Recently tasted here, there and everywhere

Wihr au Val, Alsace
(c) Cassidy Havens, http://teuwen.com/

During my week-long visit to Alsace in June I tasted more than 300 different wines. Over the course of the four months that followed that most amazing journey to the heart of a great wine region, I published more than 50 tasting notes. I also told stories about the winemakers, the Grand Crus and lieu-dits. I will continue to write and publish equal or more amounts about Alsace.

The British wine writer Jamie Goode recently published two articles on the subject of wine criticism versus wine journalism. His first, Whatever happened to wine journalism, appeared on the website run by Tim Atkin MW. The second, Wine critics and wine writers on his own blog, Wine Anorak. Goode is a man on the pulse of what it real and what needs to be said. He is correct in telling us that the most engaging wine writing comes from scribes who visit vineyards and tell their stories. There can be no disputing this to be true.

Jamie hopes that the future of wine writing is not fraught with short reviews and inflated scores. He sees the Utopian model in experiential travel, in meeting hard-working people, wandering over variegated soils and terroir, tasting at the source. Jamie fears that his wine writer self will go the way of the wine critic, tapping away on a computer while tasting wine in an air-conditioned office. His version of wine hell. Riesling specialist Stuart Martin Piggot agrees.

@jamiegoode Totally agree about future of wine writer. We are story tellers and if the only story possible is a tasting note then NO FUTURE!

— Stuart Martin Pigott (@PigottRiesling) November 23, 2014

But Jamie is not entirely right either. At least in the context of the Ontario model (and those of other Canadian provinces), along with I would imagine, many wine markets in other countries. Much of what wine writers taste on globetrotting journeys is not to be found on shelves back home. While that may be pathetic and certainly a pity worthy of some kind of wine crime, it is the brass tacks of the global wine industry. I agree with Goode that we should do everything in our power to change it and we should publish stories, not just tasting notes and scores.

The problem for the reader is that most, if not 95-plus percent of the wines that are reviewed from a region like Alsace are not available for purchase in Ontario. While that is just a crying shame, it is a reality. If you purchase wine in Ontario and look for critical voices to help you separate the wheat from the chaff, you require notes on available wines. That is why writers must spend so much time tasting samples in the sterile LCBO laboratory, at our dining room tables, in restaurants and with the hard-working for not enough reward Ontario wine agents. And we must write-up the tasting notes and publish them on websites like WineAlign. This is the fact of Ontario wine importing, purchasing and consumer life. Would it be any different if there was no provincial monopoly? Yes, but it wouldn’t help in the telling of better vineyard stories.

I taste wines here, there and everywhere. Here are 16 recent samples that gave me cause to raise an eyebrow, pause, ruminate and formulate a response to the spoken sentiments of the ferment. All 16 are available for purchase in Ontario.

From left to right: Domaine Chiroulet Les Terres Blanches 2013, Toro Albalá Fino Del Lagar Electrico, Château des Charmes Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Ogier Héritages Côtes Du Rhône 2012, Bodegas Mengoba Brezo Grégory Pérez 2012

Domaine Chiroulet Les Terres Blanches 2013, Vins De Pays Côtes De Gascogne, France (Agent 223222, $13.95, WineAlign)

This is a Gros Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc that whistles boldly like a howling wind. While the nose is high-toned and full of herbal complexities, it’s also indiscreetly alarming. The aromas are quite massive; pine needles decomposing on a wet forest floor. Kefir, cloudy and enzymatic, curdling and churning into itself. Petrol spills on asphalt, baking in the midday sun. To taste it is tangy and juicy, but also very mineral, intensified by the outcroppings of retzine in the vineyard’s limestone. The overall composition punches way above its weight but the heightened sense of reality is also a bit hard to take. Terrific effort but comes with a warning sign. Tasted November 2014 @CotesdeGascogne @TrialtoON

Toro Albalá Fino Del Lagar Electrico, Do Montilla Moriles, Spain (Agent, $14.95, 500ml, WineAlign)

The winery was founded in 1844 and in 1970 Toro Albalá became the first commercial Montilla producer in the classic Solera method, from (estate-grown) Pedro Ximénez vines. This is unfortified Fino, at a naturally achieved alcohol of 15 per cent, from an average age of 10 years. It’s so dry, like a desert you could walk for astral weeks, as if it should be measured in negative residual sugar. Like pure almond extract paste, bones in the sand and the essence of pulverized, powdered nuts, void of moisture. The chalky-white Albariza soils of the Moriles Alto subzone are hardwired into its Akashic, astral Electrico plane. This Fino ventures in the slipstream, between viaducts of dreams, “where immobile steel rims crack.” Impossibly long finish. Tasted November 2014 @toroalbala @MontillaMoriles @LeSommelierWine

Château des Charmes Sauvignon Blanc 2013, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (391300, $14.95, WineAlign)

Sets a (St. David’s) benchmark for how to reign in and then release the charmes of Sauvignon Blanc from the Niagara Peninsula. Done in a decidedly fresh and lively style, this gathers up a bunches and conservative yield-managed vineyard’s warmest, ripe fruit for the purpose of bonhomie potation. Smells of vitality, of fresh herbs and citrus just cut, of a salt spring, of things zoetic. Cream elevates the texture, albeit pellucid and unobtrusive. The triad coming together of Sauvignon Blanc, St. David’s Bench and 2013 is the new CdC yardstick. The price only cements the offer. Tasted November 2014 @MBosc

Ogier Héritages Côtes Du Rhône 2012, Rhône, France (535849, $15.95, WineAlign)

The Ogier self-professed traits of patience, savoir-faire, observation and intuition are on tidy display in this piquant, spiced-note, olive branch and indigo traditional Rhône blend. So very Mediterranean, warm and herbal by day, cool and minty by night. One stage short of lush, one notch comfortably above thin, this slots into all right moves; pleasant, value-driven and so effective for so many purposes. Stand alone or with classically prepared fare, this is all you need. Bring on the roast chicken. Tasted November 2014 @MaisonOgier @Select_Wines

Bodegas Mengoba Brezo Grégory Pérez 2012, Bierzo, Spain (Agent, $16.95)

Mencia as it once must have demanded of itself, iron clad, funky and gamey. This Bierzo is no antiseptic perfumed bottle of modern, manufactured violet Febreeze, though it’s so very vanilla and rich as a Porchetta sandwich with the porcine cure and fat driven right in to every nook and cranny. Or a taste sensation like bacon wrapped cherries. High toned with formidable tannins. A chew of sinew both in faux-wood and as the conceptual result of a roasted animal’s tension. Value gained vicariously through complexity. Tasted April 2014 @TheLivingVine

Fita Preta 2013

Fita Preta White Reserve Alentejano 2013, Alentejo, Portugal (Agent, $16.95)

An endemic blend of Antão Vaz (40 per cent), Roupeiro (40) and Arinto (20) from infertile rocky schist soils in southern Portugal’s Alentejo region. Ostensibly a field blend, like the Alsace cépage a terroir of Marcel Deiss, the Fita Preta or “black tape” comes from an extreme and arid land. Portuguese winemaker António Maçanita and resident English viticulturist consultant David Booth usher out flint and mineral to capture a host of synapses from a wine region that had failed to fire in years. The landscape described as “Portugal’s Australia” gives a white like a cross between simple, flinty Chablis and aged Hunter Valley Sémillon. The acidity is in abject anti-congruence to the region’s usual heavy-leaded output, mimicking cool-climate Chardonnay in tight and bracing stonker fashion. Tasted November 2014 @fitapretavinhos @Alentejowines @LeSommelierWine

From left to right: E. Guigal Côtes Du Rhône 2011, Giacomo Mori Chianti 2011, Red Tractor Cabernet Franc 2012, Nigl Gartling Grüner Veltliner 2013, Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2014

E. Guigal Côtes Du Rhône 2011, Southern Rhône, France 2011 (259721, $18.95, WineAlign)

In a world where anything is possible, the Guigal Côtes Du Rhône effect is predictable, trenchant and essential. The vintage specific focus in alacrity drives the savoury, rich black fruit to domesticated compliance, easy on the eyes, nose and palate. This just smells like a good meal; as if a game bird were roasting in the oven, surrounded by a rough and large kerf of mirepoix, of caramelizing root vegetables baptized by dried herbs and spices. Do not be fooled. This is a warm CdR with generous alcohol (14 per cent disclosed) and an even warmer, though not uncomfortably tannic or acidity riddled finish. It is a whack of Rhône grapes within grasp of a mere mortal’s budget. Drink now and for two years forward. Tasted November 2014 @DOMAINEGUIGAL @VinexxWine

Giacomo Mori Chianti 2011, Docg, Tuscany, Italy (68858, $19.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES November 8, 2014 release

A modern take on Sangiovese to be certain with a penchant for the authenticity extracted from the best parts of history. Siena red dirt dredged, cherry macerated, fined, filtered and spiked with a crush of Brandy soaked Amaretti cookies. Clean and with Spring plum blossom in the air. Il Palio dirt for appetizer, Fiore di Zucca pie for dinner and sweet, nutty Panforte for dessert. So modern but so proper. Makes no bones about its made-up face but has plenty of solid ossein in its body. Good piquancy and a rush of verve on the back palate. Oaky but not creamy, bitter yes, but not woody. Tasted November 2014 @oenophilia1

Red Tractor Cabernet Franc 2012, VQA Creek Shores, Ontario (Winery, $19.99, WineAlign)

The savoury aspect of this Cabernet Franc steals the show out of what is just an ideal vintage. The fruit was sourced from the Dim Vineyard in the Creek Shores appellation, a piece of the Peninsula ideally suited to the sharp and earthy aspects of Cabernet Franc. Despite 20 months of seasoning in barrel, the Tractor has maintained its red fruit character, accented by currants, spice and a deep-rooted sense of licorice. There is enough grain in its texture to carry it for three or four more years but it will never be bigger than it is now, nor will its length grow any longer. Tasted November 2014 @SideroadTwenty

Nigl Gartling Grüner Veltliner 2013, Kremstal, Austria (453281, $21.95, WineAlign)

The ever-present, front loaded, laser sharp attack may feign spritz amid hushed whispers of CO2, but not from any chemical alteration. It’s actually a post fermentation, double negative breath of residual covalent bonding. The fast action bottling captures pressure to act as catalyst for freshness, especially in such a lean, high acidity vintage. A sway of tall grasses and that gas smothers whatever residual sugar might try to weigh down this low (11.5 per cent) alcohol stunner. Very much alive though the depth is challenged by all that forward thinking expression. Still a very good showing for this classic Grüner. Tasted November 2014 @AustrianWine @LeSommelierWine

Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand (677450, $21.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 25, 2014 release

The prototypical Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc hitting all the classic numbers is right here in the Dog Point 2014. Low pH, high acidity, minuscule residual sugar and elevated aromatics. It’s ripe but ripped by citrus juice and zest. Like cubes of honeydew, bitter winter melon and dried lemongrass soaking in and flavouring a dish of briny scallop carpaccio with coarse sea salt and capers. The sapidity is palpable, the excesses vivid. I would avoid too much variegated gastronomy when sipping this wine. Opt for simpler fare because its talents would otherwise be mimicked and suppressed. Tasted November 2014 @DogPointWines @TrialtoON

From left to right: Rupert & Rothschild Classique 2011, Domaine De Bila Haut Occultum Lapidem 2012, Marcel Deiss Pinot d’Alsace 2012, Westcott Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate 2012, Closson Chase S. Kocsis Vineyard Chardonnay 2011

Rupert & Rothschild Classique 2011, Wo Coastal Region, Western Cape, South Africa (Agent, $23.95, WineAlign)

Iconic Bordeaux partners with South Africa for a red that is a surprising saunter into fair Cabernet-Merlot territory. Ripeness, extraction and alcohol are all exercised with restraint. The South African gauze is wound but of a thin wrapping, thanks to the allowance for fruit to shine in bright, red cherry tones. Western Cape is a terrific place to express Bordeaux-styled reds, especially when done with such hands off ability. A bit sapid and even sour edged, this would be a fine example to share when partaking in a little R & R. Wait a year and drink up to 2018. Tasted November 2014 @Dandurandwines @WOSACanada

Domaine De Bila Haut Occultum Lapidem 2012, Ac Côtes De Roussillon Villages Latour De France (643239, $24.95, WineAlign)

From vineyards composed of Devonian Period gneiss and schist soils and Kimmeridgian period limestone. A blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. The heft of this craggy, cultured terroir in a Côtes De Roussillon’s bottle is never in question, nor is the puritanical excellence of its harvested fruit. Some years just heat up to a point of no return, like this 2012. Chapoutier is fully cognizant of the warmth and savagery from the soils and the climate. Finding even temperament and balance is the challenge. This vintage comes across as over the scabrous edge, cooked by the sun and dredged in the particulate. Classic Mediterranean notes of brine, brush and lavender keep it grounded, not to mention graphite and grilled meat, but for the sappy and life-sapping heat, this would be a candidate for 10 years in the cellar. As it is, drink this with quality warm-blooded protein over the next year or two. Tasted November 2014 @M_Chapoutier @Dandurandwines

Marcel Deiss Pinot d’Alsace 2012, Alsace, France (Agent, $24.95, WineAlign)

This Pinot d’Alsace is what Jean-Michel Deiss refers to as “du cépage a terroir” or “tous les cépages.” Though there can be as many as 13 grape varieties in the field blend, most of the content comes from the Pinot family. Though likely in Blanc, Gris and Auxerrois predominance, this is a co-planted field blend so if Jean-Michel were to change his tune from talking terroir to varietal percentages, even he would not know the true make-up. Regardless, this is a (vintage) rich and balanced white blend, an avatar for the Alsace idiom. A wanderer in angles, an adventurer into corners and a wearer of many aromatic costumes; sweet, sour, citrus, flint and spice. Indicates orange, lemon and grapefruit but it’s never that straightforward. More like Jincheng, Lemongrass and Pomello. An exemplary introduction to Deiss, Alsace and the dry summation of many white parts. Tasted twice, June and November 2014 @marceldeiss @AlsaceWines

Westcott Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate 2012, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $30.00)

Carries and buffets an unmistakable aromatic conveyance that comes from a grouping to include Le Clos Jordanne, Bachelder, Queylus and The Farm. Where the cherry tree digs its roots into the earth, where the fruit rolls in the clay dust, where the tension in fruit meets tannin, intersecting at acidity. Just a touch of funk in a non-reductive, vineyard sense and the fruit does flirt with right of centre cherry, inching towards the black side. Chalk and tangy dust, and finally, tannin that holds court. This is quite big for Niagara Pinot Noir and it will age righteously for three to five years. Though it is not yet ready to lay claim to greatness, Westcott is a vineyard to keep a wide and watchful eye. Tasted October 2014 @WestcottWines

Closson Chase S. Kocsis Vineyard Chardonnay 2011, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula (Winery, $34.95, WineAlign)

The real deal in Bench gain from out of the most enigmatic and occult vintage, the primitive vineyard giving life and lesson to Chardonnay. Austerity in second and third fill barrels sends butter in search of toast, imagined through pendular churning. A reckoning follows, connecting round fruit to linear acidity in character, oomph and excellence. Aromas indicate spirited confiture choices at the breakfast table to garnish flaky pastry. Biting and demanding yet sweet as a cool summer’s night. Tasted October 2014 @ClossonChase

Good to go!

Tweets by mgodello

Let the gems begin

Nov20

Wine review at VINTAGES of Norman Hardie Chardonnay Niagara Unfiltered 2012 by Godello

Wine review at VINTAGES of Norman Hardie Chardonnay County Unfiltered 2012 by Godello

If the premature lashing of cold, snow and ice weren’t enough to get you thinking about holiday shopping, get thee to a Liquor Control Board Ontario store on the weekend. Same time, every year. The LCBO stocks the shelves, isles and pyramid displays with more booze than anyone should ever be faced with in one visitation.

The bi-weekly VINTAGES release calendar whirs, undulates and clutters in rataplan overload at just this very juncture in preparation of the Christmas rush. Shoppers will tear down the walls of wine, beer and spirits, only to hear the burloque fall silent when the clock strikes closing time on the evening of December 24th.

There are exactly 35 days left in 2014 to do the right wine thing for that father, cousin, colleague, mentor or loyal, long-time suffering employee. Please heed the warnings and do not buy crap for the one you love or think you should. No matter who you are picking up a bottle for, treat them well and with fermented grape respect.

There are three category of wines to look for, at least within the context of this buying guide. First there are the values under $20, wines made so properly they should cost double or triple what they do. Second are the expensive but honest wines. These are the true gems that make most $100 bottles look bad. Last are the $100 examples that are truly iconic, despite their cost. Though priced beyond the means of most, they are not a mistake to take a flyer and give as a gift. After the hand off is complete, the all-knowing, unspoken nod will follow.

Here are 22 picks from the VINTAGES November 22, 2014 release, in stores now.

From left to right: Cavino Grande Reserve Nemea 2008, Frescobaldi Castello Di Pomino Pomino Bianco 2013, Moris Morellino Di Scansano 2012, Louis Bouillot Perle D’aurore Brut Rosé Crémant De Bourgogne, McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Sémillon 2007, Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2012

Cavino Grande Reserve Nemea 2008, Pdo Nemea, Greece (295618, $17.95, WineAlign)

Nemea strikes again. Dark rust, earth juiced on and of the rocks. Like Sangiovese with attitude, made by Romans, like Syrah the way it was made in mythological times, by Greeks. A classical garden. This is actually quite modern and expressive for Agiorgitiko. Acts as if it were a touch clay (or amphora) baked but it’s really just a Peloponnese take on oak aging (18 months) and further bottle rest (12 months). This is right in its window and will be friendly for three to five years more. What a steal. Tasted November 2014 @DrinkGreekWine

Frescobaldi Castello Di Pomino Pomino Bianco 2013, Doc Pomino Bianco, Tuscany, Italy (65086, $19.95, WineAlign)

With thanks to Chardonnay, the Castello di Pomino 2013 elevates Pinot Blanc to a level not really found anywhere, save perhaps for one or two examples out of B.C. This one really leaves a tannic impression, not unlike some impossibly off-dry Pinot Gris from Alsace. There is a really sophisticated level of ambiance and a semblance of a distinctly rocky intent. Like high quality Sancerre or Chenin from Silex soils, the grain and veins running through the palate and the texture are coarse and cursive. This one writes a new script for Frescobaldi’s Florentine, Apennine mountain estate. Fresh, ventilated and airy as if breathing from blue skies at high altitudes. I can’t recall tasting this level of excellence before and would look forward to no less than five years of enjoying what it brings to the Tuscan table. Tasted November 2014 @FrescobaldiVini @liffordretail

Moris Morellino Di Scansano 2012, Docg, Tuscany, Italy (992560, $19.95, WineAlign)

A primarily (90 per cent) Sangiovese with smatterings, though not inconsequential, of Merlot and Syrah. From (non-estate) vineyards in Poggio La Mozza (Grosseto). Morellino Di Scansano, to a wine and exemplified here, sports a firm jaw and an air of tragic nobility. The question is why should it only find occasional psychic prominence as a Sangiovese go to. Moris Farms makes the lesser-known accessible, with a (sees no oak) modern accent of dark fruit and spice atop simple, pleasurable Sangiovese. Pleasantries exchanged, the 2012 MdS will work dinner, inside a Tuscan vernacular and out. Tasted October 2014 @Morisfarms @oenophilia1

Louis Bouillot Perle D’aurore Brut Rosé Crémant De Bourgogne, Ac Burgundy, France (48793, $19.95, WineAlign)

The Bouillot Rosé, for my $20 is the most impressive of their line-up, always tender and ripe as if just picked fruit, namely strawberry and raspberry. The Perle D’aurore is a faintly hued and lighthearted take but not light on effort. Elegance defined in Bourgogne bubbles with a savoury edge to give it strength. Tasted November 2014 @JCB_Wines @ChartonHobbs

McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Sémillon 2007, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia (724492, $19.95, WineAlign)

The 2007 is another fascinating study in Hunter Valley Sémillon. Like the ’06, egressing secondary notes have emerged, in equatorial garrigue and fruit having already met its aurulent stenosis. A honey note persists though less so in ’07, as does the level of tempering acidity. This vintage brings out the calm and the clam, though the petrol and the mineral are omnipresent, perhaps elevated. Must keep in mind it’s only $20 but it does fall a bit short in texture and acidity. There is lemon drop and the essential atomic Sémillon stoicism from the Hunter Valley, but it’s a bit thin and hollow up the middle. All that acknowledged, not having a look or two would be a shame. Tasted November 2014 @MtPleasantWines @PRAXISpr

Josef Chromy Pepik Pinot Noir 2012, Tasmania, Australia (162990, $22.95, WineAlign)

Pepik has elevated aromatic tones and though it appears lithe it reads like a weighty tome. Unique and of its Tasmanian self. Plums come to mind, as does red earth. The phenolic ripeness and varietal indications are ushered in with managed exceptions and are simply spot on. This does not strike as a Pinot Noir that will be long-lived because its black cherry and spice are riper than many contemporary editions in a similar price range, but it will offer great pleasure for two to three years. Tasted November 2014 @JosefChromy @bwwines

From left to right: Klumpp Pinot Gris 2013, Creekside Estates The Trad Reserve 2011, Meerlust Rubicon 2008, Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2011, Faustino I Gran Reserva 2001, Cvne Gran Reserva 2008

Klumpp Pinot Gris 2013, Qualitätswein, Baden, Germany (394155, $23.95, WineAlign)

Thoroughly interesting study in German Pinot Gris despite the timid and reserved tonal nature. Aridity in as much as the variety can muster and in the largest, atmospheric sense. Though the palate has some fine-grained texture and feigned sweetness, it’s as if Baden can only do Pinots this way, in Gris and in Noir. Acidity is tempered and a willing accomplice to the diminished components of sugar and pH. A well designed Pinot Gris. Tasted November 2014 @TheLivingVine @WinesofGermany

Creekside Estates The Trad Reserve 2011, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (390336, $28.95, WineAlign)

The Trad ’11 has a classic toast and yeast aromatic waft and so it goes that everything that follows is embraced with curiosity and an open mind. Ginger, citrus, bronze and the sweet scents of the inside of a candy machine, its candy long gone. Creekside’s winemaker Rob Power will never be accused of dialing this sparkler in. Tasting trials help determine the necessary, final blend. The single, Queenston Road Vineyard puts 56 per cent Pinot Noir and (44) Chardonnay, aged 2 years in bottle, together for a highly effective, expansive but not explosive fizz. At 8.7 g/L of residual its dry but not quite falling off the bone. The sweetness is tempered by elevated (9.98 g/L) acidity and tension. Spent 24 months on the lees and was bottled back in February. There is balance and pleasure and a good, stretchy finish. No band-aid. Clean, precise, fizz of the day. Tasted October 2014 @CreeksideWine

Meerlust Rubicon 2008, Wo Stellenbosch, South Africa (64329, $34.95, WineAlign)

Rubber dust, road macadam and strawberry jam. Fierce Bordeaux Blend home from a hot climate. This has gritty obduracy and doggedness. Like a red blend with a gun, walking the mean streets. Acidity shot through the roof. Bordeaux meets South Africa in every shared, resplendent and promising way. Rasping tannins contain bursting dark fruit, the grain running in multiple directions. Respect. Wait two more years on this and drink comfortably to 2020. Tasted November 2014 @TrialtoON @WOSACanada

Tenuta Sette Ponti Crognolo 2011, Igt Toscana, Italy (727636, $34.95, WineAlign)

This is not the modern Crognolo as witnessed in the previous five vintages. In 2011 we have been granted the complex Crognolo. This has must and earth. It has grit and girth. Best Crognolo I have tasted. Tangy Sangiovese, with some chalk in tannin. Will live longer and offer unrequited love seven to 10 years down the road, to the patient and the faithful. Tasted November 2014 @TenSettePonti @TrialtoON

Faustino I Gran Reserva 2001, Doca Rioja, Spain (976662, $35.95, WineAlign)

It amazes me how kept wines from Rioja keep appearing as if they were just bottled yesterday but not this famous Gran Reserva. Syrupy and caramelized, bright and earthy. Mulled plum and clove with citrus accents. Bretty like a barn’s floor. Cedar and leather, big oak doors. Real mutton Rioja, still tannic, energetic and searing. Kicking it old school but wild and alive. From my earlier, April 2014 note: “Were a full-term lecture taught on the pros and cons of the Brettanomyces brannigan, this Rioja might be exhibit A. Absolutely manifest fruit meets earth, meets game perfume compendium. Call it funky yeast if you must but here is a wine that can be approached by nose only and if the relationship were to end there, novels might be written. Lives on a fermented, catalytic and plucky edge but never submits to the bacterial spindrift. Leaden fruit, red and black, smooth and layered with a tension in tang that is paralyzing to the mouth. Thirteen years old and just hitting a secondary stride, with the oak slowly dissolving and not a hint of coffee or chocolate to be found. Sexy and down to earth at the same time.” Last tasted November 2014 @bodegasfaustino @Select_Wines

Cune Gran Reserva 2008, Doca Rioja, Spain (393553, $38.95, WineAlign)

Old school. Smells like Rioja. Smells like Spanish spirit and weeds, sinew, gristle and braising pig, all parts in. Smells like cedar, like American oak and a soak in a tub of spa earth and mineral salts. Like “Spanish boots of Spanish leather.” This has already done the evolutionary dance so if you are looking for something to float your natural, honest boat, go here now. In a Rioja world where the times they are a changin‘, it will sail you back in time and away into a Mediterranean sunset. Tasted November 2014 @Cvne @vonterrabev

From left to right: Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2012, Vincent Sauvestre Clos De La Platière Pommard 2012, Versado Malbec Reserva 2010, Laurent Perrier Millésimé Vintage Brut Champagne 2004

Fattoria Dei Barbi Brunello Di Montalcino 2008, Tuscany, Italy (928028, $49.95, WineAlign)

Firm and in a rustic vein, as per the Barbi dole, this one a bit funkier at the outset than many. Welcome to the classic firmness of 2008, antithesis of the flamboyant ’07’s but plan for 20 plus years of slow food elegance emission. Classic rose petal, tea leaves, dates and earth caked metal in this guy. From my earlier, March 2014 note: “As expected, this is a gritty effort from Barbi, in part the impart of a testosterone-laden vintage, along with the dryer and cooler climate from Barbi’s southeastern Montalcino vineyards. A low and slow ripening will surely translate to extended longevity, but the rusticity and leather/cherry continuum will never disappear. No doubt a classic example and very well-priced for such authenticity, still it can’t be helped to see Barbi’s ’08 as entrenched in an earlier period of time. The wine will need 10 years to soften its edges and reveal the refinement and elegance of a well-documented Brunello.” Last tasted November 2014 @FATTORIABARBI @Noble_Estates

Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2012, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California (287854, $58.95, WineAlign)

A study in precision, exceptional quality and poise. Golden rays mixed with misty wisps, cool nights tempering warm days. Just a touch of wood spice pricks the finish. So much flavour. Tasted November 2014 @DuttonGoldfield @TheVine_RobGroh

Vincent Sauvestre Clos De La Platière Pommard 2012, Burgundy, France (390534, $59.95, WineAlign)

This Pinot Noir speaks for the two sides of every Burgundy argument, especially considering it comes from the gritty nook of Pommard. First impressions are floral and pretty, with spice and some sort of tropical flora whispering in cooing scents. The hill offers a buoyancy, a lifted spirit and a view of its own sweet regard. Travels through a mid-village weightless hover, then returns to terroir in prime time acidity and tannin to keep time. There is a sweet tart medicinal aspect ratio on the finish and overall this does things correctly. Does not finish with the same suave seduction that it teased at the start but it does continue to impress. Tasted November 2014 @Select_Wines @BourgogneWines

Versado Malbec Reserva 2010, Luján De Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina (316984, $60.95, WineAlign)

Aromatics are racing and rising from the glass. A red rain pouring in and out. Has yet to change course. From my earlier, September 2014 note: “The floral emergence is a lodestar as periscope just now peering up from the seamless cake layering in Versado’s most liberally applied oak-imbued Malbec. The 2010 adheres in sticky savour though it remains two to three years away from finding its true gliding form. From my earlier notes through tastings on Oct. 25 and Nov. 14, 2013. “This ultra-premium Mendozan from the Canadian winemaking team of Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling boasts fruit from “the finest barrels from the finest blocks.” While certainly riding a splintered and jammy horse (what fully extracted Mendozan does not), this reserve Malbec has so much else happening, I owe it my time and focus. Dances to a triple jump height in oozing berry, compacted, brick wall infrastructure and overlapping delineation. Really like the consistency here, with no hollow middle, no umlaut, no pregnant pause. Very well made.” Last tasted November 2014 @VersadoWine

Laurent Perrier Millésimé Vintage Brut Champagne 2004, Champagne, France (983874, $84.95, WineAlign)

The reappraised vintage that was once considered good, now revealing itself as better than good uses examples like the Laurent Perrier Millésimé to drive the point. This is a classically symmetrical blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir possessive of much chaste class, incredible balance and held lotus posture. Through its waves of idiosyncratic brioche and linear citrus lines drawn in tactile angles this Champagne is unbent and unbroken. Its seamless transitions glide from delicate aromas, through a textured palate and groove forward in elastic length. Additionally graceful with an ever so slightly advanced and mature style from a mature world in vintage-dated Champagne. Tasted November 2014 @ChampagneLPUSA @Noble_Estates

From left to right: Mollydooker Carnival Of Love Shiraz 2010, Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Château Malescot St. Exupéry 2010, Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Sassicaia 2011

Mollydooker Carnival Of Love Shiraz 2010, Mclaren Vale, Australia (242732, $114.95, WineAlign)

While the price is just about as absurd as a “yoga class for cats” or Raine Maida’s voice, it seems logical to wonder aloud how one could question this Carnival as not being one of the biggest and baddest Shiraz you will ever encounter. It’s a veritable run on sentence of Shiraz adjectives, adverbs and hyperbole. If your hankering remains entrenched in elevated alcohol, enormity of fruit, condensed and compressed mineral, lest to be forgetting the viscous ooze of Mclaren Vale syrup, well, then this jester should fill your stocking along with those of the rest of your circle of fortifying friends. From the maw of the beast here – blood gore and fruit guts. Holy crap is this extracted, tannic, mired in impropriety, full conceit and in zero jealousy of other Shiraz. It doth joust. Certainly no lady of peace. Wow. Tasted November 2014 @MollydookerWine @bwwines

Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Napa Valley, California (936039, $139.95, WineAlign)

Magnificent and munificent wine. Really special, magnanimous in every way, ultra-luxurious but not over the top. Alcohol, oak and extraction judged and held in check, equity and in balance. The fruit is pure and delicate, marked by plum, blackberry and hovering licorice, anise and spices. Long in chain and really sweet tannins. Like gazing into a pool of real nineties Napa and across the pond to an older school of reasoning. Tasted November 2014 @SilverOak @HalpernWine

Château Malescot St. Exupéry 2010, Ac Margaux, 3e Cru, Bordeaux, France (261552, $167.95, WineAlign)

A heightened sense of Margaux reality in 2010 comes from the château with the hybrid name; first from Simon Malescot, King’s Counsel to Louis XIV at the Parliament of Bordeaux. Second, from the post French Revolution château purchaser, Count Jean Baptiste St Exupéry, grandfather of the aviator and writer Antoine de St Exupéry. This has to be the most hedonism ever bottled in a Malescot, within reason of course. The house does not know from over the top, save perhaps for the cost of this 2010. Cassis is certainly here, as is a medicinal tension, firm acidity and the most formidable tannins known to Margaux. The grain, chalk and tincture combine for full effect. This will need 10 years to chill, then go 10 plus 10 more to much applause and the request for a final curtain call. Tasted November 2014 @VinsdeBordeaux

Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Napa Valley, California (399592, $167.95, WineAlign)

Wow. Aromatics are off the charts. Pine forest, leather, chestnut and cedar, savoury in every wild and sauvage way, but also pure. Berries, tobacco leaf, classical logic, structures and axioms lead me to imagine mid-nineties Paulliac. Seamless texture, ripe but not overripe, rich but never overly grainy. This is super fine and dialed back (with exotic spices and wood spice filling in the holes) in the cooler 2011 vintage. A Cabernet Sauvignon of the most savour and the most class. A ten to twenty year Spottswoode. Tasted November 2014 @Spottswoode @Smallwinemakers

Sassicaia 2011, Doc Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy (480533, $199.95, WineAlign)

Certainly a Sassicaia borne of the earth and the vintage. Cooler, with increased sapidity and elevated aromatics. While not volatile there is certainly an intimation at acetic behaviour. Though supportive in only 15 per cent of the two Cabs blend, Cabernet Franc stands firm in its concentration of tobacco, peppercorns a-popping in the pan and a smoldering of currants over an open fire. This will age for decades and return to its beautiful natural state with time-weathered, rugged facial lines. A leathery Sassicaia this, with tight, drying tannins and in need of two decades to show off its birthright. The 2011 Sassicaia is a loyal, aristocratic example to the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta’s dream of creating a ‘thoroughbred’ wine where the ideal was Bordeaux. Tasted November 2014 @Smarent

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Where did all the Nouveau go?

Nov19

Nouveau 2014

Of which camp are you? Have the Nouveau got the hairs raised on the back of your neck? Do you love it or hate it? Are you giddy with annual excitement? Are you agitated by what you feel is a black eye dis to properly produced Beaujolais Cru? Are bubble gum and fermenting banana your go to sensations? If you were playing the Family Feud and asked this question: “What is you favourite winemaking technique?,” would you answer, “carbonic maceration?”

Tomorrow will mark the third Thursday of November and the annual Beaujolais Nouveau release will hit shelves around the globe, including here in Ontario’s LCBO stores. Beaujolais Nouveau, as in barely fermented, Burgundian nether, or to the curiosity seeker, best friend.

Last year’s Godello Beaujolais Presser offered up a quick Nouveau 101. A reminder that the wine formerly known as Beaujolais Nouveau is now simply Nouveau because other wine growing nations have joined the party. Italians produce a Novello and in Niagara they have adopted the Nouveau, if only because the English “new wine” is not the most marketable of phrases. Neither is the Franglaise, Newvin, or Nouwine.

Related – Beaujolais Nouveau Presser 2013

Nouveau has reached critical mass and is now stationed at a vinous crossroads. Long-time LCBO Product Consultant Neal Boven offered me fair facetious warning as I sat down to taste the 2014 crop. “Just be careful, those are some really tannic wines.” Not, but what they are, more than ever, are new Gamay (and Syrah, Merlot, etc.) reds soaked and macerated in maximum thrust, skin-contact extrication for full neon hue and blinding fluorescent glow. In many examples they go deeper still so some wanna be fierce tannin is actually getting through. The question begs. Is that what this perversion of Beaujolais was meant to be, or is Nouveau no longer the correct vernacular? Where did all the Nouveau go? Also, what happened to last year’s clear-cut winner, Seven nation Gamay, Generation Seven? Where did you go Château des Charmes?

Cries of “Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!.” can still be heard and so the 2014 Nouveau wines will be arriving in select LCBO stores on Thursday, November 20. Here are notes on the nine presented.

Ontario

Reif Estates The Fool Gamay Nouveau 2014, VQA Niagara River, Ontario (220483, $11.95)

The rich hue is so like a Côtes du Rhône, a young one mind you, a Rhône Nouveau. The aromas conjure up corner stores and a wonderland filled with bubble gum and cotton candy sprinkled with dried lees dust. Sweet and sour, with a spritz of lime and the bitter citrus pith of grapefruit. Also green tobacco leaf and coffee beans. The concentration is admirable and even though the wine is as raw as open sores on feet hiked in new boots, give credit to the complex nature of the festivities.

France

Mommessin Beaujolais Nouveau 2014, Burgundy, France (897934, $13.95)

Quite consistently the most accomplished if unabashedly contrived BN, year in and year out. The hue has deepened, the extract been probed and the senses muted. Acting like the real deal in southern Burgundy, the Mommessin feigns Morgon with simulated scenes of burlesque and method acting. The grit of earth mixed with the brightness of black cherries may give you reason to believe. If not for the banana blow moment, this could have been as much Zappa as Ween. “A little something to help the time go by. Just a little something to help to keep you high.” In the end, Morgon throws out the counterfeit lawsuit and congratulates the Nouveau for acting like itself.

Art’s Beaujolais Primeur Nouveau 2014, Beaujolais, France (366476, $13.95)

In the upper echelon of the BN cost continuum and it shows. The sulphur must be blown off to keep moving in the assessment, but that is does. Does not come across cloyingly candied and breathes dark fruits mixed with some plum instead. A touch dusty and adroitly Gamay so there is patronage in the Arts. The acidity is pleasant and adjunct the ripe but not over extracted fruit. Still the hue goes for expression over the wine’s impression but the restraint and the aromatic profiling fit the old school bill. Dry and possessive of quite decent length.

Catalans Primeur Syrah Merlot 2014, IGP Southwest, France (220533, $9.95)

Everything about this Syrah and Merlot mélange is steroidal and an oxymoron within the contextual happenstance of the thematic. So skintastic in extraction and wildly sauvage in aromatic impropriety. A thick, viscous liqueur of mashed banana and Chapati paste. Sickly sour and Lik-m-Aid sweet. It is dry on the finish, I will give it that. But it’s so over the top, if Syrah-Merlot Nouveau can be.

DuBoeuf Gamay Nouveau 2014, Beaujolais, France (891846, $9.95)

A return to the olfactory confection and the colour of Cru Beaujolais though it is weeks and years away from turning the page and living that dream. The carbonic crafting is in full marauding maceration in this ’14 DuBoeuf. The saving grace is a minor lead funk in the key of autumn plants, trampled underfoot. “Greased and slicked down fine, groovy leather trim.” Quite rustic despite the sugar-coating.

Italy

Negrar Novello Del Veneto 2014, Veneto, Italy (899955, $9.95)

The aromatic waft of this Venetian (Bardolino-Valpolicella) Novello is like fruit and vegetable road kill beneath a truck. So very composted and steaming, it’s as if this is still fermenting away in bottle. This gives the word carbonic a whole new meaning. The texture and body are quite elegant (used with creative license, not in any disparaging way I promise) and the finish is long and puckering. It is what it is.

Tollo Novello Rosso Terre di Chieti 2014, Abruzzo, Italy (271759, $9.45)

The Giocale is an interesting specimen from Abruzzo, qualified as a “regional blended red.” Not exactly Nouveau material is it. With what must likely be MdA as its dominant grape variety, strawberries in many incantations are its focus, in leaf, of near-ripe fruit and mixed with avocado for one odd smelling (and tasting) milkshake. This has a young Negroamaro or Nero d’Avola feel, but also a raisined, pruny appassimento appointed sensation. There is forest floor in its nose, vineyard funk in its flavor and tension in its voice. It’s already evolved, slightly oxidized and needs to be consumed with haste. That said it shows some interesting complexity and even a few stanzas of structure so give it points. It’s also correctly priced.

Drouhin Beaujolais-Nouveau 2014

VINTAGES

FRANCE

Joseph Drouhin Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2014, Beaujolais, France (113266, $15.95)

The paid piper in the group of nine leads by example. At $16 Drouhin had better fashion an exemplary Beaujolais Nouveau to justify the price. With so many just plain stellar $15-16 wines on the market today, the caché of just recently pressed Gamay juice spiked by 12 per cent alcohol is not enough of a presser. Does this Drouhin raise the bar? Yes, that it does, but not in the way it should. There is clearly developed acidity, tannin and quality grapes in this pour. What happened to Nouveau? Why so proper in pH, TA and so low in RS? Where did the new juice go? Sorry Mr. Drouhin, if I want Gamay this good I can buy it any other week of the year.

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2014, Beaujolais, France (932780, $14.95)

This Duboeuf more closely resembles what Beaujolais Nouveau should be and has been for a near-half Millennium. Like ripe raspberries and bananas mashed together, shaken and even baked into short pastry for a quick cobbler or clafouti. The most aromatic on the table, this reminds me of years gone Nouveau by, of bygone Beaujolais that has just kissed the tank and been kissed by the yeast meets sugar marriage of a young wine. Hits the mark, finishes dry and leaves you not wanting anything more.

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Seven November VINTAGES releases from the Niagara homefront

Nov18

Mid-November comfort food
@MeatMeFoods ossein release beef stew and @WaniganFoods organic butternut squash

The November 22, 2014 VINTAGES release is nothing short of a massive, endless, meandering and long-winding road through holiday wines, spirits and the uncorking of the LCBO’s finest purchases. We’ll get to that later in the week. Today it’s all about local talent.

The vinous scriptures being written along the shores and up the rugged escarpments in Wine Country Ontario‘s acreage continues to scroll through back pages of wine making history and into the modern vernacular of consumer want. This release rolls out excellence in Sparkling, Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, stoked and urged on across three of the four categories in representation by Tawse.

The iconic June’s Vineyard in the Creek Shores appellation ushers Riesling into the varietal mix at the hands of 13th Street, along with most righteous accents in Chardonnay by Fielding Estate, Pondview and Le Clos Jordanne. Here are seven new (and redux) releases to seek out this coming weekend.

From left to right: Tawse Spark Brut Sparkling 2012, 13th Street June’s Vineyard Riesling 2012, Fielding Estate Bottled Chardonnay 2013, Pondview Bella Terra Chardonnay 2011, Le Clos Jordanne Village Reserve Chardonnay 2011, Tawse Chardonnay ‘Lenko Vineyard’ 2011, Tawse Laidlaw Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010

Tawse Spark Brut Sparkling 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (404558, 375mL, $14.95, WineAlign)

All the elements in this second Tawse Brut Sparkling ring in stereo. A blend of Chardonnay (59 per cent), Pinot Noir (28) and Pinot Gris (13). The base wine acts as if drawn from prepped concrete with lees amplified and serious. Really expressive from this smaller format, wild, invigorating, if nothing like Champagne. Has boundless energy and a gregarious personality, along with really good length. Tasted November 2014 @Tawse_Winery @Paul_Pender

Related – Tawse Spark Blend 2012 (Winery, $24.95, 750 mL, WineAlign)

13th Street June’s Vineyard Riesling 2012, VQA Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (147512, $19.95, WineAlign)

June, that special vineyard, can seemingly do know wrong and Jean-Pierre Colas has the utmost respect for what she will give. The Creek Shores puts fortified citrus shots into Riesling like no other sub-app in Niagara; it’s a bleed from rocks entrenched in heavy soil permanent and a preservation of juicy flesh. A warm June, here from the ’12 vintage to be sure but with texture and coating that is most gracious and layered. If this falls through your cracks then you are missing the Riesling boat. At 11.5 per cent it comes from early picked, acidity preserving fruit and yet it has already gained much flesh on and off the bone. Tasted November 2014 @13thStreetWines

Fielding Estate Bottled Chardonnay 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (355842, $21.95, WineAlign)

The signs have all been pointing to this moment, this 2013 Chardonnay of focus and restraint. A cover of a classic composition, like Beck doing Dylan, once so innovative and forward thinking it blew people’s mind. A new age Beamsville Bench Chardonnay by a contemporary winemaker (Richie Roberts) that stretches the boundaries without letting go of the past. Has all the hallmarks of the warmth, the exceptionality of Bench terroir tucked under shelf, in nook to the Escarpment, with just a kiss of oak and a slightly distorted hook. “You know it balances on your head, just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine.” Persists with great length and stays secure, held together and stretched on. This is just right and is really the best you will find in the tween price range, over 20 and under 30. This Leopard-Skin Pillbox-Hat of a Chardonnay. Tasted November 2014

@FieldingWinery @RichieWine

Pondview Bella Terra Chardonnay 2011, Barrel Fermented, VQA Four Mile Creek, Ontario (347922, $24.95, WineAlign)

Fred DiProfio’s Chardonnay is all in, fermented and aged in French, American and Hungarian barrels for 11 months. The question needs asking, for starters, why would anyone make a Chardonnay in Niagara at 14.1 per cent alcohol? The second question is how, in the challenging, cool 2011 vintage did this manage such a triumph? The aromatic headiness, level of richness, candied texture and far-away tropical flavours have been maximized. Bella is certainly elevated on the malo-tannic scale and though she may be gangling, awkward and steamy soupy, she’s a tall drink of Chardonnay. A huge Four Mile exhibit, so atypical of the vintage and should find a band of loyal followers, especially at the price. Tasted November 2014 @pondviewwinery

Le Clos Jordanne Village Reserve Chardonnay 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (33936, $30.00, WineAlign)

Another look, another point of pleasure. Fruit of the vine shines first, with elegance realized, while wood just plays its proper part. Vineyards combine in seamless, selfless and unselfish ways. From my earlier, June 2014 note: “Winemaker Sébastien Jacquey’s “entry-level” Chardonnay currently resides in a bitten and certainly not shy mode. The 2011 is a Villages Reserve that is in a bit of a purgatorial place at the moment, closed down since its grand opening last summer. The rocks are speaking, as is the hubris of wood, but the fruit is up there, wafting in the proverbial wind. Let it blow and gather atmosphere, to return two or three years on, to reintegrate with the earthly elements and reform a convivial bond.” Last tasted November 2014 @LeClosJordanne

Tawse Chardonnay ‘Lenko Vineyard’ 2011, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula (344796, $44.95, WineAlign)

Reeking and rolling today, scraping the chalk board and taking more risks than before. Would expect you can hang on to this magnanimous behaviorist in Chardonnay attitude for five years and still not crack its shell. Wild man, unlike any other in the world of Tawse. From my earlier, April 2014 note: “The speed and the steel have slowed to yellow caution and the now honey-toned flesh has added more weight. There’s just something about Daniel Lenko at this juncture. From my earlier (tasted three times) July 2013 note: “From wiser men who’ve been through it all” is the kind of one-off we should all wish to re-visit in 10 years time. The study: Daniel Lenko’s fruit in the hands of winemaker Paul Pender out of a most confounding vintage. That 2011 in terms of Ontario Chardonnay strikes and speaks to me in tongues is no secret, so the Tawse treatment fascinates in ways to make me giddy. Tension and elasticity are present here in super-hyper Beamsville Bench concentration. Apples pile upon apples, in magnetic purée and layered maceration. A full-on body attack and phenolic structure will see this Lenko to a future (five to seven years) in grace and gorgeous line. A Chardonnay to “scheme the schemes, face the face.” Tasted three times. @Tawse_Winery

Tawse Laidlaw Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula (264796, $44.95, WineAlign)

The Laidlaw Vineyard is a warm and developing Pinot Noir, the soupiest, that is, in layer building, from mirepoix, with a solid stock base, simmering ossein releasing protein and a compliment of herbs and spices. The Vinemount Ridge can’t help but give this a mineral injection. Coated with sharp tannin and fierce acidity, long and with an enveloping, formidable tension. A bit of a rough mix, there can be little argument this will need a few more years to settle. Drink after 2018, when this baby will give it away for free. There’ll be “no better way to beat the blues.” Tasted November 2014 @Paul_Pender

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Niagara delivers everbearing quality in November releases

Nov4

Ontario Everbearing Strawberries

Like the strawberry, yet on countless further levels, Ontario wines have elevated in quality with exponential consistency in recent times. I can remember rushing out to Simcoe County to pick strawberries in late June at Visser and Barrie Hill farms, only to see the season end as abruptly as it began, after just a few weeks of plump, flame-red, succulence. Times have changed. Like the plant belonging to the family of Fragaria genus, Ontario wines, across the board, have evolved. The Everbearing Strawberry can be picked well into the Fall. Was it not so long ago the consumer chose Ontario wines with sporadic indifference? To Japan, exports of Canadian wine have doubled in the last five years. This is no small feat and with thanks to an all Canadian wine store owned by Jamie Paquin called Heavenly Vines. Domestically speaking, purchases of local wine are as strong in October as they are in July. Times has changed.

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. I would not make the call that 2013 was a vintage of the decade but very good wines were made. There are no bad vintages in Ontario. That concept is mired in the pessimistic rhetoric of the past. The winemaking camaraderie excogitates to mature as one big happy guild in pursuit of the common good. Vintners are focused and intense; on terroir, micro-climate, canopy management, picking times, pure and clean fruit, élevage and on honest wine.

The industry is currently fixated on making great product. Whatever beefs critics and consumers have with varietal choices, marketing failures or suffocating consumer systems, what is happening in bottle is nothing short of brilliance. Morale is at an all-time high. How else to explain the ability to weather the storm of a brutal winter in 2014? Enzo Barresi of Colio Estates told me yesterday that he does not bemoan the loss of vines. Less Merlot? So what? The ability to make polished wines from other grape varieties replaces fear, dread and loathing. The same goes for Rosewood Estates. No more Sémillon? “What can you do.” says Krystina Roman. Concentrate on excellence elsewhere. Soldier on.

The November 8th VINTAGES release coming up this weekend is a prime example of the strawberry in the room that is Niagara wine. I count no fewer than eight examples of an eminence front in output. From Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc to Chardonnay and from Pinot Noir to a Bordeaux-styled blend, these eight wines are elephantine examples of what Ontario does best.

From left to right: Hidden Bench Chardonnay 2012

From left to right: Featherstone Black Sheep Riesling 2013, The Foreign Affair Sauvignon Blanc Enchanted 2013, Tawse Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling Sparkling Wine 2012, Hidden Bench Chardonnay 2012

Featherstone Black Sheep Riesling 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (80234, $16.95, WineAlign)

The vintage delves into older school territory, elemental and elevated skywards, to atmosphere the Sheep has not recently climbed to. This airy void allows the Vineland rocks beneath to grind their way into all aspects of this Riesling. “Three bags full.” The lime rind and overall citrus circumvention brings the typical back to earth. This is a lean but fine Featherstone. Exemplary of the vintage, with plenty of wool. Tasted October 2014 @featherstonewne

The Foreign Affair Sauvignon Blanc Enchanted 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (389767, $19.95, WineAlign)

Appassimento-style Sauvignon Blanc is both curious and an open target for accusations of vivid excesses. The detractor will look for swift “walls of insincerity,” the complimenter will say “I was enchanted to meet you.” Foreign Affair’s take has been injected with a cocktail of intensity; steroidal, hormonal and from concentrate. All the juicy orchard fruits are there; plum, apple, pear, nectarine, lemon, lime and grapefruit. This passes the appassimento SB test, if only and commodiously because it spreads fruit like confiture on warm toast. Tasted October 2014 @wineaffair

Tawse Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling Sparkling Wine 2012, Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (370361, $19.95, WineAlign)

The Spark’s fermented in the bottle, cheesy, leesy warm ’12 turn, like melted Fontina on Formica, does dissipate following a moment or two and a bubble-bursting swirl. To taste there is much to delight in this inaugural release. Like the days leading up to ripe picked pears and a squeeze of striking, tart lemon. Good persistence is crackling, misty and even mysterious. Sparks squeezed from frenetic rhythm. Tasted October 2014 @Tawse_Winery @Paul_Pender

Hidden Bench Chardonnay 2012, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (68817, $28.95, WineAlign)

Shows its finesse from the start. Though today I sense a slightly candied nose it’s wrapped in a warm and fuzzy coat, gifted by the vintage but without heat. This may be the prettiest of Marlize’s (Estate) Chardonnay; enchanting, honeyed, floral. Yet there is a pulsating note, portending the time needed to bring this to an intended fruition. Stretches for conscious movement length. From my earlier, July 2014 note: “Yet rigid in its youth, the wood is not yet settled. Bottled in September of 2012, the ’12 will need every day of its first year to be ready, willing and able to please upon release. From my earlier, May 2014 note: “Always aromatically embossed and texturally creamy, the Estate Chardonnay finds a way to elevate its game with each passing vintage. The uplifting elegance factor acquiesces the poise needed to battle the effects of ultra-ripe fruit out of a warm vintage. In ’12 the middle ground exchanges more pleasantries though the finale speaks in terse, toasted nut and piquant daikon terms. Not harshly or witchy, mind you, but effectively and within reason of the season. When you look in the window at Harald (proprietor Thiel) and Marlize’s (winemaker Beyers) Chardonnay, “you’ve got to pick up every stitch.” Last tasted October 2014 @HiddenBench @BenchVigneron

From left to right: Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2012, Le Clos Jordanne Village Reserve Pinot Noir 2011, Hidden Bench Terroir Caché Meritage 2010, Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Chardonnay 2011

Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (1560, $29.95, WineAlign)

Seven months have softened and mothered Gravity’s adolescence in ways to now see it as the most feminine, certainly of the last four vintages. Pretty dabs, perfumes of natural conditioning, warm days and warm nights in the bottle. More accessible than previous takes and of a new modernity perceived. Sweet dreams and sweet fragrances, roses and cinnamon, nothing fancy here mind you, with no bite and no gathering moss. Cherries and vanilla, lavender and simple pleasures. Straight up Gravity, no pull down, no drag and no excess weight. At $30 and from the best barrels, this trumps $40-50 most locales not called Lowery, La Petite Vineyard, Central Otago, Hengst or Pfinstberg. From my earlier, March 2014 note: “In a vintage potentially muddled by warmth and a humidor of radio frequency, duplicating berry phenolics, Flat Rock’s Gravity remains a definitive, signature house Pinot Noir. In 2011, the head of the FR class from its most expressive barrels shared the limelight (and top juice) with the Pond, Bruce and Summit one-offs. In ’12, Gravity’s sandbox was its own. The style is surely dark, extracted, black cherry bent, as per the vintage. Yet only the Rock’s soil does earth in this variegate, borne and elevated by the barrel’s grain. There are no fake plastic trees in a Flat Rock Pinot. “Gravity always wins.” Last tasted October 2014 @Winemakersboots @UnfilteredEd @brightlighter1

Le Clos Jordanne Village Reserve Pinot Noir 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (33894, $30.00, WineAlign)

A refined ’11 Pinot Noir, of combined vineyard fruit or not, this shows attention to clean, precise winemaking detail. Punches suffered during fermentation mean a fully healed wine in bottle. Good structure and grain in tannin with just a minor fleeting paint is only a fleeting reminder of previous VR’s. Sweet plum fruit, just ripe, skin cracking, flesh oozing and dripping of pure juice. From my earlier, February 2014 note: “Something’s missing, or rather something is happening here. The LCJ omnipresent warm Pinot coat of harm is conspicuous in its absence, or has it been reigned in? This 2011 is so much more friendly, more soft-spoken, expertly judged and picked ripe fruit richer than before. Plenty of tang and tannin but the pronouncement is in a savoury basil/chervil kind of way. Not just another high made by just another crazy guy. A most excellent, bright, roxy Village Reserve, full of atmosphere and ambient music.” Last tasted October 2014 @LeClosJordanne

Hidden Bench Terroir Caché Meritage 2010, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (505610, $38.00, WineAlign)

Has shifted ever so slightly, as if injected by a bolus to effectively level off the intensity in concentration. With another summer beneath its brooding belt, the aromatics are now in full flight. From my earlier, June 2014 note: “The richest Terroir Caché to date, making use of its barrel in judicious but never obnoxious ways. Huge Bench wine, needs 10 years for sure. From my earlier, April 2014 note: “No other Niagara red and for sure no alternative Peninsula Bordeaux blend exists in such a vacuum of dichotomous behaviour. Act one is an out-and-out boastful, opulent show of Rococo. Act two a gnawing and gnashing by beasts. The pitch and pull of the Terroir Caché 2010 optates and culls the extraordinary through the practice of extended délestage, what Hidden Bench notes as “a traditional method of gently draining the wine and returning it to tank with its skins during fermentation.” The ’10 is about as huge as it gets, highly ferric and tannic. Still chemically reactive, you can almost imagine its once small molecules fitfully growing into long chains. Berries of the darkest night and he who should not be named black fruit are confounded by minerals forcing the juice into a cold sweat. Will require a minimum of 10 years to soften its all-powerful grip. From my earlier March 2013 note: “Has rich, voluptuous Napa Valley written all over it. Sister Merlot dominant, Beamsville Bench sledge monster. Plumbago, mineral, blackberry and coffee in a wine that will be the ringer in a blind tasting 10 years on. Harald may be saying “this is our family jewel.” Mr. Thiel, you make good wine.” Last tasted October 2014

Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Chardonnay 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (34561, $65.00, WineAlign)

Certainly plays the most hard to get of the ’11 Chardonnays of fruit so fine and pure. Layered like Phyllo or Puff pastry, gathered and set back upon itself. Gains traction and intensity through developed flavours and overlays of texture, both solid like shale and lacy like organza. From my earlier, July 2014 note: “From sandy loam and limestone soils, here is a Chardonnay that winemaker Sébastien Jacquey is looking to fashion with low PH and elevated tannin. A most commendable effort in the enigmatic ’11 vintage, clean, anything but lean and un-gassed by a jet engine’s aerified stream. Chardonnay running instead on the vineyard’s biofuel, a chalky lees and lime texture that turns green in a savoury way towards the back end. Full, rich, gaining in stature as it breathes, thinks and feels. Atop the green there is an ambrosial aroma and a honeyed sense of flesh. A wine of great respect and biodynamic energy.” Last tasted October 2014

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Yet another 10 reasons to pour a glass of wine on Halloween

Oct30

Smurfette does Halloween

Life is a trilogy, believe it or not. Things come in threes, whether you like it or not. In 2012 the number one reason for pouring a glass of wine on Halloween was “you will sound much more intelligent when answering the question, “trick or treat?”

In 2013, the top answer on the board was “nothing like a glass of wine on Halloween puts you in the mood to have another glass of wine on Halloween.” This guy may have had one too many while designing pumpkins. His ‘Stem In A Box’ is nothing if not creative. The phrasing may be indelicate but its meaning is clear.

Stem in a Box
Photo (c): http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Halloween Pumpkins

In the guise of an elevated pattern of harmony, a third and final installment in the trilogy of top 10 reasons to dole out the vino on All Hallows’ Eve is laid bare. The concept is as simple as a candle, without magic, no mystery. The addendum is music, tunes to play on the sickly sweet night where candy is everything. Songs to match the wine poured as dark as monster’s gore. And so, here are yet another 10 reasons to pour a glass of wine on Halloween.

You finally get to make use of those etched glasses you were gifted by the neighbour with really bad taste
The Dark and Stormy Death Punch is just a bad idea
Who doesn’t drop their pants for a Ghostly White Wine Spritzer?
Wine makes you forget Halloween ever happened
Because sometimes adults need travelling sippy cups too
The polyphenols in red wine can help offset the horrible effects of eating a pound of refined white sugar
The flavonoids in wine are a most excellent match to those in the apples in your Trick-or-Treat bag
You don’t even have to leave the house to get the full effect
Red wine helps to harden enamel and prevent tooth decay. Halloween. Got it?
Wine will make Halloween night’s sub-freezing weather kind of bearable

Do the neighbourly thing and try pouring these wines on Halloween.

Rosewood Origin Series La Fumée 2013 and Ravenswood Old Vine Zinfandel 2011

Rosewood Origin Series La Fumée 2013, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $21.80, WineAlign)

In 2012 La Fumée was less about its namesake, “the smoke” but in ’13 the opposite wafts like candy in the wind, like confection on brume, like smoke and a pancake. The significant acts of three months in oak for the Sauvignon Blanc plus the hallmark honeyed addition of (approximately 15 per cent), golden-skinned Rosewood Sémillon make for a smouldering and meandering La Fumée. In ’13 call it “Smoke Signal,” “The Big Smoke,” “On Top of Old Smoky” or “Smokearoo.” This one is full on, woven in tapestry texture and like a band on stage in the magic theatre, haunting its own house. This wine will make for a most excellent Halloween investigation, what with its consecrated combustion, but it should also be laid down to rest. Open the tomb in five years, remembering with wistful nostalgia the last of the great Sémillon contributions and see how this Fumée will have settled. It won’t be smokeless but it will be extinguished. “A smoke signal, no matter where you are.” Tasted October 2014 @Rosewoodwine

Ravenswood Old Vine Zinfandel 2011, Sonoma County, California (673798, $21.95., WineAlign)

From 60-80 year-old vines in three different sub-regions of Sonoma and from the how can we thank you enough 2011 vintage. All red berries, all in and at 14.5 per cent alcohol it is both subtle and carried with ease. The ever bearing berries are poured in every glass and seep into every pore. Maintains a level of class despite the big bones and the vivid excesses of Zinfandel repute. The cooler vintage is a natural for this Zinfandel, allowing the spices to spume and the coffee beans to percolate without needing to go muddy. In hue the Old Vines ’11 “flies the blackest way” so “sip it like you’re typical.” A raven in Zinfandel clothing, this is bang on and righteous, not to mention exemplary value in Sonoma Zin. Tasted October 2014 @CBrandsCareers @TheZinfandelOrg

Good to go!

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Wine on company time

Oct23

Algonquin Park, October 2014

From the Middle English octobre and the Latin October, meaning “eight,” just how the month of October became the Julian and Gregorian 10th is a matter of bad juju. The corporate bumbling by way of the insertion of January and February into the Roman calendar screwed up all available etymological kismet. Perhaps in abbreviation or acronym, October, shortened to OCT, means “On Company Time.” That might explain its delay and parlay to 10th month status.

October has made its sad and beautiful way into song, rarely in joy or rebirth, almost always in tragedy and death. What’s up with that? With leaves turning to every shade of a Tom Thomson watercolour amid Ontario’s landscape that is all pan and even more orama, why the long faces? James Mercer writes, “to hell again and back,” and Amy Winehouse “today my bird flew away.” The lyrics in these songs are anything but uplifting but the tunes themselves are scrappy.

Then there is the October as envisioned by U2, well, there’s an entire album of oppression, repression and depression. “And the trees are stripped bare, of all they wear, What do I care.”

The good news, through tough times and innocence lost, is the availability of wine. VINTAGES is our facilitator and we are the benefactors, to concentrate on seeking solace in the living, breathing and most complex organism that genies into great bottles of grape ferment. This coming weekend one of my favourite releases on the perennial calender rolls out more value and less plonk than usual. On the heels of anything will sell for Thanksgiving and predating the shelves emptying free for all that is Christmas, October 25th is ideal and satiating. Here are 16 new releases, guaranteed to restore faith in this most troubled month.

From left to right: Andreza Reserva 2011, Flat Rock Unplugged Chardonnay 2013, Morandé Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Château Rigaud 2012, Loimer Grüner Veltliner 2013

Andreza Reserva 2011, Do Douro, Portugal (385849, $16.95, WineAlign)

This blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz (Aragonez) from Lua Cheia em Vinhas Velhas is certainly funky and vineyard driven so that’s a bit of all right, isn’t it? Its phrasing is indelicate and slightly hot but its message is quite clear. Former winemaker for Offley Port and Technical Director for all the Sogrape Vineyards in Portugal João Silva e Sousa and consultant winemaker Francisco Baptista bring forth honest Douro red fruit, along with some mineral and righteous wood spice. Dark, deep and with a wonderful level of anxiety and tension. Gives purpose to modernity. Tasted October 2014 @FreeHouseWine @wines_portugal

Flat Rock Unplugged Chardonnay 2013, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (68015, $16.95, WineAlign)

A stoic and fruit aplenty Unplugged, less aromatic than some, equally magnanimous as others. Juicy, orchard fruit that is ripe and then elongated, with just enough acidity to keep it honest through the middle acts of savoury balm. Late tonic pungency lines the output. A very good, if not the finest ever unoaked Chardonnay at the hands of Jay Johnston and Ed Madronich. Then again, the ’07 tasted in February 2014 was a revelation. Who knows what the future may hold for this aloof ’13. Tasted October 2014 @brightlighter1 @Winemakersboots

Morandé Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Maipo Valley, Chile (389254, $17.00, WineAlign)

Despite the 14.5 per cent alcohol this is beautifully bright, fresh, red cherry fruity and with nary a sign of abstruse chocolate or coffee. The southern hemisphere pulsates in here like a chromosphere of massive, meaty fruit. There is a funk per se but in earth, not wood. Good grain, honest grain, de facto grain. Spice from wood but just as an accent. A romantic one. Admittedly more Maipo than Cabernet but well thought on with the texture of haptic contours. Will satisfy a hunt for October reds to drink right now. Tasted October 2014 @MajesticWineInc

Château Rigaud 2012, Ap Faugères, Languedoc-Roussillon, France (393561, $17.95, WineAlign)

A bold and beautiful southern French rapport of 55 per cent Syrah, 26 Mourvèdre and 19 Grenache, so very modern and explicitly floral. A veritable Midi garden salad lives in the glass; chicory, acacia, iris, black cherry and lemon. Brassy blend from Languedoc-Roussillon, tangy and of the earth in cohorts for simple, if semi-hedonistic pleasure. Nothing about this screams oak and if the shed was open for a lay down it kept its splintered mits buried within the pockets of its staves. The ’12 Rigaud is meant for near-term luxury, alone or with sundry kinds of protein. Tasted October 2014 @oenophilia1 @VinsAOPFaugeres

Loimer Grüner Veltliner 2013, Dac Kamptal, Austria (142240, $19.95, WineAlign)

Can any entry level (used with latitude) Grüner speak more clearly of varietal truth than Fred Loimer’s Kamptal? Saline, herbal, juicy and mineral all roll off the golden carpeted tongue. A ripe merging to oxidative line is straddled but acidity keeps reeling in the fruit so no harm, no foul. Flavours of citrus and white peach. Heads medicinally sweet on the finish and lasts longer than could ever be expected. From my earlier April 2014 note: “Increased hang time has put this Kamptal in a deeper state of focus and understanding concerning the intricacies of Langenlois Grüner Veltliner. Continues the pure, clean and crisp axiom of the basic Lois but here the aromatics are spoken in acroamatic terms, obvious to disciples and yet available for all to comprehend. Though five per cent big wood barrel aging does not seem significant, that practice along with four months of aging on the fine lees has had a textural impact. The added weight is a questionable thing, though arguably just splitting hairs. Will help carry this vintage through five to seven years of graceful settling. Last tasted October 2014 @FredLoimer @LeSommelierWine

From left to right: Bordón Gran Reserva 2005, Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Domaine Hamelin Beauroy Chablis 1er Cru 2011, Giacosa Fratelli Bussia Barolo 2009, Giacosa Fratelli Bussia Barolo 2009, Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Chardonnay 2011, Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Pinot Noir 2011

Bordón Gran Reserva 2005, Doca Rioja, Spain (114454, $22.95, WineAlign)

If it were so because of cryogenic preserved must or an accidental tipping and topping up into an unused barrel by recent vintage juice I would not be left hanging with mouth fully agape. Considering the amount of time this flat out delicious Gran Reserva saw in barrel, the mystery must somehow be explained, how it came to be so surprisingly modern and bright (for its age), especially at $23. But it has been seen many times before, with no greater example than the Montecillo 1991 GR that drank fortuitously well into the last years of the previous decade. This is the magic of Rioja. That said, there is some sinew and some raw character here as well – that’s the old school treatment and style talking. Red cherry fruit. Ripe fruit roasted, rested and now sliced, showing its perfectly cooked rare cut. Juicy and with sanguine notes still running through its grain. Wonderful old school yet bright Rioja. Riotous red wine with a calming aura of quietude. Tasted October 2014 @RiojaBordon @Eurovintage @RiojaWine

Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand (677450, $24.95, WineAlign)

Dog Point’s principals Ivan Sutherland and James Healy know the innuendo of that ever present Marlborough SB subtlety by allowing the vineyard to show up in the glass. That sussuration is the hallmark of this most righteous bottle. The VINTAGES October 25th release indicates a 2014 debut when in fact it is the ’13 that was presented for tasting and likely that vintage will show up on shelves. This ’13 bring elegance, less weight and more fruit. Round and rippling, spiced but in spicy check. Not the finest but persistent in class and crowing achievement for the stomping ground. Tasted October 2014 @DogPointWines @TrialtoON

Domaine Hamelin Beauroy Chablis 1er Cru 2011, Burgundy, France (391805, $29.95, WineAlign)

Thierry Hamelin and his son Charles (no, not the Olympic Speed Skating gold medalist) are eighth generation family winemakers and their 2011 Beauroy, one of the most underrated vineyards in Chablis, or anywhere Chardonnay is made, is both an ode to tradition and an immaculately clean look at the future. Prototypical steely Chablis in every nook of its lithified being and befitting of a 1er Cru designation. Fruit comes by way of some pretty wizened vines (30-plus years) and steep, south-facing slopes. The exposition is both fresh and flinty, the logic sound and spotless. If a creamy, leesy note is felt it’s just a case of genes. In every other respect this is Chablis as both a child of the present and the future. Quality vineyard, vines and fruit given the gift of no mask. This will drink well for five plus years. Tasted October 2014 @BIVBChablis

Giacosa Fratelli Bussia Barolo 2009, Piedmont, Italy (344721, $39.95, WineAlign)

From the hills of Monforte d’Alba in Piemonte, Bussia is laid out like an amphitheater, the soil is all clay and the Nebbiolo is rich and often austere. Now, here is what temperance and a reliability in attention to classicism is all about. Cherries and ferric earth. Roses and funky beet beats. Tannins stuck on 10, winding and unwinding, but mostly winding. Wild herbs, sweet candied flowers, tight angles, tough and beautiful. Needs many years to wind down. Exceptional value for the real deal in Nebbiolo. Tasted October 2014 @stradadelbarolo

Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Chardonnay 2011, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (56929, $40.00, WineAlign)

The Claystone 2005 made by Thomas Bachelder was the single-vineyard ringer that shocked the Chardonnay world when it trumped international competitors in a Montreal grand tasting. The 2011 made by Sébastien Jacquey recently won a Silver Medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards. This Jordan, Ontario vineyard is a key clay-limestone foundation for both the Claystone and Village Reserve botttlings. Yet another exemplary ’11 Chardonnay with the omnipresent Jacquey handling for aromatic freshness and layering; candied flower, fresh morning glade and lemon drop, amplified to 11 in ’11. Moreover there is a level of honey not previously witnessed. It smells like natural sugars and like a bloom of sunflower lollipops. Very little (15 per cent new) oak was used so the texture is fluid and palpable, with just a touch of stone/toast/wood spice, but ultimately it’s the top quality fruit allowed to speak its own language. Tasted October 2014 @LeClosJordanne @20ValleyWine

Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Pinot Noir 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (33951, $40.00, WineAlign)

Oh so pretty Claystone. Like a butterfly, delicate and gossamer. How can you not mark the change in direction to a most inviting and positive way for the Pinot program with Sébastien at the helm? The paint fumes are dissipating with each passing vintage. These vines belong in Jacquey’s hands – they were made for his touch. He understands them and they are now speaking so clearly, sweetly, with texture that underscores their elegance. When fruit is this subtle, acidity magnified and tannins feigning dry in the early stages of development, a wine can confound and sometimes even seem to be failing. In my view, it is the obtuse that are perhaps guilty of being under appreciative of the Pinot Noir paradox. Like the rest of the ’11’s in the LCJ stable, this is a terrific Claystone with 10 years ahead in sublimity. Tasted October 2014

From left to right: Ramey Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2012, Besserat De Bellefon Cuvée Des Moines Brut Champagne, Jean Gagnerot Meursault 2011, Château Cantenac Brown 2010, Ornellaia 2011

Ramey Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2012, Sonoma County, California (288035, $45.95, WineAlign)

Buttered toast and lemon meringue are clear and concise in this inner-coastal, altitudinous Chardonnay. You just know there is a pent up, wound intensity lurking. Somewhat slow to start, it not being a jump to the front of the pack, first furlong leader. Then it gathers horsepower from texture and power from acidity. While the fruit remains unreleased beneath the moving parts, it’s the spice, lime tang and bitters that propel this Sonoman from sheer wildness in complexity. Impeccable equine balance. Likes the longer track to make the most out of its endurance. Will show its best down the stretch, at the end of the decade. Tasted twice, October 2014 @RameyWineCellar @BarrelSelect

Besserat De Bellefon Cuvée Des Moines Brut Champagne, France (724955, $54.95, WineAlign)

This Cuvée Des Moines Brut is fashioned in a decidedly aerified yet grappling crémant style, of firm jaw and air of tragic nobility. Low pressure and dosage in this Chardonnay (35 per cent) , Pinot Noir (20) and Pinot Meunier (45) mix make cause for a new Champagne slang. More than a pinch of ginger burrows into the waft of baking apple scones, marked by sody saleratus and more (two and a half years) leesy tang than you can dip a canoe paddle into. The flavours continue with something akin to pickled apples and sweet pork, if there were such a souse. Really tangy and overtly complex, with a long, long finish, if just a shade on the oxidative side of town. Tasted October 2014 @BesseratB @DionysusWines

Jean Gagnerot Meursault 2011, Burgundy, France (390369, $57.95, WineAlign)

Gorgeous and subtle yet clearly spoken aromatics; just a hint of tonic piques some ripe orchard fruit, along with a crisp spike of very little citrus. Round, moving, enveloping and circling, parts unified and oscillating. Great round acidity as a membrane to a full, fleshy Chardonnay that returns again and again, to strength and from strength. The length goes on and snaps back to the beginning. Most excellent Meursault. Tasted October 2014 @grapewines @BourgogneWines

Château Cantenac Brown 2010, Ac Margaux, 3e Cru, Bordeaux, France (259424, $89.00, WineAlign)

Whether or not you have left the modern Bordeaux market, attention needs to be paid when an incredible wine at a fair price is made available. Not to be found for any less cash south of the border or across seas, the 2010, 3rd Growth, Margaux Cantenac Brown is the best $50-100 Bordeaux buy of the vintage. Composed of 66 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 34 per cent Merlot, the wine saw its fair share soak in 60 percent new oak. This classic beauty is the epitome of lush and welcoming Bordeaux from a vintage with more sun than 2005. It will make you stop to smell the adjectives. Rich red and black fruit, so very floral and void of any harsh moments about it. I don’t imagine this is to be the longest lived because of its inviting immediacy but it is no shrinking violet. The fruit is in charge and will give it five to 10 years of that parsimonious pleasure. Great late spice and line dancing energy. Tasted October 2014 @Cantenac_Brown

Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Ornellaia 2011, Doc Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy (722470, $189.95, WineAlign)

Hasn’t lost a moment of time through six months in bottle. This should give an indication as to its near-unprecedented longevity. Six years will cast a moment’s advancement, sixteen a fortnight. Not saying it can go 60 but half of that is in the realm of the serious and for certain. Candied yet tempered violets, rocks crushed and sprinkled on cryogenic frozen and restored heirloom berries of yesteryear. Huge tannins. From my earlier, June 2014 note: “The blend of the 2011 Rosso Superiore is Cabernet Sauvignon (51 per cent), Merlot (32), Cabernet Franc (11) and Petit Verdot (6). From a near-sweltering vintage, tempered by a cooling spell in June and July. The late August heat spike brought on early ripening which explains the intense aromatic waft that fills the AGO’s tasting room air. Though following the same (post 12-month) assemblage and return to barriques for a further six months, the richesse in fruit quality and 70 per cent new oak envelopes this ’11 with so many structured layers there remains many years to see where it will go. The rose petal meets violet florality can elicit no parochial parallel, the anxiety in hematological ooze neither. A consideration of the phenolic exceptionality follows suit. Chalky tannins follow chains in a world spinning ’round in lush circles. This is the reference point for such assemblage in Bolgheri. The breakdown will not begin for a minimum 10 years and evolution will continue comfortably, gently and effortlessly for 15-30 after that.” Last tasted October 2014 @Ornellaia @sherry_naylor

Good to go!

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Fourteen wines that should be on your restaurant list

Oct21

Fish and Chips at Small Town Food Bar

I taste a lot of wine. Lots of wine. Were I to manage a restaurant list with room for everything that deserves a place to call home, to share with the world the honest and the natural, a long list I would indeed create. The wine list at Barque Smokehouse I build is predicated on that premise but you can count on two hands the number of wines we offer by the glass. Necessity is our master.

At the start of 2014 I penned that column and looking back eight months later, the ideas put out within that post-ice storm, mild January day apply to the concept of formulating a restaurant wine list. For the most part, a wine card should endorse the virtuous and the sincere. “Honest wine is juice that conveys the salient facts of a grape’s life. For a bottle of wine to be on the up and up it must not be disguised by the unnatural ways of artificial intervention nor should it make itself so available as to be obvious. Fruit should reside in the realm of the sequestered and the sacred. I am not alone in hoping for table wines to be stirring, gripping, unsweetened and unencumbered by an excessive coat of oak. My hard-earned dollars should earn the right to be stimulated .”

If your job title includes choosing what wine is poured at your restaurant, you should never dial it in. VINTAGES releases more than 100 new wines every two weeks. If 95 are what you might consider wantonly microdontic or overly tangential in influence, so be it. Five new wines every two weeks is more than enough to keep your list rocking, rolling, current and fresh. In Ontario the choices are many and the options endless. If driving the construction-riddled streets of Toronto is for you the time spent equivalent of root canal surgery in a Chilean coal mine then call an agent, request a tasting and let the cases be shipped to your doorstep.

“Wine only recognizes two temporal states. Fermentation and party time.” Be creative, read Tom Robbins, listen to the Tom Tom Club, mix it up a little, try new wines and add a spark to your wine program. Give it the genius of love. Guests just want to have fun. Here are 14 new releases, from VINTAGES and through some really terrific agents here in Ontario.

From left to right: Tenuta Le Velette Rosso di Spicca 2012, Tawse Gamay Noir 2013, Freiherr Von Göler Pinot Noir 2011, Coyote’s Run Pinot Noir 2013, Lealtanza Reserva 2009, Fielding Estate Cabernet Franc 2012 and Borgogno Langhe Freisa 2012

Tenuta Le Velette Rosso di Spicca 2012, Umbria, Italy (Agent, $16)

The “Spicca” family owned the farm where the vines now grow. For a Rosso, from Umbria, Toscana or Piemonte for that matter to stand out (spicarre), it must have something unique and noticeable. Le Velette’s understated Umbrian blend of Sangiovese and Canaiolo is all about aromatics. Spicy cherries, leather and cinnamon with an underlying petrichor that seemingly bleeds fresh piquant juice straight from concrete. Like the oil exuding from lavender and rosemary growing out of the fissures of cracked terracotta over clay, after a warm summer rain. The palate gives a wee bit of spirited spritz and pizzazz. All this for $16 and change for a finishing espresso. Tasted October 2014 @Noteworthywines

Tawse Gamay Noir 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (322545, $18.95, WineAlign)

Darker berries define the Paul Pender take on Gamay for Niagara and in ’13 there is a level of tension and girth not yet approached. This third Tawse Gamay is overt in attitude, connotative of Beaujolais Cru staging, an ovule of rebellion and a disposition just as though in the grips of Asmodeus. The Tawse effect is entrenched in clay and possessive of knowledge as if derived by an invitation only junket to the Gamay motherland. If the stance seems serious, the fruit is up to the task. A Gamay for now and fully capable of aging five or more years. Tasted October 2014

Freiherr Von Göler Pinot Noir 2011, Qualitätswein, Baden, Germany (390971, $18.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

You can take the Spätburgunder out of the nomenclature but you can’t take the nomenclature out of the Spätburgunder. The porcine dry, crunchy bits are front and centre, the pig offal under the crust. This is Baden red wine of a bitter and surprisingly sweet palate nature, a modern take on old male Pinot pattern baldness. So worth trying towards gaining a deeper understanding of varietal diversity. Tasted October 2014 @HalpernWine

Coyote’s Run Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (53090, $19.95, WineAlign)

The Estate bottle represents a balanced amalgamation of terroirs with essential Niagara On-The-Lake Pinot Noir aromas, accents and distinction. Highly floral, thanks in kind to the red Trafalgar clay loam of the Red Paw Vineyard, as much as it has and will ever be. Extracted with reserved prejudice, with props to the dark Toledo clay loam of the Black Paw Vineyard, showing as a robust and retentive treacle, rich in tangy licorice and cherry pie. Much flavour is found in this Pinot Noir, so it will be well deserving of accolades and sales. If the sweetness prevails it is only because the fruit is shepherded in clean and Shepparded with blending acumen. Tasted October 2014 @coyotesrun

Lealtanza Reserva 2009, Doca Rioja, Spain (208223, $20.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

Old, old school Rioja ramped up, given a natural injection of rock brine and garriga then sent out to play. Rarely does Lealtanza give so much fresh conjecture, so much considered condensation and dense consideration. Soft and muddled palate, mottled rocks seeping berries and an accent of candied tomato leaf. Funky finish keeps it real. Tasted October 2014 @ProfileWineGrp

Fielding Estate Cabernet Franc 2012, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (36194, $21.95, WineAlign) NWAC14 Silver Medal Winner

A dusty and gilded Cabernet Franc from one of the warmest Niagara vintages in recent memory. Vivid in Bench specific varietal tendency, as if the berries on the black currant bush were ripening and bursting in the late afternoon sun, right into the glass. A blueberry by you CF, spiced by the faint childhood memory of grandfather’s unlit pipe on the coffee table. There have been more tense and exciting Cab Franc’s by Richie Roberts but none so suave and grown-up as this 2012. Tasted September 2014 @FieldingWinery @RichieWine

Borgogno Langhe Freisa 2012, Doc, Piedmont, Italy (388660, $24.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

Don’t worry Mr. Parker, this rare chance at assessing a Langhe made from the Freisa grape will not join the 100-point club but I can say with certainty that this take is anything but “totally repugnant.” Borgogno’s Freisa is rustic, with dried figments of raisin and fig, though zero notes of reduction. More dried fruit, in carob and licorice with biting, spicy notes and the seeping of black tea leaves. The whole Mediterranean potpourri seethes in altitude and attitude. A dry and sensual red with enveloping chalk and acidity. Perhaps “Bobbo” Butch Cassidy should give this Langhe a whirl. Tasted August 2014 @TrialtoON

From left to right: Cave Spring Riesling ‘The Adam’s Steps’ 2013, Rustenberg John X Merriman 2011, Pirramimma Shiraz 2011, Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2012, Huff Estates Cuvée Janine 2012, Millton Opou Vineyard Chardonnay 2009, Ascheri Barolo 2010

Cave Spring Riesling ‘The Adam’s Steps’ 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (26372, $24.95, WineAlign)

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, July 2014 note: “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 October 2014 @CaveSpring

Rustenberg John X Merriman 2011, Stellenbosch, South Africa (707323, $24.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

Despite the colour as dark as monster’s gore this is a relaxed X Merriman, not overly painted or rubbed by charcoal and rubber tree plant. The Bordeaux-styled blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (55 per cent), Merlot (37), Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec from South-West slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain, Stellenbosch opens its tight angled gates to reveal a cool centre, with juicy, rich, iced espresso, though in decomposed granite grit it’s tannic as hell. Makes judicious use of its (41 per cent) new and (59 per cent) 2nd and 3rd-fill 225L French oak barrels, along with balance in alcohol (14.3 per cent) integration. Solid South African red with just enough primal activity to pleasantly alter the temperature in the brain, without causing concussion or grey matter to go totally askance. Will drink well into the next decade. Tasted October 2014 @WoodmanWS

Pirramimma Shiraz 2011, Mclaren Vale, South Australia, Australia (987784, $24.95, WineAlign) From the VINTAGES October 11, 2014 Release

A Pirramimma in the new vein from a warm and rich vintage. So hard to scale back when nature gives you this much fruit. Though 15 per cent is hardly a twinkle in its alcohol eye, there is only so much elegance that can be coaxed from this kind of hedonism. It’s big, juicy and just so alive. As simple as a candle, without magic and void of mystery. It will range hither and thither for 10 years before it makes the long, slow journey back home. Tasted October 2014 @bwwines

Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula (1560, $29.95, WineAlign)

Seven months have softened and mothered Gravity’s adolescence in ways to now see it as the most feminine, certainly of the last four vintages. Pretty dabs, perfumes of natural conditioning, warm days and warm nights in the bottle. More accessible than previous takes and of a new modernity perceived. Sweet dreams and sweet fragrances, roses and cinnamon, nothing fancy here mind you, with no bite and no gathering moss. Cherries and vanilla, lavender and simple pleasures. Straight up Gravity, no pull down, no drag and no excess weight. From my earlier, March 2014 note: “In a vintage potentially muddled by warmth and a humidor of radio frequency, duplicating berry phenolics, Flat Rock’s Gravity remains a definitive, signature house Pinot Noir. In 2011, the head of the FR class from its most expressive barrels shared the limelight (and top juice) with the Pond, Bruce and Summit one-offs. In ’12, Gravity’s sandbox was its own. The style is surely dark, extracted, black cherry bent, as per the vintage. Yet only the Rock’s soil does earth in this variegate, borne and elevated by the barrel’s grain. There are no fake plastic trees in a Flat Rock Pinot. “Gravity always wins.” Last tasted October 2014 @Brighlighter1 @Winemakersboots @UnfilteredEd

Huff Estates Cuvée Janine 2012, Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)

Looks can be deceiving so much so Janine might look as is she were leading a bubble to red dye number 40. Not the case, rather the expressive hue is winemaker Frédéric Picard’s colourful bleed from 100 per cent Pinot Noir fruit. So, it must be sweet and tasting cloyingly like a bowl of sugared strawberries. Again, not so. Janine’s aromas are very berry and her texture is certainly cheese and crème fraiche-inflected from a 12 month lees mattress, but dry she goes. Much demonstrative behaviour and perspiring humidity comes from vintage warmth and here results in layering. Janine is an earthy, funky squared sparkler, with nothing shy or demurred about her, but all of the outwardly screaming smells and tastes are in check. Strawberry cream and shortcake cease from wrapped tight acidity coming in from the backside. Big bubbles. Tasted October 2014 @HuffEstatesWine

Millton Opou Vineyard Chardonnay 2009, Gisborne, North Island, New Zealand (92478, $30.00, WineAlign)

From estate fruit on a single vineyard planted in 1969 on the Papatu Road, Manutuke, Gisborne. On Waihirere soils of heavy silt and Kaiti clay loam. A most mineral driven Chardonnay thanks in part to some Riesling in the mix. This varietal symbiosis, along with a co-planted orange grove gives what James Milton calls “the sharing of astrality.” The five year-old biodynamic Opou does whiff orange blossom, along with crisp green apple and the wet rocks of a summer rain. Quite full on the palate with a bite of black pepper and olive oil drizzle over toasted Ciabatta, smeared by churned, salted butter. The length indicates five more relish piqued years and five furthermore in slow decline. Tasted October 2014 @TheLivingVine

Ascheri Barolo 2010, Piedmont, Italy (341107, was $35.25, now LTO $32.25, WineAlign)

Standard issue Barolo of a canonical character so bankable as Nebbiolo and nothing but. Classic Piemontese funk comes wafting out, along with licorice in as many ways as can be described; anise, Sambuca or fennel. The palate is creamy and slightly sweet, accented with pepper and a dusty, grainy sensation. This is Barolo of old with a cough syrup confection, wild herbs and grit. It could not be mistaken for Malbec though its disjointed ways could use some finesse and polish. Tasted October 2014 @liffordwine

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A hip of wine from Hidden Bench

Oct16

French cask in the Hidden Bench cellar

A visit to the Beamsville Bench on a warm September morning is a beautiful thing. Facilitated by their sagacious Ontario agent Bernard Stramwasser of Le Sommelier, the royal welcome was presented at Hidden Bench Vineyards and Winery. Proprietor Harald Thiel and winemaker Marlize Beyers left no barrel, vine, wine or helping left to the imagination. What a terrific day.

Marlize Beyers is as close to artisanal perfectionism as it gets on the Niagara Peninsula. The texture and grace of the wines reflect their maker. Beyers showed off the underbelly of Hidden Bench, including the 600L concrete egg fermenter (which actually holds 700L of juice). The concrete must be primed with tartaric acid before use or the egg will de-acidify the wine. What will emerge from within the thick chitinous walls of that oospore is on my future tasting agenda.

Out in the vineyard, vigneron Harald Thiel tells the story of Fel-seck, the “corner of a cliff,” in the angled nook of the Niagara Escarpment. The soil is filled with glacial till left from ancient Lake Iroquois pulled up from four retreating glaciers. “The glacial till deposit IS the Bench,” says Thiel. His winery operates on more than a quarter of the Beamsville Bench, in high density plantings. All wines are made from estate fruit. The control centre manages that fruit 24/7. The crux of the operation. And leaves.

Harald Thiel in front of Pinot Noir vines in the Felseck Vineyard

Leaves are a huge preoccupation at Hidden Bench. “Rule of thumb is you need 14 leaves to ripen one bunch,” confirms Harald. Canopy leaf management is a rigorous exercise, to compensate for wrong orientation. The inherited Felseck was planted east-west, but the south gets the sun, the north not so much. The spur pruning system (as opposed to double-Guyot) works to benefit in Felseck. To compensate for the winter of ’14 and to stop the “middle-age spread,” the leaves (shoots) are kept between wires. Other benefits include less disease stress and no fruit shadowing.

Sun on the fruit in the morning is key and to avoid sunburn, the leaf orientation is managed accordingly. “Manage the umbrella leaves,” notes Thiel. What about birds? “We use 32 km’s of nets,” and no bird bangers. “Pinot Noir is the favourite varietal of birds,” because they turn colour first. Anti-aviary veraison. Insects? “We use sexual confusion to ward off (insects).” There are 7500 pheremone ties (of the Paralobesia Viteana or female Grape Berry Moth) in the vineyards. Confuses the hell out the males. Translation: No insecticides.

Harald is proud to say this about Marlize. “Winemaking is an artfully applied science.” This was Beyers’ answer to the age-old question,”art or science?” So it goes without saying that grapes are picked on flavour, not sugar levels determined in the laboratory. You take what the vintage gives and make the appropriate, corresponding wine. Ideally Chardonnay is picked at 21-22 degrees brix, but regardless, at Hidden Bench it is always picked on flavour.

Pinot Noir comes from high density planting, with one cane and a single Guyot system. Yields are Grand Cru in quantity (1.6 – 1.9 tonnes per acre or 26-28 hL/L) but not at proportionate pricing. To many a consumer and outspoken wine trade professional they are exceedingly high. Spend some time with Harald and Marlize and you may just figure out why.

The two have developed a “Bistro” line bottled for the restaurant licensee industry. The Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Red Blend and Rosé are essentially the sum total of the collected and filtered run-off from the rich and select HB vineyard pool. The Riesling ’13 slings sugar and salinity in a push-pull, posit tug. It serves up typicity with bias and honesty. The Chardonnay ’13 is a perfectly round sipper, coagulating all of Marlize’s varietal plans; canopy management, earlier picking, gentle pressing, pumpover, the management of new wood barrels – all in the name of affordable structure. The Red ’11 is composed of Cabernet Franc (68 per cent), Malbec and Merlot. The CF smothers and smoulders above the M & M’s with all its currant, tobacco and black pepper power.

Here are notes on the 16 other wines tasted at Hidden Bench that day. Not to mention a sumptuous Coq au Vin.

Hidden Bench La Brunante 2011 and Select Late Harvest Gewürztraminer Vendanges Tardives 2013

Hidden Bench Estate Riesling 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (183491, $23.95, WineAlign)

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. Tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Felseck Vineyard Riesling 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (28312, $28.00, WineAlign)

Felseck, “the corner of the cliff,” creates twisted Riesling, as per the directive in this angled, mineral nook of the Niagara Escarpment. Choose your planting politics if you will, left of centre Chardonnay or right of the compass Riesling, to determine which one speaks in the amphitheater’s clearest varietal vernacular. If sugar is a determinant or a catalyst in this ’13, it would take a zafrero to suss out that truth because sweetness succumbs to noble bitterness. The Felseck Riesling mixes ginger in tonic in a hyper-linear solution. It’s tightly wound, like a spooled reel rid of memory and twisting. A soldier marching in patriotic allegiance, to the soil and to the maker. There is no hurry to drink this ’13. Its pot will sweeten after the fighting’s done. Tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Roman’s Block Riesling 2012, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $32.00, WineAlign)

Of the estate’s Rosomel Vineyard from vines exceeding 35 years in age. This is the belletristic Riesling in the Hidden Bench stable, handled with mathematical precision and utmost care; specific sun exposure, green harvesting, low yields (29.4 L/hL) and a free run juice cap at (500 L). The density and distinct crux of the Bench nook character circulates aromatics in through the out-door. Lime melds to lemon and returns. The wine is plentiful, nearly generous but not all is sweet and amenable. Roman is policed by wild sage in dusty herbal efficacy unleashed. Honey is a fleeting tease but the numeral knowledge indicates mellifluous viscosity down the road. This is Riesling of finesse to realize power and sting. “It’s murder by numbers, one, two, three. It’s as easy to learn as your ABC’s.” Wait five years and settle with Roman’s synchronicity for five years more. Tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Nuit Blanche Rosomel Vineyard 2012, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (278812, $40.00, WineAlign)

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. Tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Nuit Blanche Rosomel Vineyard 2007, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (278812, $40.00, WineAlign)

The varietal components of the 2007 NB were not blended until August 2008 and then filtered to bottle. That barrel time and prior weekly stirring provided the pelage texture and now developed, tepefying character. Rumour has it I’d tasted this ’07 once before when it fact it was the ’08 in March of 2012. Must be the “marzipan, musky and risky, on the edge of a roasted, toasted Nutella thing.” The Niagara white Bordeaux idiom and its use of prime vineyard space has yet to prove itself so to this Nuit Blanche I would say, “you made my heart melt, yet I’m cold to the core.” Perhaps by ‘21 that attitude will have changed. Tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Gewürztraminer Felseck Vineyard 2012, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $28.00)

The key to ripeness is sunlight, something both 2012 and the practice of leaf removal on the East sides of the canopy gave this Felseck stunner. Oh so full with a hint of that typical glycerin and bitter pith so necessary for definition. This reminds me of an off-dry Zind-Humbrecht take, with its late feel of residual sugar and planing finish. There is a wonderfully humid condensation of south Asian drupe and fruit moisture droplet, never in syrup, but rather on the glistening, post-rain skin. Top Bench example. Tasted September 2014

East sides of the canopy to encourage fruit ripening

Hidden Bench Chardonnay 2012, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (68817, $28.95, WineAlign)

Yet rigid in its youth, the wood is not yet settled. Bottled in September of 2012, the ’12 will need every day of its first year to be ready, willing and able to please upon release. From my earlier, May 2014 note: “Always aromatically embossed and texturally creamy, the Estate Chardonnay finds a way to elevate its game with each passing vintage. The uplifting elegance factor acquiesces the poise needed to battle the effects of ultra-ripe fruit out of a warm vintage. In ’12 the middle ground exchanges more pleasantries though the finale speaks in terse, toasted nut and piquant daikon terms. Not harshly or witchy, mind you, but effectively and within reason of the season. When you look in the window at Harald (proprietor Thiel) and Marlize’s (winemaker Beyers) Chardonnay, “you’ve got to pick up every stitch.” Last tasted July 2014

Hidden Bench Felseck Vineyard Chardonnay 2010, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $38.00, WineAlign)

The richness has yet to melt away, nor will it likely do so any time soon. Must give credit where due; ’10 managed to seek out tempering acidity where it was not necessarily in sui generis mind, nor did it want to be found. From my earlier March 2013 note: “Akin to Russian River Valley, allowing the comparison, in platinum, edging to gold and in stony, mineral rigidity. Tends to the orchard in a fell swoop of swelling fruit. Nobody does it better on the Bench. The sec who loves me, “makes me feel sad for the rest.” Last tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Tête De Cuvée Chardonnay 2011, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (20906, $45.00, WineAlign)

Tête De Cuvée by Hidden Bench, like a Champagne best of the best abstraction, makes an appeal to self-esteem and esteem for others, to consumers who have come to recognize Niagara and even more specifically, the Beamsville Bench for head of the class, cool climate Chardonnay. That mouthful congregates and works in congruence with the quality in the Tête’s composition; full-on freshness, density, weeping cerate texture, toasted and popping kernel, fine-grained localization, utterly integrated barrel. There was scant quantity (32.5 hL/h) from some very old and wise vines, pronounced like others but louder than most, from the bullhorn of a stentorian vintage. What is felt and spoken about the quality inherent from out of the finest parcels in the Locust Lane and Rosomel Vineyards Chardonnay fruit is more than a patent observation. The ability to take on toast cuts to the nougat and the synoptic rises to the ethereal ozone. Not to mention gross minerality. On the shortlist for best Niagara Chardonnay to date. Drink now and beyond 2025. Tasted twice, September and October 2014

Hidden Bench Estate Pinot Noir 2011, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (274753, $29.95, WineAlign)

Now into the mid-point of its six to seven year life, this essential Bench Pinot brings worlds together. A toffee, taffy, salted (not caramelized) caramel mulch comes from pinpoint smoke oak. Has a palpable sende of chew and density. From my earlier, February 2014 note: “Five months more in bottle has come to this, a Bench perfumed state of mind. On a red raspberry road to absolution. The international coat has now begun to surrender to the maturity and wisdom of the local vine’s intellect, its maker and overseer acting as artificers in planned execution.” From my earlier, October 2013 note: “Deeper, earthier, decreased propriety and more pelage than the previous two vintages. I sense longer hang time, more redress and slower slumber. In Hidden Bench I thought I knew and would always associate with a specific Pinot Noir feel but this ’11 confounds. In a way, that is a large compliment. Fruit reminiscent of a top Central Otago in that it grips my Pinot interest if not my Ontario heart.” Last tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Estate Pinot Noir 2007, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (274753, $29.95, WineAlign)

The summer swelter of the 2007 vintage was not lost on this Pinot Noir and although the black fruit spectrum was picked clean from all available plum, fig and cherries, they and their tannins have evolved in clemency and snug harmony. That and a whipped beet shake of hide, vanilla and lavender. This would be a diverting and polarizing ringer to toss into a blind tasting. Tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Felseck Vineyard Pinot Noir 2011, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $38.00, WineAlign)

Transplants Nuits-Saint-Georges into the coliseum of Felseck with frisky and fine-grained tannin. The aromatic aggregate of flowers, orange grove and red cherry is akin to Les Perrières. This is micro-managed, micro-plot Niagara at its very core, the diminutive, wee berries singing the nook’s furtive, foxy and salient song. The late bitter note is both beautiful and honed in on the vineyard’s frequency. Graphite trails with back-end nerve. This Felseck has entered the zone. Drink over the next three years. Tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Locust Lane Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $48.00, WineAlign)

On benches all along the Niagara Escarpment, each single-vineyard grown, vinified and bottled Pinot Noir has an affinity for a particular vintage. The Locust Lane and 2010 share a commonality that exceeds the level of companionship seen in the more rigid, bookend vintages of ’09 and ’11. Here is the richest density, though still teasing and leaning against the black cherry tree. There is a limestone, Alsatian, Albert Mann thing going on, rolling like thunder, bobbing like drinking birds. Still formidable, the stuffing yet burst from its cloud. A sniff and a sip of the ’10 “and the locusts sang, yeah, it give me a chill. Yeah, the locusts sang such a sweet melody.” The vineyard takes heat and gives Pinot Noir its energy. The ardor will slowly release over the next eight to 10 years. Tasted September 2014

http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/playhtml?file=http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/2GntSr2rbWHU3Gg0DLdK/mov/1

Hidden Bench Terroir Caché Meritage 2010, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (505610, $38.00, WineAlign)

With another summer beneath its brooding belt, the aromatics are now in full flight. From my earlier, June 2014 note: “The richest Terroir Caché to date, making use of its barrel in judicious but never obnoxious ways. Huge Bench wine, needs 10 years for sure. From my earlier, April 2014 note: “No other Niagara red and for sure no alternative Peninsula Bordeaux blend exists in such a vacuum of dichotomous behaviour. Act one is an out-and-out boastful, opulent show of Rococo. Act two a gnawing and gnashing by beasts. The pitch and pull of the Terroir Caché 2010 optates and culls the extraordinary through the practice of extended délestage, what Hidden Bench notes as “a traditional method of gently draining the wine and returning it to tank with its skins during fermentation.” The ’10 is about as huge as it gets, highly ferric and tannic. Still chemically reactive, you can almost imagine its once small molecules fitfully growing into long chains. Berries of the darkest night and he who should not be named black fruit are confounded by minerals forcing the juice into a cold sweat. Will require a minimum of 10 years to soften its all-powerful grip. From my earlier March 2013 note: “Has rich, voluptuous Napa Valley written all over it. Sister Merlot dominant, Beamsville Bench sledge monster. Plumbago, mineral, blackberry and coffee in a wine that will be the ringer in a blind tasting 10 years on. Harald may be saying “this is our family jewel.” Mr. Thiel, you make good wine.” Last tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench La Brunante 2011, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $75.00, WineAlign)

Welcome to the world ’11 LB, the flotilla leader in the Hidden Bench brigade. This fierce Bordeaux-styled blend of exemplary fruit out of the three Estate parcels is composed from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. Not home from a hot climate, and not the most likely candidate to be made in the 2011 vintage, La Brunante is “like a mudship becalmed in a rusty bay cracking with an emboldened abandon.” Bottled in a strong compression but without aggression, it lies in wait, creaking, twitching, smoldering and aching with desire. When it should be released, somewhere up to 10 years down the road, it will sail, cutting through waves of tannin, with multiple berries, dust, diesel and into a show that never ends. Tasted September 2014

Hidden Bench Late Harvest Gewürztraminer Vendanges Tardives 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

The benchmark for such a rare Niagara animal is of course Alsace and more specifically the iconic and consumer-recognizable brands such as Zind-Humbrecht and Domaine Weinbach from the Hengst and Furstentum Grand Crus. This HB is decidedly not that. Even the kings of Alsace late harvest only go to bofttle in the finest vintages, when a level upwards of 50 percent botrytis is achieved. After a few freeze/thaw cycles the fruit was picked on the 28th of November. The ’13 Vendanges Tardives has the subtlety and attributes to call itself VT, with residual sugar (119 g/L) and alcohol (10.5 per cent) numbers in line. Near-needed acidity, PH and exceptional phenolic character mix to balance and so the reduction in sweetness is nicely tempered. Pears meet apricots in hinted whispers. As per the Alsatian requiem, this never enters the arena of the cloyingly sweet and absurd. Utilitarian to a fundamental degree, in the end I would have liked more acidity in this very pretty wine. Tasted September 2014

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From VINTAGES for Thanksgiving, in wine and with song

Oct10

Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard
Photo: (www.leclosjordanne.com)

Whatever your plans are for Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I highly recommend they include wine and music. Last year my picks to meet the bird emanated from a Loire state of mind. A new Sancerre makes this year’s shortlist because “you can always use a good Sancerre.”

Related – A Sancerre Thanksgiving

The consistency with which wine picks jive from one year to the next is self-consciously and self-prophecy predicting, to be sure, with Chile and California making repeat appearances. New and bold in choice for 2014 is the idea that “now you say Morocco and that makes me smile. I haven’t seen Morocco in a long, long while.” A promising wine region lurks in the North African dessert and for $15, find out for yourself.

Two years ago I also offered up a brief history lesson on the origins of Thanksgiving when I said “Canada, let me pour your Thanksgiving wines.” At the time I was not suggesting we all go out and fill a curved goat’s horn with fruit, grain and Pinot Noir.

There are better ways to get your cornucopia or horn of plenty on.

In 2013 the message was simple. Thanksgiving is a weekend to celebrate the harvest, all that was once and will again be good. When I took a good look ahead at Canadian wines for Thanksgiving I meant what I said and I said what I meant. Canadian wine will impress you, 100 per cent.

This Thanksgiving the great indulgence that should grace your meditative and purposed consciousness is a local one. When should it not be? At a time when Thomas Bachelder was making wine at Le Clos Jordanne out of the vineyards on the Jordan Escarpment, greatness emanated and worship followed. Though it may have seemed so at the time, the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir at LCJ were not the ideal terroir for Bachelder. His work there, albeit progressive, standard setting and earth shattering, was only a precursor for his true calling; to Wismer, Saunders, Willamette and Beaune. Granted his total touches seek and mine gold but the LCJ soils were meant for a different pair of mits.

Those hands belong to winemaker Sébastien Jacquey, Burgundian, naturist, environmentalist, terroirist. Jacquey’s résumé reads like a laureate’s; university diploma in Technology and Biology in 2002. National Diploma in Oenology and Professional Agricultural Aptitude certificate in 2004 and Master of Earth and Environment studies, specializing in Vine Management and Terroir in 2005 at l’Institut Jules Guyot. Engineer of Oenology and Viticulture in 2007 at l’Institut Supérieur d’Agriculture, Rhones-Alpes.

It has taken Sébastien Jacquey a few vintages under belt (three as assistant and now two as chief winemaker) to feel the groove of his vineyards. To me, 2011 marks the turning point and the launch pad for the exceptional career that will define the winemaker. To a wine, every 2011 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir I have tasted has the finesse, restrained richness and markedly pure clarity of great Burgundy. More important is that the wines are clearly Niagara and even more so, distinctly Le Clos Jordanne. One step further even. All Sébastien Jacquey.

All of Ontario must rejoice, applaud and give credit to the effortless grace with which he is bringing evolution to the LCJ continuum. I urge you to try his wines. On this October 11th, 2014 VINTAGES release and in stores this coming Thanksgiving weekend the two eponymous vineyard bottlings hit the shelves. Try a Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard with friends and family. Then put another two away for future consideration. You will be glad you did. Here are 10 wines to seek out for the October long weekend and some tunes to spin alongside.

From left to right: San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard Carmenère 2011

From left to right: Solar Das Bouças Loureiro 2013, Domaine De Sahari 2012, Argyros Assyrtiko 2013, Katogi & Strofilia Averoff Xinomavro 2008, San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard Carmenère 2011

Solar Das Bouças Loureiro 2013, Doc Vinho Verde, Portugal (221036, $13.95, WineAlign)

Initially this opens slower than snail’s snot so “mute it to a whisper and spin your solar sister.” Petillance hidden, this is rich, greasy, fat and sumptuous Vinho Verde, not your avô’s take, that’s for certain. Can’t say I’ve yet nosed these kind of tropical aromas in VV before, so in that sense it’s a Posies breath of alternative, equatorial air. Comes back to pears and herbs, citrus on the palate and wraps up with wild acidity. Like frosting on the beater. Quite a bang for $14 bucks. Good, long finish. The minor spritz comes after the buzzer. Tasted October 2014 @VinhoVerdeCA

Domaine De Sahari 2012, Guerrouane A.O.G., Morocco (92825, $14.95, WineAlign)

Considering the geography and the utter aridity of the climate, more than just latitude should be afforded this Vin Rouge de Maroc. That’s because it’s a well-made, properly judged, toothsome Bordeaux-styled blend. Think Australian claret, say from Margaret River or even Coonawarra. If “that’s much too old a story to believe,” have a taste and note the fine balance betwixt Cabernet and Merlot, between earth and sky. Slightly rustic and funky, there is real, leathery fruit and a wood-chalky texture. The acidity is wound tight and the residual sugar slightly elevated but if “you say Morocco and that makes me smile,” I’ll know I’ve just had a taste of something fine. Tasted August 2014 @TandemSelection

Argyros Assyrtiko 2013, Santorini, Greece (387365, $19.95, WineAlign)

This Assyrtiko has a small bass note, down below, beneath the snare and the jump back. It causes quite a Rufus rumpus. Its got sax notes that drive a wild personality. While not blessed with the usual fruit to meet its acid intensity, the consistency persists. Santorini’s sun-drenched rocks break it down and the indigenous sapidity of Greek garrigue can’t help but stamp the authenticity. This needs to develop a year or two to get beyond its awkward, acetic adolescence. “If one should bite before I wake, jump back baby jump back.” It will serve purposed grilled meats when it does. Tasted October 2014 @Santoriniwines @KolonakiGroup

Katogi & Strofilia Averoff Xinomavro 2008, Pdo Naoussa, Greece (249615, $19.95, WineAlign)

It’s not that every Xinomavro is infallible but every Xinomavro is worth exploring. The Averoff is classic; smoky, rich plum meets cherry intensity, tannic and textured, layered, like old school Pinot Noir. Liqueur of Naoussa terra firma, rocks and sweet beets. Balance of earth, wind and fire, fun funky and moving. Shares the spice of life so “let this groove, light up your fuse, alright. Let this groove, set in your shoes.” Parts unknown gather to subvert the uninitiated and make them move to Greece. Tasted October 2014 @katogistrofilia

San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard Carmenère 2011, Maule Valley, Chile (249201, $19.95, WineAlign)

Nose of notable Carmenère character checked and in restraint. Certainly modern, somewhat fortified, but acceptably precipitous, delectable and fun. The whiffer is sweet pepper, currants and rings of defined tobacco. The give way goes to flavours silky in roasted pepper and a shot of espresso. If, “in the winter of ’65, we were hungry, just barely alive,” this Carmenère would have kept us warm. No cake, no jam, no overwrought excessive behaviour. Though like any good band, it does drive Dixie down. Well made. Tasted October 2014 @Dandurandwines

From left to right: Jean Max Roger Cuvée Les Caillottes Sancerre 2012, Le Clos Jordanne Chardonnay Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard 2011, Le Clos Jordanne Pinot Noir Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard 2011, Siduri Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2012, Pommery Brut Silver Champagne

Jean Max Roger Cuvée Les Caillottes Sancerre 2012, Ac, Loire, France (65573, $26.95, WineAlign)

The most chalky, medicinal and intensely forward of the Jean Max Roger stable. Also the most floral and aromatic, like Viognier, Gewürztraminer, Muscat even. It is anything but, of course, and one taste quells thoughts of Rhône-ish or Alsatian aromatic whites and allows Sauvignon Blanc to give of its green grass and wet hay. There is a coarse, hoarse voice in Les Caillottes, the small pebble, stony, flinty Sancerre. It’s a striking, swashbuckling, swordplay but “clear the thistles and brambles” because time waits for Sancerre. Not years mind you, so drink this Cuvée out of the clay-limestone soils in the village of Bué and in the hamlet of Amigny between 2015 and 2017 for maximum pleasure. Tasted October 2014 @oenophilia1

Le Clos Jordanne Chardonnay Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard 2011, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (33910, $40.00, WineAlign)

A 2011 assessment of the winery’s Chardonnay quartet shows this vineyard from the eastern section of the Le Clos Jordanne estate as divulging the most amplified soundgarden of floral proclivity. The cool vintage made demands for a choate winemaking process, all in the name of freshness. Vosges forests provided the bulk of the wood (15 per cent or less new oak), barrel ageing was ceased at 13 months and limited stirring in older barrels were all performed in the name of carrying the freshness name. Leaving them to age in bottle for up to six months prior to release confirmed the commitment to completing a prime time wine. The LCJ vineyard also expressed itself by way of candied marigold and nasturtium. This is Chardonnay with a full sunshine aspect, southerly and rich in ways not previously observed. It also shares an affinity with other 2011 Niagara whites, in citrus and fresh tendrils of burgeoning acidity, like simliar takes in Semillon and Riesling, in honeyed, stony layers. Balance is brought together by tannic texture, giving the wine grip and glide through a glade carpeted in ground cover, like lemon thyme and creeping sweet moss. For winemaker Sébastien Jacquey, this level of excellence may have been a “long time coming,” but it’s just the beginning. Tasted October 2014 @LeClosJordanne

Le Clos Jordanne Pinot Noir Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Twenty Mile Bench (33902, $45.00, WineAlign)

The most cherry meets earth LCJ to date, in the vein of a Cherry Road Pinot Noir, regardless the vintner. So much attention to clean fruit detail, this has lines and streaks of rock, chalk and variegated soil, piercings, tattoos and fine art running through its veins. Sébastien has coaxed maximum freshness and given it supporting balance. From my earlier February 2014 note: “Extremely good showing for this stalwart in what is becoming a classic Twenty Mile Bench vintage. Cran/Raspberry earthy-straw scents layered in a cake of overlapping, alternating flavours in raspberry (again) and quality chocolate. More intensity than the other ’11 LCJ’s at this early stage, simultaneously concentrated and light, like a ball-distributing point guard with 20-20 vision. Increased oak in dribble drive motion really ties the spiced flavours together, without sacrificing freshness. This will improve for five years, if not more. Winemaker Sébastien Jacquey must have called on his muse for this LCJ because “some kind of madness has started to evolve,” and from here on in this Pinot will solicit a “need to love.” Last tasted October 2014 @LeClosJordanne

Siduri Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2012, Sonoma Coast, California, USA (253369, $49.95, WineAlign)

The nonexclusive Sonoma Coast from Siduri comes by way of an even keeled vintage. It marries plush with lissomeness. Aptly concentrated while simultaneously acting out of pure Coast decorum, this is exemplary of place, mind and space. Pinot Noir that is “always looking for the sun to shine.” Raspberries romp through its fibers, reel, allow a minor savoury slant, then return, replay and remain the dominant fruit characteristic. Heading to the finish it’s momentarily ripping but the ripe and supple character ride on gentle waves, then bring it back to class. Can’t imagine it falling from grace anytime soon so enjoy to the end of the decade. Tasted August 2014 @SiduriWines

Pommery Brut Silver Champagne, Ac, France (385161, $58.95, WineAlign)

The Silver is a gorgeous, grand green patina, stoic and manifest dry, classic glass of Champagne. Aromas are in exaction, in compliance and in direct connectivity to a grower’s condition. Just a sliver of earthy, sweet oxidative sumptuousness streaks up the middle palate, lingers, turns away from the sun and lets the mist fall in late. Fine, linear acidity takes over and tangs the tame beginning, which proceeds to relinquish submissively, relegating it as just a faint memory. “What a swell party this is! What Pommery!” Exceptional class, chaste and chasmic-bridging Champagne. Well, did you evah? Tasted October 2014 @LeSommelierWine

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