards nobility. Richly aromatic, amplifying into palate. Such acidity and such grain. For this MaV the time is now, the arrival already announced. A late sense of veneer on the lengthy bitter finish indicates more good times ahead. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted May 2015<
Château-De-Jacques Moulin a Vent Clos de Rochegres 2010,Ac Beaujolais, France (Agent, $44.95, WineAlign)
From the appellation’s highest parcel, the red sandstone soils of the Clos de Rochegrès are gently sloping and fed by underground streams. I always sense salinity and an effusive, stony energy in wines blessed with subterranean irrigation. The drinking window for this 2010 is wide open and the funk meets age introduction has been made. Already in display of a dried fruit shrivel, the ’10 acts like Sangiovese of a similar senescence, like CCR or Vino Nobile with three to five years of age. The liqueur of roses, the earth and the cherries are culpable and yet the varnish and the baking spice crusting ensure that no one conclusion can yet be made. This is highly seasoned and not quite unfurled Gamay. Two more years should complete its conditioning. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted May 2015
Château-De-Jacques Moulin a Vent Clos de Rochegres 2007,Ac Beaujolais, France (Agent, $43.95, WineAlign)
Poured from a magnum, the 2007 Clos de Rochgeres is the portal in which to peer, to see what can happen with Gamay. Baked, caked, figgy, funky and oxidative, more than ample fruit was present and persists, with the savoury edges now integrated throughout. Strawberry rhubarb pie comes to mind, with eyes closed and sniffing senses heightened. A bit indelicate, the humidity in tomato leaf and garrigue add to the idea of age though the citric punch and lactic texture are reminders of Gamay’s fun side. There is no shortage of complexity and evolution here. That said, consumption time is now. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted May 2015
The wow aromatics can’t be denied, fully explained nor perfunctorily taken for granted. Age has educated the fruit, stratified and fully saturated this Gamay. Strawberries have shot from an adrenaline cannon and structure has been fully realized with (non-Gamay) Old World confidence. A note of orange blossom, like an early evening Sevilla garden, is rousing. The natural evolve of such a Gamay, with wood, yeast and fruit in expert harmony, recalls the impossible acts of red wines like those made by Emidio Pepe. If the stretch is considered a conceit of poetic licence, so be it. The yet beating heart of raging acidity circling plenteous fruit and so much savour is nothing short of a Gamay miracle. Power and masculinity, by way of a conduit in oak, have been used to great advantage. This has life yet to live. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted May 2015
Château-De-Jacques Morgon Côte du Py 2006,Ac Beaujolais, France (Agent, $53.95)
Seamless and eminently structured, developed low and slow. The blue volcanic soil has procured an evolutionary subsumption, a roasted, developed personality. The seeping liquor oozes, of earthy cherries, again like Sangiovese, but inelastic and close-grained, as per the Côte du Py idiom. This ’06 offers clarity and gives reason to forgive the brutal ’13, to abstain for commenting further. This wine is quite ferric and still tannic. The oak remains a factor. Through the walls the Gamay fruit does transude and so the master plan is coming into effect, perhaps not immediately but will be very soon. Just around the corner. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted May 2015
Moderator Sara d’Amato and the Terroir Masterclass panel: Magdalena Kaiser, Dr. Jim Willwerth, Emma Garner, Stuart Piggott and Dr. Kevin Pogue
The second Masterclass: A Different Look At Terroir: How Much Do Soils Actually Matter?
“In this seminar/tasting we ask what the term really means, and how much do its many different elements actually influence the character of the finished wine?”
The Panelists:
Dr. Kevin Pogue Phd. Geology, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington State, USA
Dr. Jim Willwerth Phd. Biological Sciences: Plant Sciences; Oenology and Viticulture (CCOVI, Brock University, Niagara, Canada)
Winemaker Emma Garner (Thirty Bench, Beamsville Bench, Ontario, Canada)
Winewriter Stuart Pigott (Author of Riesling: Best White Wine On Earth, Berlin, Germany)
The Moderator: Wine writer/Sommelier Sara d’Amato (Wine Align, Toronto, Canada)
Dr. Willwerth offered up his opinion on how minerality is achieved in Riesling. “If you don’t get maturity in the variety at the end of the growing season, you won’t get the full expression of minerality. Overripe will eliminate minerality.” In Ontario, “The Bench is home to a mineral wealth of local Riesling, singular in composition not only by way of a global comparison, but also from plot to plot, soil to soil and vineyard to vineyard.” That persuasion has spread, down to the shores of Lake Ontario, by Niagara-on-the-Lake and in Prince Edward County. “Riesling brokers the nescient consumer with the gift of grape enlightenment.”
Seven Ontario Rieslings were tasted in the Masterclass. The notes.
This is Cave Spring’s bridge, offering safe passage from Estate to CSV Riesling. Vinified with consistency in a quasi-Kabinett style, its elevated though classic numbers steadfast in sugar (17.55 g/L) and acidity (7.2 g/L TA). The dolomite limestone of the Escarpment means business in this calm, fit, chiseled and consumer-lissome Riesling. Palate is really the thing, seamless to attraction, from fruit to stone. Orchards and citrus groves alight to rock. Phenolically ripe yet shy of the tropical planet. Is there transference here? Absolutely. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted May 2015
Château Des Charmes Old Vines Riesling 2013, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (277228, $16.95, WineAlign)
The happy place effect by age in the Château Des Charmes’ vines coupled with location is usually enough to carry this Riesling through an obvious and readily identifiable tunnel but 2013 confounds. The elemental ratio, derived from multiplying reduction by altitude leans thoughts to the Vinemount Ridge or the Cave Spring Escarpment Vineyard. The compound aromatic waft, or more succinctly, the deconstructed stone, the breaking down of periodic Hollywood squares is a force to reckon. That this arrives from such close proximity to the lake is nothing short of amazing. It’s as if this Riesling is the product of stressed vines and the pierce is just so pinpointed. Less accessible than ’12 for sure, so drink up previous vintages going back at least three before even thinking about getting to know 2013. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted May 2015
Norman Hardie Riesling 2014, Prince Edward County, Ontario (Tank Sample)
At this prepossessed stage the terpenic fruit might fail in competition but succeed in the marketplace. Easy access, smelling of perfumed must, juicy, with citrus and burgeoning acidity. Low alcohol and good length stretch out an endless lemon summer. The wine will reverse itself within a year and beat impossible odds. A Hardie always does. Tasted May 2015
Thirty Bench Riesling Small Lot Triangle Vineyard 2009, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)
The brilliant hue slides through patina and heads for gold. Some fumes have emerged with age, part petrol, part pure mineral, but of what kind and more importantly how, or why? Viscous, near oily, waxy and the most Glück of the three Thirty Bench single-vineyard Rieslings. Tossed with spice, pepper, lemon and honey that is more molasses than clover. The mineral is a result of the lowest water retentive soil as compared to Steel Post and Wood Post. The transmission for (orchard or tropical) fruit is minimized, the vigour low. The result is mineral. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted May 2015
Thirty Bench Riesling Small Lot Steel Post Vineyard 2009, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)
Balance is and therefore always was struck. The match percusses flint for a mere nano-second, with just a brush on cymbal, the rock bleeds but is quickly clotted because the fruit shines still, like around the clock light. The steely aspect is a posterior one, antithetical and yet purposed, from this vineyard. Youth tells common sense to think 2011. The Riesling behaviour seems to play that part, of a chalky, piercing acidity, so typical of that vintage and so distinctly Thirty Bench. That the wine is older is not a big surprise because 2009 is the bomb. It may just be the best Riesling vintage, from on that Bench, in the last 10. Drink 2015-2025. Tasted May 2015
Thirty Bench Riesling Small Lot Wood Post Vineyard 2009, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)
Age is a factor but less so than its Bench sisters due to a fine sense of calm. Showing less evolution, less viscosity, less wax and honey. More than that, the periodic table has yet to fill in. The Wood Post exhibits more warmth, savour and balm. A taste offers a sapidity that combines toasted fennel and candied lemon. Poised and yet incomplete, the vineyard fetters this Riesling to breath slowly and take its (will get to) sweet time. Drink 2017-2027. Tasted May 2015
Going back a few years, this Flat Rock Weis 21 clone Riesling from atop the Niagara Escarpment was made by former winemaker Ross Wise. Six years has concentrated both aromas and flavours while concurrently reducing the cutting drill. The hyperbole is read by tablet, of etchings in stone, immortalizing the terroir (not so) long before it was truly known how this could happen. What sticks out the most is the bleeding limestone texture and the striking aridity. Later vintages of Nadja improve on the flesh. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015
Clone Wars Masterclass
The third Masterclass: “The Clone Wars”: What Do Different Clones Bring To The Glass & Why?
“Looks at Riesling, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir. The varying clones utilized are a point of pride for some winemakers, and yet not even mentioned by others. Over the course of this detailed seminar/tasting we hope to answer why this is the case.”
The Panelists:
Dr. Kevin Pogue Phd. Geology Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington State, USA
Dr. Jim Willwerth Phd. Biological Sciences: Plant Sciences; Oenology and Viticulture (CCOVI, Brock University, Niagara, Canada)
Winemaker Jay Johnston (Flat Rock, Beamsville Bench, Ontario, Canada)
The Moderator: Sommelier Katy Moore (Langdon Hall, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada)
Dr. Jim Willwerth asserts that “clones are essential for viticulture, propagated asexually, through cuttings.” Angelo Pavan notes “clonal research to cold heartiness is very important for Niagara and also for yields.” Clones no doubt drive the industry, at least behind the scenes, but when it comes to making great wine, is it the be all, end all? “I still believe plot trumps clone,” says Jay Johnston. The defence rests. Here are the wines tasted in the final Masterclass.
Clone Wars Masterclass line-up
Greenlane Riesling Old Vines 2011, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (351486, $21.95, WineAlign)
While aridity suggests Alsace Clone 49, this is actually Weiss 21, made saline and arid out of Lincoln Lakeshore soil. The herbal aspect has propagated to combine with Twenty Bench like distinction and with less citrus than Vinemount Ridge or Beamsville Bench. The Mosel density has developed with time in bottle. Drink 2015-2019.
From my earlier note of October 2013:
Cracks the mineral whip, froths lime into foam and atomizes stone fruit into sweet and sour heaven. Wants to be semi-dry but never quite goes there. Walks a fine line, a tightrope actually. Up there with Charles Baker and Thirty Bench for sheer madness.
Last tasted May 2015
Trius Winery At Hillebrand Showcase Riesling Ghost Creek Vineyard 2013, VQA Four Mile Creek, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)
The Ghost Creek Riesling comes from the shadow of a river bed vineyard planted to the Alsace clone 49. The fruit is much richer than most, coupled with the aridity and salinity that former stony wadi plots and this particular clone will conspire to effect. The citrus intensity is however tempered by a humidity that comes from seemingly sunburnt fruit, tanned and wet down by the revenant reservoir. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015
Produced from the 77 clone, the vintage has heightened the high herbal and feigned sweetness aromatic pastis. The palate is extraordinarily viscous, with Yellow Muscat and Gewürztraminer attributes, not so out of the ordinary considering Cave Spring’s older world execution. Drives from lemon to mandarin, through almond pit and into peach. Always solid Musqué. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015
In the hands of winemaker Kevin Panagapka, Craig Wismer’s fruit retains un underlay of power not recognized in other Foxcroft Chardonnays. Neither Thomas Bachelder nor Ross Wise (Keint-He) make anything near spirited as this 2027 take. Chardonnay loves the sun in the Foxcroft Block and Panagapka loves to see that sun hook up with the inside of a barrel. This ’12 makes a nice date for a wood wedding. A product of the Dijon 96 clone, the reduction in this Chardonnay drives its fresh, spritely if mettlesome nature, with a bark and a barrel bellow, but longevity will not suffer as a result. This could take 30 years to oxidize, it’s that audacious and also courageous. Let it and its buttered popcorn rest a while. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted May 2015
When it comes to clones, winemaker Shiraz Mottiar distills the Moira Vineyard into the realm of “field selection.” Not to be confused with field blend though I suppose that’s what it is, of sorts. The ’13 is the dictionary entry for Moira, typically balanced, from pedigree, in warmth, amiability, gathered and distributed, from acumen and confidence, to customary placement. Fruit and acidity relax on a sofa of equilibrium, taking little in the way of risks, making no mistakes. Reduction isn’t even a twinkle in its fresh versus oxidative eye. The vintage and the handling purports to throw infantile, developed and matured into one big machine for a readout that grants immediate gratification. Exemplary take on cool-climate, Niagara Peninsula, slightly warmer Beamsville Bench Chardonnay proper. Not for the long-term. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted May 2015
Assessed blind it smells just like the Flat Rock’s Gravity Pinot Noir yet singled out in fractions. Here the mellifluent block, of sweet crooning fruit, careening and submissive to Siamese brother triplet Summit’s tension.
From my earlier note of October 2013:
Crosses the twain between Bruce and Summit. A cottony touch, most pronounced perfume and of the three, the lowest acidity. Mellow, easy, J.J. Cale peaceful, void of chalk, grain or angst. Speaks in a cherry voice, smells like cherry and returns that cherry to taste. Ripe and soft. “Sweet as a morning sunrise, fresh as a mountain dew.”
The most perfumed and yes, Burgundian of the three blocks, the Pommard in the group. Still limestone chalky and gaining weight. This is a single-block wine to me made again.From my earlier note of October 2013:This block’s base is slightly deeper, spreading over dolomite limestone. Diminished average temperatures mean berries develop lower and slower, hang longer (up to three weeks) resulting in higher phenolic ripeness. Summit may be the caveman of the three, seemingly in dire straits, covered in leaves, snapped twigs, truffles and porcini mushroom but damn if impossible Burgundy does not come to mind. This is one to ask where do you think you’re going? It will surely reply, “if you ain’t with me girl, you’re gonna be without me.”Last tasted May 2015
Flat Rock Pinot Noir Bruce Block 2011, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)
The light and delicate place translates to hue, texture and ultimately elegance. Yet there persists an underlying anxiety, essential for gravity.
From my earlier note of October 2013:
From the northern most block, up at the Escarpment/Bruce trail. Thin, one foot deep soil meshes flaky limestone at this elevation. Smallish berries predominate and an earthly mote accents the flowers, cherries, strawberry and classic purity of this bonny Bruce. A Oregonian lightness of being, if you will. From one of the few south-facing slopes in Niagara (because of 20 Mile Creek), where the limestone chalk imparts fine-grained tannin so apparent to taste.
Roast Pork Belly, red wine, soy, cassia, star anise, sichuan peppercorn, clove, ginger, garlic
The architecture behind the June 13th VINTAGES release is predicated on many a premise but the cover girl and centre of bubbling attention is Sparkling wine. For this I applaud with as much robust positivity in prejudice as I can afford. The ad nauseam used adage “Sparkling wine goes with everything” is actually ad hoc, meaning it is always the solution, no matter the situation.
That VINTAGES has chosen to put fizz in the spotlight at this juncture is nothing short of brilliant. Yes, brilliant. It’s inconspicuous and dubious (incommensurate to December) and so appropriate (unlike the dead of February winter). Think about it. Father’s Day, on the verge of summer, sitting on decks, patios and porches. Grilling sea-swimming creatures, eating snacks and tapas, enjoying the warmth of life. All these roads lead to bubbles.
The JC Penney VINTAGES catalogue will have you believe that Sparkling is a remarkable entity and that it goes with all these things; lunch, casual dinner, snacks, summer days and evenings, date night, week night, the cottage, weekend brunch and a formal evening. And that would be entirely correct. The catalogue rolls out 20 variations this weekend. I’ve tasted them all and here are the seven to pop, pour and elevate your game.
From left to right: Pierre Sparr Brut Rosé Crémant d’Alsace, Tawse Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling Sparkling 2013, Jackson Triggs Entourage Grand Reserve Brut 2011, Josef Chromy Tasmanian Cuvée, Méthode Traditionnelle, Trius Showcase 5 Blanc De Noirs 2009, D. Henriet Bazin Carte D’or 1er Cru Brut Champagne 2007 and Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut Champagne
Pierre Sparr Brut Rosé Crémant d’Alsace, Méthode Traditionnelle, Ac Alsace, France (39016, $17.95, WineAlign)
Graceful and pink lithe, like cold smoked salmon, delightful Pinot Noir Rosé fizz. Nothing earth shattering, breath-taking or barrier breaking, just well made blush bubbles. The structure and balance are really spot on. Finishes strong and with confidence. Helps to define this genre of Crémant’s creamy texture, matched in contrast by its stony, flinty and mineral style. Tasted November 2014 @ProfileWineGrp
Only a year and in conjunction with an improved Sparkling wine vintage for Riesling, short work has elevated the young Spark’s game. A repeat lees performance initiates the conversation, of cheese melted overtop composite laminate, with yeast burgeoning about. In 2013 the concrete crispness is cemented deeper, etched into stone and thus completing the sub-$20 legacy. That winemaker Paul Pender can coax Riesling character, striking Sparkling wine resolve and yet hover in the air of litheness, well, this is the kneading. Silty, salty earth and soft transitions to citrus acidity are a requiem for success as per the Twenty Mile Bench/Limestone ridges vouchsafe common. Can even imagine a bit of time turning this into sparks and honey. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted May 2015 @Tawse_Winery@Paul_Pender
Jackson Triggs Entourage Grand Reserve Brut 2011, Méthode Classique, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (234161, $22.95, WineAlign)
This is a very effective bottle of bubbles, consistently produced, vintage after vintage. Some reserve on the nose, notable in its pear and yeasty aromas. Crunchy feel for fizz with a replay in flavour much like prickly pear and the tropical esters of yeast. Really good length. Simply well made. Tasted November 2014 @Jackson_Triggs
Jackson Triggs Entourage Grand Reserve Brut 2011, Josef Chromy Tasmanian Cuvée and Tawse Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling Sparkling 2013
Josef Chromy Tasmanian Cuvée, Méthode Traditionnelle, Tasmania, Australia (409102, $28.95, WineAlign)
Obvious and exemplary cool-climate Sparkling wine, traditionally swayed out of Tasmania where bubbles are meant to be. Composed of northern Tasmanian (Relbia) Estate fruit, of Pinot Noir (67 per cent) and Chardonnay (33). Classic numbers (12.0 per cent alcohol, 7.2 g/l acidity and a pH of 2.91) with 18 months on the lees and triaged with no malolactic fermentation. The result is a stoic and aerified expression, to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, gently toasty and of an aridity that tricks, foils and emanates sweetness. Sharp, tacking and grooved in acidity grippy enough to firmly grasp the frozen, suspended finish. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted May 2015 @JosefChromy@bwwines
Auspicious opening for the top end, new Trius Sparkling wine, based on Pinot Noir (70 per cent) from Four-Mile Creek (Lawrie Vineyard), with support from Pinot Meunier (30). Five is the number of years slumbering on lees, a voyage into triage to transport this singular Niagaran into the stratosphere of the region’s pantheon. Arid, toasty and slightly oxidative as per the wild ferment, Craig McDonald style. The toast is spread with a tapenade of (more) lightly toasted nuts, tarragon, morel and earth. There is a feeling of berries, void of pigment, slightly tart and very fragrant. Also the not so pungent but forest emergence of basidiomycete fungus. Delicate, complex, creamy and simultaneously, so very dry. A wine to sip at a large gathering around an antique harvest table or deep into the next decade. Drink 2015-2028. Tasted May 2015 @TriusWines
Henriet Bazin Champagne 2007
D. Henriet Bazin Carte D’or 1er Cru Brut Champagne 2007, Ac, Champagne, France (415596, $57.95, WineAlign)
In the realm of Champagne theory, this vintage-dated fizz plays a role of the belletristic kind. The characteristic rhetoric of style; beauty, sublimity and propriety all contribute to the old-school way. Composed of 60 per cent Grand Cru Pinot Noir and 40 lieu-dit-esque Chardonnay, from an early bud break (beginning of March) and picked vintage (early September). Has body and depth of fruit, humanistic stratification, density and compression. Bitterly, properly oxidized and rampant in acidity, offering a dance on the back tongue, of paralysis, palaver and paradox. Concentrated and imposing, far from the delicate or easy-going modern Champagne. Has guts and determination, risk-rapport, esteem and respect for vintage dated bubbles. Drink 2015-2022. Tasted May 2015
Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut Champagne, Champagne, France (384529, $73.95, WineAlign)
As direct, elegant and pinpoint accurate as ever. The ever so faint oxidative lean is uncompromising with a floating sachet of ginger, mace, absorbing toasted biscuit and caper brine. From phite to sweet crouton. Composed of 85 per cent Grand and 15 Premier Cru fruit from all over Champagne.
From my earlier note of October 2014:
A wine of social heredity, the Bollinger is tranquilized, entreated and centered by meditation. An arid, atomic and piercing Bollinger. Fine and misty, with ultra-classic subtlety, a living, breathing embodiment of a beloved house style. Exotic to a degree, these are bubbles in colourful pageantry, the Bollywood of Champagne, in grace, of flowing robes, hues in ochre and pastels, flowing like song and dance. There are beautiful bitter tonics on the finish. How can you not admire and be entranced by this style? What’s not to like?
For those keeping score at home, that’s tomorrow, the next stop on the perpetual and seemingly infinite VINTAGES release calendar. The usual varietal suspects dominate the scene; Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling, along with one well-made and even better priced Cabernet duo.
The eight wines available are of the mortar in bricks variety, further examples of the cement that binds and fortifies the overall depth and ubiquitous quality of Ontario wine. Forget about bad winters, spring frosts and storm clouds raging from LENS, through Niagara and east to PEC. The industry accepts the challenge for a constant and progressive study, from synoptic, to panoptic and into omnoptic surveillance.
The future’s so bright I’ve got to wear shades. This weekend I’ll start the rest of my Ontario wine journey with these eight VINTAGES releases. My notes are here and as always, with scores in tow, published over at WineAlign.
From left to right: Lailey Unoaked Chardonnay 2013, Peninsula Ridge Beal Vineyards Inox Reserve Chardonnay 2013, Redstone Limestone Vineyard South Riesling 2012 and Redstone Cabernet 2012
Derek Barnett’s 2013 unplugged delivers wattage and punch, from freshness and fruit. Epitomizes what oak-less Chardonnay must be, exemplifying the entire side by each association, orchard fruit claim, from apples to white peach. This is fashioned from the highest, cleanest quality fruit, that much is obvious. A river runs rushing through it, pumping even more energy, carrying mineral silt and at the tail, a soluble nori finish. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015 @laileywinemakr
The Beal Vineyard and Peninsula Ridge team up to offer Ontario yet another stellar oak-less, acier inoxydable, stainless steel INOX Chardonnay. The vintage and the treatment conjoin in a symbiotic palooza to judiciously and generously woo the unoaked Chardonnay convert. For the warm weather, butter happy friend in search of fresh Bench fruit, look no further, deeper or inside the toasty staves of the barrel. This delivers on the promise of fresh, crisp white wine, as a stand in for what used to be and is no more. The consistency of quality and the life affirming energy of the vineyard are wrapped up in a no cover blanket. This just reeks of pure, unadulterated Chardonnay. Of peaches and their flesh, the pit and Ontario pears to boot. It’s a veritable, layered fruit Napolean. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted May 2015 @PeninsulaRidge
So much lime and liquid chalk make for desired and dreamy texture. The lime slides like a slick of oil into the full flavours, spiked by peach and white plum liqueur. Terrific 20 Mile value. Drink 2015-2019. @Tawse_Winery@DanielatTawse
From my earlier note of May 2014:
This inaugural Riesling foray from atop the Twenty Mile Bench out of the Limestone Vineyard is a sister to the Tawse exploration from same. The comparisons end right there. Paul Pender’s take is kinetic, frenetic and electric. Redstone winemaker Rene Van Ede tends to and lends from a reconnaissance that heralds Mosel. His first, fixed take is off-dry (in obvious ubiquity) with circular acidity. The co-agitation is early picked at low brix, with realized high residual sugar (36.4 g/L) and low alcohol (10 per cent). Toothsome, with a ying/yang, lemon/lime, push/pull. The case load is formidable for a first go ’round (1000 plus) yet paddled through limestone acreage with effortless strokes.
Part Cabernet Franc and parcel Cabernet Sauvingon, this Redstone spent 16 months in French oak. Having melded wood into savour, the plum fruit is more than up front ample, with a pepper over and a chocolate under. A fair shake of spice and insistent tannin makes for quite a bracing red mouthful, indicating needed air and age time. Like the Tawse Bordeaux-styled reds that have come before, here is yet another slice of red fruit meets the iron life. Tasted January 2015 @RedstoneWines
From left to right: Raven’s Roost Pinot Noir 2013, Creekside Estate Winery Pinot Noir Queenston Road Vineyard 2013, Hidden Bench Estate Riesling 2013 and Rosehall Run Hungry Point Pinot Noir 2013
Intrinsically Coyote’s Run as per the winemaking style from vineyards tabling edgy, twitching, spirited fruit. What the house refers to as a little side-project wine, the double R is anything but wee. It seems to express just beyond the pale of ripe and hung to soak up the humidity of a wood closet. Holds high aspirations, breathing heavily, in moisture deprivation, paratrophic and then waiting, patiently, calm and with bated breath. A striking and vivid Pinot Noir, demanding, with good bitters and rusty, red astride black earth. The middle offers mint and the length is more than good. A wholly unique style like a Niagara counterpoint to Keint-He’s Portage in Prince Edward County. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April 2015 @coyotesrun
Still the Kama Sutra Pinot Noir of inviting behaviour. Positions in aroma, taste and texture are all elastic and of an aphorism held together in intimacy. Virtuous and gracious Pinot Noir for the purpose of interaction and pleasure.
From my earlier note of January 2015:
The first made since the 2008 because of a new directional decision to hold onto and no longer forsake these exceptional Queenston Road Vineyard grapes. A wine that folds back the skyline skin of time and reveals a cloning from intimate belongings. Pinot blessed of a Dylan-esque drawl, from a comfortable and crooning time in its life. Penetrates into the QRV earth and draws out subtleties, slow food assuagement and makes no BS about its ease. Though posolutely whiffing and tasting of black cherry, it balances itself with an acerbic wit. This is what winemaker Rob Power refers to as a lay lady lay style. Partners in crime Yvonne Irving and Matt Loney concur. One sip and your partner may just lay across your “big brass bed.” You can always go back to Nashville.
Hidden Bench’s ’13 Riesling is a pure, soft-spoken and balanced reflection of her maker, winemaker Marlize Beyers. Only a month or two of lees and no stirring has brought her Riesling into this current corporeal state. Crunchy Mutsu apple, its acidity vacuuming moisture. The citrus is all flesh, void of pith and with energy that has already incorporated, disguised and covered the zest. If any Hidden Bench Riesling suggest tropical fruit, here it is and yet again, not. Can imagine it fleshing to petrol and honey in five to seven years. Drink 2015-2020. @HiddenBench
From my earlier note of September 2014:
The Estate Riesling is as vigneron-defining as any wine on the Niagara Escarpment. Hidden Bench is a 100 per cent estate-fruit operation so this Riesling is spokesperson, prolocutor, mouthpiece, champion, campaigner and advocate for the concept. The estate ’13 reaches deeper for nutrient pot sweetening, into shale and in conceit of its varied, positively cultivated terroirs. Compact and jelled, this is several steps up from most other entry-level Niagara Riesling and in fact, is really anything but. The transparency here is patent. This is Riesling that simply knows what it is; pure Bench, unequivocally real and forthright. Knows what it wants to be.
Last tasted twice in April 2015
Rosehall Run Hungry Point Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (422519, $24.95, WineAlign)
A whole lot of scenting going on in this PEC Pinot Noir, from espresso and paint to lavender, chalk and stone. The feathery shed of volatility is a welcome whiff for those who like a touch of VA. The Hungry, hungry Pinot is clear, pure and precise. It tosses a dart into the Pinot heart. More like a beef heart within its potency and virility. Only PEC makes Pinot like this and Dan Sullivan has captured the style without voracious or rapacious compromise. Nothing greedy about the treatment, just a minor covet of high-toned excellence. Drink 2016-2019. Tasted May 2015 @Rosehall_Run@sullywine
Aren’t we all? In the wake of recent frosts, a compounding ass-kicking at the hands of Mother Nature in the wake of two harsh winters, the farmers of Prince Edward County now have to work that much harder to make viable an already arduous road to growing Vinifera. I’m not so much the type to report on bad news so I leave it to my revered colleague Rick VanSickle to hand you the news. Rick does it with empathy, grace, subtlety and truth. Here is what he is telling us about vine damage in PEC.
If I was not before, with thoughts constantly streaming east to the north shores of Lake Ontario, where precarious soils sit like Buddha astride one very massive and far-stretching bed of limestone rock, at present I am a little bit County. Therefore today is the day to put some notes out on the Prince Edward County wines I tasted last month at Airship 37 in the Distillery district. The County came to town for their annual fair.
County in the City at Airship 37
WineAlignprimo scrittoreDavid Lawrason presented his PEC state of the union address via the company website last week. David touched on some integral points for growers and winemakers in the County, including the rise of Riesling and a case for increasing plantings of varieties like Chenin Blanc. The story mentions new wineries and untrodden varietal production yet when all is said and done, the best wines on his recommended list are almost exclusively produced from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Those Burgundian soils don’t really lie, do they?
What strikes me most in this retrospective look at the 40 or so wines that I tasted last month is how varieties perform once the vines have matured and their profiles becoming increasingly County in character. Maturity, wisdom and acumen are developing a condensing of Prince Edward County hyperbole. The wines are serially developing a house style and regional disposition. With each successive vintage the wines of Norman Hardie, Dan Sullivan, Jonas Newman, Frédéric Picard, Glen Symons, Bryan Rogers, Paul Battilana, Gerry Spinosa, Colin Stanners, Caroline Granger, Bruno Francois, Bill Turnbull, Dan Tweyman, Deborah Paskus (to Keith Tyers) and the late Richard Karlo (with torch passed to Milan Vujnic) leave the Burgundy comparison behind to speak a strictly PEC vernacular.
Maggie Granger with The Grange of Prince Edward County Gamay Select 2009
The voice and the news is a very good thing. The clarity of the County is glaring and vivid, leading to what David Lawrason calls “great highs to significant lows,” but yes, Lawrason is correct in saying “overall the playing field is evening out.” Prince Edward County is coming into its own, growing comfortably into its cool skin and if mother nature has any balancing to offer, the future will be bright.
A quiet, somewhat demurred aromatic hone succeeds in drawing rather than distancing curiosity. Deeper inhalation gets to the toasty, nutty crux of the cool fruit and the conclusion is valour, chivalry and generosity. Picks right up where ’12 left off if just a bit more gelid by nature. Niagara fruit (Foxcroft, Queenston and Malivoire) provide ample combined cream and lactic limestone tack with palate driving citrus bent. Takes up several lanes of breadth on the texture trek to become a distinct PEC composed Chardonnay. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April 2015
Keint He Chardonnay Portage 2013, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)
The PEC derived Portage Chardonnay goes deeper than the Niagara Voyageur, no doubt in part to roots from maturing vines that work and dig for limestone. That raison d’être is the constant yet in ’13 the expression is rounder, fleshier, enigmatic, akin or at least prompts the idea of June’s Vineyard in Niagara. Shows its oak with increased weight, fuller favour and more beneficial bitters. The minor decrease in acidity stalls the Prince Edward County mechanism and solicits earlier term consumption. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted April 2015
A year on the wilder times have settled for the early aromatics. The progression pauses at the juste milieu and gracefully glides across the palate to a similar nimble finish. Has reached the optimum condition of cool climate Chardonnay to remain in that state of pliancy for another year or two. Drink 2015-2017.
From my earlier note of February 2014:
Fruit sourced from a single Niagara block. Despite having made the yeomans voyageur trek out to the County for vinification, integrity of the Foxcroft vibe has been maintained. Freshly cored Kenyan pineapple juice poured atop oat grain in a limestone molcajete. Bottled on Sept. 15th, like all the ‘12’s. Fullish, bullish extraction and at 13.5 percent abv, this Foxcroft has been handled with Wise acumen, with more rich texture than the others. A chew of nutty, non-acidic hard pineapple comes later and this finishes with a mild-mannered, even keel feel to it, like the winemaker and the estate’s keeper.
Last tasted April 2015
Keint He Gamay Noir Voyageur 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)
From fruit sourced at Malivoire on the Beamsville Bench and from a vineyard that was lost to the ice storm of 2014. Really too bad considering the outright fresh and bright Gamay that has come forth out of this ’13. Black raspberry, at just the optimum brix fills in this shining though simple example. It has just the correct balance of tart and twinge of carbonic meets late spice. Its simplicity lies in the structure where one component concedes to the next, as opposed to layering upon one another. Very linear and immediate Gamay. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted April 2015
Quite a pretty vintage for the PEC Pinot traveller by way of Malivoire and Queenston Road in Niagara. With a spray of cola and an inside edge of liquorice root in its gait, the Peninsula Pinot has already ignited its development. The 18 months in bottle have finished designing the invitation to solicit partake in reward for prompt gratification. The world is a charming one, replete with interchangeable aromatics and flavours, replayed, rewound and woven within the fabrics. Very efficient and studious Pinot Noir. Very Pinot Noir. Drink 2015-20178. Tasted April 2015
Keint He Pinot Noir Portage 2013, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $20.00, WineAlign)
Depth of character despite the light hue and frame, a dichotomy expressed in Pinot Noir, in this vintage most akin to entry-level Bourgogne and less like its County self. Goes directly subterranean, away from fruit, if only for a spell, to a bound and binding rock cavern. Returns later, is showered by peppers and bitters, ground by tannin and grinds back down to earth. Missing are the cherries and the chocolate, replaced by wacke and substrata. Perhaps give it a year or two to settle, refine and make another call for that hermetical fruit. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2015
Keint He’s take on a single-structured Pinot Noir from the Queenston Road is highly aromatic, warmer than (by comparison, Creekside Estate’s) and yet not obscured or veiled by any discernible layer of veneer. The cool, savoury centre is the oasis offering respite from the full environmental gamut on display at the hands of sweet, sour, salty and lardy. Quite characterful, bold and cool-climate kitschy with a kinesthetic, corporeal feel. When Bryan Rogers and Ross Wise gain another level of Queenston understanding, it will not be hard to imagine a churning of something special in 2013. I’d put my money on it. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted April 2015
The Grange of Prince Edward County Gamay Select 2009, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $15.95, WineAlign)
Daughter (Maggie) convinced mother (Caroline) to let her hold back 15 cases of this County Gamay, a variety that has some difficulty sharing the sandbox with limestone. The additional five years in bottle has brought the downy fruit back from acidity’s precarious cliff edge, from the brink of piercing danger and disaster. The current state is one of conciliation and quiescence. There remains a major key of funk mind you, parliamentary even, but sniff past and the plot thickens, as does the texture. Chalky, gritty and persistently grainy, this ’09 Gamay is very much alive, like a scaling bass line supported by a rising horn section. A real fun look at the past with an eye to drive the future. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April 2015
The wines of Norman Hardie
Norman Hardie County Unfiltered Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (125310, $39.00, WineAlign)
Procuring depth in County Pinot Noir is a tough task within the constraints of resisting a temptation to reach for sugars, alcohol and dark berry fruit. Norm Hardie’s 2013 unfiltered (at 10.9 per cent) and lambent exegesis succeeds because it offers the best of all available worlds. Roots for vines that burrow to limestone develop a structure that while may have at one time been inconsistent, have crossed the threshold in ’13 to establish a guarantee. A Hardie PEC Pinot Noir can be bright and accessible. It can also be tough, tart and tannic, as it is here, again, but not without its foil. The work is now innate, the transitions seamless, the crossroads left in the dust. This wine will please two camps; those who can afford and demand immediate gratification and those who are willing to wait for secondary (two to three years) and tertiary (four to seven) character development. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted April 2015
Norman Hardie County Unfiltered Pinot Noir 2011, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (125310, $39.00, WineAlign)
The anxiety of the vintage has not left the bottle while the raging fruit and acidity battle for supremacy. The space-time-chaos continuum will perdure in this Pinot Noir of unpaired anatomical structure. Wait a further three years minimum for the azygous to drain. The heft will subside. Drink 2018-2022.
From my earlier note of March 2013:
Norman Hardie needs little introduction. He is the reason Prince Edward County Pinot will secure a place on that grape’s world stage. The 2011 vintage will go down as a classic for PEC. The tens have mass appeal, the nines turned out to be stellar but it is the elevens that gather the best of both worlds; ripeness and acidity. Stock up. Paints the County red in layered and structured brushstrokes. Ripe, bright cherry tonality in super-heightened, mesmeric sensuality. Accented by weeping rock, black earth and that cherry. Would not figure this to be Norm’s most rugged or gregarious and yet it holds more heft than it looks. Currently in a great place and will live longer than any other.
The ’12 Niagara has swapped spontaneity for coherence, licentiousness for logic. Has entered the stage of non-reductive peel, where skin is discarded, flesh is exposed and juices run free. If you like your Chardonnay settled and yet vitally fresh, now is the time to enjoy the Hardie 2012 Niagara Chardonnay. Drink 2015-2022.
From my earlier more of May 2014:
Norm’s Niagara is such a different animal to the County 2012. The warm summer and dry fall means more humidity and even more reduction. Currently cothurnal so less like Burgundy but only because there elevates the high-tones and percipience from Niagara. Texture is key but this Hardie needs time. It’s not angular but it is steroidal, injected, like a wild thing, as if the yeast were still in control, munching away even though there is no more sugar to be had. Undomesticated ’12, at heart, in spirit, out of mind. Hard to imagine there could be this much anxiety from the even-tempered vintage, but when you pick real early and keep the oak to a bare minimum, Hardie happens. Norm picked ripe fruit between September 7 and 10, six weeks ahead as compared to some years. He said the fruit had a “golden tan, ready to go.” The use of smallish 500L barrels works wonders for texture and though 40 per cent was new wood, you would never know it. Malolactic fermentation didn’t happen until late August, nearly a full year on so no sulphuring was required until that time. This is Hardie’s freshest Niagara fruit ever, from Duarte Oliveira’s farm between Victoria and Ontario Street, the same spot as Hillebrand’s Chardonnay Reserve. Terrific Beamsville Bench Chardonnay.
Last tasted April 2015
Casa Dea Gamay 2013, Huff Estates Chardonnay South Bay Vineyards 2012 and Karlo Estates Pinot Grigio 2013
Karlo Estates Pinot Grigio 2013, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $21.00, WineAlign)
The adage is so very true; a good Pinot Grigio is hard to find, just like a man. The take here is decidedly and strikingly Pinot Grigio, a flash of Friuli and a Bessie to be reckoned with. This just has that positive, smithy oxidative side, the kind that rocks and stones mixed with winemaking cause an exchange of electrons between reactants. The fruit is big, lucidly piqued by pear, but also leaning mango and jack. Quite fleshy, with schematic, scenic, natural acidity and panoramic minerality. This is about as mnemonic as it gets for Gris, or in this case Grigio, in Prince Edward County, especially considering who the buyers will be. One can only hope they intuit the condition and here’s to planning for that consumer base to expand. “Lord, a good (Pinot Grigio) is hard to find, you always get another kind.” Drink 2015-2020. Tasted April 2015
This is Glen Symon’s first Sparkling Rosé, a 100 per cent Pinot Noir from estate vineyards, refermented using the Charmat method. Intensely fizzy, in toto fruity and actually gives off a Pinot Noir vibe. Something racy, spicy and wild runs rampant, rendering this blush bubble in an Ontario class of its own. It’s like 1980’s alt-dance fizz, with a New Order or B-52 thing going on. It just seems to do the “she-ga-loo, shy tuna, camel walk, hip-o-crit, coo-ca-choo, aqua velva, dirty dog and escalator.” Has the direct beat, retro and futuristic at the same time. Dance this mess around, in sweet and savoury tones, warm, day-glo, slow and gyrating. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted April 2015
Lighthall Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)
This may not be the first Pinot Noir made by Glen Symons but it marks a categorical paradigm shift for the Lighthall oeuvre. Elicits a “well, well, what have we here” response. Unfiltered, reflexive and flexing, not so much in weight as in protein. This is an entirely different sort of Prince Edward County Pinot Noir, neither dark as black cherry nor bright as sour cherry. It’s aromas and flavours recall both. I can’t say for sure that any Ontario Pinot has crossed into such territory. Offers a shade of calignosity for those who believe that genuine Pinot Noir only thrives in the dark. Yet the clarity is conversely illuminating. It’s pure, crisp and forking over real gastronomic delicacy. Intimates aspects of Sonoma and Otago with PEC intimacy. Really well-defined and culminating with a positive bitter finish. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted April 2015
Huff Estates Chardonnay South Bay Vineyards 2012, Lighthall Pinot Noir 2013 and Sparkling Rosé ‘The Fence’ 2014
Huff Estates Chardonnay South Bay Vineyards 2012, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)
Reductive but not to excess. If you can appreciate a Norm Hardie Chardonnay then Huff’s style is a walk in the park. A few swirls brings the rest of the players to the fore stage and the party. This is big band Chardonnay, with a feminine and demonstrative lead vocalist. Richly textured, from PEC plots at South Bay that are the Niagara equivalent of Wismer Vineyards, lending warmth, soil fixation and unconscious aid. There is a level of supposition that leads to breeding a sensation of succulence that is not found anywhere else in the County. Barrel is important, mostly unobtrusive and so this gathers up layers, separates, divides and then meshes. The wood is employed towards a west coast groove but it works with the best, best fruit. The corpulence is not built on butter but rather demi-glace, or perhaps perfect beurre-blanc. A very long and driven Chardonnay. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted April 2015
Rosehall Run Riesling The Righteous Dude 2014
Rosehall Run Riesling The Righteous Dude 2014, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $19.95, WineAlign)
Thank you Dan Sullivan for the fodder, to go on more tangents than should be allowed in a tasting note. And thank you for fixing a righteous Riesling, exemplary to Twenty Mile Bench and in a vein that represents the Double R. Has Mosel meets 20 Mile in verse. Feigned sweetness is managed by thriving acidity, much as others have similarly done in the area; Jay Johnston with Nadja and Paul Pender with Limestone Vineyard. Here lies Niagara Riesling you can really sink your teeth into, made by PEC-minded folk, really tying the Ontario room together. A hooked rug of Niagara and PEC in the hands of Sullivan, with really fine lines and good length. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted April 2015
Casa Dea Gamay 2013, Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $15.95, WineAlign)
Fine work in 2013, for Gamay, by winemaker Paul Batillana. Gamay is so very welcome when the fruity matter matters most, as witnessed by this Casa Dea. Some depth from soil and an ever so slight scorch of earth add complexity to hang a #GoGamayGo hat upon. Has the bends in a way, going just a bit too deep but rescues itself with a fresh radio frequency and a changeling face to red orchard fruit. This has real cru class, good funky bass and a driving sound to regeneration. Will evolve nicely for five years. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted April 2015
Somewhereness is not really a word. It’s hokum. Gibberish. Nonsense. Look it up in Merriam-Webster or Oxford. Not there. Its conceived convenience is recorded in Wiktionary, Your Dictionary and other online glossaries though, because there is always an online presence ready and willing to immortalize anything and everything.
The definition of Somewhereness, according to the online “dictionaries.”
The state or quality of being in, occurring in, or belonging to a specific place.
The state or quality of existing in a place that is unknown or cannot be pinpointed.
The unique characteristics imparted on a wine by the conditions of the place in which it was grown.
Somewhereness is not a state of mind, of being, of knowing something is intrinsically right within the parameters or context of here, there, anywhere or everywhere. Somewhereness is not merely a function of good decision-making, of exercising the ideal to expand on terroir, to create something to talk about. Yet that third so-called definition is on the right track. Belief says terroir is what happens in the vineyard, through environment, by geology, geography and topology, from naturally occurring elements and microbes in the soil, by air and of climate. Terroir is the great one. The impossible creator of perfect storms, from out of riddle and enigma. Somewhereness, by extension, is the next one.
Somewhereness exists, albeit with just as much abstruse behaviour and paradox, inside the finished bottle. That’s all you really need to know. Terroir happens before. Somewhereness happens after. The line is drawn when wine enters its final resting place. It evolves, develops and finds its somewhereness inside the bottle. In the case of Champagne (and the wines of Emidio Pepe), the first bottling is merely a temporary shelter and somewhereness knows to wait for the final call. In those cases there are the stages of terroir, disgorgement and finally, somewhereness.
In Ontario, somewhereness has been found (as opposed to “was founded”) by Norman Hardie, Jonas Newman, Vicky Samaras, Bill Redelmeier, Ann Sperling, J-L Groux, Charles Baker, Doug Witty, J.P. Colas, Ed Madronich, Jay Johnston, Tom and Len Pennachetti, Angelo Pavan, Moray Tawse, Paul Pender, Harald Thiel, Marlize Beyers, Mary Bachelder-Delaney, Thomas Bachelder, Martin Malivoire and Shiraz Mottiar.
Somewhereness may have been born to these Ontario parents but it has and will not remain exclusive to the 12 who discovered it. Somewhereness belongs to all wine with true and truthful origins in terroir. The great wines of the world share in the expression and the mystery, even if the gold inside their bottles has never been affixed with such a label. Somewhereness is found inside a bottle of Dujac Bonnes Mares. You will taste it in an Egon Müller Scharzhofberg. It can’t be missed from out of a Margaux pour by the hands of Paul Pontallier. Wines of manic manipulation will never find it. They either do or they don’t, will or they won’t. Somewhereness just happens. Don’t ask me to explain. I’m just the messenger.
Over the past few years, much godello.ca white space has been set aside for glossing in written word and the ever-evolving rumination on the spiritual effect of somewhereness.
Konrad Ejbich holding court in front of De La Terre’s breads
“For a comprehensive look at our province, make sure you read A Pocket Guide to Ontario Wines, Wineries, Vineyards, & Vines by Konrad Ejbich. The discourse concerning somewhereness in Ontario is in full swing. In October of 2012 I wrote, “character and quality has never been better. Riesling continues to impress and let us not ignore the high level of ever-evolving Chardonnay vines. Reds have made great strides, especially Pinot Noir, Gamay and Cabernet Franc. The future looks very bright for Ontario [wines].”
“Abeyance be gone, these next few years have the potential to cement an industry’s power. Only a minority has even the slightest clue that liquid gold is mined out of the peninsula’s glacial clay and limestone. The time is ripe to tell the world the story of somewhereness. The embryo is about to grow in a major way. Financial reward is within reach. So how to alert the world?”
“History may one day remember them as the group of twelve, or perhaps, “The Ontario School.” They are the 12 wineries who have banded together to ensconce a strange but beautiful word on the tongue, in the dictionary and out in the world. Somewhereness. They are purveyors of the land from which their grapes grow and ferment into wine. Facilitators of terroir, working a canvas forged by millions of years of geological and climatic evolution. Their assembly is based on both exigency and on Moira; destiny, share, fate. Like that other famous group, “collectively they agree.” Ontario’s cool-climate wine regions need to qualify and certify a distinctive winemaking style. In juxtaposition to old world, European tradition, the intensity of somewhereness needs to reflect an increasingly Ontario-centric partiality.”
“The Ontario wine industry is the best kept secret in the world. It has grown, accelerated and advanced with more success than might have been imagined as recently as five years ago. In November I wrote, “Ontario winemakers have figured it out. The “world-class” comparative humanities of aging and longevity aside, the comprehensive and widespread phenomenon of excellence, regardless of vintage, is now an Ontario reality.”
Wine Country Ontario’s Magdalena Kaiser
All wonderful hyperbole, to be sure. But for years I missed the point. Somewhereness is not about agreeing, in principle, on how to make wine from a particular place so that it can collectively result in a thing. It is something other. It’s in the bottle. It has always been there but the key lies in Ontario’s industry having matured to a point where we can now taste it, again and again, inside the bottle. The work made it happen. It is well-deserved.
Thomas Bachelder and Mary Delaney-Bachelder
So with the assistance of Trisha Molokach, Dorian Anderson and the vintners who came to realize what happens when terroir is used to bottle divine pleasure, another Somewhereness (the event) happened, at St. James Cathedral in Toronto, on April 20, 2015. Food partners completed the stellar event; Best Baa Dairy, Monforte Dairy, Upper Canada Chees Company, Fat Chance Hand Sliced Cold Smoked Salmon Co., Chef Ryan Crawford & Beverly Hotchkiss of Backhouse, De La Terre Kitchen and Bakery and Schott Zwiesel. Hinterland was not present in 2015 and I skipped two tables, due to quite recent full portfolio tastings, at Bachelder and at Southbrook. Here are some other notes.
Norman Hardie Riesling 2013, VQA Ontario (Winery, $21.00, WineAlign)
With less residual sugar than in 2012 and slightly higher alcohol (the bottle says 10.1 per cent but it’s actually 9.8), the house style persists, if only as a refrain that adjusts and adheres to the vintage. A hint of oyster shell is more than significant, in working alongside Hardie’s Calcaire, effected out of lees fermentation. The minute loss of high-toned aromatics is pitched in favour of fruit, if only from one exploited tank, within the context of producing 1000 cases. The ’13 (70 Niagara/30 PEC) is like very modern Alsace, akin to Schoffit, what with its texture fitted through a tiny hole. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April 2015
Norman Hardie Calcaire 2013, VQA Ontario (Winery, $23.00, WineAlign)
The field blend of Marcel Deiss is the starting point. Lees imparts texture and the proverbial minerality is rounder than the Riesling, though the acidity just as linear. The breakdown is Chardonnay (40 per cent), Riesling (40), Melon de Bourgogne (10) and Pinot Gris (10). It should be noted that the mid-palate is caressed by a silky cheese curd, sour milk atonement. Drink 2015-2019.
From my earlier note of August 2014:
If any wine growing and producing region not called Alsace has the right to label a wine Calcaire, Prince Edward County is that place. The irony squared of Norman Hardie’s choice of nomenclature is not lost. Olivier Humbrecht makes use of the term because some of his single-varietal wines can no longer (under the local AOC rules) be labeled with the name of the wine-growing village. Marcel Deiss produces ‘field blends’ composed of several varieties grown on Grand Cru soil but he can’t (under other regional rules) label them Grand Cru. Hardie takes Niagara and PEC Grand Cru grapes, fashions an Ontario white blend, not unlike J-L Groux and calls it Calcaire, in ode to the limestone underlay of the County. Are you following me here? This may be new, innovative, yet understood and an early impression, but this cuvée initiates the PEC march to white blend supremacy, much like Stratus White has done over the course of 10 vintages in Niagara. Norm’s Calcaire is a Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Melon de Bourgogne mélange, co-fermented on the lees, striking, all in limestone, full out mineral consequence. There is purified pear and white melon fruit in distillation. There is a house in Wellington, “they call the Rising Sun.” That this animal succeeds so early in its tenure shows the Norm conceit and the swagger. That it will define white blends for a millennium is an arrogance of traditional song and of scripture. So be it.
The ’12 Niagara has swapped spontaneity for coherence, licentiousness for logic. Has entered the stage of non-reductive peel, where skin is discarded, flesh is exposed and juices run free. If you like your Chardonnay settled and yet vitally fresh, now is the time to enjoy the Hardie 2012 Niagara Chardonnay. Drink 2015-2022.
From my earlier more of May 2014:
Norm’s Niagara is such a different animal to the County 2012. The warm summer and dry fall means more humidity and even more reduction. Currently cothurnal so less like Burgundy but only because there elevates the high-tones and percipience from Niagara. Texture is key but this Hardie needs time. It’s not angular but it is steroidal, injected, like a wild thing, as if the yeast were still in control, munching away even though there is no more sugar to be had. Undomesticated ’12, at heart, in spirit, out of mind. Hard to imagine there could be this much anxiety from the even-tempered vintage, but when you pick real early and keep the oak to a bare minimum, Hardie happens. Norm picked ripe fruit between September 7 and 10, six weeks ahead as compared to some years. He said the fruit had a “golden tan, ready to go.” The use of smallish 500L barrels works wonders for texture and though 40 per cent was new wood, you would never know it. Malolactic fermentation didn’t happen until late August, nearly a full year on so no sulphuring was required until that time. This is Hardie’s freshest Niagara fruit ever, from Duarte Oliveira’s farm between Victoria and Ontario Street, the same spot as Hillebrand’s Chardonnay Reserve. Terrific Beamsville Bench Chardonnay.
Hidden Bench’s ’13 Riesling is a pure, soft-spoken and balanced reflection of her maker, winemaker Marlize Beyers. Only a month or two of lees and no stirring has brought her Riesling into this current corporeal state. The citrus is all flesh, void of pith and with acidity that has already incorporated, disguised and covered the zest. If any Hidden Bench Riesling suggest tropical fruit, here it is and yet again, not. Drink 2015-2020.
From my earlier note of September 2014:
The Estate Riesling is as vigneron-defining as any wine on the Niagara Escarpment. Hidden Bench is a 100 per cent estate-fruit operation so this Riesling is spokesperson, prolocutor, mouthpiece, champion, campaigner and advocate for the concept. The estate ’13 reaches deeper for nutrient pot sweetening, into shale and in conceit of its varied, positively cultivated terroirs. Compact and jelled, this is several steps up from most other entry-level Niagara Riesling and in fact, is really anything but. The transparency here is patent. This is Riesling that simply knows what it is; pure Bench, unequivocally real and forthright. Knows what it wants to be.
Produced exclusively for licensee, the Bistro follows a very similar profile to the Estate Riesling, with exactitude in weight and alcohol 911 per cent). The flesh is less, the zest increased and overall you can sense more youth. The Bistro juice comes from Roman Block cuttings planted in Felseck Vineyard in 2008. The simmer here is a simpler, more straightforward pot of sustenance, entirely capable of acting as spokes-Riesling for the Hidden Bench house druthers. The vines will grow up and the juice will move on but other, newer, youthful cuttings will take up residence and the Bistro line will endure. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted April 2015
The (five to) six percent Sémillon speaks at present, in a waxy, bitter gourd winter melon and smoky flint tightness. In this wound moment, it is perceived that another year will be needed for the next unwind. Now vacuous, spinning and whirling as if in a processor’s bowl, an amphitheatre of expression. Drink 2016-2022.
From my earlier notes of September and (at Gold Medal Plates Toronto) November 2014:
Less than six weeks after my first introduction to the NB ’12 complexity shines anew. Such a delicate and elegant take on the Bordeaux white axiom. Void of all the gangly G’s; grasses, gooseberry and green vegetable. Leans to custards and curds with a savoury accent and a limestone tang. Willing to be paired with a multitude of gastronomy. Long finish. From my earlier, September 2014 note: “Taking what the vintage gives, Rosomel’s Sauvignon Blanc was king in 2012, dominating at a 95 per cent share of the Bordeaux-styled blend with Sémillon. Barrels were stirred weekly during fermentation and the creamy texture thanks that regimen, as does the tannic fullness of the round back-end. It rocks out bracing, formidable and nobly bitter, in pear and its pith, in lemon, of rind and in curd. The SB lounges in tall grasses but avoids goose feathers and blanching veg. So very savoury, in gorse tension, thistle and nettle. These notes all cut through the roundness and are finally tied together by the flinty rock of Rosomel.”
A meandering young blend of Pinot Noir, Malbec and Viognier that is super dry (3.2 g/L of residual sugar), “hey, hey, my, my.” The aromas suggest a succession from strawberry to green and red onion but “there’s more to the picture, than meets the eye.” The medley, interrupted by ballads and road stories is like a subtle, sweet, sour and savoury gastronomical pickle, ramps in brine, scopes in sweet alkali. Can there be a drier, more windswept crag, neal to a southern French style made anywhere on the Peninsula than from the Escarpment coliseum up on Locust Lane? Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April 2015
While persistent in aridity as a disciple to the Locust Lane, this Bordeaux blend Rosé packs a fruitier punch. Elevated residual sugar (as compared to the Double L) mans a higher rate of variability and accessibility, not to mention more chance of Ontario patio success. This licensee bottling will work for summer, across the province. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted May 2015
Meg McGrath and and Marlize Beyers of Hidden bench
Still tightly wound with the tannic grain criss-crossing at interstices of fruit (pomegranate/cranberry/strawberry) and acidity (sharp/pointed/direct). A fine, pointillist’s rendering; Locust as Seurat, nobly bitter, to the end. Drink 2016-2022.
From my earlier note of April 2014:
The Locust Lane Vineyard, originally planted in 1998, was Hidden Bench’s first acquisition, in 2003. It has a unique perpendicular cross-slope effect, undulating in all four directions, gathering sun hours in its own special way. The vineyard produces the richest and warmest Pinot Noir with fruit flavours more akin to ripe plum and black cherry than almost anywhere on the Beamsville Bench, certainly as any from the Hidden Bench stable. While the ’11 is not the biggest beast nor the Bordeaux bully of the Terroir Caché, it is surprisingly tannic and strong. It’s anything but hot, though it attacks with fervor. Big berry fruit, macerated strawberry, rich pie notes and spice. A great Locust vintage.
There is so much floral presence in 2011, a showy perfume that parades the relative elegance of Niagara’s Bordeaux reds in the vintage. Structure is comparable to 2010, not in beast mode but rather with a delicacy derived from less burning, high-toned fruit. Still here lays a wine so young, of social encumbrance that might be passed off as a mark of impertinence. This faintly embarrassing condition can be suppressed in a dark cellar, in which the foundation can be laid for the beginning of a cure. The Terroir Caché 2011 will show its best between 2017 and 2020, then develop, slow down, suspend animation and age further, effortlessly and exceptionally. Drink 2017-2024. Tasted April 2015
Oh, the accessibility of Quarry Road in 2012. Still totes the emerald shine, the gemstone tannic scrape and yet the flesh is rendered rich, ripe, ratcheted and riled up. This has tonality like never before, layered and strudel buttery. At this point the vines for Quarry are 17 years of age, sophic and erudite, compounded by the organic, biodynamic and prudent pruning practices that have cemented its vigour. The clay-limestone, fresh-mineral, push-pull is a veritable careening of expression. Though its longevity may not pile towards a compressed future like that of ’09 or ’11, the earlier and often response will act both as Chardonnay charming and Quarry Road magnetizing. For the next five years it will be very hard to turn away. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2015
Tawse Laundry Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2011, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (130997, $34.95, WineAlign)
A year had added rich note to this ’11, furthering the inflammatory vibrations and purposefulness of Bordeaux (as opposed to Loire) red makings from the vintage. The depth of cherry merging to smoked currants is cool, collected and shaded by brushy, briny strokes. Hints at brambly, even. This is so very Cabernet Franc and even more so, Lincoln Lakeshore. Drink 2015-2019.
From my earlier note of April 2014:
A lean Laundry with as much finesse as winemaker Paul Pender has ever shown in his poignant Cabernet Franc realm. When a vintage deals you calm and scale you sit back and relax. The Lincoln Lakeshore advancing in years vines bring yet unseen front end red berry, licorice and red currant softness in 2011. There is elegance but also a refusal to yield its back end bite. A level of enveloping grain and chalk is unique to this bottle and should be seen as a very good effort with the possibility ahead
Last tasted April 2015
Cave Spring Cellars
Cave Spring Extra Dry Sparkling Riesling 2010, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)
From the clay-limestone bench lands abutting the Escarpment, specifically one block of 11 year-old vines at the Beamsville Bench Cave Spring Vineyard. Traditional method fizz accessed of low brix (early picked, 19.3 degrees) and mortar (2.97 pH) numbers, then elevated under microscope magnified sugar (15.5 RS g/L) and acidity (8.4 g/L). So what? So this is a pure CS expression of Riesling, cured and curated in the house style, led to textile weave from 14 months on the lees and finalized just that side of Brut. Functions like a Blanc de Blancs suitably this side of acidity rage and with corresponding remarkable, if close to impossible aridity. Less fat than might be expected and with a swath of sauvage. There sweats ginger and the cuttings of foraged wild things. The extension on the finish is protracted even after the liquid has left the building. Finishes with dry stones, nuts and a rightful oxidative thrust. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted April 2015
Cave Spring Csv Riesling 2013, Cave Spring Vineyard, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (566026, $29.95, WineAlign)
That flesh, that Kabinett flesh, fills the CSV in every crevice. In 2013 the residual sugar number lies between 15 and 16 g/L, and though the crop was bigger, it was still picked later than in 2012. The result is formidable corporeal concentration, consistency of house style and perhaps the only ’13 Niagara Riesling to imitate, perpetuate and extrapolate on the vintage that came before. This Cave Spring concentrates fruit and Escarpment into a powerful Riesling, streaming like charged particles through changing expressions. A lingering ascension hovers as it rises, until it slowly fades into the welkin, like a balloon that languidly gets lost into the blinding blue of a midday sky. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted April 2015
At present there are sweets, bitters and rich Adam fruit. Only the shadows of a limestone outcrop near the crest of the Niagara Escarpment know why the Adam is so juicy. A chew like no other. Drink 2015-2020.
From my earlier note of October 2014:
A classic Adam, amplified in 2013, riper and not as piercing as previously noted vintages. Still the layering is omnipresent but there is more juicy fruit and texture then ever before. This is a consumer friendly Adam, gregarious, outgoing, off-dry as never before. New slang for the bottling.
From my earlier note of July 2014:
According to Cave Spring’s website this newer Riesling from older (18 to 35 year-old plantings) is from “a single block of vines in the shadows of a limestone outcrop near the crest of the Niagara Escarpment, known as ‘The Adam Steps’. Really apropos, for this Riesling is the cantilever, the one with the outstretched arm. At 10.5 per cent alcohol and with an unmistakably stony, sweet and sour whiff the wine speaks of its off-dryness. The juiciest of all the Cave Spring Rieslings, with rounder acidity and good persistence. This is the all-around good guy, the one with an open invitation, the bridge from Estate to Dolomite to Csv. The well-adjusted one steps up its game to help win one for the team, especially out of the convivial 2013 vintage.
Last tasted April 2015
Cave Spring Cabernet Franc 2012, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (391995, $19.95, WineAlign)
The 2012 Cabernet Franc needed six further months for the high-toned fruit to settle just enough for the spiced richness to shine. Though Dolomite-designated, this sheds Beamsville light purity, along with a grain variegated by (pomegranate) citrus and chalk. The cool centre is elongated and expansive though it seems to inuit the correct time for retraction. The aerial fruit stresses condense and accept the angles prepared by coriander and eucalyptus. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April 2015
The Twenty Mile Bench in Jay Johnston’s hands flat out rocks. The Chardonnays “they dig a funky spiel, they’ll make some spiel.” The ’12 Estate has crossed into pretty territory, not shy to wear its thin lamina of oak make-up and not too proud to say drink me now. Drink me here, there and everywhere. Drink 2015-2017.
From my earlier note of March 2014:
Has spent some quality time and knows its way around a barrel but its attitude is young, fresh and alive. From 12 and 13 year-old estate vines and kissed by only 15 per cent new oak. “But here’s a funky fact that I know is real.” Flat Rock’s Chardonnays are red hot and this fresh-faced ’12 has “baby appeal.” Blatant, colorable value on the Twenty.
Always expressive of such manifest certitude, the 2014 can’t be anything but Nadja though there adds a fleshy dimension that pins it to the broader spectrum of Twenty Mile Bench, in as much as what the vineyard culls from its capacious diagrammatic. That broader outlook provides understanding into Nadja’s decrease of stentorian language in the fractionally stagnant vintage. There is a variegation within the sweetness lining the tunnel of aridity. Fourteen is nothing overly special and Nadja suffers as a result. It’s still a very, very good Riesling, just not one for the ages. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted April 2015
The vintage acts as a launch point for Flat Rock Pinot Noir and prepares a palate for the 20 Mile Bench by coating it with utmost approachability. Violets and Nebbiolo-like roses are raised in warmth, albeit beneath the safety net of cloud cover. You’ll find no burn, rust spots and yet you will acquire comfort, in and out of sips. Drink 2015-2018.
From my earlier note of April 2014:
As with Flat Rock’s Chardonnays, here is a vintage and an evolutionary coming of age that becomes a matter of scaling back oak. The quotient here is less than 40 per cent new, leaving the wizened vines and maker’s acumen to coax maximum character, brilliant sheen and recognizable aroma. The 2012 Pinot teases black cherry but never really goes there.
From my earlier note of February 2014:
Nearly 4000 cases will be available of this nearly-unfiltered, very established and always well-thought out Pinot Noir. A consideration of the plots and barrels micro-management that determine the crasis of this Estate wine demands an extrapolation in full-on assessment. The medium-coarse Chinois filtering lends to a tannic chain of texture thick in grain and chalk. A heavier Estate because when the weather gives you heat you make a climate appropriate wine. This monkey is not a product of arctic air and it “got too deep, but how deep is too deep?” Thermal vintage melt, ritzy ripe cherry stuff in 2012. From the Ritz to the Rubble, if you like, or the Flat Rock.
Last tasted April 2015
13th Street Pinot Gris 2012, VQA Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $19.95, WineAlign)
From two blocks on one farm in the centre of Creek Shores, one picked earlier to avoid botrytis. No malo, stainless steel tank fermentation leads to pure, crisp and clean Pinot Gris. The soil-driven funk meets faux-sulphur is typically J.P. Colas, a specificity in undertone that culminates in a dry, variegated finish. Drink 2015-2017.
From my earlier note of April 2014.
Here you have an honest, 100 per cent stainless steel treated Pinot Gris from an estate vineyard located adjacent the market on Fourth Avenue in the Creek Shores appellation. So very dry and really fine fruit, crisp, neoteric, rising and falling in waves of tempered acidity. Made in a comfortable, country-twanged, folk-rock style, like a Cowboy Junkie. Juicy, mouth watering work and very easy to fall for. An angel mine, this 13th Street, “and I know that your skin is as warm and as real as that smile in your eyes.” This effort by Jean-Pierre Colas is as good as it gets, a tally for Creek Shores and its kinship with the variety.
Four months has upped the funk in for ’13, with tar and bitters still and thick as summer air. Rich and ripe, notable for its black cherry aroma and that J.P. Colas natural truncation. Unique, as always and very Gamay. Drink 2015-2019.
From my earlier note of December 2014:
Fruit was sourced from both the Sandstone and Whitty Vineyards for 13th Street’s Gamay Noir, a focused and gritty adjunct in ode to the Cru Beaujolais approach. This ’13 raises the aromatic and texture bar and just may be the most striking from a 13th Street estate mix. All the important berries are there, as are the mineral quandaries. In a Gamay moment this will lead you to gulp and giggle with #GoGamayGo delight.
Fruit was sourced mainly from Wismer Vineyard (Vineland) and a smaller proportion from AJ Lepp (Niagara-on-the-Lake) for this dry as the desert Syrah of deep extract, warmth and density of fruit. All set upon a highly tannic frame, with every indication that longevity will be its best friend, as much as any red has ever been produced in Ontario. A formidable vulcanization marks the entry, a not so inappropriate entreaty to beg for time and lots of it. The current pavane of fruit is exhibitive of excruciating physical reticence though behind the wall there is more than enough indicators to stand the test of time. No new oak (though the Essence saw an extended slumber in three to four year old barrels) has allowed the tapestry of intertwined layers to set up shop and dig in for the long haul. If big-boned Syrah and Niagara are in your cellar plans, this 13th Street 2012 has to have a prominent place. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted April 2015
A dual block blush, from two clones in the Moira Vineyard. Made from 100 per cent Pinot Noir, this second vintage is pale as can be, dry, saline and reeking of fresh peaches and strawberries. The level of purity and intensity is nothing short of amazing. This will rise quickly into the ranks of the Peninsula’s finest Rosés. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted April 2015
The purity and fine-lines of Pinot Gris are defined, delineated and deftly prepared by Shiraz Mottiar and team in 2014. This is a calm rendition, void of tremors, certainly not taking any risks but also not a white of unfulfilled promises. Herbs, lemon, mint and fine PG tannin draws salt from stone. A perfectly dry finish is in play, as with all malivoire whites, to cement the deal. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April 2015.
It’s hard to recall memories of so much syrup, liqueur and high tonality as coming from Stouck, from any Meritage for that matter and yet the 2011 Bordeaux varietal wines out of Niagara continue to astound. If excess or vivid character is a negative, just look away. The combination of rich extraction and explicit oak generosity dope out fruit from a dry September into wonders of dried timbre and inflection. The drupe is enriched, as is the tannin and a Beamsville buttressing that warps and wraps like never before. At this four-year juncture, the Niagara ’11 varietal compendium is officially a thing, witnessed in example through this Stouck. More than just dramatic Shiraz Mottiar foreshadowing here, but further into thoughts of what vintages co do for red wine as a Peninsula whole. The ’11 Stouck Meritage stands upright at the mirror and its reflection looks right back. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted April 2015
Malivoire M2 Small Lot Gamay 2013, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $19.95, WineAlign)
The profundity of tart, keen, briny berries dilates in its own very useful layers of citrus, tannin and concentration, beyond even what was observed in 2012. The zesty, spritely argot resonates from the unfurling of floral essentia out of a Gamay in desperate need of time. The flavours and overlay are somewhat impenetrable and yet leave quite an impression. While patience might be the virtue and the reward, if #gogamaygo is the modus operandi, a swig from the bottle like gentlemen of the road is certainly not out of the question. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted April 2015
Charles Baker Riesling Ivan Vineyard 2014, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $27.00, WineAlign)
From the rich limestone and sandstone beneath the clay, 1.1 acre Misek vineyard, a southerly ledge up from Highway 8 and an easterly hill down from Cherry Avenue. A very linear Ivan combs the catacombs of the Escarpment’s underpinning. A retaining wall of vintage attenuated rocks and stones, a vineyard’s low yields and the voices in Charles’ head have produced a striking Riesling. In 2014 adolescence has entered adulthood. Now before us is a grown up Ivan, mature Ivan, maybe even wise Ivan. Texture is in manifest control in this loyal, stay at home Baker, not yet running wild like free-spirited Picone. Ivan has presence, sometimes a great notion and is Baker’s longest bit of prose to date. The next great Riesling vintage will make it iconic. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted April 2015
The petrol and mighty bee’s sting have taken over, with the honey again not far behind. A lemon prepares to spill its juices as it warms above a bunsen flame. At present it is almost too elemental to define. Will change course again when midnight strikes in 2016. Then it will come into its own. Drink 2016-2020.
From my earlier note of April 2014:
Tasted at Somewhereness 2014 as part of a vertical retrospective going back to 2007. The Vinemount Ridge’s now famous Picone Vineyard is set within a 10-acre estate on the Niagara Escarpment. Planted to the Weis 21 clone, the Riesling grown here digs in for complexity from sectional moieties of clay and sandy soil atop a unique base of limestone bedrock. Charles Baker began working with these grapes in 2005 and it is this 2008 where the learning curve took a turn for the Riesling stratosphere. The ’06 found luck in the stars but this vintage lays the framework and foundation for a master plan. At this stage in the ’08 evolution there is a prodigious and viscous honeyed textured. Ripening tree fruit juices run like maple sap in spring and the run off is beginning to think syrup. A cutting ridge of acidity arrests the sugaring, allowing citrus and flinty rock to recall the wine’s first, fresh steps. Baker’s Riesling time travels in circles with no real beginning and no real end. From my earlier, September 2012 note: ““Whoo-ahhh” Mojito, green apple skin scent of a Riesling. Seductive to sip, a bodacious body of influence, then back-end bite. A wolf pack in sheep’s clothing.”
A blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot with some Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling added for lift and what J-L Groux admits is rendered “for the consumer.” This essentially marks the twain between sweet and dry, if not quite halfway then pretty darn close. Plenty of herbs and citrus nail the aromas on the proverbial head with more than a grapefruit or two on the half circle. A highly approachable, end-user friendly blush. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted April 2015
Stratus White 2012, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (660704, $44.20, WineAlign)
In 2012 the blend is Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. Viognier was left out because according to winemaker J-L Groux “it did not work in blending trials.” The vintage has laid the foundation for the most density, and unctuous fruit for the Stratus White in what must be, ever. At the high aromatic end there is peppery beeswax, reverberating and echoing in scales and arpeggios. Like an open string singing warmly, the vintage, extraction and residuum combine for texture in mottled unction. Sapid lemon, more beeswax and lanolin mark the palate and then the White drifts into spaces occupied by smoky, back beats and bites. This has great pitch with a knowledge of the path to pleasure. Drink 2017-2025. Tasted April 2015
Stratus Gamay 2012, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $29.00, WineAlign)
t may not be the most idiosyncratic Gamay in Niagara but the Stratus 2012 is without a doubt the most advanced and complex. Gamay fusion is on display, at once a bottle of Niagara’s finest pulchritudinous veneer and then a charcuterie board laid ample with cured bovine parts and sun-dried grapes. Maximum ripeness and then even later picking, to no one’s surprise, have led to this. Two years of ageing in neutral oak barrels has brought about a humid roundness and yet the centre is controlled by Oz-like mint and eucalyptus notes. The jam is gelid, as opposed to temperate. Rarely does Gamay go to such depths, of blackberry, chalk and grain, with an overlord of tannin. Quite serious stuff. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted April 2015
Stratus Red 2012, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (131037, $44.20, WineAlign)
The Stratus Red 2012 resides both in a virtuoso’s hollow and in a pantheon inhabited by some of Niagara’s great reds. The fact that such ripe phenology can anticipate and foretell to balance and freedom in the byplace of the blending process is nothing short of amazing. Sinuous and exact, of berries so indefatigable, layering raspberry over blackberry atop strawberry. Cedar and red citrus compound, without jamming the fluidity, but certainly accentuating the Fragaria vesca. Confident and fluid in movement, the ’12 neither shakes nor stirs and its acidity is flat out terrific. At this early point in its evolution it is showing as well as could be expected, or hoped for. Its core of fraises du bois will always be there. Time will be kind, gentle and patient. Drink 2015-2024. Tasted April 2015
Godello 