Tag Archives: Baco Noir

To Icewine and beyond

The Tunnel at Niagara Parks Power Station

Icewine. A Niagara wine-growing region speciality, long-suited to place, world renowned and in a way a curse because mistakenly global perception thinks only this kind of wine can be made great out of this coldest of cool viticultural climates. For quite some time Icewine has been Canada’s infinity, a national star and success story that have been the Ontario wine industry’s burden to bear, it being the ONLY wine capable of excellence in the minds of consumers and also many wine industry peeps worldwide. This is finally changing, in no small part thanks to ambassadors like The Wine Marketing Association of Ontario’s Magdalena Kaiser and Canadian Trade Commissioner Dr. Janet Dorozynski PhD. They, along with dozens of Canadians producers and winemakers have presented many years of Canadian wine tastings in London, at Germany’s Prowein Trade Fair and most recently through masterclasses in Copenhagen and Berlin. Their efforts and an exponential leap in collective quality have helped to raise the profile of the great breadth of Canadian wines.

The Wine Marketing Association of Ontario’s Magdalena Kaiser

Is it not finally time to prove two 21st century facts? First that wine consumers from Timmins to Torino are actually privy to a vinous Canadiana scene that includes but is no longer confined to the gelid, glycerin and bracing late harvest elixir. Second, Icewine and other forms of fermented grapes are evermore intrinsically connected, bonded by their growers and makers whose climate change evolving portfolios are now the sort that are chock full of inclusivity. Is it not possible to celebrate Icewine without sacrificing the progresses made by other styles of wine? Of course it is and our Ontario (and also British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Québec) includes all walks of appellative, varietal and stylistic life.

The Horseshoe Falls lit up in Pride colours

The time has come to reflect upon Icewine as an entity the likes of say VinSanto or Sauternes, sweet labours of love perpetuated because of tradition and climates that continue to encourage their production. Icewine in Ontario are intrinsically connected to a winery’s portfolio; to the consumer-friendly, classic and small lot wines. European wine producing regions were once sweet-centric too and Ontario is at long last maturing into a new epoch where Icewine the founder is begetting table wines, the current board of directors. They and all Canadian wines are prepared and experienced to travel far, well outside the Icewine universe. Their destination looks past infinity, to the beyond.

The Savoury – From Chef Tim Mackiddie’s “Savoury, Spicy and Sweet” Icewine pairing preparations

Back in January the WineAlign crü shuffled off to Niagara Falls for the 2023 iteration of Niagara’s Icewine Festival. It was inside the renovated event space halls of the Niagara Parks Power Station where the gala event was held. If you’ve not been the time has come to make a visit because the installations are spectacular. Then there is the inspiring experience that is a 600m walk through the early 1900s tunnel construction that empties beneath the Horseshoe Falls. Many Icewine and other Ontario wine samples were tasted that evening, this following a truly special Icewine Masterclass given by WMAO’s Kaiser at the tasting room of The Hare Wine Company. Kaiser put together an 18-strong Icewine line-up in conjunction with Chef’ Tim Mackiddie’s “Savoury, Spicy and Sweet” pairing menu, all to fascinating results. “Icewine is the strongest post pandemic recovery for a Niagara wine category,“ informed Kaiser. “Younger males lead the resurgence.” She noted an increased use in cocktails, making use of Icewine instead of simple syrup because the traditional dessert wine is such a high quality ingredient, with natural sweetness. At the gala it was Kaiser’s son Maximilian Smit, creator of the Niagara Icewine Sour, who mixed up two unique and bloody delicious Icewine cocktails for hundreds of guests. The masterclass and the cocktails demonstrated how Icewine is no longer just about dessert. 

The Spicy – From Chef Tim Mackiddie’s “Savoury, Spicy and Sweet” Icewine pairing preparations

On Sunday after the Icewine fète the group paid two visits, to Queenston Mile Vineyard and Henry of Pelham Family Estate. The following 30 tasting notes cover Magdalena’s Masterclass and the wines tasted at the two Sunday morning stops.

Cave Spring Riesling Icewine 2019, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Stars and acids through the proverbial roof with thanks to a November 14th harvest, earliest on record by what has to be a long-shot. Specs come in at 245 g\L RS, 15.3 TA, and 9 percent abv. Full aromatic wealth and viscosity, apricot and golden pineapple, acids coming through on the nose to set up everything wanted and needed on the palate. As unctuous and fell-throttle expressive an Icewine from riesling that could ever be. Kudos to the vintage and to the makers for capturing all parts at peak. Top performer without a doubt. Drink 2023-2029.  Tasted January 2023

Henry Of Pelham Riesling Icewine 2019, VQA Short Hills Bench

Part scintillant and part fruit bomb with high active acidity in great categorical respect. Lemon, apricot and pineapple all in, gelid and cool, high in balancing acid from one of the earliest picks by one of the earlier pickers so certainly in the first two weeks of November. Also as much a petrol and airy aromatic propulsion signalling near equal to any indicators the fruit might elicit for Icewine temptation. With sugar plus acid so high and meshing together there are no spikes, searing moments or overt richness, though in the end there is a white peppery warmth. Lemon and tea, heavy sweetener and naturally tannic. Unique Icewine when you get down to the brass tacks. Registers as 9.5 percent alcohol and what’s also special is a saline streak running through. Sweet lemon desserts only serve to accentuate the sweetness and the lemon. Drink 2023-2027.  Tasted January 2023

The WineAlign Crü with Magdalena Kaiser

Magnotta Riesling Icewine Niagara Peninsula Limited Edition 2019, VQA Niagara Peninsula

A nose of ulterior style leading to different sort of reactions though the palate is much more classic, standard and expected. Reserved and limited and then exuberant, forceful, heavy steel reinforced. Really attacks the sides of the mouth upwards to the upper wisdom corners and pineapple is everywhere. Old school, white fleshed and high acid. 194 g\L of RS and 10 percent abv.  Last tasted January 2023

The lemon iced tea in Icewine makes riesling go its own direction and run with the ideal. This has energy and pizzazz, style that makes one want to know more and more. Great tension and acidity puts this in a place of its own. Drink 2024-2030.  Tasted blind at NWAC2022, June 2022

Riverview Cellars Estate Winery Riesling Icewine 2019, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake

Exotic scents in riesling out of 2019 running the mango to pineapple, papaya to litchi gamut of ripe, tart, rich and creamy. Extreme sweetness and delectable flavour profile. Chewy stuff, heavy concentrate of the tropical doused by heavy yellow citrus. Lacks a bit of balance. 189 g\L of RS, 11 abv. Drink 2023-2025.  Tasted January 2023

Byland Riesling Icewine 2019, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake

Some understatement here, aromatically speaking at the very least and the first in a comprehensive Icewine tasting to feel herbal, stem-scented and evergreen savoury. Mint and fennel, sweetness never overloading the palate or making any demands. Almost a tonic or cocktail bitters note near the finish, though persistently subtle and agreeable. Unique Icewine is every which way but loose. 192 g\L RS, 11 abv. Drink 2023-2026.  Last tasted January 2023

Byland Estate Winery is a newer Niagara-on-the-Lake, 13-acre vineyard owned by Jackson Bai since 2015. It was acquired from Frank Di Paola and his three decades of grape growing experience. The vineyard has been providing grapes for Magnotta Winery for 25 years. Their riesling Icewine is high-toned, aggressively tart and intensely implosive. Lemon and also lemongrass nose, orange crème brûlée and lime flavours with some bitterness inherent in all that layered citrus. Good length here.  Tasted November 2020

Peller Estates Andrew Peller Signature Series Riesling Icewine 2019, VQA Niagara Peninsula 

Densely concentrated and from the beginning an impressive balance in accord between sugars and acids so that the two move swimmingly along from the start through to a long lingering finish. One sip and the Icewine becomes one with your palate, hangs on, repeats upon itself and as far as that kind of attraction is concerned you welcome the linger. Special dedication and technique here to be sure. 179 gL RS and 10.5 percent abv.  Last tasted January 2023

Stratus Riesling Icewine 2020, VQA Niagara Lakeshore

Perhaps the most aromatic, palate density and intense character of any in a long Icewine flight but also a lovely swarthiness to take things to an entirely new level. Of promise and age-worthiness, to imagine a wine equipped with structure and fortitude, to change with incremental tempo (and opposite of haste), to spend a couple of decades evolving. Impressive and intoxicating in every way while sweetness is lowest in importance. 142 g\L RS, 9.3 tA, 14 abv. Drink 2023-2033.  Tasted January 2023

Densely concentrated, heavy fuel and sweetness overload Icewine that delivers all the expectations in that dessert wine category. Classic example, not overtly exotic but full of stone fruit in the peach, nectarine and yellow plum spectrum. Not the longest yet of a more than ample lingering finish. 235 g\L RS, 8 tA, 10 abv. Drink 2023-2026.  Tasted January 2023

Lakeview Cellars Gewürztraminer Icewine 2019, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Über sweet Icewine, oily of viscosity, a chewy mouthful of stone fruit fleshiness. Pulpy in textural feel, a mouthful all the way through. Yeoman acidity work and moderate length in a correct to highly proper example. Expressly gewürztraminer so it’s got that going for it, which is nice. 188 g\L RS, 9 TA, 9 abv. Drink 2023-2026.  Tasted January 2023

Vineland Estates Vidal Icewine 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Wildly aromatic Icewine, unique and savoury, almost smells like charcuterie with pork rillette and a mix of pickles. Does not act so overtly sweet as compared to so many others and is remarkably characterful. But just look at the numbers. Residual sugar of 271 g\L, 8.2 TA, 9 abv. Onion skin and the musky cured skin of pork salumi. So bloody interesting. Would age this a year or two. 271 g\L, 8.2 tA, 9 abvDrink 2025-2033.  Tasted January 2023

Sue Ann Staff Howard’s Vidal Icewine 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Desperately sweet and intensely concentrated Icewine, as fortified and full as they come. Not a tropical one but certainly the kind that makes one think of ripe stone fruit after a different sort of Ontario summer that turned into a hot September. Good capture of a season that was turned on its head that delivered something new. 209 g\L RS, 11 abv. Drink 2023-2027.  Tasted January 2023

Chateau Des Charmes Vidal Icewine 2018, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Concentrated of fruit times more fruit sweetness to define the style and quality of this vidal in Icemen clothing. Pineapple and apricot namely, lemon drop and a tisane finish. Quite tannic, unexpectedly so. Drink 2023-2026.  Last tasted January 2023

Lithe and charming use of vidal in Icewine from Château des Charmes, of such proper middle ground concentration and intensity. Sweet pear and caramel apple, mango purée and maple syrup on snow. Simple and oh so very effective.  Drink 2020-2023

The Sweet – From Chef Tim Mackiddie’s “Savoury, Spicy and Sweet” Icewine pairing preparations

Hare Wine Frontier Collection Vidal Icewine 2019, VQA Niagara-on-the-Lake

Impressive concentration meets a savoury edginess, white peppery dusted and full on character of an Icewine made with vidal. Classic preparation and presentation, no side-steps or derivations but simple, capable and proud. Really well made. 171 g\L RS, 10.3 abv. Drink 2023-2026.  Tasted January 2023

Reif Estate Grand Reserve Vidal Icewine 2018, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Indelibly stamped and incredible density from an Icewine that delivers maximum fruit substance from maximum effort. Here the work and the patience is justified because this is what the wine has to be. Acids do well to keep up with some much sweetness and fruit character. The crème brûlée of vidal all the way. 270 g\L RS, 10.5 tA, 9.5 abv. Drink 2023-2028.  Tasted January 2023

Ferox By Fabian Reis Dornfelder Icewine 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Pungent in so many ways with serious wood elements that manifest as soy, carob, dill, tar and chocolate. In a way tastes like Cherry Blossom in childhood memory recall but its clearly more complex that that. Pot of Gold perhaps, the finest Laura Secord mixed box and so much more. Chocolate and red jam persist long after the wine has been swallowed. As much like Port as it is representative of Icewine. Picked at -10 degrees Celsius and fermented for six weeks. 90 percent stainless steel and (10) neutral French oak. 250 g\L RS, 6.4 tA, 10 abv. Drink 2023-2026.  Tasted January 2023

Pelee Island Winery Cabernet Franc Icewine 2017, VQA South Islands

Truly savoury, wholly identifiable as cabernet franc and ultimately a varietal wine that stands tall. Lacks concentration to be sure but ultimately this does the yeoman work. 187 g\L RS, 11 abv. Drink 2023-2025.  Tasted January 2023

Really does taste like cabernet sauvignon but what really stands out is the candied red apple skin character above all else. A petrol note as well however subtle and always that truth in red fruit, of currant, pomegranate and cherry character. Quality Icewine from less than classic varietal origins. 224.5 g\L RS, 10.3 tA, 9.5 abv.  Last tasted January 2023

This is a well-priced Icewine made from cabernet franc with tell-tale varietal signs. Smells like red currants, roasted peppers, strawberry or cherry pie and Ju Jubes, a Canadian Candy classic or wait, Swedish Berries. Nicely concentrated with mid-weight Icewine feel and really good length. Quality, not over the top and a pique of relish make this a highly plausible dessert wine for red wine drinkers. Drink 2020-2024.  Tasted November 2020

Queenston Mile Vineyard Blanc De Noirs Brut 2018, VQA St. David’s Bench

Two-hour cold soak for colour and spends 38 months on lees for one of Niagara’s most fully developed and also bodied Blanc de Noirs, bar none. Fruit comes from The Mile’s original 25 year-old plantings, totalling 33 acres. A light toasty and generously expressive traditional method sparkling wine not so much pink as platinum gold shaded subtly of pink salmon. High acid above 9 g\L of tA and just a few pinches (in and around) 4 g/L of residual sugar. Taut and residing somewhere between bracing and embracing in a balanced pinot noir off of these deep and heavy clay St. David’s Bench soils, to suit up sparkling from pinot noir ready, willing and able to abide. Dry and focused, precise, proper and balanced. Just a few more than 300 cases are produced. Drink 2023-2026.  Tasted January 2023

Queenston Mile Vineyard Grand Mile 2017, VQA St. David’s Bench

Just about half the production of the Blanc de Noirs (at 155 cases total) and a traditional method example with 11.2 g/L of tA and higher sugar than the B de N, upwards of 9 g/L. Aged 39 months on the lees, fuller and though the acid is so high there’s actually some creamy and mouth filling expansiveness to this pinot noir based sparkling wine. The matching sugar walks hand in hand along with the pierce of intensity so expect nervous energy and tension from this antonym to the straight pinot noir. Needs more time to integrate, seek and accede its intended balance.  Last tasted January 2023

Odd climatic vintage and while chardonnay had little trouble staying the course the same could not be said for pinot noir. It was late and it was all strawberry in 2017 so at 40 per cent of the classic mix it just can’t be denied. White strawberry in sparkling that is, leafy and savoury, unique beyond. Nearly 40 months on lees puts this is a justice league where Niagara sparklers congregate and debate with philosophical force. Grand Mile is a contemplative one, its tension suppressed yet ready to rise anytime. The moment has not yet arrived but when it does sometime in 2023 this fizz will stand up to be noticed. Such are the important matters of sparkling wine programs like these in Ontario. Drink 2023-2026.  Tasted November 2022

Queenston Mile Viognier Pét-Nat 2021, VQA St. David’s Bench

There have been still viogniers and pinot noir Pét-Nats but methinks this to be the first ancestral method viognier for The Mile. Cloudy and aromatically tart, a 100 per cent, estate fruit viognier that acts as much like a yeasty sour beer as much as it might seem to fit into the sparkling wine system. Pretty clean to be honest and there is certainly a mashed banana, creamed mango and puréed pineapple feel from this pèttilant speaking directly to hipster fashion. It’s the bacon for vegans and the air-conditioner for fans of fans. Drink 2023-2024.  Tasted January 2023

Queenston Mile Vineyard Pinot Noir Pét-Nat Sparkling Rosé 2020, VQA St. David’s Bench

Strawberries in a glass, through and through, the brain trust, child and wild thing amour of winemaker Yvonne Irving and if asked, I would imagine winemaker partner Rob Power saying, “I love all my children and I want them to discover themselves.” Which is what this pink P-N is want to do but more so allow a curious crowd the ability to get with trends, ancient method resurgences and wild thing vibes. Much drier than expected with a bin full of play dough, rye bread in the proofing stage and stewing strawberry/rhubarb. There is an unusual and au naturel, dancing in the dark profile to be sure but this kind of enzymatic presence is something to behold. Mon dieu Cellar Monkey! Well, remember this. “You can’t start a fire without a spark.” Drink 2023-2025.  Tasted January 2023

Queenston Mile Mile High NV, VQA St. David’s Bench

A Charmat method sparkling wine in a heavy fruit matched by sour lactic yogurt meets lime doused mango kind of profile. More than ample to impressive complexity for an Italian method sparkling wine though without the traditional lees aging there is a brief exchange of values and shorter finish. No surprise and because much is happening both on the nose and the palate this services the intellect although the story ends in an abrupt way. Drink 2023-2024.  Tasted January 2023

Queenston Mile Vineyard Chardonnay 2020, VQA St. David’s Bench

From the estate Queenston Mile Vineyard and spends a year in neutral barriques plus undergoes partial malolactic fermentation. Flinty and really quite yeasty for chardonnay, a raw bread dough note which seems to be something that happens in many of the QM still and especially sparkling wines. Fine bitters too, the kind you wish for in your cocktail with that kiss of oak you cherish and are so pleased it’s that and no more. Some capsicum and sweet basil come later, integrating and making for a complex and quality chardonnay. Drink 2023-2025.  Tasted January 2023

Queenston Mile Pinot Noir Unoaked 2021, VQA St. Davids Bench

As advertised there is no wood employed to ink or embellish this neutral St. David’s Bench pinot noir and the natural result is just that. Maybe not a first but writing “unoaked” on a pinot noir label is certainly not the norm and here we are with Queenston Mile’s fresh 2021. Would like to say this is all about fruit but my there are so many more goings on. Likely a healthy stem inclusion because the notes from nightshade and other sundry vegetables are swirling in the checkered and mottled aromatic profile. Some resin to varnish scents, gentle swarthiness manifesting the rusticity but naked is naked and this wine wears clarity on its sleeve. Smells like a September tomato canning day and tastes like a strawberry-rhubarb fruit roll up, though much more of saline piquant-tang than that of any level of sweetness within. Crunchy as well with a good long finish. Imagine the excitement and vinous intensity were there a higher level of whole bunch and carbonic maceration methodology involved. Drink 2023-2025.  Tasted twice, January 2023

Queenston Mile Proud Pour Pinot Noir For Bees 2020, VQA St. David’s Bench

A wine that exults the idea of “Cheers to Change” as five per cent of profits gives back to 20 non-profit organizations. Sees eight months in wood to put it in the middle tier of the three QM pinots. Gains a sweetness and a cream-centred textural verging towards Turkish Delight in a pinot not that is eminently and imminently drinkable from the day it’s bottled. No tension or sharp angles here, just roundness and amenability. Drink 2023-2024.  Tasted January 2023

Queenston Mile Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017, VQA St. David’s Bench

Nearly three years have passed and things have really changed, as they should have and now the whole bunch retreats from its original attack, fruit flanks running short in residual terms. The verdancy of stem inclusion makes this feel almost reductive but mostly it is the toasted and roasted notes that remain. The flavours are most important at this stage and so food pairing is truly key. Duck confit and crispy potatoes but also a sweetened fruit demi-glacé would elevate the wine and leave the savoury exaggerations behind.  Last tasted January 2023

The ’17 is even dustier than ’16, in fact it’s sitting compressed and pressed in a bowl inside a bin. Roasted, toasted and intense, particularly string, grippy and potent. The warmth of St. David’s and the heat of September really speaks but curiously noted and question asked is where is the strawberry jam? Lost in the foil provided by whole bunches it would seem. Drink 2021-2025.  Tasted March 2019

Queenston Mile Vineyard Cabernet Franc Icewine 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula

Once again a wine from a vintage turned upside down with cool summer weather resolving into the hottest September and early October on record. For cabernet franc the harvest date was January 2, 2018 and yet for 2017 that would have been a vintage where acidity was easily maintained to that date. Clocks in above 9 g\L to match the 204 g\L of residual sugar with esteem and balance for Icewine of proper red fruit character, part raspberry and part red currant. Nice level of tart here but there is a roundness to what could have been sharp edges. Well made to be sure. Drink 2023-2027.  Tasted January 2023

Henry Of Pelham Cuvée Catharine Carte Blanche Estate Blanc De Blanc 2015, Traditional Method, VQA Short Hills Bench

From a specially identified block of chardonnay vines. Best of the best are destined for this top Niagara sparkling and it was Matthew of the Speck Bros. that determined the direction of this Ontario essential. One quarter barrel aged and 60 months on lees, as gently toasted and smooth sailing as a Blanc de Blancs can be – in the context of fizz that is always a scintillant without repose. Some warmth now emitting from 2015 matched by intensity and so very long.  Last tasted January 2023 

As always 100 per cent chardonnay and 2015 is perhaps the vintage of the most golden toast, as if made by agemono, with the most lemon and lees ever assembled in a Cuvée Catharine, vintage-dated Sparkling wine. An intensity of aromas swirl around in citrus centrifuge into which the gross cells don’t seem to want to go. On the palate is where they rest, layered and leesy, textured with a sense of weightlessness and wonder. Henry of Pelham channelling an inner Japanese cooking technique. Feels like some time is warranted to pull all this together. Drink 2021-2025.  Tasted October 2020

Henry Of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Riesling 2020, VQA Short Hills Bench

When winemaker Lawrence Buehler came on board in 2017 he quite soon thereafter introduced 3000L foudres to age riesling. For Henry of Pelham it continues to evolve as a game changer. Tames acidity to an extent while in certain years the truth spoken by this varietal wine in the SFR line is truly indicative of Henry of Pelham’s raison d’Être. Not merely a matter of high intensity (though there is plenty of that in high regard) but the warm 2020 season concentrates the fluid to gelid texture up the middle of this balanced wine. Youthfulness supersedes what secondary notes might choose to emerge but there is a sense of early emission, namely petrol or the equivalent aching to emerge just around the bend. Drink 2023-2027.  Tasted January 2023

Henry Of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Pinot Noir 2019, Sustainable, VQA Short Hills Bench

Vines upwards of 30 years of age provide the drupe and great Scott (or Speck) fruit it is indeed for what is almost Willamette sweet in correspondence and style. That strawberry purée and raspberry coulis effect comes pure, unadulterated and about as natural as one might imagine a varietal wine of this level of quality could come to be. Some sugar involved, maximizing around 7 g\L. Not a year of major tension but they can’t all be so drink this young, for four to five years after harvest, for best results.  Last tasted January 2023

Not so crazy young anymore in fact the perfume has become an intoxicant, spellbinding, hypnotic even. But also because the oak vanillin swirls through and is further imagined as sweetness on the palate. In the zone, as they say, all parts melted and melded together. These next six months will mark the height of this SFR Reserve with the succeeding two years being the slowly descending denouement.  Last tasted November 2022

Crazy young but somehow lovely aromatic potpourri to the SFR ’19 and a benchmark as such for the Short Hill sub-appellation. What you want to nose from the are that borders, ties and links all surrounding pinot noir lands together, especially Twenty Mile and St. David’s Bench. This just fits right in and into itself with snug togetherness. Juicy fruit, fine acids and tightly coiled tannin. Just the right kind of sour tang. Real varietal gastronomy and ideal for three to four years, some salty protein and even a side of pickle. Drink 2020-2024.  Tasted November 2020

Henry Of Pelham Baco Noir Speck Family Reserve 2020, VQA Ontario

The top seller of all of its Pelham wines and just about as promising a vintage there could possibly be for this scientifically orchestrated varietal wine. High yielding season, absence of stress, plenty of ripe fruit for a hybrid variety and ultimately the best there can really be. Picking time is crucial to ward off incoming and oncoming funk which this fruit-centric wine does not show. No barnyard, earthiness nor swarthy character neither. No – it’s so very blackberry and dark cherry, void of the feral and so well assimilated of its American oak. Pure honest tang and even though the residual sugar pushes 12 g\L it’s not the most prominent aspect of the wine. Tannins are also sweet, plush and positive. It just works, like it or not. Drink 2023-2026.  Tasted January 2023

Good to go!

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WineAlign

Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2017

Go Time @GoldMedalPlates Toronto #gmp2017

It was my fourth Gold Medal Plates Toronto as wine judge, culinary taster and olympic athlete groupie. In 2014 WineAlign partner, colleague, mentor and friend David Lawrason invited me to join the festivities and help decide which three wines should be crowned Gold, Silver and Bronze. Two weeks ago a panel of Ontario wine experts tasted, assessed, debated, deliberated and ultimately decided this year’s top three. David Lawrason, John Szabo M.S., Michael Vaughan, Margaret Swaine and Godello. The winner ran away from the pack but two through six were separated by one point increments. It was a photo finish for Silver and Bronze.

The 2017 Toronto event featured emcee Scott Russell of the CBC’s Olympic coverage. Russell was joined by dozens of Olympic medallists and future hopefuls. Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy led the on-stage entertainment; Anne Lindsay, Danny Michel, Jeremy Fisher, Devin Cuddy and Sam Polley. The inimitable and eloquent James Chatto was once again at the head and the heart of the culinary judging panel with seats occupied by an illustrious five; Sasha Chapman, Anita Stewart,  Christine Cushing, Amy Rosen and Chef John Higgins.

Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014

For a little bit of GMP history please click on this post I penned after that 2014 gala event. The culinary winners then were Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014 bronze, gold and silver medal winning chefs Damon Campbell, John Horne and Jason Bangerter. The top three wines were Norman Hardie‘s Niagara Unfiltered Pinot Noir 2011, Hidden Bench Nuit Blanche Rosomel Vineyard 2012 and Creekside Estate‘s Iconoclast Syrah 2012. But what about 2017? My top seven in no particular order were Flat Rock Cellars Riesling Nadja’s Vineyard 2016, Ravine Vineyard Chardonnay Reserve 2014, Charles Baker Riesling B-Side 2016, Henry of Pelham Cuvée Catherine Brut Rosé, Stratus White 2013, Leaning Post Chardonnay ‘The Fifty’ 2015 and Tawse Chardonnay Quarry Road 2013. The actual medalists are listed below in David’s report.

National Wine Advisor David Lawrason’s Wine and Spirits Report

Nadja’s Tops a Bounty of Great Whites in Toronto

“The Gold Medal Plates campaign came to a booming 800-person conclusion at Toronto Convention Centre on November 16, and it included the largest selection of wines seen in any stop on the ten-city national tour.  We judged 26 donated wines, beers, spirits and even a lavender mead, but it was a core of great Canadian white wines that caused the most excitement, and produced the winner of the evening.

The “Best of Show” Gold Medal went, by a very clear margin, to Flat Rock Cellars 2016 Nadja’s Riesling, from a single block of maturing vines in Niagara’s Twenty Mile Bench appellation. I was personally stunned by just how delicious, well-balanced and nuanced this wine is – in my mind it is the best vintage of “Nadja’s” ever produced.  Other judges agreed – we all placed it as either our first or second choice.  This beauty also took a rare Platinum Medal at 2017 National Wine Awards.

It will go on to compete for Gold Medal Plates Wine of the Year at the Canadian Culinary Championships in Kelowna in February, and it appears there will be a riesling showdown, as it will be tasted against rieslings from Tantalus, Cave Spring and Norman Hardie, plus six other wines.

For second and third place the voting in Toronto was more varied, and only one point separated the second, third and fourth place wines.  The Silver Medal went to Mission Hill 2015 Merlot Reserve, a swarthy, plummy and ripe red from the Okanagan Valley.  And the bronze medal went to Henry of Pelham Cuvee Catharine Brut Rose, a delicate refined pink sparkler with subtle berry aromas.

In very close 4th place came Tawse 2013 Quarry Road Chardonnay from Niagara’s Vinemount Ridge sub-appellation. I have become very familiar with this solid, complex Burgundian chardonnay as it was generously donated by Tawse to the Celebration in three cities this year. It was also a Platinum Award winner at the 2107 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada.

Tawse was one of three Gold Level sponsors. Mission Hill was a national sponsor as well, donating a variety Reserve wines to seven city events across the country, and stepping even higher in Toronto with smaller donations of their more expensive “Legacy tier” red Compendium 2013 and Perpetua 2015 Chardonnay.

Arterra Wines, the recently re-named company with several wineries in Canada, was a gold sponsor donating to six cities.  In Toronto there was a selection of reserve whites and reds from Jackson-Triggs and Inniskillin, as well as a rare public showing of the new Arterra 2016 Chardonnay and Arterra 2016 Pinot Noir.

Toronto’s Silver Sponsor also donated to Ottawa. Cave Spring of Niagara donated their 2015 Cabernet Franc.  Although better known as a riesling producer, Cave Spring is doubling down on its efforts to produce fine reds from Ontario’s most widely grown grape.

Flat Rock Cellars was one two Bronze level sponsors for the Toronto event, providing Nadja’s riesling for the VIP Reception and Celebration tables. The other was Henry of Pelham, which split their donation between the 2016 Old Vines Baco Noir and yet another strong 2016 Estate Riesling.

Among other notable and high calibre wines donated to the chefs, I gave my first-place vote to Stratus 2013 White, a very complex, now maturing, barrel aged blend of several white varieties. Ravine 2014 Chardonnay Reserve, another power white, also earned top-five votes.  Leaning Post 2015 Mile 50 Chardonnay was a leaner style that paired well with Gold Medal Plates Chef Lorenzo Loseto’s winning dish.  And riesling specialist Charles Baker chose the occasion to show his new, bracing B-Side Riesling.

Interestingly, no red wines were paired with chef’s creations this year, but there were two ciders, including the fine, crisp Brickworks CiderHouse Batch 1904 and a lighter cider called Pick Up 66 from Hoity Toity Cellars. Rosewood Cellars donated their exotic, fragrant Lavellener Lavender Mead, and Zirkova Vodka set up shop during the VIP Reception to sample Zirkova One, a vodka designed to be drunk “neat” and Together a version designed for cocktails.

The Best of Show judging is held prior to each event, as way to highlight the generous donation of beverage by Canada’s wineries, brewers and distillers.  In Toronto I assembled four wine pros/sommeliers.  Three are amigos at WineAlign.com and two are judges at the National Wine Awards of Canada; including Master Sommelier John Szabo, and wordsmith extraordinaire and former chef Michael Godel.  Margaret Swaine is a veteran wine and travel writer, and the spirits columnist at WineAlign.  Michael Vaughan publishes Vintages Assessments, a detailed critique of every wine released by the LCBOs Vintages stores.”

Chef Lorenzo Loseto’s @GoldMedalPlates winning dish @georgeonqueen paired by @brieish with @leaningpostwine The Fifty Chardonnay 2015. Congratulations Chef and the entire team.

Culinary Medals

Gold

Lorenzo Loseto
George Restaurant

Pairing: Leaning Post Wines, 2015 ‘The Fifty’

Silver

David Lee
Nota Bene

Pairing: Brickworks Ciderhouse, Batch: 1904

Bronze

Jesse Vallins
Maple Leaf Tavern/PORT

Pairing: Tooth & Nail Brewing Company, AGRARIA Modern Farmhouse Ale

Nota Bene’s David Lee

Here are my tasting notes for the 20 wines entered at Gold Medal Plates 2017.

Henry Of Pelham Family Estate Winery Cuvée Catharine Brut Rosé, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (217505, $29.95, WineAlign)

A whole new base, a whole new wine, the departure point exacted by a new wisdom and understanding. But it’s somehow like looking in the mirror, reviving a good memory, going back to wine childhood. Consistency is your friend with non-vintage fizz and the Catherine(s) are the undisputed leader in the Ontario biz. Brings back the Niagara orchard of a take your pick red apple, lovely creamy texture, a mild blanch of nut and fresh baked bread. Terrific class and of its own accord. Drink 2017-2021.  Last tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2017

With its fine, strawberry mousse is at the head of its Ontario class. Vanilla, Ida Red apple and bitter nut combine like a smooth, creamy, Mediterranean spread to dip the warmest, fresh-baked bread.  Tasted December 2012

Henry Of Pelham Riesling Estate 2016, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (557165, $17.95, WineAlign)

A rash of aromatics straight away and marked warmth verging to humidity. More weight, substance and depth than most vintages deal when youth is the tempo so this riesling plays the notes and the hand quick after the draw. What you nose, taste and feel is what you get, with lime, gassing up to petrol quickly and flavours already in developing mode. Five years of riesling together for the best of times, from beginning to end. Drink 2017-2021.  Tasted November 2017

Charles Baker Riesling B-Side 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $22.00, WineAlign)

Vinyl records sound different because they are designed with grooves carved in that mirrors the original sound’s wave form. Their analog recording delivers a sensory feeling of warmth, an aural of texture, nuance and soul. There was a time when the hits spun over and over were also pressed onto the A-Side of 45 rpm singles. The discovery of a never before heard B-Side was a revelation because is was extra material from a favourite band and it was a great song. It meant the record was already too strong for that song to make the final cut and to choose it for a B-Side meant it would elevate the quality of the album. A well-chosen B was not an afterthought. This is the accomplishment of the first Charles Baker’s B-Side, for itself and for the vineyards of Ian and Picone. Baker digs about in the Niagara Peninsula’s escarpment dirt for young vine, not ready for prime time riesling fruit. If perchance it seems like cheating on his per se Vinemount Ridge Picone and Ivan bottles so be it but one look at him and he’ll say “Hey, hey, what can I do?” His 2016 B-Side delivers a spray bottle Zeppelin expressing heady aromas, high in the stratosphere and raining down upon the earth. The notes are an all in, breath of classic Baker riesling air, blanketing from up above and with a landscape that reeks of lime and quivers with classic agitation. The fruit is wild and full, the salty grit infiltrating and gripping the bloody omniscience of this package. What is this B-Side and where will it be lead? To the top of the ridge, from earlier harvests, younger fruit and higher yields. Scratch the single vineyard elitism, just listen to the song and raise one up, to getting ‘er done before the conceptual singular side one and side two, Ivan and Picone. The Beatles? Forget it. Led’s flip side to the ‘Immigrant Song’ A is the one. Drink 2017-2021. Tasted November 2017

Flat Rock Riesling Nadja’s Vineyard 2016, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (578625, $24.95, WineAlign)

Nadja, like the Bréton novel begins with the question, “Who am I?” A surrealistic trigger is incited by the first taste, with excitement running in many directions but like the book, Nadja’s non-linear structure is grounded in Twenty Mile Bench riesling reality. She is an elite varietal wine in 2016, excitable girl, gregarious, punchy and so bloody juicy. I don’t recall the last Nadja with so much up front zest fervency and writhing aromatic gait, “exploding international, the scenes, the sounds, and famously the feeling that you can’t squeeze ground.” The lime flesh and cordial infusion brings the flavours into a once tropical, twice bitten realm. The vintage delivers the electric version, the new pornographer for the vineyard and the song sung loud swan song for departing winemaker Jay Johnstone. Was it all for swinging you around? Drink 2017-2024.  Tasted October 2017

Jackson Triggs Niagara Estate Sauvignon Blanc Grand Reserve 2015, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario ($19.95, WineAlign)

Arterra’s JT sauvignon blanc is youthful and even a bit reductive, with wood notable and a real sauvignon blanc pungency. Its character and a bit of risk are tied up in the aromatics though it settles for mild-mannered and middle of the road on the palate. Drink 2017-2020.  Tasted November 2017

Mission Hill Family Pinot Gris Reserve 2016, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (537076, $24.95, WineAlign)

Reserved to be sure and also still in pulse mode, with some tongue pin-pricking, not quite effervescent but moving in time. A bit of skin-contact hue and plenty of orchard fruit notes are present in both aromas and flavours. Solid gris that will improve in six months or so. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted November 2017

Inniskillin Okanagan Pinot Gris Reserve 2016, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia ($19.99, WineAlign)

Noticeable skin-directed hue, chalky to soapy, with a taste that reminds of Topps hockey card bubble gum. Childhood memory revisited in pinot gris. Drink 2017-2018.  Tasted November 2017

Arterra Chardonnay 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario  (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)

Arterra’s chardonnay comes from a famous Peninsula source, formerly made into just as famous wines by Le Clos Jordanne The site is on the Escarpment’s Bench above Jordan Village and this is the second vintage at the hands of Jackson-Triggs winemaker Marco Piccoli. Picks up where the fine and ambitious first vintage in 2015 left off but here with some light strike and reduction. You can just feel the buttered toast and kernels behind the flinty curtain, with blanched nut and some fine elasticity. Will benefit from a few more months in bottle to gather thoughts and flavours. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted November 2017

Leaning Post Chardonnay ‘The Fifty’ 2015, VQA Ontario (Winery, $25.00, WineAlign)

This is chardonnay that had a cup of coffee in the big leagues and was then moved to the fresh confines of stainless steel tanks soon after its 15 minutes of barrel fame. It’s a unique chardonnay specimen this Fifty, barrel fermented but not aged, a wine crafted with pragmatic reverse psychology so that it may solicit great appeal. If you’ve never tasted Ilya Senchuk’s entry-level foray into Peninsula chardonnay you’ve been missing out, but by starting here in 2015 there is certainly no harm, no foul. This is the most pleasing and palatable Fifty so far, barrel creamy, suety and magically malolactic on the nose. The flavours are cooler, of an anti-Senchuk subtlety and versatile food amenability. I can think of 50 reasons to pour this by the glass, at home, on a restaurant list or on a campsite under the stars. Drink 2017-2020.  Tasted April 2017

Ravine Vineyard Chardonnay Reserve 2014, VQA St. David’s Bench, Ontario (Winery, $55.00, WineAlign)

The Reserve is 100 per cent estate fruit that spent 18 months in (50 per cent new) barrel. As it’s both barrel fermented and aged the variegation locks the fruit in so bloody tight so even now it’s reductive, smoky and flinty. A mineral chardonnay needs balance from over the top fruit and so track record, acumen and love will have it so. Marty Werner and Ben Minaker’s is a big, summery and gold platinum expression, very expressive, the two-lb steamed in seaweed lobster chardonnay, seemingly Meursault but just as likely from California. But as Ravine’s Reserve on the St. David’s Bench it is purely Niagara Peninsula. Fruit intensity, extract and controlled oxygenation shows off the best of what these men can do. It speaks to their efforts, knowledge accumulation, trials and finally to the culmination of their stamina. Drink 2018-2023.  Tasted July 2017

Small @RavineVineyard village looking pretty sweet at @GoldMedalPlates 2017 #gmp2017

Tawse Chardonnay Quarry Road Vineyard 2013, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario (111989, $35.80, WineAlign)

When I tasted Quarry Road 2013 out of four barrels three years ago the purpose was to take in the nuances and see only the trees. I for one could not help seeing the forest through the trees and imagining percentages of each combining for the final blend. Neutral Mercurey wood looked over infant three year-old vines spoken here with surprising density, tang and tropical melon in both aroma and flavour. This sits on the front palate right now. The mineral Ceres qualifies older fruit as the pretty and the gemstone, essential for Quarry Road, the most like (Meursault) in Burgundy. This fruit transferred to stainless on the lees from September to March before going into bottle now renders to make Quarry the purest expression from the best vineyard. The CLL toast delivers the taut, not yet reductive wood tightening, then and again now, mainly on the finish. Compressed citrus notes are late arriving and even if it is splitting hairs, the oak really impacts the finish. The larger CLL toast Mercurey barrel reveals a fresher, more reductive, less oaky feel. All together we now have one of Paul Pender’s most accomplished to date and all chardonnays considered, one of the finest higher end values around. I think he would agree. Drink 2017-2024.  Tasted May 2017

Mission Hill Perpetua 2015, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (Winery, $73.03, WineAlign)

Perpetua is a different sort of chardonnay for the Okanagan, with not completely obvious fruit and leesy notes that outdo the effects of wood, plus a lactic edge that also smothers the smoulder. This is not the toastiest of chardonnays but is does deliver a saltiness so ultimately the reference point is flint and stone, a.k.a. Chablis. A bit of crème frâiche adds to the dairy mystique. Perpetual chardonnay motion leads to persistence. Drink 2017-2022.  Tasted November 2017

Stratus Vineyards Stratus White 2013, Niagara Lakeshore, Ontario (660704, $38.20, WineAlign)

There can be little doubt that anticipation would haver to run high for the aromatic, elongated and coolest of Niagara white wine vintages, especially for the chardonnay, but also for the iconic, four-varietal (with sauvignon blanc, sémillon and viognier) blend. The five sensory tenets are solicited and provided for; salty, sour, sweet, briny and umami. The last is exotic and punchy, so this White does it all, speaks for it all and completes it all. It is the most designed and seamless their’s can be. Last tasted May and November 2017

In 2013 viognier is back in the varietal mix, in reprise of its earlier role in support of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and riesling. A different sort of vintage here for the White, seemingly led by a circular turning of chardonnay and viognier, like a cat chasing its tail. This really goes round and round with no obvious signs of where it will stop. Quite fleshy and lime juicy with stone fruit flavours in righteous abound. Really amalgamated and seamless even for itself. It is here that I think of it as The White. Niagara’s White. Lake Effect™. Drink 2017-2022.  Tasted November 2016

Arterra Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)

Wow the cherry pie delivers a healthy slice oozing in reduced cherry syrup. Could only by an effect created by some appassimento on pinot noir. It’s so concentrated, full of glycerin and sweet fruit. Were it not pinot made with some drying of the grapes it would be an amazing feat of growing, picking and pressing. A panoply of cherries wells in this ripe of ripest Marco Picoli red. Wow, as I said. Drink 2017-2019.  Tasted September and November 2017

Cave Spring Cabernet Franc 2015, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (523001, $17.95, WineAlign)

As with the other Niagara Escarpment reds in the portfolio it is the limestone that stands out, in a good way, to bring about this mineral-red citrus cutting through the rich fruit. That stone-mineral note also does everything to temper and even mute what bitter-tonic-astringent notes might try to distract because that’s what capsicum-bell pepper is wont to do in cabernet franc. This is clean and focused, light and eminently quaffable juice. Drink 2017-2019. Tasted September and November 2017

Inniskillin Merlot Reserve 2014, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)

This is really pressed and pushed merlot, cool and savoury, minty and spirited with lots of wood spice and equal amounts of tannin. The really tart finish dries out with grip and force. Drink 2018-2020.  Tasted November 2017

Jackson Triggs Grand Reserve Meritage 2015, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (594002, $24.95, WineAlign)

Now here is a nice little bit of diesel of dust, with more than a fair shake of dark raspberries and a mix of chicory, nettles and chalky tannin. Pretty wondrous quality and complexity here. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted November 2017

Henry Of Pelham Baco Noir Old Vines 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (459966, $19.95, WineAlign)

This is finely rendered baco noir, rich and tangy, with bright cherries and what just feels like beeswax. The most elegant baco noir ever made in Ontario and just foxy enough to be itself. Drink 2017-2019.  Tasted November 2017

Mission Hill Merlot Reserve 2015, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (Agent, $24.99, WineAlign)

This is aromatically rich and lush merlot, with a full compliment of palate richness and silky tannins. For fans of the California style with all in hedonism and a side of nettle. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted November 2017

Mission Hill Compendium 2012, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia (Agent, $86.25, WineAlign)

Compendium 2012 carries a great wealth of aromatics, very floral and rusty, with dried strawberries and so much more. A bit reserved on the palate but its elegance and seamlessness are special. Great length even while it’s just not that much of a concentrated beast. Drink 2017-2022.  Tasted November 2017

Good to go!

Godello

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Flights in and out of Niagara, ere Terroir

The Niagara crew getting a load of #BallsFalls in Jordan

In May of 2017 the 12th annual Terroir Symposium brought many magnificent folk to Ontario. They were dreamers, disruptors, international luminaries, thought leaders, visionaries, creative influencers, innovators, chefs, hoteliers, drink experts, writers and business leaders. With VQA Wines of Ontario and the Wine Marketing Association of Ontario as chaperone, a dozen of these invitees flew from Billy Bishop Airport to Niagara District Airport for an ante-Terroir Talk Sunday fun day in wine country immersion. I joined Robert Gilvesy, Fiona Beckett, Jeremy Bonia, Magdalena Kaiser, Jamie Drummond, Nikki Bayley, Dick Snyder, Ursula Heinzelmann, Christoph Thörle and Jim Poris for the excursion. In between return nine-seater shuttles we ran through flights at Flat Rock Cellars and Henry of Pelham Estate Winery. Who amongst us was not taken by these VQA wines and their unselfconscious excellence?

First a hot air balloon and now this!!!

After a quick first pit stop at Ball’s Falls to show off Niagara’s famous escarpment limestone to the international contingent, we settled in at Flat Rock to taste six wines with Cellarmaster Allison Findlay. Next it was a dozen at Henry of Pelham Estate Winery with proprietor Daniel Speck, Ryan Corrigan of Rosewood Estates and Suzanne Janke of Stratus Vineyards. A blow your mind lunch was prepared on site by Wellington Court Chefs Erik Peacock and Cait Bermuhler. Here are the notes on the 18 wines.

Revisits with @Winemakersboots and a seven-year Crowned epiphany

At Flat Rock Cellars

Flat Rock Cellars Riddled Sparkling 2010, Méthode Traditionnelle, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (383315, $29.95, WineAlign)

Time makes a difference so here the extended lees age (six months further, to 60) takes Riddled to another level. Considering the cost and attention to time, in the broad realm of traditional method sparkling wine there are some that are given away. Riddled. A whole lot of biscuit warmth, sody saleratus, gingersnap, tart Ida Red apple, breadth and a smile-inducing creamy palate. There is more wisdom and calm from 2010 so do not come around demanding tension and over-exciteability. Think Grower’s Champagne with Ontario heart and soul, dedication and purpose. The extended arm of Madronich-Johnston love is here, this year. It won’t get much better than this. Great length. Drink 2016-2025.  Tasted October 2016, March and May 2017  flatrockcellars  @Winemakersboots  @FlatRockCellars

Flat Rock Cellars Crowned Sparkling Brut 2009, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (Winery, $45.20, WineAlign)

Crowned ’09 was disgorged this spring after seven years on the lees, sealed under crown cap and sent to market with a crowning achievement in mind. Feather gingery, faintly oxidative, this Blanc de Blancs wafts in copper-veined breezes and fennel frond ahead of its palate piercing chardonnay intensity. It delivers a cooler climate interaction than the Riddled, with preserved lemon and please concentrate if you will on it as a wine of heavy forethoughts. What with it resting on its lees, in limbo this long out of practice, necessity and as a result, now fortuitous and of great luck. The animal was created early on and now anything less might be difficult to justify and accept. Plus the bar is raised for the entire Sparkling community. Here the perfect example of low, slow and minute by minute evolution. Only 500 bottles (plus one) were made. Drink 2017-2023.  Tasted May 2017

Flat Rock Cellarmaster Allison Findlay

Flat Rock Cellars Gravity Pinot Noir 2013, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (1560, $30.25, 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 and May 2017

Flat Rock Cellars Gravity Pinot Noir 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, 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 and May 2017

Flat Rock The Rusty Shed Chardonnay 2013, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (1552, $24.95, WineAlign)

It’s as if this label had bided all this time to be the benefactor of 2013 fruit. This Rusty Shed, this 20 miler with the track record to age, a wine that sheds baby fat over a 10 year mineral through echelon stratum, in ways few other peninsula to bench chardonnay can do. This Jay Johnston handled surfer of a wine, buoyant and balanced, centred and able to withstand turbulence, oscillation and tidal sway. Here with sumptuous and spiralled fruit gaged in lode intervals and a tartness held in lope and line by a membrane of extract and tannin. Best ever. Showing well, repeatedly and to forecasted repute. Impressing critics and consumers alike. Bravo. Drink 2016-2025.  Tasted June 2016 and May 2017.

Flat Rock Cellars Nadja’s Vineyard Riesling 2015, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (578625, $24.95, WineAlign)

This is an outlier for the Nadja’s Vineyard riesling, with deeper concentration and compression than before. More Mosel and less Twenty Mile in 2015, of light alcohol and an increase in off-dry, extract meets acidity. There have been Nadja’s with more air and exhale but I can’t recall one with such density in vitality. A great Nadja to be sure but of a deferential sort of character. Two or three years should bring it back into its self-imposed and created line. Drink 2018-2024.  Tasted May 2016 and May 2017

VQA wines at Henry of Pelham Estate Winery, May 2017

At Henry of Pelham Estate Winery

Rosewood Estates Gamay Rosé Emerald Shore Vineyard 2016, VQA Creek Shores, Ontario (Winery, $15.95, WineAlign)

The inaugural gamay Rosé is from fourth leaf vines in the spot where the famous sémillon once lived. It delivers essential gamay aromas; strawberry modified with a tisane into raspberry and cherry, salinity clarified and fined. It’s lactic tonal, nicely tart and with a Beamsville mineral, very specific and just this emerald side of intense. Finished dry, but was allowed to go through three quarters malo to bring the cream and the layers. Finished by the incumbent winemaker Ryan Corrigan who once “lived out of a backpack and chased grapes,” committing in fleeting methodology, to northern and southern hemisphere harvests. In 2017 Niagara is all his. Drink 2017-2018.  Tasted May 2017  rosewood wine  @Rosewoodwine  @rosewoodwine

Welcome to @rosewoodwine Ryan Corrigan. Gamay and Cabernet Franc are in fine hands.

Henry Of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Chardonnay 2015, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (616466, $29.95, WineAlign)

Spice and toast more than anything else come to define the early life of the SPR ’15 chardonnay. Not overtly or overly fruit forward at this (nearing) two-year mark, but green apple, pear and the unusual tangy bite of south asian palm (Salak) snake fruit are just around the corner. This speaks to the phenolic grab and go, the hang time and then that barrel exploit comes through. The palate delivers sappy moments and then the weight of the wine is felt. If texture were quantifiable in aromatics, it would be the SFR that would provide such intellectual fodder to describe what that might feel like. The perfume is layered, chewy, unctuous and viscous. Another year should inflate the fruit and integrate the wood. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted twice, May and September 2017  henryofpelham  @HenryofPelham  @SpeckBros  @henryofpelham

Wellington Court Chef Erik Peacock and Cait Bermuhler’s appetizer trio

Rosewood Estates Chardonnay Origin 2014, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $28.95, WineAlign)

Rosewood’s Origin 2014 is highly representative of Beamsville chardonnay, pacing a bridge that connects the cool of the climate and the nook in the escarpment’s abutting warmth of the overall Bench. The skins matter, as per the departing winemaking Ross Wise expertise, if only and alt-heightened in elevating texture, but even more so the rusty, soil tart, intensely wound and taut orchard fruit speciality. Drink 2017-2020.  Tasted May 2017

Wellington Court Chef Erik Peacock and Cait Bermuhler’s salt grass point oyster, beet mignonette, cucumber gel, horseradish foam

Stratus Vineyards Stratus White 2013, VQA Niagara Lakeshore, Ontario (660704, $38.20, WineAlign)

There can be little doubt that anticipation would haver to run high for the aromatic, elongated and coolest of Niagara white wine vintages, especially for the chardonnay, but also for the iconic, four-varietal (with sauvignon blanc, sémillon and viognier) blend. The five sensory tenets are solicited and provided for; salty, sour, sweet, briny and umami. The last is exotic and punchy, so this White does it all, speaks for it all and completes it all. It is the most designed and seamless their’s can be.  Last tasted May 2017  stratuswines  @StratusWines  @StratusWines

In 2013 viognier is back in the varietal mix, in reprise of its earlier role in support of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and riesling. A different sort of vintage here for the White, seemingly led by a circular turning of chardonnay and viognier, like a cat chasing its tail. This really goes round and round with no obvious signs of where it will stop. Quite fleshy and lime juicy with stone fruit flavours in righteous abound. Really amalgamated and seamless even for itself. It is here that I think of it as The White. Niagara’s White. Lake Effect™. Drink 2017-2022.  Tasted November 2016

Rosewood Estates Riesling Origin 2014, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $22.95, WineAlign)

Smells like Bench riesling spirit. The energy comes from the über vineyard’s way of emission, gasseous and vital, linear, introspective and direct. This may just be the most aridity and brine ever teased from a Mima’s riesling, acidity coveting sugar notwithstanding, startling from beginning to end, with spirited shots of lime. Underrated and honest, the consistency of this riesling is possessive of great triggers and so beautifully defines the mineral Bench. Early suffocations blow off with ease and in the denoument there are crunchy stones, forever and always something to like. Mima’s never really needed an abundance of sugar for balance and kudos to that. Drink 2017-2022.  Tasted March and May 2017

Wellington Court Chef Erik Peacock and Cait Bermuhler’s simcoe asparagus, ramp aioli, sous vide hen’s egg, puffed wild rice

Stratus Gamay 2014, VQA Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario (Winery, $29.20, WineAlign)

When asked about his approach to gamay winemaker J-L Groux responds with “continuously with changes.” This is what takes place in 2014 with the barrel time cut back by a full year, now only nine months, if nothing else for to place ultimate emphasis on fruit. Sounds simple but it’s anything but in a Groux universe. His gamay now gifts fresh strawberry and raspberry, a slight 13 per cent alcohol spine and the uplifting effect of zero-noticeable steaminess, steminess, aggression or grass. In contrast to many overly and overtly ambitious Ontario gamay here Stratus enters the antithetical to harsh realm and instead occupies the amenable-ethereal void. Less pressing means smoother transitions and weightless chimera. This captures varietal and place with its coax of maximum fruit. The plantings are from 1992 and 2001 (with an imperfect memory that includes the possibility of 1985 too). Drink 2017-2020.  Tasted twice, May 2017

Thanks for hosting Daniel. Cab-Merlot ’12 SFR @HenryofPelham is one for the ages @WineCouncilOnt @winecountryont

Henry Of Pelham Pinot Noir Speck Family Reserve 2012, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $34.95, WineAlign)

Always the elder, wise and delicate if elegant statesman for Ontario pinot noir. There is real demure and reserve, Speck family style and this dried red berry savour to both aromatics and flavour. Tart is an undercurrant and red currants run above. Right in its wheelhouse now, for a spell and then the slow fade will come. Drink 2017-2021.  Tasted May 2017

Henry Of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Baco Noir 2015, VQA Ontario (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)

From vines planted in 1984, a more than significant fact of experience, wisdom and acumen from this baco noir. Couple that with what is arguably the finest varietal vintage in many years makes this the collector bottle for the baco fanatic. The rubbery reductiveness is so nicely offset by the flowers, the red fruit and the delicious appeal. Easily the finest ever, by anyone and especially this most prominent house. Great ripe acidity and fine, fine tannin. Drink 2017-2024. Tasted May and June 2017

Wellington Court Chef Erik Peacock and Cait Bermuhler’s confit lake huron pickerel, fingerling potatoes, chorizo vinaigrette, celery, capers

Rosewood Origin Cabernet Franc 2014, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $29.95, WineAlign)

It’s a deep, dark fruit, rich currant, pyrazine and savoury vintage for the Origin. It’s cabernet franc that brings strawberry, raspberry and ripe rhubarb to the table. It’s tart and layered, rich and even a touch hematic. Quite pure, red fruit driven and of finely tuned acidity. Never tries too hard, refuses to hide the naturally green character, does nothing to sheath or blanket and leaves the fruit to shine red, bright and vital. Drink 2017-2020.  Tasted May 2017

Stratus Cabernet Franc “Decant” 2014, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (Winery, $95.00, WineAlign)

“A designer’s hands are tied. They are only as good as their opportunities.” The words of the brilliant bottle designer Karim Rashid fully apply to the mirrored universe in which winemaker J-L Groux works, here with a deferential and ulterior cabernet franc, bottled with its lees. When I first tasted it in February (in advance of this auspicious release), its unfiltered state spoke of a hyperbole of perfume, marked by exoticism. The aromatics gave far east five-spice, star anise, cardamom, miso and incense, all natural by-products of its purposed ferment. More grain spoke out but also a roundness of tannin and a smoothness both coating and comforting. There was chocolate accentuated by the treatment, with thanks to those lees left in the bottle. The chopped up and constructed bottle catches the lees while the volume flows out and the function out of form mimics the thought of lees delivering structure and yet they are invisible, caught in a hidden net or nook, out of sight, out of mind. But it’s not about pouring. It’s about the hand, or the slight thereof. Then there is the copycat idealism of strata in the vineyard, of geology transferred to the bottle and kept there, like a ship perfectly preserved inside. This cabernet franc will age better, as is the plan, with thanks to the lees that you’ll never have to deal with. There were 110 cases made. Drink 2019-2029.  Tasted twice, February and May 2017

Wellington Court Chef Erik Peacock and Cait Bermuhler’s earl grey friand, poached rhubarb, vanilla mascarpone mousse

Henry Of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2012, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (616433, $39.95, WineAlign)

The warm 2012 is an ideal vintage for this very specific cabernets and merlot blend, a wine as deliberate and iconic to the Niagara effort as any that have come before or currently exist. The vintage falls into a line that remembers 1998 and 2002 (with a half wink for 2007 and three-quarters nod to 2010). The brightness of red fruit and the dusty grounding of that fruit into earth integrates quietly and when acidity joins, the balance is pitch perfect. The fineness of that acidity will allow the mild astringency and dark chocolate by barrel to melt with slow dripping ooze into proper and educated tannin. Is this Cabernet-Merlot Speck Family Reserve one for the ages? In a word yes and likely to rival that 1998 for a 15 year run through excellence. Drink 2017-2027.  Tasted May 2017

Run any machine on the harnessed marmalade energy of this @StratusWines Riesling Icewine #specialstuff #niagaraonthelake

Stratus Riesling Icewine 2015, VQA Niagara On The Lake (56671, $30.25, 200ml, WineAlign)

The Stratus Riesling Icewine 2015 simulates a true orange and apricot marmalade with a preserved lemon note and a bitter pitch edge. It actually goes into grapefruit a touch, develops unction as it fleshes in the mouth and never fattens or sweetens too much. A show off in triumvirate display of quality, beauty and rhythm. Drink 2019-2030.  Tasted May 2017

Good to go!

Godello

Twitter: @mgodello

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WineAlign

East coast swing 2015: Time, tides and wine

Oysters and Double Duck Fries at Le Caveau Restaurant, Domaine De Grand Pré Vineyards

Foot bridge to grand L’Acadie

as seen on WineAlign

Time, tides and wine. In a place like the Bay of Fundy, the three intertwine with nearly inexplicable lightness of being. The traveler covets these things in wistful retrospection. East coast movement, water and the new frontier for viniculture. “Each day the tides carried us to promulgate layovers, to begin flowing again each seriate day, at the hour of its reversal.”

Related – The tides that bind: East Coast swing

The wineries of the Annapolis Valley are few and yet not very far between. It feels as though you could tread, sans automobile, to Lightfoot & Wolfville, over Benjamin Bridge, back to Domaine De Grand Pré Vineyards and up the hill to L’Acadie Vineyards. Foot bridge to grand L’Acadie. All in a day’s walk.

While the exercise of a vinous walking tour would seem to fitly tread the boards of Nova Scotia’s watery ways, even more so for stations achieved by bicycle, a car makes possible the desire to learn more in less time. The roads in Nova Scotia wine country lay out as an inferential and navigable labyrinth, in the Gaspereau Valley and along the shores of the Minas Basin, from Wolfville to Grand-Pré of King’s County. There, unbeknownst to who knows how many zonked global winos, the wines of Nova Scotia not so much hide as crouch. They are a real, new deal, fervidly expensive to those who don’t yet understand them, free to those who do. They are poised to join the ranks along with Canada’s best.

Related – Consider the Gaspereau Valley

Peter Gamble has reached out a major hand to three essential facets for Nova Scotia’s wine renaissance. His consultancy has raised the profile and the bar for Sparkling wine from Benjamin Bridge Vineyards. He has been instrumental in the creation of the provincial appellative blend Tidal Bay, a regionally defining and commercially essential white wine. Ontario has fallen behind in not seeking out to create the same. Gamble’s work with the vinifera producing wines of Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards is the single most important revolution to happen in the Canadian wine industry in 20 years. I wrote this last summer. “What he will touch in his new appointment at Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards will make Nova Scotia history.”

Courtyard of Le Caveau at Domaine de Grand Pré Vineyards

Courtyard of Le Caveau at Domaine de Grand Pré Vineyards

Over the course of two days in late July I foraged through a second annual investigation into the Wines of Nova Scotia. It began with a tasting through the Domaine De Grand Pré Vineyards portfolio led by Hanspeter Stutz. The estate’s Vintner’s Reserve Riesling 2013 was recently awarded one of three Awards for Excellence in Nova Scotia Wines at the recent Lieutenant Governor’s Vice-Regal Wine Awards. The other two winners were Blomidon Estate Winery Cuvée L’Acadie 2010 and Avondale Sky Winery Martock 2012. Blomidon and Avondale Sky are two estates at the top of my WONS bucket list I have yet to visit.

Post anything but haste tasting with HansPeter dinner then followed at the estate’s incomparable Le Caveau Restaurant, in the company of L & W’s Mike, Jocelyn and Rachel Lightfoot, with Chef Jason Lynch manning the stoves.

Le Caveau's Beef Two Ways, grilled AAA hanger steak, beef shank galette, seasonal vegetables, barley

Le Caveau’s Beef Two Ways, grilled AAA hanger steak, beef shank galette, seasonal vegetables, barley

The following morning I sat down with Rachel and winemaker Josh Horton at Lightfoot, then travelled shotgun with Mike to taste at Bruce Ewart’s L’Acadie Vineyards. The estate’s Cuvée Rosé 2011 was awarded a Silver medal and the Vintage Cuvée 2012 a Bronze at the 2015 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (NWAC15). We then paid a visit to Benjamin Bridge to peruse a Sparkling meets still appraisal with head winemaker Jean-Benoit Deslauriers and vineyard manager Scott Savoy.

Smell the slate and taste the natatory saliva, like liquid shells from the grape that transmits nascent maritime theology. Consider this variety that accentuates the terroir and reaches beneath the mud, to imagined aquifers for deep-rooted flavour

L’Acadie the grape variety harbours one of the great acidity secrets on the planet. Sparkling wine is possessive of dramatic excellence in Nova Scotia. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are moments away from certain greatness.

Le Caveau's Charcuterie Plate, house-made and locally sourced, served with chutney, shallot compote and spiced bread

Le Caveau’s Charcuterie Plate, house-made and locally sourced, served with chutney, shallot compote and spiced bread

Domaine De Grand Pré Vineyards

“The wines of Nova Scotia could not be drunk in the 1990’s. None of them.” These are the words of a now very proud Hanspeter Stutz, who in 1993 purchased the estate and re-planted 30 acres. The doors opened in 2000. In can be argued that no one in Nova Scotia has accomplished more and furthered the credibility of hybrid-produced wines than Hanspeter and (winemaker-son) Jürg Stutz.

Godello and Hanspeter Stutz at Domaine de Grand Pré Vineyards

Godello and Hanspeter Stutz at Domaine de Grand Pré Vineyards

Domaine de Grand Pré Riesling Vintner’s Reserve 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $20, WineAlign)

Imagine lime as a tide, ripening in extreme oscillating waves and layers like the highs and lows of Fundy’s Minas Basin. Only a dike could stop the citrus from rising and falling twice at normal sipping speed within the time it takes to assess through a glass. Lactic and piercing with a finish that pops, like no other Riesling in the world. Such a lingering finish. Healthy in correct perspective at 11 per cent alcohol. Drink 2015-2022.  Tasted July 2015

Domaine de Grand Pré Tidal Bay 2014 and Riesling Reserve 2013

Domaine de Grand Pré Tidal Bay 2014 and Riesling Reserve 2013

Domaine de Grand Pré Tidal Bay 2014, Nova Scotia (Winery, $20, WineAlign)

Hanspeter’s favourite wine is this blend of L’Acadie Blanc, Seyval Blanc, Ortega, Muscat and Vidal Blanc. Using the maximum allowable 15 per cent Muscat Hanspeter explains the choice to “do fruity, with our strength and to a dry finish.” Muscat acts as the catalyst to achieve this end. At 11 per cent abv it is not overdone, remains in balance and leads the Tidal Bay armada. Defines terroir within a properly determined fragrant framework specific to the Nova Scotia appellative intention. Rocks no boats and expresses more character than a rhyme with bucket or most. Drink 2015-2017.  Tasted July 2015

Domaine de Grand Pré Seyval Blanc 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $17, WineAlign)

The DGP equivalent of Chasselas along the Lake Geneva shoreline, straightforward, 12 per cent alcohol juicy, pure white simplicity. For those who would pin this hybrid to “empty cold and bare,” open your mind and conceptualize Seyval to be fish friendly to a Swiss degree. Terrific lemon acidity and smoke on the water bitters put this in perfect mind of place, with good length. White flames to deep purple. Drink 2015-2018.  Tasted July 2015

Domaine de Grand Pré Baco Noir 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $18, WineAlign)

A smoky, unambiguous tobacco kiln and blueberry Baco. Sour cherry, salumi and pepper infuse the vina da tavola feel and like Syrah goes as meaty as can be. Refreshing because it smacks of Baco Noir, not oak. Rad sour finish. Drink 2015-2019.  Tasted July 2015

Domaine de Grand Pré Castel Vintner’s Reserve 2014, Nova Scotia (Winery, $19.50, WineAlign)

The crossroads varietal happening is on display here with Cinsault and a member of the native North American Vitis ruprestis family (by Pierre Castel). Four to five thousand bottles of peppery black run off convey a taste of pickled black raspberries, cut by major chalk and minor tannin. Juicy and ready for roast game. Drink 2015-2017.  Tasted July 2015

The reds of Domaine de Grand Pré Vineyards

The reds of Domaine de Grand Pré Vineyards

Domaine de Grand Pré Cabernet Foch 2012, Nova Scotia (Winery, $25, WineAlign)

Only made in top vintages (when Cabernet Sauvignon ripens) and in those years the Foch welcomes the bones and body, for ageability in accord with agreeability. Travels from Cassis to tar, chocolate to sour cherry. Chalk again, this time in grains of liquid sand and a pepper-laced finale. Drink 2015-2020.  Tasted July 2015

Domaine de Grand Pré Foch Vintner’s Reserve 2012, Nova Scotia (Winery, $25, WineAlign)

Without the parenting role performed by Cabernet Sauvignon the Foch abandons the homestead and goes it alone. Kind of ironic considering the vinifera is the guest but old world pedigree and custom is hard to replicate. A mix of lead pencil, a curtailment of fruit and fermentation by attrition. A wild ride of savoire verte, tar and resilient verity. Drink 2015-2018.  Tasted July 2015

Domaine de Grand Pré Tom Tom NV, Nova Scotia (Winery, $25, WineAlign)

And I quote. “This blended red wine was created in honour of Tom Preston. Tom was probably the longest-serving field hand in the Nova Scotia wine industry. His career at Grand Pré placed him near the center of its remarkable growth; as witness, contributor and mentor to those who tend the vineyards today. Tom passed away in 2014 only two years after his retirement from the vineyards.” This 1300 bottle debut tribute consolidates 60 per cent Marquette from two vintages with Baco Noir and Cabernet Foch. The second encomium will go under another moniker. A blend that softens in simpatico, ripens with one another and pitches in together. There is cure in its depth with red plum on the road to palate. Quite the coat of veneer. All red fruit, incumbent acidity and red lactic citrus circulating throughout. To Tom. Drink 2015-2020.  Tasted July 2015

Domaine de Grand Pré Riesling Icewine 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $54.50, WineAlign)

From Warner Vineyards in Lakeville, Nova Scotia. Barrel fermented and aged in American oak for 10 months. Incredible acidity on top of pure fruit that indicates pear and white fleshed peach. The yield comes from an orchard’s northern clime stone groove with nary an apricot in mind. This wine, as with the table whites and reds, never takes itself too seriously. In the words of Hanspeter “just have fun and work on it. That’s a start.” Drink 2017-2025.  Tasted July 2015

L’Acadie Vineyards

“Tirage and terroir,” asserts Bruce Ewart, a pile of vineyard rocks and stones separating he and I on the tasting counter between us. The rocks are quarried out of slopes in the Gaspereau Valley spilling down towards the Bay of Fundy, from vineyards built of glacial till in the soil mixed with clay and loam. “Mineral flavours from mineral soils,” adds Ewart. Then we taste.

Godello and Bruce Ewart of L'Acadie Vineyards

Godello and Bruce Ewart of L’Acadie Vineyards

L’Acadie is the signature grape of the L’AV command. When sourced from clay-loam it produces fruitier wines, from still to sparkling. The mineral increases from out of the glacial till. L’Acadie is certified organic and all of their wines are made with 100 per cent Nova Scotia grapes.

Glacial till stones of L'Acadie Vineyards

Glacial till stones of L’Acadie Vineyards

Bruce goes straight for the critical jugular and pulls out the best Sparklers in his portfolio. Make no mistake, no matter the hybrid content, the wines are cogent sticks of Nova Scotian dynamite with unprecedented levels of balance. They are as unheralded as any in North America. The only other house with less attention yet paid to its méthode traditionnelle programme that I have encountered is Sparkling Pointe on the North Fork of Long Island. Yet another example for a cool-climate region’s reason to make bubbles.

Sparkling wines of L'Acadie Vineyards, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia

Sparkling wines of L’Acadie Vineyards, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia

L’Acadie Vineyards Prestige Brut Estate 2009, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (Winery, $45, WineAlign)

From the second harvest (following the 2008 vintage was from 2005 fruit) of the certified organic vineyard, a south facing Gaspereau Valley rocky plot blessed of ancient geology, like crushed pills of polar pottery and with perfect natural low vigour conditions. That first vintage of some 100 odd bottles still rests and will do so for likely up to seven or eight years. The 2009 is made in the traditional method and aged for five years on the lees. All estate fruit and that 60 months is needed to bring about harmony. Toasty, part cruller, part panettone and brut to the point of profundity (was six and is now 3 g/L of residual sugar). Bitters melt into length with alcohol set at 11.6 per cent. Drink 2015-2021.  Tasted July 2015

L’Acadie Vineyards Vintage Cuvée 2012, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (Winery, $26, WineAlign)

A Cuvée cut with a bowie from grower’s fruit on clay-loam soils with less triage (24 months) than the other sparklers in the L’Acadie oeuvre. A fruit forward expression, persistent in biscuit baking but the result is more cookie than croissant. Reads like an eight line poem, the higher dosage (8 g/L) in drama of orchard fruit and lime zest. Hunky dory bubbles, “the key to the city, is in the sun that pins the branches to the sky, oh, oh, oh.” Drink 2015-2019.  Tasted July 2015

L’Acadie Vineyards Cuvée Rosé 2011, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (Winery, $26, WineAlign)

Blends dramatically early-picked Marechal Foch (40 per cent) with less antecedent specific to bubbly-grown L’Acadie (60) grapes. The Foch brings can/rasp/strawberry to the system of sparkling reckoning, in subject meaning for the latter to chastise with acidity. Comes to light like a new sparkling day, an awakening of bubbles senses, with a balanced attack of fruit flavours ushered within the pressured caisson of L’Acadie’s mineral chamber. Salinity, brine, sapidity and red citrus roll on. Drink 2015-2020.  Tasted July 2015

L’Acadie Vineyards Rosé 2014, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (Winery, $20, WineAlign)

An early picked Marechal Foch, lithe 11.6 per cent alcohol, crushed berry beauty. Terrific aridity, aromatic allure and redundant in nix of residual sugar. Another nerdy, essential example of what can be done with Rosé in Nova Scotia. Cranberry and strawberry expressed through citrus with the always necessary mineral balance provided by L’Acadie, in every reason, for harmony. Drink 2015-2017.  Tasted July 2015

L’Acadie Vineyards Estate L’Acadie 2013, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (Winery, $20, WineAlign)

Here the mineral and bone in till from the strong, outstretched arm of the sea lends sentient clarity, joined by the earth it bares. Smell the slate and taste the natatory saliva, like liquid shells from the grape that transmits nascent maritime theology. Consider this variety that accentuates the terroir and reaches beneath the mud, to imagined aquifers for deep rooted flavour. Think about vines that delve into the glacial recesses to divine subaqueous locution.  As a hybrid L’Acadie may seem obtuse but as a Nova Scotian reality it may as well be Muscadet, or even Chablis. Drink 2015-2020.  Tasted July 2015

L’Acadie Vineyards Passito 2012, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (Winery, $23, WineAlign)

A Ripasso-style red made from 30 per cent dried grapes. An intriguing approach for hybrids and cool climate viticulture. Marechal Foch and Leon Millot are aged in American oak. The discerning is of dried figs and prunes, foxy and slick. Characterful, like duck prosciutto and dried, sour cherry liquorice, spiked by fennel seed and dipped into a pool of savoury syrup. Very interesting. Drink 2015-2018.  Tasted July 2015

L’Acadie Vineyards Alchemy 2010, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (Winery, $43, WineAlign)

Here the Ripasso steps up to Appassimento. In 2009 the work was performed with 75 per cent Leon Millot and 25 Luci Kuhlmann aged for 24 months in American oak. The 100 per cent methodology in 2012 in the 500 mL bottle is all Foch and nothing but. Leads to a deeper brood, of rich, chocolate flavour melted and hardened over blackberry and a wild hit of sauvage. Intense red smouldering with tobacco and finishing in pulsating fashion, like currants on steroids. Drink 2015-2020.  Tasted July 2015

Benjamin Bridge

Jean Benoit Deslauriers, along with viticulturalist Scott Savoy leads Mike Lightfoot and I through a transaction of Sparkling and still wines in the BB portfolio. Deslauriers offers a concise dissertation on phenolic maturity as a journey incarnate, out of the Gaspereau Valley’s long growing season, mitigated by the east west corridor. He talks on moisture vs heat and the dichotomy of swelling berries. “Its not California here” he says with a wry smile and I can tell he’s pleased with his winemaking lot in life. Here it’s real, tapping into hang time, phenolics and utterly eccentric levels of dry extract.

Tasting at Benjamin Bridge, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia

Tasting at Benjamin Bridge, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia

Benjamin Bridge Nova Scotia Brut 2008, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (381533, $49.95, WineAlign)

Even if it’s not the first Bridge record, a milestone moment is here in this the last wine with hybrid contents (within this particular BB program). Though it houses 10 per cent Chardonnay and 10 per cent Pinot Noir, the remainder (80) is Seyval Blanc, L’Acadie Blanc and Vidal. At this Brut level it’s so very bluesy and deceptive in consideration that it is a hybrid based wine, but at the sensory level, miles beyond and a whole other matter. The tempo is furious, the muscularity of tone like bebop in chorus. It has citrus fleshed, aromatically autolytic patisserie and caramelizing onion richness. It’s a searing, raging scintillant, still throbbing and thriving. There is so much grapefruit here in crazy intensity. Work with it and the toast, the brioche and the baking spices come out, come clean and linger. Drink 2015-2023.  Tasted July 2015

Benjamin Bridge Brut Reserve Methode Classique 2004, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia (275396, $95.00, WineAlign)

The ’04 is hanging in beautifully, on a wire of impossible balance, at 11 years old not yet really transitioning. There is simply too much brightness for it to give up its youth. You have to strain your ears, nose and throat to assuage just a hint at oxygen, life affirming breaths and then a keener sense of toast and yeast. Still behold the grapefruit, a sign of remarkable adolescence, the hang time amplified and in mass hyperbole here, in this current appraisal, address and time. How can richness act and display with such alpha freshness? How can an aging body not shed baby weight, turn lanky, lean and awkward? How is it neither the bitter pill of juvenility or senility has been swallowed? That is not the case here in a Blanc de Blancs which still has five to seven years of very active life ahead. Drink 2015-2021.  Tasted July 2015

Benjamin Bridge Brut Reserve 2008, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia (275396, $74.95, WineAlign)

From dry extracts that were off the charts, the ’08 comes to play with massive intensity. A unique Co2 effervescence, expansive instead of contracting. A wine of palate sensory driven speculation and assessment. Unrelenting mousse, exploding outwards, persisting straight through to the finish. Richness matches the foundation of freshness, with a full citrus fruit palate. Density from super low yields (a decadent tonne per acre, 1/6th of champagne) in another cool year, or in other words, “a vintage of opportunity.”

From my earlier note of July 2014:

The 2008 Brut Reserve is composed of 61 per cent Chardonnay and 39 Pinot Noir. If any wine in the Benjamin Bridge continuum defines the legacy left behind by Raphaël Brisebois and passes the sparkling torch to Jean-Benoit Deslauriers, this ’08 is it. Here is the vintage that begins to emulate the grower’s Champagne of the motherland, in deeper learning, understanding and connection to the estate’s vineyards. At present this is such an infant, reductive and with a blowzy palate that suggests a fidgety, elemental state. The attack is in burgeoning mousse. After spitting, the wine persists, as if there remains a mouthful, causing the cheeks to expand. The citrus is weighty in texture and this ’08 goes deeper than the previous Brut reserves. Three years will be required to allow for a settling and 20 years lay further ahead for secondary, tertiary and quaternary development.

Last tasted, at the winery, July 2015

Benjamin Bridge Vēro 2013 and 2014

Benjamin Bridge Vēro 2013 and 2014

Benjamin Bridge Vēro 2014, Nova Scotia (Winery, $22, WineAlign)

Derived from veritas, the Latin word for truth. If Tidal Bay is an appellative Nova Scotia blend that walks from the sea, Vēro is the Bridge’s worthy adversary that emerges from the land. This vintage is composed of 35 per cent Chardonnay, 10 Sauvignon Blanc, 15 Riesling, 20 Ortega and 20 Vidal. It appeals with an increase of ore and aridity, despite and in spite of 17 g/L of residual sugar. It is a formidable, linear, focused, 11 per cent alcohol straight shooter. Hybrids speak in foxy white linen and lace. A striking and popping white blend. Quite wild, really. 500 cases made. Drink 2015-2018.  Tasted July 2015

Benjamin Bridge Vēro 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $22, WineAlign)

As in the forward ’14, this ’13 is again built on the foundation of freshness and the highest of aromatic components. Percentages are (60) Chardonnay, (30) L’Acadie and (10) Riesling, the latter of which is noticeable, adding petrol and terpene to the still beating, vibrant palate. Compounded by full flesh on viscous mouthfeel. Has a natural, nearly oxidative feel just beginning to happen so it behooves to ask if these are the wines that define idealism as adversary to the stylistic Tidal Bay way? Finishes with terrific bitters and a L’Acadie oyster shell coarseness. Drink 2015-2016.  Tasted July 2015

Benjamin Bridge Cabernet Franc Rosé 2014, Nova Scotia (Winery, $22.95, WineAlign)

A Nova Scotia first, this blush made from 100 per cent Cabernet Franc. The minerality comes straight from stone, sans flint, and the epigrammatic aromatic notion is saucissons and rillettes, not wild berry. Simulacrum to a Loire Valley format, like Chèvre on a log after a forest rainstorm. Stone age Breton on exhibit. Salinity and aridity in spite of its meagre 7 g/L RS. Bright, fresh and vivid tones are wrapped up in the enigma of very cool climate grown Cabernet Franc. Sea and brine entrammel the flavours. Drink 2015-2018.  Tasted July 2015

Benjamin Bridge Nova 7 2014, Nova Scotia (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)

There is really no vintage in, vintage out agenda on a journey to categorical dryness for Nova 7, so it is thrown like caution to the Fundy wind and fermented at lower temperatures. The risk road taken preserves the Co2, which stays in the solution instead of leaving, thanks to the cool temperatures. Terpenes, phenols and esters remain. Low alcohol (8 per cent), elevated (80 g/L) RS, aromatics and effervescence are the amalgamated result. A unique wine out of an extreme environment, this is a plainly, nearly painfully mother humming cliffhanger from Benjamin Bridge. Beautifully waxy, of a pink aridity, brightness, fresh acidity with a dry finish, in as much as such a level of sweetness can allow. Will stay fresh, age and linger for five to seven years, easy. Drink 2015-2022.  Tasted July 2015

Lightfoot & Wolfville

Natural challenges, winter temperatures in the -20 range, late frosts, hurricanes. Welcome to growing grapes in Nova Scotia. And yet Lightfoot & Wolfville is producing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Mike Lightfoot attributes vine survival to nutritional balance in the natural systems through organic and biodynamic viticulture.

Ancienne Chardonnay and Pinot Noir 2013 with a glass of soon to be released Rosé

Ancienne Chardonnay and Pinot Noir 2013 with a glass of soon to be released Rosé

The pioneering activities do not end there. L & W has also added 4.5 acres of rare and classic vinifera to their “Corton” Oak Island vineyard. Chenin Blanc, Scheurabe, Sauvignon Blanc, Kékfrankos just to name a few. “These grapes were chosen based on climate and soil chemistry,” with the future in mind, for sparkling, still, and sweet wines.

These are the wines I tasted (from bottle and tank/barrel samples) in July with winemakers Josh Horton and Rachel Lightfoot.

A sneak peak at Lightfoot and Wolfville's Tidal Bay

A sneak peak at Lightfoot and Wolfville’s Tidal Bay

Lightfoot & Wolfville Tidal Bay 2014, Nova Scotia (Winery, Approx. $21-22, WineAlign)

A Muscat-less blend of Geisenheim, L’Acadie Blanc, Chardonnay and Chasselas with a directive to drive by aromatics if easy on the turns. A Tidal Bay borne on the architecture of spine, a step shy of sacra perfume. A white to pair with local necessity, a seafood marker, a buoy to the stock pot and the grill. Its release is imminent (the intention was between August 17th to 27th). Represents pure citrus distillate, in lemon and lime, with a median balancing action in 12 g/L of residual sugar, which really doesn’t show, no, not even close, though certainly the acidity balance helps (9 g/L of TA). Drink 2015-2017.  Tasted July 2015

Lightfoot & Wolfville Rosé 2014, Nova Scotia (Winery, Approx. $18-20, WineAlign)

Pinot-driven, of Noir and Pinot Meunier with tiny amounts of Geisenheim and Frontenac Rouge. Arid, rusty, simply and purposefuly pale red that emerges straight from the earth. Has a plasma sensation, with lemon and dry red earth. Natural feel. A cure of veal. More structured than even its makers are giving early credit for. A portal to the more ”serious” solo, mano a mano Pinot/Pinot to come. A hue and style originated and heading in the right direction. Drink 2015-2018.  Tasted July 2015

Lightfoot & Wolfville Chardonnay Ancienne 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $40, WineAlign)

Welcome to the new Chardonnay ethos, an east coast compages for la belle nouvelle écosse, the new borderland for Canadian vinifera. The respite found in Lightfoot & Wolfville’s first release is like breathing for the first time. As I noted a year ago while tasting through (mostly older) barrel trials, I have unearthed a Canadian winery animated in the architectural rendering of Premier Cru Chablis. Full textured, creamy aromatics, layers of lace and luxe, popping acidity and with length stretched to service now and later. Approximately 135 cases made. Drink 2015-2019.  Tasted July 2015

I see the light. Innaugaural releases of Lightfoot and Wolfville's Ancienne Chardonnay and Pinot Noir 2013

I see the light. Innaugaural releases of Lightfoot and Wolfville’s Ancienne Chardonnay and Pinot Noir 2013

Lightfoot & Wolfville Pinot Noir Ancienne 2013, Nova Scotia (Winery, $40, WineAlign)

If de novo for Pinot Noir is to be found in Nova Scotia then count me in because the inaugural release from Lightfoot & Wolfville is the trailblazer for and from the extrinsic frontier. Tasting the painstakingly measured yet barely handled 2013 for the first time (from bottle) is like falling into a glass of Nova Scotia cherries. Somehow there is this simultaneous and virtual voyage abroad to imagine a comparison with Nuits-Saint-Georges, in its earth crusted, sanguine, welled up tension that begs questions and belies answers. A year yonder the taste from barrel and what can be said? Pinot Noir adjudicated, into a cortex of recognizable consciousness and thus into the natural Nova Scotia mystic. Ignore and forgive the dope of first returns, for no one could have imagined such ripeness and immediate gratification. Future releases will dial back in the name of structure. That said, in 2013 there is a red citrus, ferric debate that will send this to an exordium seven years down the road. Impossible inaugural release. Approximately 50 cases made. Drink 2015-2022.  Tasted July 2015

Lightfoot & Wolfville Sparkling Blanc de Blancs 2012 (Sample)

Not yet disgorged with a plan for leaving them for five to seven years on the lees. From estate fruit (five year-old vines at the time) tanking in stainless, with no dosage. Full input charged citrus reminds of Brut Zero (i.e. Tarlant) in its classic, linear, straight pierce, dart to the heart. Needs lees texture for body which time will accord. Really classically styled.

Lightfoot & Wolfville Sparkling Blanc de Blancs 2012 (Second Sample)

Here the use of a small amount of oak. A slight bit of reductiveness (being employed as an idea going forward in defining a house style) shows up as smoke and flint. The triage leads to green apple and a different kind of citrus, with more body and warmth, partly in alcohol but more so elegance and a linger  in this not so fleeting fizz.

Lightfoot & Wolfville Chardonnay 2014 (Barrel sample)

Ripeness, of phenolic targets hit for the second year on a row. In 2014, marked a reduction experiment, from a brand new demi-barrel, seeking a covering up of the reductive qualities. An approach to amalgamate the best of both worlds.

Lightfoot & Wolfville Rosé 2014 (Tank Sample)

Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. An hour or two quick breaking of the skins on the press. Incredible aromatics, chewy, with a pepper kick, of an edge that will be smoothed over by a bit of residual in the finished wine. Just the right proper citrus ands a touch of animale. So special. Potential release is late September/Early October.

The recent releases of Lightfoot & Wolfville’s Tidal Bay and Rosé 2014 were met with much ado in the Halifax wine bars, just like the reception given the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay one month before. Naysayers (including some critics who have tasted these wines) want to burst the bubble, not because of truth but out of a closed mind set that will not allow for change, or evolution. The treatment in contempt of possibility is born of narrow, jaded vision. Despite the exceptional and opprobrious hurdles that climate places on vinifera and its attempted journey to phenolic ripeness, L & W, Benjamin Bridge, Domaine de Grand Pré and L’Acadie Vineyards are ripening grapes, beyond and along with winter-resistant hybrids. Advanced viticulture and winemaking prowess are primed for the new Nova Scotia millennium, on the new frontier. Pay a visit and see for yourself. Then get ready for a policy change of the mind.

Good to go!

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Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014

Gold Medal Plate, Toronto 2014: Canoe's Chef John Horne Grandview Short Ribs Glazd with Tree Syrups (c) Ronald Ng Photography

Gold Medal winning plate, Gold Medal Plates, Toronto 2014: Canoe’s Chef John Horne’s Grandview Short Ribs Glazed with Tree Syrups
(c) Ronald Ng Photography

When head judge David Lawrason asked me to join him and fellow WineAlign colleague Sara d’Amato to preside over the wines at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, I paused for a brief moment. I knew right away the answer was an emphatic yes but I had to breathe in the possibilities. One: Sample 10 wondrous culinary creations by 10 sacrosanct chefs. Two: Spend an evening with Canadian Olympic medallists and recording artists. Three: Taste and judge the sagacious efforts by some of Ontario’s most venerated winemakers.

Gold Medal Plates was founded in 2003 and is so much more than an organization. It is a Canadian institution. The primary goal of the coast to coast galas are to “celebrate Canadian excellence in food, wine, athletic achievement and entertainment.” The tour makes stops in 11 Canadian cities and raises funds for the Canadian Olympic Foundation to support Olympic athletes. Net proceeds are donated to support high performance programs such as Own The Podium. To date over $8.2 million has been raised. (Update: Gold Medal Plates tweeted on December 10th that the number is now $9.5 million).

Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014 bronze, gold and silver medal winning chefs Damon Campbell, John Horne and Jason Bangerter<br /> (c) Ronald Ng Photography

Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014 bronze, gold and silver medal winning chefs Damon Campbell, John Horne and Jason Bangerter
(c) Ronald Ng Photography

In each city the invited chefs prepare a regional dish and in Toronto, more than 700 people tasted through a complex variety of creations. The gold medal chef in each city goes on to compete at the Gold Medal Plates Finale at the Canadian Culinary Championships. In 2015 the host will be Kelowna, British Columbia on February 6 and 7. The term “career changer” is used to describe the chef who is crowned tops in Canada.

With unprecedented support from the event’s title sponsor Deloitte, the Toronto event was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Wednesday, November 12, 2014. The culinary judging was headed up by former Toronto Life Magazine food critic James Chatto. Joining Mr. Chatto were chef/author Sasha Chapman, chef/TV personality Christine Cushing, author/CBC radio host Anita Stewart, George Brown chef school’s John Higgins and the 2013 Canadian Culinary Champion Lorenzo Loseto of George Restaurant.

Candian musicians and atheletes sing O Canada at Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014 (c) Ronald Ng Photography

Candian musicians and atheletes sing O Canada at Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014
(c) Ronald Ng Photography

At the Toronto event, emcee skaters Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were joined by dozens of Olympic medallists and future hopefuls. The entertainment on stage was an all-star Canadian band led by Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy. Cuddy was joined by The Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Roberstson, Barney Bentall, 5440’s Neil Osborne, Danny Michel, Anne Lindsay and the astoundingly soulful guitarist Colin Cripps.

Slient auction signed guitar

Slient auction signed guitar

The plates in Toronto were really quite incredible. Canoe’s Chef John Horne was the gold medal winner. His Grandview Farms Short Ribs glazed with tree syrups was a ground breaker, an original composition of intrigue, a wild sequestered spot of gastronomy. The other plates were exceptional, each in their own right, but chef Horne travelled to a zone alone. Congratulations Chef.

Gold Medal Plates wines (c) Ronald Ng Photography

Gold Medal Plates wines
(c) Ronald Ng Photography

In David Lawrason’s recap to the audience, he noted how close the wine judging really was. “It was the highest quality level from bottle to bottle I have seen in the country this year, making the judging of the Best of Show Award rather tough. But when each judged ranked their top five, the same five wines showed up. It was then the ordering that became difficult, and only two points separated first and second place.” In the end we chose Norman Hardie‘s Niagara Unfiltered Pinot Noir 2011 as the Gold Medal winning wine. Hardie’s take on Twenty Mile Bench Pinot Noir is pure, complex and made with a deft, hands-off approach.

The wines ware all impressive, each and every one. The Hidden Bench approach on a Bordeaux-styled white is as impressive as any that have come before it, which is why the Nuit Blanche Rosomel Vineyard 2012 finished a very close second, taking home the Silver Medal. Syrah in the hands of winemaker Rob Power is a beautiful thing indeed. Creekside Estate‘s Iconoclast Syrah 2012 was the Bronze Medal winner. Pinot Noir by Leaning Post and Cabernet Franc by Rosewood Estates were fractional points behind.

David, Sara and I tasted and judged 12 wines, 10 of which were paired to the 10 chef’s plates. Here are the tasting notes and pairings.

Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014 dishes and paired wines

Gold Medal Plates Toronto 2014 dishes and paired wines

Peller Estates Baco Noir Private Reserve 2013, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario  (Winery, $17.95)

High acidity, negligible tannin and no surprise, the black burn of charcoal crushed, tarry fruit. A wallop of pepper for accented measure stings as per the effect of a Rhône, so like Syrah this is a good example of Baco. An airplane taxiing down a tobacco road. “But it’s home, the only life (its) ever known.” Definitely Baco.  Tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @PellerVQA

Peller Estates Chardonnay Private Reserve  2012, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $18.95, WineAlign)

Like bottled pastry, sweet, soft apples baking. Warm wafting aromatics, mild toast and caramelizing butter, effectively creamy and palate coating. Evolved to the point of full integration and absolute oak resolution. Drink now.  Tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @PellerVQA

Creekside Estates Syrah Iconoclast 2012, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario  (Winery, $18.05) Paired with Canoe’s Chef John Horne’s Grandview Farms Short Ribs Glazed with Tree Syrups

Winemaker Rob Power is on the fast track (if he is not there already) at becoming the King of Syrah in Ontario. The Queenston Road vineyard helps. Years of acumen development is key. Passion for the Rhône and Niagara’s climatic and stylistic kinship wraps the package. A ton of effort goes into the production of this $19 wine. The methodology here differs greatly from the co-fermented two-clone meets Viognier (and twice the price) Brokenpress Syrah. Here the fruit from three vineyards (including the Queenston Road) were fermented separately in stainless steel tanks and 1 tonne fruit bins. Malolactic fermentation took place in barrel where the wine aged for 12 months. The (30 percent new) barrel mix is (53 per cent) American, (42) French and (five) Hungarian. The result? In Rob Power’s hands, you can take Syrah out of the Rhône and Australia but you can’t take the cool climate out of the Syrah. Meat, pepper and smoke pique, pinch and pop. Pow! A totem in proclivity for the variety. The water is at times dishy but the fruit swells and fills in every gap.  Tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @CreeksideWine

13th Street Gamay Noir 2012, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (177824, $19.95, WineAlign) Paired with Bestellen’s Chef Rob Rossi’s 60 Day Dry-Aged Beef Crudo, B.C. Pine Mushrooms, Concord Grape Mustard and Truffle Sauce

Spice and rich fruit head straight to Gamay welkin derived direct from the soil’s core, of Sandstone, Schwenker and the winery’s home vineyard at Fourth Avenue. Swirl away the gathered must and moss to reveal more Cru fruit than you can shake a stirring rod at. Such verve, said grit, such persistence. The thing about Gamay is, “if you want inside of her, well boy you better make her a raspberry swirl.” 13th Street has certainly made the raspberry sing in the ’12 Gamay so “raspberry swirl, mmm let’s go.”  Tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @13thStreetWines

Hidden Bench Nuit Blanche Rosomel Vineyard 2012, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $20.00, WineAlign) Paired with Splendido’s Chef Victor Barry’s Smoked Rocky Point Oyster, Yukon Gold Potato and Chive

Less than six weeks after my first introduction to the NB ’12 complexity shines anew. Such a delicate and elegant take on the Bordeaux white axiom. Void of all the gangly G’s; grasses, gooseberry and green vegetable. Leans to custards and curds with a savoury accent and a limestone tang. Willing to be paired with a multitude of gastronomy. Long finish. From my earlier, September 2014 note: “Taking what the vintage gives, Rosomel’s Sauvignon Blanc was king in 2012, dominating at a 95 per cent share of the Bordeaux-styled blend with Sémillon. Barrels were stirred weekly during fermentation and the creamy texture thanks that regimen, as does the tannic fullness of the round back-end. It rocks out bracing, formidable and nobly bitter, in pear and its pith, in lemon, of rind and in curd. The SB lounges in tall grasses but avoids goose feathers and blanching veg. So very savoury, in gorse tension, thistle and nettle. These notes all cut through the roundness and are finally tied together by the flinty rock of Rosomel.”  Last tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto November 2014  @HiddenBench

Marben Restaurant's Chef Rob Bragagnolo's Canadian Paella, Crab, Lobster & Mussel Suquet, Crispy Wild Rice, Red Pepper-Saffron Aioli and Almond (c) Michael Godel

Marben Restaurant’s Chef Rob Bragagnolo’s Canadian Paella, Crab, Lobster & Mussel Suquet, Crispy Wild Rice, Red Pepper-Saffron Aioli and Almond
(c) Michael Godel

Rosewood Estates Cabernet Franc Origin Series 2012, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $26.20, WineAlign) Paired with Marben Restaurant’s Chef Rob Bragagnolo’s Canadian Paella, Crab, Lobster & Mussel Suquet, Crispy Wild Rice, Red Pepper-Saffron Aioli and Almond

From fruit grown on the Estate’s Beamsville Bench (Renaceau) vineyard. As per the house directive, this is not oak shy. So as the house finds collective varietal success from inside a barrel, the Origin Cabernet Franc 2012 falls into line. Fruit is bright and sour-edged, softened, filled in and tempered by wood. Lush berries and plums, herbs and did I mention oak? A roasted kind of sweetness comes wafting and pan-dripping in, with currants, mint and eucalyptus with a far away look. Intensely modish CF, with a swath of chocolate, springy and extensible length.  Tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @Rosewoodwine

Rosewood Estates Chardonnay Origin Series 2012, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario (Winery, $28.20) Paired with Buca’s Chef Rob Gentile’s Ravioli alla Tonnara, Tuna Blood Pasta, Tuna N’duja and Stracciatella Cheese

The Chardonnay formerly known as Renaceau Estate Vineyard, followed by Reserve and now Origin continues to hail from the Beamsville locale and persists as one of the most viscous and rich of its ilk. The glaring mismatch in sugar (20.8 g/L) and acidity (1.8 g/L) could spell disaster but to the contrary, this finds its tongue. Quite drawn, in a southern sort of lobster dipped in butter drawl. Unrequited malo fermentative linguistics suppress any tension that might distract from the bounty of warm vintage, perfectly ripe fruit smothered in a creamy lather of French oak (nine months in 50% new and 50% seasoned).  Tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @Rosewoodwine

The Farm Pinot Noir 2012, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario (Winery) Paired with Café Boulud’s Chef Tyler Shedden’s Haida Gwaii Pink Salmon, Preserved Porcini Mushroom, Nasturtium and Smoked Sabayon

Those familiar with the Neudorf farm fruit know it well because of the single vineyard Pinot Noir “La Petite Colline” made by then Le Clos Jordanne winemaker Thomas Bachelder and carried forth by Sébastien Jacquey. Most of the harvest was then scooped up by Bachelder’s newest Niagara venture with some Quebec buddies at Domaine Queylus. In 2012 the Neudorf family decided to allocate a small commercial gifting of their own minuscule production of Estate Pinot Noir. Eleven restaurants in Southern Ontario carry this luxurious and humid red. The aromatics are pure Neudorf; a blackberry-rapt silt and clay-earth mingle with a sideshow of coated limestone primer. Just a smidgen past ripe, this blood pedigree redaction has plenty of charm if less earnest finesse than the Bachelder siphoned bottles.  Tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014

Langdon Hall's Chef Jason Bangerter's Wild Flower & Herb Smoked Game Fowl, Fermented Berry & Celery Root (c) Ronald Ng Photography

Langdon Hall’s Chef Jason Bangerter’s Wild Flower & Herb Smoked Game Fowl, Fermented Berry & Celery Root
(c) Ronald Ng Photography

Leaning Post Pinot Noir Lowrey Vineyard 2010, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (Winery, $38.20, WineAlign) Paired with Langdon Hall’s Chef Jason Bangerter’s Wild Flower & Herb Smoked Game Fowl, Fermented Berry & Celery Root

One year later and in conjunction with stopping to think about them (other vintages and other reds at #GMP2014), the most terroir and aromatic focus comes from Ilya Senchuk’s ’10. Cherry, pomegranate and earth. Only Lowrey goes deep like this. Such a palate refresher. From my earlier, November 2013 note: “Can’t say I’m all that surprised but this is so much more approachable, pretty and glamorous. From an unrelenting hot vintage (picked Sept. 11th), a full six weeks earlier than ’09 and from the same vineyard. This was necessary as a means to preserve freshness. More sunshine, less earth but still there’s a cure and metal tendency that really defines Lowrey. Could of course be considered more of a crowd pleaser but it’s not as simple as that. That I can taste these two mano a mano, in my life is a rubber soul stamp. “All these places have their moments.” 125 cases.”  Last tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @LeaningPostWine

Norman Hardie Unfiltered Niagara Pinot Noir 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (208702, $39.20, WineAlign) Paired with The Drake Hotel’s Chef Alexandra Feswick’s Beef Tongue, Plums and Almonds

The tension in the ’11 Niagara Pinot is palpable, ongoing and yet, as noted previously, not like it used to be. Expertly judged in a major key of complexity. Like candied nuts strung along a chain of tannin. Layers of depth and active ingredients. From my earlier, August 2014 note: “Hardie’s 2011 Pinot Noir comes out of deep clay, 20 Mile Bench soil, an impart not lost in the rich though dusty character of the wine. The flesh is both corporeal and marbled and a chalky grain runs through, with thanks to what feels like smithereens of limestone blasted through. “It was long ago, seems like yesterday,” that Norm’s Niagara Pinot carried an unwieldy level of anxiety but here the tannins have settled, the volatility has relented and there is a curious combination now, of blood and roses. Though meaty, the ’11 Pinot’s juices are concentrated, contained, not running out. The aromas are floral, heightened and intoxicating. Once again, classic comes by way of low alcohol and minimalist intervention. Last tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @normhardie

The Chase's Chef Michael Steh's Tuna Toro, Foie Gras, Ginger Pork Dumpling and Damsum Plum Sauce (c) Michael Godel

The Chase’s Chef Michael Steh’s Tuna Toro, Foie Gras, Ginger Pork Dumpling and Damsum Plum Sauce
(c) Michael Godel

Stratus White 2010, VQA Niagara On The Lake, Ontario (660704, $44.20, WineAlign) Paired with The Chase’s Chef Michael Steh’s Tuna Toro, Foie Gras, Ginger Pork Dumpling and Damsum Plum Sauce

Tropical notes are currently blanketing the radar on the long flight to future decades. From my earlier, October 2013 note: “Quite possibly the most textured yet. A casted mass, like ingot or sélection de grains nobles, where viscosity meets candied fruit, apricot, quince and acacia flowers. A white moon with a medicinal and peaty tang that shows so much verve, earth floor even. This cracker jack ’10 will continue to add heft and flesh to earn its white stripes. Could be a classic for 20 years plus.” From my earlier, September 2013 note: “Sends me immediately towards Bordeaux, in neo-marmalade, but also buoyed in perfume and body by 25 percent Viognier. “This variety worked so well in the vineyard in 2010,” notes Groux. Niagara honey and near-botrytis via Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc void of grass, full of vigor. A sharp note, neither metallic nor mineral, but a combination of the two is present in this so very concentrated ’10. Of a warm vintage (self-explanatory) fully picked by October 23. Though loaded with early Spring maple sap, foie gras and appley terpines, its sharp and framed by “tannic” tang and protracted length.” Last tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014

The Shangri-La Hotel's Damon Campbell Nova Scotia Lobster, Potato Gnocchi, Forest Mushroom, Black Truffle and Lobster Emulsion (c) Ronald Ng Photography

The Shangri-La Hotel’s Damon Campbell Nova Scotia Lobster, Potato Gnocchi, Forest Mushroom, Black Truffle and Lobster Emulsion
(c) Ronald Ng Photography

Southbrook Poetica Chardonnay 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (366500, $50.20, WineAlign) Paired with The Shangri-La Hotel’s Chef Damon Campbell’s Nova Scotia Lobster, Potato Gnocchi, Forest Mushroom, Black Truffle and Lobster Emulsion

There is still a tough outer layer to crack. A poem of many stanzas has only just begun. Mute yet delicate, the stratified vineyard is the Poetica’s poetry; tight, yet forwardly futuristic towards the ephemeral and the aerified. From my earlier July 2014 note: “Has integrated nicely though certainly persists as a big, lush Chardonnay. If there were splinters or sinewy bits they have melted away.” From my earlier, May 2014 note: “The Poetica underwhelms at the present time, or perhaps hides in her youth. She’s a calm, buttery, mildly toasted, supportive softie and more accessible than her Sperling west coast sistren. Like a cool Chardonnay soffit hiding beneath a warm bench, the Poetica speaks not for the vintage but more for the current vineyard, a warm and hip spot in the Four Mile Creek appellation. The site remains (at least to me) understood but the unctuous aspect in texture and gathering sweetness with time in the glass will realize a richesse yet unseen. Poetica’s refrain is like “wind on the weathervane,” her tragically subdued fruit quiet, but able to travel long. Time will be the reveal, so be patient.”  Last tasted at Gold Medal Plates Toronto, November 2014  @SouthbrookWine  @thesirengroup

The South Coast is clear

Lake Erie

Lake Erie

It would be a stretch to expect anyone living more than 100-km away from Port Dover to know much about Ontario’s newest and next viticulture hot spot, Ontario South Coast Wines. The same concession might apply to most journalists working with regular intensity and immersion within the Ontario wine industry. OSCW should not be confused with its brethren further west, the wineries that make up the Lake Erie North Shore appellation. Ontario’s southwest? Wine route? You may ask yourself, how did I not know about this place? How can this be?

This is the area most likely to be Ontario’s next VQA-qualified appellation. Cool-climate remains the most apt descriptor, no different from LENS to the left and Niagara to the right, but this pocket of the lake is blessed of a specifically warm-ish micro-climate. The name itself presents as a bit of a misnomer, “Ontario South Coast Wines,” its geographical location set upon a ridge overlooking the north-east shore of Lake Erie running east from just west of Long Point, through Port Rowan, St. Williams, Turkey Point, Normandale, Port Ryerse and to Port Dover.

To agree with the emerging region’s calling card, simply draw a bunch of parallel and converging lines south from Lake Huron, through the Highway 401 straddling communities of London, Kitchener and Cambridge. Continue southeast past the Highway 403 delta of the Brantford area and through the Highway Three corridor towns of  Waterford, Courtland, Delhi and Simcoe. Spread out along the Eco-nature park-beach community-rugged coast and now you’ve got your bearings. This is the wine country of Norfolk County.

All aboard the Kayloe PHOTO: http://www.ontariosouthcoastwine.com/

All aboard the Kayloe
PHOTO: http://www.ontariosouthcoastwine.com/

Better still, follow the lead of Magdalena Kaiser-Smit of Wine Country Ontario and climb aboard the Kayloe, a 65-foot boat run by Nomada Charters and take a three-hour Lake Erie tour from the water, with a dozen or so local wineries on board and get to know the people and the place. Listen to Mike McArthur, President of the Grape Growers Association speak about 1996, the transition year for the area. Realize how an agricultural community that once housed tobacco farms make a communal decision to transform with the times and switch to grape growing. Hear him talk about the great history of viniculture in the least known of Ontario wine landscapes, a place where grapevines were spotted as early as the late 1600’s.

The boat trip and the wine speak mean nothing here without the idea of hospitality to accompany the local ferments, wines made not just from grapes, but from a wide variety of fruits. There are approximately 130 acres under vine in Grey and Norfolk counties. Nine wineries are located in Norfolk, with seven currently open for business. Liz Campbell and Trevor Taylor of F.W. Knechtel Food Catering make use of local asparagus, mushrooms and Lake Erie Perch to bring matching and meaning to the wines.

Outboard BBQ

Outboard BBQ

Fruit wines are an integral part of the South Coast experience so I decided to begin and end on high glucose notes. Berries have half the natural sugar content as grapes so cane sugar is added to give the yeasts enough convertible material to raise the alcohol to stable levels for longer preservation. Blueberry Hill was my first stop, a St. Williams winery that ferments with the hybrid Vidal, along with cranberries, raspberries and of course, blueberries. The wines are pure, distilled fruit expressions, with tart notes and flavours of the heart. Their straight-up blueberry is the best of the lot.

The uncontested Norfolk leader is Burning Kiln Winery and not just from a quality standpoint. Burning Kiln has positioned itself as a marketing and appellative promotional leader with Doug Beatty (formerly of Colio Estate Wines) as its spokesman, front and centre. Winemaker Andrzej Lipinski (formerly of Vineland Estates, Legends Estates, DeSousa, Fielding Estate, Megalomaniac, Foreign Affair and Organized Crime, now of Colaneri Estate and his own label, Big Head Wines) is an established Ontario master. His experience with the appassimento method is perfect for BK’s old tobacco kiln employment for drying grapes. Assistant winemaker Patti Fixter authored a feasibility study on Norfolk County’s Sand Plain and its ability to host a viable, sustainable viticultural industry. The winery is progressive, adventurous and ostensibly single-handedly responsible for putting South Coast on the current Ontario wine road map.

Burning Kiln Tank Samples

Burning Kiln Tank Samples

Doug Beatty brought some tank samples aboard. The springy and herbal 2013 Horse & Boat Riesling carries 20 g/L of residual sugar “to punch back the acids.” This is part of BK’s Green Kiln Series. A 2013 Savagnin tank sample carries similar texture but in elevated glycerin. The metal on top of that mouth feel really come forward to balance the residual and the alcohol (which is dramatically indiscernible). Grassy Sauvignon Blanc-like aromas and a very Jura palate are the hallmarks of a South Coast take in a wine that is such a baby.

The Harvest Party White tank sample gathers Chardonnay (59 per cent), Gewurztraminer (21), Riesling (18) and Pinot Gris (2). A chewy, textured, kitchen sink blend that stings of limestone, an herbal balm and a late edgy metallic bite. The Chardonnay 2013 tank sample spent 18 months in foudres. Reminds of a Lenko treatment, from fruit 50 per cent estate and 50 Niagara. Thin but linear and focused, with very good length, a crunch of green apple and round herbiage.

The 2011 Kiln Hanger from tank follows the same process at the ’10 from a less than scorching vintage but will arrive in bottle at 15.8 per cent alcohol. Only 400 cases will be produced from a cat-like specimen, still chewy, a chunk of major Cabernet Franc change. Higher in acidity and cool plums than in 2010, this is no shrinking Norfolk violet. Will show more style and less humidity than that ’10.

Burning Kiln Savagnin ‘Stick Shaker’ 2012, VQA Ontario (367144, $24.95, WineAlign)

What BK refers to as dry white Vin de Curé, or the “Parish Priest’s,” this is their take on the Jura’s Vin de Paille (Straw Wine). The South Coast may have a wine tradition that dates back to the 1600’s but Savagnin does not go back by the Ontario centuries.  At 14.9 per cent a heavy feeling would be expected but to the contrary, the SS is light as a feather, like a CSN ballad. Aromatically muted, the warmth of the vintage comes through in the textural density of the palate. Expressive and chewy like all of the Burning Kiln portfolio. A wine from two of only 10 total acres planted in the province. Though we may be “gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit,” here’s to helplessly hoping Savagnin takes root and flourishes in Ontario.

Burning Kiln Harvest Party Red 2013, VQA Ontario (Winery, $15.95, WineAlign)

From an overall 50/50, Estate/Niagara blend. The composition is Syrah (49 percent, all Niagara), Cabernet Franc (42 per cent) and Cabernet Sauvignon (9). Reminds of Fielding’s Fireside Red in approachability and blending acumen. Though an understudy, the softness of the Cabernet Sauvignon is duly noted as a foil to the clay/kiln effect from the piquant Cabernet Franc. Some chalk and even more chew, in the beginning this is just mostly fresh and wild with low, obtuse angles.

Burning Kiln Cab Frank 2012, VQA Ontario (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)

Named for the vineyard manager at Burning Kiln, Frank DeLeebeck was a tobacco farmer for more than 20 years. From 50/50 Estate/Niagara, 100 per cent kiln dried grapes for 10-14 days. This is CF all about concentration and a bridge from old tobacco to New World winemaking. Here kilns are the vehicle to transport the winery’s wines to the New World. Though this rich, cakey Cabernet Franc turns sweet on the finish, there is terrific acidity and admirable length. Holds its 14.3 per cent alcohol well. A unique appassimento.

Burning Kiln Strip Room Merlot/Cabernet Franc 2012, VQA Ontario (Winery, $24.95, WineAlign)

A 50/50 Estate and Niagara fruit split, classic Right Bank-styled blend of Merlot (55 per cent) and Cabernet Franc (45), kiln dried for 8-14 days. There is strength in alcohol (14.3 per cent) yet calm, dry reserve in (4.5 g/L) residual sugar. The aromatic profile is the most flirtatious of the BK stable, with the bruising and crushing of so many berries. There is a plum softness given by the Merlot, along with chalk, grain, vanilla and coconut from the generous six-month, three (French, Eastern European and American) oak layering. Like quality satellite St. Emilion, with so much noticeable tobacco.

Burning Kiln Kiln Hanger 2010, VQA Ontario (Winery, $59.95, WineAlign)

A 100 per cent Cabernet Franc, 100 per cent Kiln dried red made in two batches. Ages 32 months in Eastern European and American oak, half held back for this, The Sequel. Altogether there are 335 cases made of this huge, 15.9 per cent alcohol behemoth. The second coming furthers the already wealthy concentration with Alice anxiety and anaesthetizing mouth filling richesse. Here layers anything but a simple matter of loaded, dusty cocoa, decadent chocolate and creamy mocha. “I couldn’t tell if the bells were getting louder,” the entire cooperage preaching of “fanatical exposers on corners prophecy.”  Huge wine. Love it to death.

At Quai du Vin there are vineyards planted in 1970 by Redi and Roberto Quai. Today Jamie Quai makes the wine at the St. Thomas winery with the wisdom of those vines and the respectful touch of a winemaker with a minimal interventionist approach. Jamie Quai is concerned with the unearthing of micro-plot nuances in the Norfolk terroir. Quai du Vin farms 20 acres and has been open for business since 1990.

Quai du Vin

Quai du Vin

Quai du Vin Chardonnay 2012, Ontario (winery, $13.50)

From 15 year-old vines on the Sparta Moraine and what Jamie Quai calls “a field blend.” Though the soils are all heavy clay, there is a clay meets stone textural balance, surely thanks to five or six months lees contact. Like well-made southern Burgundy, the chosen yeast heightens the autolytic chain, allowing the flavours to veer tropical but not overly so. A Chardonnay that fell in love with a well-judged barrel while conceptualizing “good botrytis,” resulting in exceptional complexity for a song. Will drink beautifully through 2016.

Quai du Vin Red, Signature Series 2012, Ontario (winery, $12.50)

A blend of Marechal Foch (40 per cent), Baco Noir (30) and Merlot (30) from a host of appellations; Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Sparta Moraine Acres and Elgin County-North Shore Lake Erie. This has a thick brushstroke brought on by a predominance within the conglomerate of heavy clay. Unexpectedly tannic, chewy, with a sweet chocolate brownie finish. Not to mention tomato and the plant’s savoury leaf. The first vintage that Merlot made the cut in lieu of usually employed Cabernet Franc.

Quai du Vin Merlot 2012, Ontario (winery, $16.00)

Made from the same Merlot fruit in the Signature Red. Spent just over a year in barrel, the wine is still very primary and aromatically speaking, highly dusty. A painted note, green tea and rusty dry fruit are wrapped in an early reductive, nearly volatile note. Chewy, splintered, with grit, conceit and solid work. Note: Only 25 per cent of the vines will likely have survived the winter of 2014.

Villa Nova Estate Winery Mystery of Hrio 2013, Ontario (winery, $11.95)

A dry white made from three (numbered) hybrid grapes developed at Vineland Research Station.

Villa Nova Estate Winery Trout Fly Riesling 2012, Ontario  (winery, $12.50)

From 100 per cent Estate vines planted in 1996, this has that roots gathered mineral salinity from sandy loams so reminiscent of the Burgenland’s dry Rieslings. That Austrian run-off minerality is uncanny and when foiled by the old vines glycerin texture, the end result is quite a study in Simcoe complexity. A small amount of Traminer lifts the Riesling, along with some lees usage. Amazing discovery.

Villa Nova Estate Winery Pinot Noir 2012, Ontario  (winery, $15.95)

From Estate grapes planted around the year 2000. Lithe, pretty and certainly very Pinot. Like Kiwi Pinot in that the flesh is permeated by varnish. Wraps together cherry, pomegranate, cranberry and wet earth. If an Old World comparison might be made it would be to Mercurey, as it’s light, highly floral, with a break in the mid-palate and a stretched finish. “We’ve always ended up with light Pinot,” says winemaker and mad scientist Phil Ryan. That’s a good thing.

Villa Nova Estate Winery Norfolk Red 2013, Ontario  (winery, $11.95)

From Niagara and Norfolk (Marechal Foch, Baco Noir and Chambourcin) grapes. A hybrid party.

Villa Nova Estate Winery

Villa Nova Estate Winery

Frisky Beaver White 2012, VQA Ontario (345629, $13.95, WineAlign)

The all Niagara fruit blend is Vidal (75 per cent), Riesling (15) and Gewurztraminer (10). It’s considered VQA “Ontario” because Dover Vineyards awaits a viticultural designation. The irony here is that it may as well be labeled Niagara. This is clean and easy stuff, low in alcohol (11.2 per cent), elevated in sugar (18.4 g/L) but balancing in total acidity (5.6 g/L). Overall it has texture and tannic ability. Not a stressful blend by any stretch, it’s Pinot Gris like in Alsatian attitude with a juicy, peppery pear fruit tendency.

Smoke & Gamble Gewurztraminer Süssreserve 2011, Ontario (winery, $21.95, WineAlign)

Unfermented (11.8 per cent) appassimento juice is added back in for aromatic and textural effect. Semi-tropical and semi-dry, in pineapple and green apple but not lychee. This is Musqué in scent, clean, pure and true. From 100 per cent Norfolk fruit.

Smoke & Gamble Merlot Reserve 2011, Ontario (winery, $21.95, WineAlign)

A wild at heart Merlot, brooding, serious, deep and full. Caramel and chocolate, ginger spice and ripe plum. Coat, paint, coat, repeat. Alcohol is big (14.4 per cent) but well-integrated and whatever perceived sweetness there may be (4 g/L) is mitigated by a leafy, savoury edge.

Smoke & Gamble Cabernet Franc Appassimento 2010, Ontario (winery, $21.95, WineAlign)

Here is the deepest, post-modern wine made anywhere in the province. Reeking of rich, candied violets smothered in dark chocolate. Chalk and talc in licks and a dense, chewy mid-palate. A massive (14.5 per cent) wine with so much chocolate dust and thick glycerin. A stable of so many big attributes and in only winemaker Robert Gill ‘s second year dealing with the Amarone-style methodology. “The first year I was scared, I’ll admit.”

Golden Leaf Estate Winery Vidal 2012, Ontario (winery, $14.25)

From estate vines. Juicy, white peach and nectarine aromas, metal angles, straight up distillation of pure grapes.  Low brix and solid PH give it tannic thrust.

Golden Leaf Estate Winery Riesling 2012, Ontario (winery, $15.95)

Estate fruit (100 per cent). Sweet and with aromatic energy. Off-dry all the way. Leans Mosel in kindred spirit. Orchard fruit and excellent acidity. Slightly bitter-tinged finish, but in a noble way.

Golden Leaf Estate Winery Baco Noir 2011, Ontario (winery, $18.20)

A cheese in lees inflected BN, not the brooding and pitchy type. Some elegance, in as much as Baco Noir can show. Yet unusual because of that yogurt drip. Good acids, floral tones and citrus.

Golden Leaf Estate Winery Chambourcin 2011, Ontario (winery, $18.20)

Once again, all the lees, cheese and citrus , but also sweet and sour with some soy and caramel. Tight and racy Chambourcin, certainly as complex and accomplished as any this side of Michigan.

Golden Leaf Estate Winery Pinot Noir 2012 (Tank Sample)

High cranberry and dry earth bring this right back to Burgundy basics. Rosehip and sandalwood from old oak wrapped in sweet tannins. A bit of sinew and braised bouille. The coat is on.

Golden Leaf Estate Winery Merlot 2012 (Tank Sample)

From Niagara (De Moura Vineyards) fruit. Chalk in limestone, chocolate and a medium wood toast. Some green tannin, tea for sure but also some sweet tannin. Also roasted, charred red meat.

We wrapped up with some of the most righteous fruit wines one could ever hope to taste by way of Wooden Bear L Winery Inc.  Kim Ludwig’s wines are full of wildflowers, citrus expression and great balance. Her Gay-La Apple wine from 100 per cent Gala apples is like savoury Sauvignon Blanc, with angles in metal, low acidity but it’s dry and crisp. Her Sangria in a bottle has a liqueur-like taste, a slightly reductive, good bitterness and so much spirit. Not to mention tons of grapefruit.

Planting palm trees in Port Dover

Planting palm trees in Port Dover

All is good out on the water and we made it safely back to Port Dover, just in time to watch the annual planting of the palm trees. You can’t make this stuff up.

Good to go!

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