Ten Canadians released for the holidays

Porchetta Panzerotti

I find the last week of November to be one of the strangest, most eery and unsettling times of the year. Calm before the storm. Frost, indigenous summer, zero degrees, crisp air, fall sunshine. We all know it’s coming; snow, holidays, ice, time off. The acronym might ring true but I would suggest resting your worried mind and tucking those cynical philosophies into a drawer. Pull them out in January when it matters less. For now, have a peek into the VINTAGES catalogue for November 28th.

Inside you will be faced with a thematic titled “Holiday finery.” Twenty some odd iconic Super Tuscans, Venetians, Rhônes, Californians and various, multifarious and sundry bottles leap from the pages like three-dimensional wine beacons in full propagandistic regalia. They are expensive, massive wines with pedigrees to shack up with queens and kings. I’ll expand on them later this week. Some are truly exceptional and all are stupid expensive.

There is Icewine and there is what VINTAGES calls “signature study,” a short and apathetically effective use of white space to extol the virtues of Ontario’s most important cool-climate varietal plantings, of Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Also the notion that Sparkling wine is important to our wine psyche. It’s all true.

What fails is the idea of a feature in a magazine and corresponding release with only 10 wines to drive the point. An angle with five aspects needs more than two examples to prove the multi-pronged determination in support of the bottom line. Why feature Ontario’s signature varietals with next to no illustration? Hard to imagine a paradigm shift in consumer connection with Ontario wines out of such a lacklustre effort.

The good news is that of the ten wines on offer, all are solid and representative of the ideal, with seven worthy of being recommended here. An Icewine and two British Columbia reds round out the top ten list.

Featherstone Black Sheep Riesling 2014, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (80234, $16.95, WineAlign)

Typically juicy and tight, lithe and piercing, popping and reflexive. Very consistent, vintage to vintage. Knows just what it wants to be. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted September and November 2015 @featherstonewne

Henry Of Pelham Estate Chardonnay 2013, VQA Short Hills Bench, Ontario (268342, $19.95, WineAlign)

Sunlight is the key to this ripe Chardonnay, snatched from vines that grow on the most easterly of the Niagara Escarpment’s sub-appellation. Here Henry of Pelham calmly puts its hegemony over Short Hills Bench Chardonnay on display. The fruit layering is very impressive, compressed even, with just a spiced spirit injection from the barrel. The Estate Chardonnay is in a mid-range class of its own, this gatherer of heat days, hoarder in spring water retention, cleanser in sand and gravel drainage. The vintage just seems perfect for this niche bottling, balanced, primed to finespun texture, stretched for length and good to age at least five years. Last tasted November 2015 @HenryofPelham @SpeckBros

Gilmour Corazón

Gilmour Corazón Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Cabernet Franc 2012, VQA Ontario (440594, $22.95, WineAlign)

Bordeaux blend bearing the name of the former Leaf’s Captain with Ontario sites fruit via Prince Edward County. From a warm vintage and showing every bit of that heat, in spice, not alcohol. Its credo should be “make Meritage love for the group, not varietal lust for the individual.” In it for the right reasons. Team. The fruit is quite green and loaded with pyrazines but quality wood fills the unplugged holes. The wine has heart, just like number 93, perhaps small in stature but gritty like no one else in the County league. A killer playoff red with the ability to weave back and forth behind the net until the wrap around is available. I was in the Gardens that night Doug, sitting in the sixth row behind that net. Big hair guy with his arms in the air, caught on the ESPN video. Gilmour represents one of the best Meritage values the County has yet seen. Good things happen when you add work ethic to the roster. The grapes are surely proud. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted November 2015 @KarloEstates @MettleUnited

Coyote’s Run Rare Vintage Chardonnay 2013, VQA Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (426437, $24.95, WineAlign)

A nicely, confidently, smartly adjudicated reductive Chardonnay with beautifully judged oak and a pretty white flower note that elevates the aromatic profile to the verified realm of the near ethereal. This is the prettiest bloody Chardonnay ever produced at Coyote’s Run. It is rare vintage indeed, for the appellation, the sub-appellation and the vigneron. Subtle, placid, restrained, smooth, integrated, just hinting at smoke and spice, easy on the lips, mouth and gums. This will follow a fine parallel line for five years, gain some honey and caramel for five more and fade into the Four Mile reflective sunset for five more after that. Drink 2017-2023. Tasted November 2015 @coyotesrun

Reif Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, VQA Niagara River, Ontario (304162, $25.95, WineAlign)

The Reif Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a wildly endearing and dangerously delicious wine that should evolve gracefully and purposefully for 10 years. Why? Because it has structure. What does that mean? It means that ripe, warmer(ish) Niagara River sub-appellation fruit was picked precisely on time, with acidity intact. It means that the extraction and maceration culled sweet, supporting tannin and the barrel program added just the right amount of accentuating care. This is dutifully doted over and offers Cabernet Sauvignon plaisir. Well done. Tasted November 2015. Drink 2016-2023 @Reifwinery

Château Des Charmes Vidal Icewine 2014, VQA Niagara On The Lake (200ml), VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (565861, $25.95, WineAlign)

The aromatics forge a beautiful relationship between tropical fruit and intensity. Represents the reason for using Vidal to hang at negative temperatures through the freezing nights of Niagara winters. The pineapple, longan and deep peach intent are the palpable culmination of patience leading to reward. This is a most excellent example of the necessity. The little sensation of drying tannin on the finish is the indicator for conterminous Riesling longevity too. Drink 2015-2022. Tasted twice, October and November 2015 @MBosc

Dirty Laundry Kay Syrah 2012, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (437111, $25.95, WineAlign)

Really perfumed Syrah permeated by spice and promising permutations left, right and centre. Quite young, modern, piqued by white pepper and juicy by way of pomegranate, cranberry, more so raspberry and then vanilla. A really solid wine with nothing but pleasure in mind. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted November 2015 @DirtyLaundryVin @HHDImports_Wine

Inniskillin Montague Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012, VQA Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (997353, $29.95, WineAlign)

A crescendo of sorts has been struck in 2012 with the Montague Pinot Noir perpetuity, giving credence to the vineyard as a resource to be exploited. What the site does for Pinot, particularly in warm vintages like 2012, reminds of the Pfersigberg in Alsace, a plot which provides fruit for the Sainte-Claires bottling by Domaine Albert Mann. A site where water-retention is less than average, where soil colour and low humidity attract the radiance of intense heat, which leads to early ripening of the grapes. The richness of Montague’s clay is amplified in the vintage, providing elevated heat units for this red cherry, beet, cinnamon and toasted red of equally exceptional flavours. Fine, linear acidity takes it to depths and will lead it down long, paved roads. Tasted January 2015 @InniskillinWine @CBrandsCareers

Flat Rock Cellars Riddled Sparkling 2009, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (187377, $29.95, WineAlign)

Skips the cork, avoids the taint and caps with a crown. A king’s bubble in here, a king of pop perhaps, with “a mind like a diamond.” Like a fine, flat rock that cuts through crap and “red tape fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack.” I want a fizz that gets me up early. I want a Sparkling wine that knows what’s right. I want bubbles with “uninterrupted prosperity and smooth liquidation.” I want a sparkler “with a short skirt and a long, long jacket.” I want bubbles with tang, tang, tang, apples, pears, ginger and cardamom. One that I can drink with cake. Yes, perhaps the Riddled ’09 is just a bit abrupt, at times monotone, awkward in chord changes, tempo switches and suffers from a twittering finish. But it’s twitchy and characterful along the way. Tasted November 2014 @Winemakersboots @brightlighter1 @UnfilteredEd

Burrowing Owl Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (73098, $44.95, WineAlign)

In 2012 a beefed up wine of early life unsettling proportion, oversized, dilated, and maximized. Cut through with a current of pyrazine and distended with lots of barrel buoy, though not as over-wooded and clumsy as many. Has enough restraint and Cab character to keep things bustling and whistling, from Boston to Dixie. Cool, savoury, spicy centre. A large expression of multi-faceted desert aridity, all B.C., not Bordeaux. This will age nicely as the tannins are quite ripe. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted November 2015 @BurrowingOwlBC @LeSommelierWine

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The Old Third and older County wines

Nov9

First press from first pick of 2015 Cabernet Franc

“You have to have a fear of God and a fear of mother nature.” These are the words of winemaker Bruno Francois of The Old Third Vineyard on the Closson Road in Prince Edward County. His compact yet profound stretch of The Ridge has the most slope, perhaps more than any vineyard in PEC, situated around a bend in the road at the 3rd Concession. The Old Third.

Bruno Francois in the Cabernet Franc

Bruno takes me for a walk through the vineyard. He points out the south, southeast slope unique to this part of the ridge. He talks about soil, the Hillier Clay Loam and its 450 million year old friable Ordovician limestone bed. He picks up and kicks around fragments of limestone gravel and fossils, glacial till, granite, sandstone, quartz and marble. The vineyard is a veritable ice age mineral playground. Mostly he plucks and tastes berries. Cabernet Franc. He crushes a cluster as a test. No skin contact but its hue is penetrating, ardent, vivid. The acidity rages. It will be picked in one week’s time.

Tasting The Old Third at White Oaks

We get down to business in the restored 1860’s cathedral barn over Sparkling wine and a Pinot Noir vertical. This is my second tasting with Bruno. In July he drove like a madman out to Niagara to pour his wines for Wine Spectator’s Matt Kramer, Sommelier Xavier Rousset, Master Sommelier John Szabo, Wine Country Ontario’s Magdalena Kaiser and I. We were at White Oaks Resort in St. Catharines in Old Third anticipation during the i4C Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration.

The Old Third Vineyard, Prince Edward County, Ontario

In Ontario, Chardonnay may be the go to for most Sparkling makers, but Blanc de Blancs be cursed, Bruno’s à la Volée, along with Jonas Newman’s (mixed varietal) Les Étoiles, tell us that Pinot Noir and the County are made for each other. After tasting à la Volée 2011, Matt Kramer said it was the best Sparkling wine ever made in North America. I have not tasted enough North American bubbles to go into heavy hyperbole but I can say this. Bruno Francois takes nothing for granted, has great skill as a winemaker and his best work is yet to come. Here are my thoughts on his wines.

Pinot Noir vertical, The Old Third

The Old Third Sparkling Pinot Noir à la Volée 2011, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $59, WineAlign)

“On the fly” is not exactly what comes to mind from this 100 per cent Pinot Noir, first Sparkling wine made by Bruno Francois. Calculated, attention to detail and intensity of ideation more like it. Three years on the lees, no dosage and from a vintage to speak in more than whispered voices, of acidity that announces its arrival with immediacy and a summons to contest. The nose does yeast, toast, citrus and ginger. A first release revelation as ever graced Ontario’s waves, as dry as the desert and lingering with switch back traces of its yeasty, toasty self. A single vineyard can be this way, equally and in opposition of natural and oxidative, with a hue less than Pinot Noir, though unrequited as a triumph when you get a ripe white from such Pinot. The production of 1200 bottles is relatively house high in a stunner that needs no sugar to draw up its flavours. Drink 2015-2023. Tasted twice, July and October 2015

The Old Third Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $42, WineAlign)

Rarely do the bitters of high density Pinot Noir plantings infiltrate with such courage layered by the richness of heavy clay and fractured, querulous limestone. Depending on how frequent your Pinot Noir tasting opportunities are you may be swayed with prejudice in one direction or the other because the astringency is a very real, authentic, hyperbole of Pinosity. Could this be more intoxicating? From four of five acres of Old Third Pinot Noir, billowing out liquorice, garrigue, tar, roses and the neverland yield of tonic. Though 100 per cent de-stemmed, adding them to “purify” colour would be a mistake. Others could do wonders with this type of correction leading to intensity. Grows chalky with time though adolescence is a hard nut to crack. Picking began on September 8th and the ripe, primary tannins suggest four years minimum to resolution. The nails in its heart will carry it across the girth of middle age. The seven-year mark will demarcate high water, as per the Old Third valour. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted July and October 2015

Cathedral barn of The Old Third

The Old Third Pinot Noir 2010, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $42, WineAlign)

In exhibition of its post-punk, nearly new wave, boyish fruit charm. Identifies as Pinot Noir from vines planted in 2005, fruit that saw oak worked in the same way it would do, forward to 2013. Tannins are utterly, wholly resolved in present elegance from a summer swelter in matchable cohorts to young fruit. Ten bears sweetness to a light richness and a lithe energy. Also a vin nature respect, with respect to ’13 that hides its very nature. In ’10 a yeast meets fruit barefaced parity is at this critical mass juncture, five-year stage, an aged picture of parent-child appurtenant appearance. Just a minor missive of hash lumbers on the mid-palate. Finally there is aridity and faux salinity without citrus acidity. Not so much Cabaret Voltaire as much as Woodhead Monroe. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted July 2015

The Old Third Pinot Noir 2008, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $35, WineAlign)

A taste and quickly it feels like an I’m not worthy moment, of respect, in thanks from the wise scribe David Lawrason and with admiration for the winemaker (Bruno Francois) who one and then four months later the other, pull this out of the magic hat. At seven it draws from and commits to memory for him, creates an epiphany for me and suggests the vines, on that slope, were always special. Memories like vampire weekends, epiphanies on County Pinot Noir and vines that were meant to be right from the start. The 2008 has barely moved. Unbelievers? “The world is a cold, cold place to be. Want a little warmth but who’s going to save a little warmth for me?”

The Old Third, Pinot Noir 2008

Bruno Francois, Jens Korberg and their Old Third Pinot Noir, that’s who. From 4th leaf fruit, so yes, very young but of vines precociously grown to be of age. Single (not so very big) vineyard still supplying today’s Pinot Noir. This taste offers proof of inherent structure and ability to age. It reinforces the notion of the seven-year Prince Edward County Pinot Noir itch. The wood on this wine has threaded silk into leather, now comfortably worn in like bucket seats in a Thunderbird Convertible ’63. A puff of mushroom and little to no appointed astringency indicates the four or five year window that yet remains. A wine to justify staying up late and catching up during the day. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted June and October 2015

The Old Third Pinot Noir 2015 (Barrel Sample)

Bruno remits a dreamy, murky decant into full sized stems on the tasting bar, a hazy demure from the year’s first September pick. Like all the Old Third wines (save for the odd Sparkler which uses a biodynamic Champagne yeast), the stage is set for the freshest aspects of Pinot Noir ripeness. Presently carbonic, fresh, natural, funky and primary. From a 23 brix count, sans Mr. Chapital and with some lingering sugar from a cap yet to drop. This to tell you its cloudy. Wild yeast gives texture ahead of the imminent gate passage with zero risk of a warm vintage stuck ferment. Around the bend is a finish with a specific gravity and colour not yet seen. The sugar and yeast compound currently confuses the soothsaying but look past and see a deepening and utter balance. Southeast aspect, Hillier Clay loam, fractured limestone, brought up by tilling. The 11th leaf. All tolled, to 2015, a new charge.

Pizza by Geoff Heinricks at The Old Third Vineyard

Older County Wines

In June of 2015 the crew at WineAlign convened in Niagara Falls to judge the best Canadian wines at the National Wine Awards of Canada. Each night during the week of NWAC15 we broke bread with Ontario winemakers and tasted their wines.

Bill Zacharkiw, Brad Royale and John Szabo at The Good Earth

Related – To Trius, by air

During that week we were hosted by Nicolette Novak, Mike Boland and winemaker Ross Wise and treated to an extraordinary meal by Therese De Grace at The Good Earth Wine Company. Dan Sullivan of Rosehall Run and Norman Hardie joined us and poured their wines.

Sablefish by Therese De Grace at The Good Earth Winery

During the preamble before dinner we gathered in the plenary idyllic evening Beamsville light, munched on olives and sundry bites while David Lawrason uncorked something like 20 older Prince Edward County bottles from his personal stash. Thank you David, if I did not already say it properly and with enough grateful inflection. The delve into history was mind-bending and if you know Godello, the significance waxes with each passing moon.

Pakora and Salad Roll Appetizer by Therese De Grace at The Good Earth Winery

It was primarily Pinot Noir that graced the Good Earth table, set in front of the pizza oven in the halcyon vineyard environs. A stray varietal here and there interrupted the Pinot flow with contrasting recreation and to watch a gaggle of geeks contort faces with significant gazes was as much fun as tasting the whereabouts of the wines in relation to PEC and Ontario history. I made notes on 15 wines.

Prince Edward County Retrospective

Exultet “The Beloved” Pinot Noir 2009, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $45.00, WineAlign)

An important look back at not so past tense County Pinot Noir. A rich crush of red fruit, piercing in its limestone veneer and stretched, across large slabs of stone, reaching fissure harbouring mineral. This Beloved is “full of incidents and schemes… and sympathetic pharmacies.” Rooted, rustic, running so deep and lingering in flavour. The fruit sweet, the roots bitter, the memory luscious. Red electric honey. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted June 2015 @ExultetEstates

Exultet Pinot Noir 2008, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $45.00, WineAlign)

A combination of vintage and one extra year’s time conspire to elevate the ’08 to a realm habituated by the callasthetic. Perception dreams up the magnetic, le beau ideal, from red fruit and energy, to defeat the volatile and the hungry. A tart, juicy, highly expressive Pinot Noir bred from a limestone ooze more scintillant than polish. Yet another 2008 County Pinot Noir to hit the seven year mark with an exactitude of response. In the County, well made Pinot planted in the right location will travel a septenary path. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted June 2015

Long Dog Pinot Noir Otto and Top Dog 2009

Long Dog Pinot Noir ‘ Top Dog ‘ 2009, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

Unfiltered Pinot Noir chosen from the best barrels. This ’09 is such a pretty dog, drinking through unseasonably warm temperatures with the top down. All about the pulchritude, prepossessing and with blanketing comfort by barrel. Though persistent in its sylvan, inelastic, smoky constitution, the Top Dog is a sight, smell and sweet suggestion to behold. Will drink and drive this way for a few more years. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted June 2015 @longdogwine

Long Dog Pinot Noir ‘ Top Dog ‘ 2008, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

Despite the tougher, cooler vintage, this ’08 is so much prettier than its ’09 successor, in part due to the extra year of settling. There is a sweetness about it and the limestone bleed is less hematic, decreasing in medicinal-honey, silky soft in texture and exfoliating that aforementioned seven-year PEC Pinot Noir wisdom. That in itself is the leading candidate for yet another 2008 to show best in 2015. It’s uncanny really, all these seven-year wines acting in synch as a partisan, best in show troop. Though volatile (aren’t they all) the Top Dog shines well within reason and exudes such enervating, renewable and reusable energy. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted June 2015

Long Dog Pinot Noir ‘The Otto’ Reserve 2009, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $24.00, WineAlign)

A lithe County 12.1 per cent alcohol, clear as a gaze across Wellington Bay on a clear day and like the Top Dog, a cold-soaked and cool fermented Pinot Noir. Also repeats the LD stratagem of 28 months spent in French bilion oak barrels. The Otto shows its wood like a placard with censored fruit, funky etchings and the same terse firmness that expresses the eastern PEC limestone ester of its grounding. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted June 2015

Long Dog Pinot Noir ‘The Otto’ Reserve 2007, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $24.00, WineAlign)

Mercurial to quite a vivid degree with a silky palate. Another entertaining and intriguing window from which to peer into the variable Pinot Noir attempts of Prince Edward County past. Drink 2015. Tasted June 2015

The Dunes, Sandbanks, Prince Edward County

Rosehall Run Pinot Noir Rosehall Vineyard 2009, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (225748, $21.95, WineAlign)

Influential exhibition for the ’09 double R Pinot Noir, in a sea of peers ranging from 2007 to 2009. Examples displaying more density, power, heavy petting and hue may hover and solicit love, but it is this Rosehall Vineyard that steals the drink me and enjoy show. It is simply less rigid and though some strikes have gone against it in a “tough on you kid” way, it has persevered to hit one out of the park. This is right where it needs to be. Pure, fluid, effortless and smooth. “Such a perfect fusion of expectation, intention, and execution.” Great swing. A splendid splinter. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted June 2015

Rosehall Run Pinot Noir Rosehall Vineyard 2009

Rosehall Run Cabernet Franc Cold Creek 2005, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)

Tight, bracing, cured by its own development and topped with a grating of fine chocolate. Crack acidity adds an estimable, ornate layer. The surcease is held at bay in a 10 year old Cabernet Franc made at a time when it was by no means in varietal fashion. Not just spinning remarkably well but standing on a podium to receive its varietal emeritus professorship. The cool, savoury middle and relevant woody notes carry this through. Wonderful historical gaze, luck or not Dan Sullivan. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted June 2015

Rosehall Run Cabernet Franc Cold Creek 2005

Norman Hardie Pinot Noir Cuvee “L” Unfiltered 2009, VQA Ontario (Winery, $49.00, WineAlign)

A blend of 60 per cent Niagara and 40 per cent County fruit. Separate ferments were treated to vinifications for 12 months in French oak barrels, blended and put back to oak for a further six months. The L from nine is in beautiful tender demand. Though a firmness persists the future is viewed through this short window of the past. Lucent and lustrous County submits to matted and shadowy Niagara. The play is a one way ticket in 2009 so enjoy this soon and sooner. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted June 2015 @normhardie

Pizza by Norman Hardie Winery

Trumpour’s Mill Pinot Noir 2008, Estate Bottled, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (230227, $16.95, WineAlign)

From the artist formerly known as, here a peer into the past of The Grange of Prince Edward, a Pinot Noir that ingratiates not because it resembles, imitates or intimates anything, or any derived character from some endemic tradition, but because it has developed. Evolved from light and astringent into something other; something that resembles earthy, vegetal tar spread like confiture on a limestone slab of toast. Pleasure is not the operative but learning is. At $16.95 that would have been a small price to pay to wait seven years and see what’s up. I can promise that the 2022 Trumpour’s Mill Pinot Noir will be better for the education. Drink now. Tasted June 2015 @grangewinery

Closson Chase Vineyard Pinot Noir CCV 2007, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $20.00, WineAlign)

Most of the 2007 County Pinot Noir I’ve tasted have fallen by the longevity wayside by the age of eight and many of those even before that mark. There was considerable heat in ’07 and the young PEC Pinot industry was not yet equipped to make proper élevage plans for the future. This CCV has lost its lustre, run amok of fruit and is now relegated to the acidity heap of methane exhalation. A current score is kind of meaningless and keep in mind this must be imagined having breathed out bright cherry fruit earlier in life. Drink 2015. Tasted June 2015 @ClossonChase

Huff Estates Pinot Noir 2007, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery)

Firm, tannic and drying. Early in life there would have been sun on fruit but now, of a yawning, a void come into being, as chaos. Drink 2015. Tasted June 2015

Huff Estates Pinot Noir 2007

Keint He St. Laurent 2007, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery)

Very pretty. Think about the prearrangement, talk about the passion. St. Laurent planted in PEC, forwarded eight years in pro tempore for Pinot Noir or whatever other varieties have already left the building. Are you kidding me? Like adult candy. Firm but soft and sweet to the touch. Like tart raspberries and demystified currants. Amazing. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted June 2015 @KeintheWinery

Keint He Pinot Noir Little Creek 2007, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (Winery, $45.00, WineAlign)

A wine made by Geoff Heinricks from a time when everyone wanted and expected to make great Pinot Noir. A retrospective in 2015 shows that few actually succeeded but this, this is something other. A sweet, lithe and focused piece of history. The smoky hue and character rouses in vaporous waves. Getting high off this Pinot Noir seems not entirely out of the question. From stone roses to fully solarized, the browning is but a natural evolution, amazing, with dillling to dialled in raspberry moments. Little Creek sings “I could astound you if I wanted, I wouldn’t even have to try.” A moment of County found by the viticulture founder of the County. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2015.

Good to go!

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Four times ten reasons to drink wine on Halloween

Oct29

Smurfette does Halloween

October 31st is a date empowered. Each year I fall victim to its commercial holiday, Soma-coma induced temptations. I eat candy on Halloween (I never eat candy) and I write about what to drink with in compliment and in conjunction with its tasting menu confection. It’s all so very wrong on so many levels and yet I’m drawn to it like a moth to a flame? Why? What is it about this impossibly sappy and gagged up day that sucks me into its vortex of plastic, vinyl, crinkle and excess?

I blame it on childhood, on a time when innocence, naiveté and gullibility ruled my universe. When running with friends and getting sick on candy was both joyous and an exercise in self-flaggelent stupid. When two hours meant freedom, rebellion and independence. Halloween is a kids’ version of travelling through Europe with a back pack. It’s like quitting a job, like going to Vegas on a stag (I hate the idea of going to Vegas on a stag).

Well, that explains it. As adults, we try to justify the ingenuousness, callousness and asinine holiday, to make sure our kids find happiness in its bent farcicality. We try to grin and bear it. We attempt to embrace its forced beauty and its urban chaos. And we drink wine.

Looking back at those lists from 2012-2014 and the thirty reasons given for drinking wine on Halloween, the best ten can be culled and reformatted into the following quaternary list:

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
Who doesn’t drop their pants for a Ghostly White Wine Spritzer?
Wine makes you forget Halloween ever happened
A person with a candy bag full of vodka is an alcoholic. A person with a candy bag full of wine is classy
To reduce the chances of having a heart attack or stroke at the sudden comeuppance of the neighbour’s $10,000 Halloween movie set
Why should this night be different from any other?
The doorbell rings every few seconds and beer takes much longer to pour
It rhymes with Frankenstein

For the sake of keeping things new, I’ll add the final new reason to the list:

10. A few glasses of Pinot Noir will make you smile as you remember how much money you saved by staying true to fun-sized candy

Be the life of the neighbourhood and fill those travellers with any of these 10 Halloween wines, subject to budget and chosen from the VINTAGES October 31st release. I promise not to suggest any candy pairings.

Fielding Estate Riesling 2014, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (251439, $18.95, WineAlign)

The Richie Roberts take on Riesling brings Beamsville to the populace, combining the natural acidity of the variety with the micro-saddle-plot-climat ipseity that the sub-appellation provides. This early to market ’14 is quite tropical, offering an en primeur portal into what invariably will follow. Fresh, juicy, accessible and in near-perfect balance. Slate, calcareous bleed and fruit generosity make for one tidy, markedly gratifying Riesling. Tasted March 2015 @FieldingWinery @RichieWine

Bodegas Muriel Reserva Vendimia Seleccionada 2008, Doca Rioja, Spain (276030, $18.95, WineAlign)

Carries with it the efforts and old barrel trials of generations in its classic aromas. Cedar, dried plum, bitumen, dried anise, wood soaking in natural sugar syrup. Really seamless, flourless and austere in a running wild kind of way. Possessive of length and deserving of that oddest of wine descriptions; supple. This will age for 10-12 years with ease. A great wine for the money, right up there with the Montecillo 1991, but cleaner, juicier and with more sex appeal. A red head, a ginger, Rita Hayworth, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone. Tasted March 2015 @bodegasmuriel @RiojaWine

Creekside Estates Laura’s Red 2012, Queenston Road Vineyard, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (117906, $19.95, WineAlign)

The richest, wealthiest and most lush Laura’s red to date. Constructed in high tones, big fruit and the most oak it has absorbed. Structurally speaking this climbs to play at the top of the Creekside regime game, with tannins formidable to demanding and a texture filled with spirited matter. Behind the scene and to a certain extent the veil there is Niagara, painted and dressed. Laura’s ’12 bites chocolate and picks at buds with impunity. This much plum and berry fruit will find a way to improve then strut in tastings years from now. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted twice, June and July 2015 @CreeksideWine @hobbsandco

Château Pey La Tour Réserve Du Château 2010, Ac Bordeaux Supérieur, Bordeaux, France (349308, $19.95, WineAlign)

Here’s a well-organized, thought out and structured bit of tidy Merlot from the house of Dourthe. Bits of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec reinforce the pretty, dusty, deep blue fruit from between Bordeaux and St. Emilion. I wouldn’t call it rustic or old-school but I would mention its wise charm and traditional handling. Just a bit of astringency in the tannic composition will take this five years down the road. Drink 2016-2020. Tasted October 2015 @La_Cave_Dourthe @Dandurandwines

Wolf Blass Gold Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, Coonawarra, South Australia (606939, $23.95, WineAlign)

Prodigious Cabernet of and for protein. Melds flavours of salted caramel and real hot chocolate with melting berries like Churros filled with oozing centres, without sweetness. Has expansiveness and connectivity, with acids and direct displays of tannin. The real deal down in the depths of warm climate Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink 2016-2022. Tasted blind at WWAC15, August 2015 @WolfBlassWines

Lavau Vacqueyras 2012, Ac Rhone, France (104927, $24.95, WineAlign)

Rich and very perfumed Vacqueyras composed of Grenache (50 per cent), Syrah (40) and Mourvedre (10). A wine with every intention to seek out a standing rib roast or duck confit to meet its every move. Charges that mix depth of fruit with grain of wood. Stratagem that marks violets moved to red berry fruit and reasonable acidity melded into a fine grain of tannin. There is just enough restraint in the process to consider this a finessed wine of gastronomy. It’s chewy but easy to digest, crusted and built of simple pleasures. Really well-made. No pretension, no attention drawn to itself and just plain affordable. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted October 2015 @oenophilia1 @RhoneWine @VINSRHONE

Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (1560, $29.95, WineAlign)

Flat Rock’s ever involving vines (on 33 hectares planted in 2001 and 2002) enter a new phase with indicators blinking and refreshing in this 2013 Gravity Pinot Noir. Youthful adolescence and gregarious fruit expression initiated in 2010 and carried through the 2012 vintage. Those years saw to a world of astringency and tension relegated to mites in the rear-view mirror. The wine is now in a nexus cross-roaded with exigency holding pattern. To understand its confusion and survey fast forward to its future is not easy. Gravity is a bit large right now, seemingly advanced, but to me the fight is between that fruit abundant state and the return of, though eased by meditative Jedi tension. Gravity just needs a parachute to bring it back down to earth. That lifeline may not materialize in this 2013 but that does not take anything away from its discriminating and diagnostic tones. Brightness, astatic inflection and succulence. This vintage may suffer from some level of snafu but it will age, evolve and breath. That much fruit has to have some level of expectation. The follow up ’14 and ’15 will win the hearts of horses and men. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted October 2015 @Winemakersboots @UnfilteredEd @brightlighter1

Burrowing Owl Chardonnay 2012, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (208694, $34.95, WineAlign)

Showing reduction and barrel youth in its veins, pores, gutters and buffers. Smells just like a young Chardonnay after spending 12-18 months in a combination of toasts and forests should smell. A changeling constantly shifting, grooving, picking up steps and notes. Spice, prick and pierce with the gems of proper acidity. Of emeralds and pepper grinds. The piquant nature begs for time. A stab in the Chardonnay dark says Okanagan as distant cousin to Beamsville Bench or Vinemount Ridge. In the end winemaking steals the show. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted blind at NWAC, June 2015 @BurrowingOwlBC @LeSommelierWine

2027 Cellars Pinot Noir Queenston Road Vineyard 2012, St Davids Bench, Niagara Peninsula (421370, $35.00, WineAlign)

A highly perfumed Pinot Noir from winemaker Kevin Panagapka in 2012, complete with an exotic spice box of aromatics; potpourri, roses, cassia, clove and aamchur. The profile hydrates to a mulled simmer as the wine is once again warmed by the vineyard’s ability to ripen, exaggerated in ’12 but with more grace, bringing its personality in line with its modest (13 per cent) alcohol. The cherry flavour veers black with a paste of tar and charcoal, but again, the psyche is smooth and elongated. Long finish to this Queenston which should see it sing to 2018 and beyond. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted August 2014 @2027cellars

Château Grand Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac 2008, Ac Saint Émilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux, France (425546, $39.95, WineAlign)

Showing a twinge of age at seven years, in rim and out of the natural whiffing forest aromas escaping with ease. The absolute right kind of earthy and barrel-influenced funk emanates, like experienced Bordeaux should, as would Rioja in similar approach to climacteric transition. A bit of leather, licquorice and aged beef join the gritty fray, mixed with aromatic citrus and grainy tannin to seal the destined way. This is ready to drink and yet two more years would not hurt its cause. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted October 2015 @Dandurandwines

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All fall Ontario wines

Sep14

From left to right: Thirty Bench Riesling 2013, Stratus Vineyards Wildass Red 2012, Rockway Estate Small Lot Meritage 2012, Huff Estate Gamay 2012, 13th Street Gamay Noir 2013, Westcott Vineyards Estate Chardonnay 2013 and Norman Hardie County Unfiltered Pinot Noir 2013

Currently off in South Africa on the Stellenbosch Wine Route with CapeWine2015 on the immediate horizon but I left some local reviews behind in anticipation of the VINTAGES September 19th release. A few are out for another go ’round and do hear this. Their timely and welcome recurrence is not something to take lightly. If you missed them the first time, get them now. It’s another one of those essential times of the year when we all fall into the cask of go local, #LCBOTasteLocal and reap the benefits of Wine Country Ontario. See you in a few weeks back in the old country for the first October release.

Thirty Bench Riesling 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (24133, $18.95, WineAlign)

The classification for Thirty Bench here as a ‘basic’ Riesling is such a stretch in consideration that the fruit is meant for this bottle and that fruit is of the highest Beamsville distinction. What a treat in 2013, ready to please with immediacy, great balance between sugar, acids and mineral-lactic travels to and fro, back and forth. Torque at its finest and most pure in Ontario. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted September 2015 @ThirtyBench

Kew Riesling, Young Family Organic Vineyard 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (426460, $18.95, WineAlign)

The idea that Beamsville Riesling can attack such hallowed territory is one of exigency and wonder. Kew does so with organic, Germanic and elemental attitude to the apogee of Escarpment degree. Everything in the Phillip Dowell mastery mix exists in the rare air of Beamsville essentia. When it hits optimum minutia and does temporarily descend to the ground, the ’13 Riesling sticks in beeswax and lanolin, not to mention lemons dipped into more rosin. Quite singular, even within the context of a Beamsville style. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted repeated times, July, August and September 2015 @kewvineyards

Stratus Vineyards Wildass Red 2012, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (86363, $19.95, WineAlign)

It would be hard to figure any sub-$20 red Ontario blend showing a deeper sense of ripeness, wood intent, sinew, cure, triturate resin and dry barbecue rub – than this Stratus ’12. It’s a bit of a head scratching, game-changing meritage, altering the course for $20 red blends forever. At the risk of forming comparisons, it puts me in mind of other places, like Roussillon, Campania and Navarra. It has coal running through its arteries and tonic spewing out of its fountains. Wild my ass? Yes. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted September 2015 @StratusWines

Rockway Estate Small Lot Meritage 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (388264, $19.95, WineAlign)

Twenty Mile red charcuterie and ripe blackberries baked into a Peninsula pie. Highly consumable red blend, with natural feeling acidity and grainy, slightly bitter tannins. Will settle nicely in two years and drink for three more. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted September 2015 @RockwayVineyard

13th Street Gamay Noir 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (177824, $19.95, WineAlign)

Four months has upped the funk in for ’13, with tar and bitters still and thick as summer air. Rich and ripe, notable for its black cherry aroma and that J.P. Colas natural truncation. Unique, as always and very Gamay. Drink 2015-2019.

From my earlier note of December 2014:

Fruit was sourced from both the Sandstone and Whitty Vineyards for 13th Street’s Gamay Noir, a focused and gritty adjunct in ode to the Cru Beaujolais approach. This ’13 raises the aromatic and texture bar and just may be the most striking from a 13th Street estate mix. All the important berries are there, as are the mineral quandaries. In a Gamay moment this will lead you to gulp and giggle with #GoGamayGo delight.

Last tasted April and Sepetember 2015 @13thStreetWines @Noble_Estates

Huff Estate Gamay 2012, VQA Ontario (423335, $24.95, WineAlign)

If $25 seems a premium to pay for Ontario Gamay, consider all that is on offer in winemaker Frédéric Picard’s take on the friendly French grape. Picard caddies for 13th Street (Niagara) fruit, vinifies it bone-dry with the minimalist edge of 14 months in 15 per cent new French oak. The fruit is so very ripe, in raspberry and gritless, creamy blueberry. Like savoury adult ice cream, silky smooth and with nary a hint of chalky grain. Well-designed and consumer-friendly as any Gamay has ever graced the Ontario consciousness. So you’ve “got that going for you, which is nice.” Shack up with Huff’s Gamay treat. Tasted at County in the City, April 2014 and again, September 2015 @HuffEstatesWine @PECWines

Westcott Vineyards Estate Chardonnay 2013, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario (427484, $24.95, WineAlign)

The barrel fermented and aged Estate Chardonnay spent 12 months in two-thirds new and one-third second fill wood. Lees stirring is slightly increased as compared to the unplugged. Again, it’s about aromatic intensity leading the way to palate density. By the sounds of Westcott’s comments “we’re pleased with its remarkable irony — dry and sturdy, yet creamy and rather curvy,” you might think the team was stirring with impunity. Not so. The Estate Chard does the dance of mild spice and butter on toast to reach a texture that would appease savages. Unavoidable and typical low yields from the Vinemount Ridge picked at the right moment and handled with caring tabula rasa are the spirit in this wine. Delightful and charming. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June, July and September 2015 @WestcottWines

Norman Hardie County Unfiltered Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario (125310, $39.00, WineAlign)

Procuring depth in County Pinot Noir is a tough task within the constraints of resisting a temptation to reach for sugars, alcohol and dark berry fruit. Norm Hardie’s 2013 unfiltered (at 10.9 per cent) and lambent exegesis succeeds because it offers the best of all available worlds. Roots for vines that burrow to limestone develop a structure that while may have at one time been inconsistent, have crossed the threshold in ’13 to establish a guarantee. A Hardie PEC Pinot Noir can be bright and accessible. It can also be tough, tart and tannic, as it is here, again, but not without its foil. The work is now innate, the transitions seamless, the crossroads left in the dust. This wine will please two camps; those who can afford and demand immediate gratification and those who are willing to wait for secondary (two to three years) and tertiary (four to seven) character development. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted April and September 2015 @normhardie

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Whites after Labour Day

Sep8

September salad

What is the only way to tell the difference between a wine geek and a wine snob? A geek will not drink just anything but will taste everything. In the name of science, of course.

Silly high society rules, like not drinking whites after Labour Day are the wine equivalent of late 19th century fashion precepts and as ridiculous as they may seem, you just can’t make this shit up. Just ask Google.

The first VINTAGES release of the new year (on the Hebrew calendar) or depending on your angle, the last of the summer (preceding Labour Day), is rich with excellent whites. There are 15 choices from September 5th that I highly recommend. Get them while they and it, are hot.

From left to right: Old Vines In Young Hands White 201, Dr. L Dry Riesling 2014, Domaine La Haute Févrie Sur Lie Muscadet Sèvre & Maine 2014, Thelema Sutherland Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Cave Spring Estate Bottled Chardonnay Musqué 2013, Flat Rock Riesling 2014, Boutari Santorini Assyrtiko 2014 and Bailly Lapierre Saint Bris Sauvignon Blanc 2014

Old Vines In Young Hands White 2013, Doc Douro, Portugal (424374, $12.95, WineAlign)

Young winemakers, a country’s support, a new vernacular, simplicity and imaging in ode to old ways. The packaging and the intent is spot on. The wine follows suit. Arid, saline, savoury and elemental, like QBA Riesling or Peloponnese Kidonitsa. I’m digging and buying the style, both in clean winemaking and in appeal to a whole new world. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted August 2015 @MichaelAndBrand @winesportugalCA

Dr. L Dry Riesling 2014, Qualitätswein, Mosel, Germany (409680, $13.95, WineAlign)

Another sock it to me Dr. L, straight up, spot on, exactly what it purports to be. General index of Riesling expression. Read it, use it as a reference, calibrate your palate to where you want to go. Drink 2015-2016. Tasted August 2015 @drloosenwines @Select_Wines @GermanWineCa

Domaine La Haute Févrie Sur Lie Muscadet Sèvre & Maine 2014, Ac Loire, France (390625, $13.95, WineAlign)

Perfectly, typically, ostensibly and decidedly Melon for what it’s worth. The sea, its salt, a briny shell and crisp acidity for what ails. Simple, slightly spritzy, a touch balmy and ultimately refined, when cooled, with a mess of sea creatures. Odelay, “of elevator bones and your whip-flash tones.” Where it’s at. At your beck and call Muscadet. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted August 2015 @LoireValleyWine @oenophilia1

Thelema Sutherland Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Wo Elgin, South Africa (203877, $14.95, WineAlign)

Striking Sauvignon Blanc, minted by a flinty beginning, with perhaps the highest discernible level of sweet gooseberry on the nose that has ever been measured by the olfactometer. Hard to imagine such an inexpensive Elgin white to be so dramatically forthright in smile and open arms. Grapefruit of the pinkest, ripest most juicy crunch burst into flame flavours well-defined, not overbearing, properly bitter and in reprise, like a bite into juicy citrus with just perfectly ripe acidity. A new benchmark for value Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa. Raises the bar folks. Look to Elgin. Ask the producers to plant more. Impossibly long SB finish. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted August 2015 @ThelemaWines @WOSACanada @WOSA_ZA @EpicW_S

Cave Spring Estate Bottled Chardonnay Musqué 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (246579, $15.95, WineAlign)

As good as 2013 is a vintage for Niagara Chardonnay, relatively speaking it may be an even bigger quality boon for the aromatic Musqué. The level of depth, breadth and weight in this Cave Spring is new and improved. The florals are heightened, as if bottled in eau de. The parfum is an intoxicant and the flavours compressed, like roll up, like a Musqué napolean, of peach, plum and pear. Who knew? A fall necessity. Better than before. Drink 2015-2017. @CaveSpring @TheVine_RobGroh

From my earlier note of May 2o15:

Produced from the 77 clone, the vintage has heightened the high herbal and feigned sweetness aromatic pastis. The palate is extraordinarily viscous, with Yellow Muscat and Gewürztraminer attributes, not so out of the ordinary considering Cave Spring’s older world execution. Drives from lemon to mandarin, through almond pit and into peach. Always solid Musqué.

Last tasted May 2015

Flat Rock Riesling 2014, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (43281, $16.95, WineAlign)

Talk about bottled up compression. Twist the screwcap and thwop! The cap nearly popped like a Champagne cork. This baby has energy and drive. The vintage is compressed and pile-driven as nosed by the density opposed by reticulated 9.5 per cent alcohol. This has Mosel tattooed on its being, from neck to bottom. A dead ringer for fine Kabinett, the tropical fruit in apricot and dragon reaching back to join Ontario, in apple and pear. A good flinty stone and raging acidity combine forces to exaggerate a Riesling reticulum in what is not the missive’s greatest ever vintage. Will live five to seven easy and just go for soda. Go ahead and quaff the hell out of this one, from 2015-2020, from bottles one through twelve. Tasted March 2015 @Winemakersboots @UnfilteredEd @brightlighter1

Boutari Santorini Assyrtiko 2014, Pdo Santorini, Greece (47985, $18.95, WineAlign)

A weighty Assyrtiko of breadth and gumption. The varietal salinity found virtually nowhere else is omnipresent and yet different of fruit in the hands of Boutari. Opulence beyond the Santorini norm and yet held back as if to say, “not yet, not yet.” There is a cool, wet patina as if by ruins slowly grown over at the bottom of the sea. A white swath of scraped rock paints the middle palate and is not removable. Can’t go wrong with a chilled bottle and a gaggle of calamari on the grill. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted August 2015 @boutari @KolonakiGroup @Santoriniwines

Bailly Lapierre Saint Bris Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Burgundy, France (424655, $19.95, WineAlign)

Flint meets reduction in a Saint Bris plugged in both ways, AC/DC. Sauvignon Blanc of dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Quite savoury, spicy and cool up the nose like mint and eucalyptus ointment. Serious and strong, like Aligoté but with more verve and natural musculature. No shrinker here and very long, juicy and crazy for acidity. Such expression is rare for the hallowed if needfully paid further attention appellation. Show up anytime at my place with a bottle of Saint Bris, “We’ll have ourselves a ball.” Drink 2015-2018. Tasted August 2015 @BourgogneWines @VinexxCanada

From left to right: Henry Of Pelham Estate Chardonnay 2013, Studert Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese Riesling 2009, Redstone Limestone Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Pierre Sparr Mambourg Pinot Gris 2011, Hidden Bench Chardonnay 2013, Domaine Laroche Les Vaudevey Chablis 1er Cru 2012 and Dom Pérignon Brut Vintage Champagne 2005

Henry Of Pelham Estate Chardonnay 2013, VQA Short Hills Bench, Ontario (268342, $19.95, WineAlign)

Studert Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese Riesling 2009, Prädikatswein, Mosel, Germany (409680, $21.95, WineAlign)

Blue slate in deep soil and steep, southwest-facing slopes elucidate the Graacher Himmelreich enterprise, quite possibly the most personal vineyard in the Mosel. Autonomy, astronomy, autocratic assuage and elemental tyranny are not for the Riesling faint of benevolence. The Studert Prüm Spätlese from the GH vineyard in 2009 is so very stubborn, stark and austere like matches struck on rocks, rocketing flares as if in a sci-fi action scene. It is possessive of a full, sweet and medicinal palate and enough energy if not the most balancing of acidities ever paired with the flint and the petrol. Good bitters and exceptional length will lead to many years of marbling evolution. Drink 2016-2024. Tasted August 2015 @StudertPruem @VinexxWine @GermanWineCa

Redstone Limestone Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2013, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (424648, $22.95, WineAlign)

If a Niagara Sauvignon Blanc could be endeared with the term ‘calcaire,’ Rene Van Ede’s Limestone Vineyard would lead the shortlist, not only because of the eponymous vineyard but because it oozes of the rock’s chalky chafe. Plenty of orchard fruit belies the lime, in an unoaked Chardonnay way and the wine makes full use of limestone’s hematic shed. This is one of the most stylish Sauvignon Blancs made in Canada, even if the average consumer were not able to recognize it as such. A winemaker from Sancerre would know it immediately and intuitively. Here a crushed reef of limestone memory permeates the wine from beginning to end. One of the more outstanding Sauvignon Blancs made in Ontario to date. Tasted January 2015 @RedstoneWines

Pierre Sparr Mambourg Pinot Gris 2011, Ac Alsace Grand Cru, France (686451, $24.95, WineAlign)

Arid and direct, quite an ascending Pinot Gris, with almost unfindable residual and yet not the most distinct Grand Cru you are ever going to ponder. Has more weight and sweetness on the palate which tends to lychee, pineapple, apricot and lemon pith. Proper old school Mambourg. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted August 2015 @AlsaceWines @VinsAlsace @ProfileWineGrp

Hidden Bench Chardonnay 2013, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (68817, $28.95, WineAlign)

A best of both worlds Chardonnay; indicative of the giving vintage (in quality, not quantity, prestige, not prosper) and an Estate, house style with some cosmetics to enhance the consequence. Really typifies and explains what a Marlize Beyers Chardonnay is. Elegant, stylish, with perfect skin, tones, understated beauty and the soft vernacular of few yet precise words. The texture and feel of this Chardonnay is downy, lacey and so very understated. You simply can’t take your eyes off its charms and your palate away from its soft feel. A wine of character and poise. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted August 2015 @HiddenBench @BenchVigneron @LeSommelierWine

Domaine Laroche Les Vaudevey Chablis 1er Cru 2012, Ac Burgundy, France (416057, $38.95, WineAlign)

Prudently flinty Vau de Vey, full of rocks, stones, cragges, broken pieces and slices of pure limestone. Such struck sensation could go too far but here it rises and lingers, tickles, fancies and plays, never bothering or acting with distraction. Quite remarkable and gentle of handling. Softer on the palate but still the limestone beats, with bitters. Just not enough circulating acidity in the end. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted August 2015 @DomaineLaroche @BIVBChablis @Select_Wines

Dom Pérignon Brut Vintage Champagne 2005, With Gift Box, Ac Champagne, France (280461, $219.95, WineAlign)

Surprisingly waxing en route to the oxidative side yet suspended in crystal animation. Apperceive the level of concentration, finesse and poise, a trinity of DPVBC not to be tested. These are serious, brooding, executively organized and effected bubbles. They are the real deal and they are not for everyman, either by price or for pleasure. They do not effect change or progress but they do speak of what has been, has worked and will not soon see any arresting waver. Another what it is moment in iconic Champagne. Drink 2015-2025. Tasted August 2015 @MoetUSA @ChartonHobbs @Champagne @ChampagneBureau

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Meeting of the wines at Treadwell Cuisine

Jul3

Treadwell’s Wild Honey and Peppercorn Glazed Muscovy Duck Breast, quinoa salad, sea buckthorn vinaigrette

Treadwell Restaurant is a wine bar, an Ontario extrapolation on farm-to-table cuisine and an iconic Niagara experience. It opened its doors in Port Dalhousie in 2006, has always been ingredient based and has help to usher in a niche simply called “Niagara cuisine.” Now located (since March of 2013) right in the heart of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Treadwells must be experienced at least once.

In June I had the fortune of visiting the restaurant twice. While Chef Stephen Treadwell‘s plates are the show, they are also the support and the reason for Sommelier James Treadwell‘s wine. Ontario and more specifically Niagara are explored, above all else and righteously beyond the pale. I taste more Niagara wine than the average geek. At Treadwell there is no shortage of new discovery. It’s a veritable playground for Ontario wine. The Chef de Cuisine is Matthew Payne. With chef’s eyes I watched him closely on my first visit. I wanted to climb over the counter, to contribute and execute for him, but did there was no reason to. His team was right on line.

Hoison Glazed “VG’s” Beef Short Ribs, potato purée, pickled red onion, summer vegetables

My visits to Treadwell were made possible by Magdalena Kaiser, Joanna Muratori and the presence of our provincial marketing treasure, Wine Country Ontario. I had the opportunity to sample more than 20 Niagara wines during the two visits. After judging day two at the WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (#NWAC15) the group was entertained at Treadwells and despite a power outage that put NOTL in the dark from 6:30 until nearly 10:00 pm, Stephen, James, Matthew and their incredible staff soldiered on and produced a most exceptional meal. Amazing.

WineAlign judges, a rainbow and the American Falls

Before we made our way to Niagara-on-the-Lake team Rosé donned vermillion ponchos, climbed aboard the Hornblower run by Niagara Cruises and took the most famous of all Canadian boat excursions to the base of Niagara Falls. Then off to Treadwells.

Aboard the Hornblower approaching the Horseshoe Falls

We tasted a few bubbles but they were all wines I have reviewed on previous occasions. The only note I wrote was for a bottle of Sussex fizz brought in by British wine writer Jamie Goode. Thank you Jamie for that treat and the portal into a new market to explore. The winemakers who joined us that night were Shiraz Mottiar (Malivoire), Jay Johnston (Flat Rock), Amelie Boury (Château Des Charmes), Ilya Senchuk (Leaning Post), Brent Anomyces (Associate winemaker at Pearl Morissette) and Martin Werner (Ravine). Here are notes on 14 of the wines tasted and assessed spread across the two visits.

Nyetimber Classic Cuvee 2010 and its excited purveyor Dr. Jamie Goode

Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2010, Chiltington, West Sussex, England (Winery, £31.95 – BBR)

From the English house with as much accumulated wisdom and experience as any, the Classic Cuvée spent three years on the lees and it shows. Has trod a textured path laid down by the stirred solids towards an increased noblesse. Certainly lean, direct and adaptable, to equivocate a bubble of yeast, toast and a baker’s kitchen, replete with apples and honey ardent in their crust. The residual sugar plays a minor while the acidity (approximately 9 g/L) tintinnabulates in a major key. Citrus pushes all the right elements. This is not your Uncle Monty‘s English fizz. “Free to those that can afford it, very expensive to those that can’t.” Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2015 @Nyetimber

Back 10 Cellars The Big Reach Riesling 2013 and Bachelder Pinot Noir Parfum 2013

Back 10 Cellars The Big Reach Riesling 2013, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario (Winery, $22.95, WineAlign)

Here Riesling that has reached back and risen up into a breach, beyond the average and the norm. More than a hint of residual sugar catapults and disintegrates into the stratosphere at the hands of linear, direct, pointed and piercing acidity. The citrus is pure squeezed lemon, so natural and circulating in the elemental. The Big Reach takes chances, tries to go where many fear, to extend “and bend our backs and hearts together standing in the breach.” With a few years time it will return from its fissure in the sky and settle into more comfortable closure. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted May 2015 @back10cellars

Flat Rock Gewürztraminer 2012, Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $23.15)

Crafted in the warm vintages, the fruit is a mix from Niagara Benchlands and Estate vineyards. If not fundamentally necessitous this does hit all the right, bright ’12 and 20 Mile notes with clean vision gazing far and beyond to the eastern horizon. Grinds nuts into paste, to a pulpy, whizzed and pure taffeta to tussah. This solid palpation rises above and beyond the expected florals and sweetness so receptive its money. Texture is ultimately key and indispensable in the absence of unmitigated acidity. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted June 2015 @Winemakersboots @brightlighter1

Ravine Vineyard Gewürztraminer 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $20.00, WineAlign)

Initially muzzy, moving past the nose for a moment the residual is noted as set to high. It’s immediately interesting to taste such a sweetness, one in line with the Riesling Reserve ’13 yet also in belay of Ravine’s ’14 step back in such matters, tasted same night. The ’13 Gewürztraminer does not concern itself with striking connectivity, but instead concentrates on the corporeity of botrytis and texture. Yet another 2013 in which Martin Werner pushes buttons, envelopes and ways of the Peninsula world. Drink 2015-2019. Tasted June 2015 @RavineVineyard @marty_werner

Ravine Vineyard Reserve Riesling 2014, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $30.00, WineAlign)

Even without prior knowledge that the botrytis number was down (to 30 per cent) in this late fall, estate picked organic St. Davids Bench ’14, such a vector is indicated by the salinity on the nose. The miasma reduction, depressed pedal ere impressed metal suppresses sugar, as does the voluminous yet lightning-free (9.6 g/L) total acidity. The unconventional aspect has come back to the appellative norm, like tropical fruit picked in seasons void of rain, humidity and late afternoon storms. This strides into oversized footsteps, in and out of ages, but not to where the wild things are. Winemaker Martin Werner has reigned in the impulse to freak out with this Riesling, in part to see how the other half lives and also because brilliance is a bumpy, two steps forward, one step back road. With the right botrytis and a look at Riesling from both sides now, the ’15 should have every reason to be revolutionary, trend setting and iconic. Damn if waiting to see what will happen won’t be high on the Niagara periscope agenda. Drink 2016-2021. Tasted June 2015

Leaning Post Riesling 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)

It may hail from the Foxcroft-Wismer-Twenty Mile Bench triangle of Grand Cru territory but this does not go where Rieslings have gone before. The vintage declares tyranny on typical, but it’s not exactly shocking. There is a controlled litheness to be sure, a lime road, an extraction that while not as expansive, is dense somehow. A Senchuk take on Wismer, colour upon colour, in abstraction, time after time.

From my earlier note of April 2014:

Marks a return to the variety for Senchuk, with a dynamic and resounding charge. This barely resembles what may be pigeon-holed as Niagara Peninsula Riesling as it disses the lean, citrus pierce of the dry norm. Don’t panic, it’s not that different, but it does comment on “homes, places we’ve grown, all of us are done for.” From 18 year-old (south block) Foxcroft vines, 15.8 grams of residual sugar and 11.3 grams acidity. Bottled just eight days ago, this is a wine that was “left to develop on its own,” on it lees and with no stirring. “It’s not late harvest, it’s mature, with just enough sugar to make it palatable.” Makes a cold play for warmth, extract, viscosity and natural sweetness. Reaches for complexity beyond acidity, to places old and new, to Germany and to Niagara. Gotta citrus back, endgame palate. I can’t say with certainty that in time this vintage will push the sweetness to the background and develop leathery, gamey and earthy characters. I can say that given some more experience, Senchuk will develop the acumen to make it happen. “There’s nothing here to run from ’cause here, everybody here’s got somebody to lean on.” 200 cases made.

Last tasted June 2015 @LeaningPostWine

2027 Cellars Wismer-Foxcroft Vineyard Riesling 2014, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)

Kevin Panagapka’s take on Niagara Riesling is specific enough for the need to look deeper than its broader Twenty Mile Bench roots. The plot thickens within the confines of Craig Wismer’s Vineyard, to the Foxcroft block where Chardonnay and Riesling are meant to be. Kevin is not alone is making use of this exceptional fruit. Tawse, Leaning Post and now Two Sisters all work from there, but no one puts the spirit into Foxcroft like Panagapka, as he does similarly with his Foxcroft Chardonnay. If the electric spin were toned down a touch in ’12 and ’13, here in ’14 the plug is back in, the amplification turned up to 11 and the house is simply rocking. This probes and punctures citrus fruit to burst, crackle and pop but it has no aspirations for weightlessness and atmosphere. It is so very concrete, grounded on 20 Mile terra firma, present, accounted for, looking straight into your eyes. Pale to purposed, striking in its missive for anti-tropical flavours and nearly massive in its thin delight. Dramatically truthful Riesling. Drink 2015-2022. Tasted May 2015 @2027cellars

Treadwell’s Pan Seared East Coast Scallops, caramelized cauliflower, guanciale, caper vinaigrette and Ontario Asparagus, poached “Bertha’s Bounty” egg , truffled burnt butter vinaigrette

Big Head Wines Chenin Blanc 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)

The grape that begat Big Head is so versatile that even in the technical and experimental hands of winemaker Andrzej Lipinski it retains true identity. Appassimento treatment and aging in old oak barrels may add layer and viscosity in the reds but in the whites the leesy funk remains, as does an off-dry, mineral bent. Dried earth, salinity and bitter pith join the fruit wrecking party. This is a bold expression with a big head. We’re the fruit strong enough to defend itself it would be something very special. Poured from a magnum at Treadwell restaurant. Drink 2015-2017. Tasted May 2015 @BigHeadWine

Malivoire Melon de Bourgogne 2014, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $19.95)

Here is a clean, almost silky Beamsville addition to the Ontario Melon de Bourgogne game, of melons picked ripe with no need for trucks and travel, just cut ’em in half and pull out a spoon. Cool climate lime juice acidulates the melon, it’s that direct and simple. Acidity need not distract from the purity but it’s there, off to the side, on a need to know basis. Glug, glug Melon, a white wine that would pour so fine from the tap. As in wine on…Drink 2015-2017. Tasted June 2015 @MalivoireWine @ShirazMottiar

Château Des Charmes Old Vines Riesling 2008 Ravine Vineyard Reserve Riesling 2014

Château Des Charmes Old Vines Riesling 2008, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (277228, $16.95, WineAlign)

Perhaps the assessment seven years later creates an unfair advantage but come now, a great wine is a great wine from its humble beginnings. At $16.95, in 2008 or 2015, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, on the Peninsula, this type of emerging propensity is more than gold or platinum, it’s money. This is a Riesling to vacuum up global accolades, to open eyes wide and to enjoy drinking Riesling. The ’08 CdC does what the vintage demanded; created a union for off-dry reasoning, denaturant gleaning, acceptance of petrol, lime condensation, salinity and herbal behaviour. If it were ever once a rough sketch, it is now and will continue to be all those things, a candy’s room full of treasures. With Riesling “if you wanna be wild, you got a lot to learn, close your eyes, let them melt, let them fire, let them burn.” In time, in capable hands, it all comes together. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2015 @MBosc

Château Des Charmes Equuleus 2012, Paul Bosc Estate Vineyard, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (319525, $30.00, WineAlign)

The Cabernet Sauvignon (50 per cent), Cabernet Franc (25) and Merlot (25) Paul Bosc Estate Vineyard confluence produced in heteroclite (warm, warmer and warmest) years has learned from itself. Where at one time the scarce Niagara heat was a blessing, the ability in winemaking consistency in the present and going forward can determine adversity should the winemaker’s hands play the heavy. Subtlety is key, as in here, the moorish weight shed and the black, wood shrouded fruit left behind in the old stable. The oak may not so much have changed as much as the wisdom of the start to finish process, especially in the picking and the soak. The red fruit has been avowed of purity so 2012 affords an increase in legerity, by hand and in kind for the classic Bordeaux assembly. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted June 2015

Bachelder Pinot Noir Parfum 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, Price unknown – approx. $25-27)

The Parfum is a departure for Thomas Bachelder, a path not previously taken to pick, ferment and vinify in the name of perfume. The aromatics and legerity have delighted into a Pinot Noir for a licensee song. Don’t be fooled by the sachet of felicity. This wine is also built on extraction, intensity, volupté and richness. A slight rust is observed, one that never sleeps in a Bachelder world, one that works harder with eyes closed, thinking, mulling, fuelling the next thought. The Parfum makes and leaves an impression. It’s quite beautiful and accesible. Drink 2015-2018. Tasted April and June 2015 @Bachelder_wines

Malivoire Melon 2014 and Pearl Morissette Gamay Cuvée Mon Unique 2014

Pearl Morissette Gamay Cuvée Mon Unique 2014, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $29.00, WineAlign)

In December of 2014 I counted the ’13 CMU Gamay as one of my mind-blowing wines of the year. Once again we are witness to the authentic, raw and natural impossibility of the wine, from 100 per cent whole clusters sent to cement fermenters. The hue is just impossible, the wine sulphur-free. That ’13 Gamay did not last. I tasted again this winter and it failed me. It may return. This ’14 will never leave. It is natural to the 14th degree and yet its rich, smokey chocolate centre and structure of pure physical stature will not let it slide, into a dumb phase or oblivion. This Gamay will strut. It already does. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted June 2014 @PearlMorissette

Pearl Morissette Cuvée Dix Neuvieme Chardonnay 2009, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (319525, $38.00, WineAlign)

Has reached near-nirvana. The intensely focused withdrawal, the inward spiral to a fully condensed state is so very close. This is Pearl Morissette’s most shelf-talking Chardonnay, of lemon preserved, reversed, jammed into its own half shell, like a honey-tart sorbet, creamy, fleshed and inward. This is true wine of impression, a marvel in rewind.

From my earlier note of July 2013:

Tragically singular in expression, regardless and in spite of the terroir, mixes metaphors and pulls it off. “Takes arms against a sea of troubles,” by convincing ADHD fruit of an uncertain vintage to settle, play nice and “by opposing, end them.” Now entering the load out zone, this Hamlet cuvée is “the first to come and the last to leave, working for that minimum wage.” A sentimental ballad here to stay, be remembered and to set the stage for all dix-neuvième to come.

Last tasted June 2015

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