Twenty-three Canadian wines that rocked in 2023

Dec24

What makes a list? The question is like asking what makes a Martini dirty or how much VA is too much in sangiovese? There are some things in life that aren’t certain and others that are. The porcino is the king of all Italian mushrooms, just as the morel is in Ontario. This much is true. A young wild leek is best sautéed as briefly as possible in soft scrambled eggs while an older bulbous ramp should only be pickled. Chicken of the Woods mushrooms are the most striking fungi of them all and chanterelles are the only true frutto del bosco. Composing a best of list is not like these things but something other that takes time, a year’s accumulation of thought and above all else, patience. When more than 1,000 Canadian wines are tasted in a calendar year, narrowing it down to 23 feels like a weighty sense of responsibility and a profound task.

We are so far past discussing the merits or collective quality of wines produced in Canada. Canadian wines rock. They rock you like a hurricane, rock this joint and this town. They rock and roll all night, around the clock and the casbah. They are a rock and roll star, a rock and roll fantasy, old time rock and roll, a rock lobster and just a singer in a rock and roll band. Canadian wine is still rock and roll to me. Got it? This annual agglomeration gets easier to create and harder to define. In no particular order, in other words one through 23 are not systemized in any ascending or descending order. They are arranged to begin with this country’s most successful style of wine, that being sparkling, followed by riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet franc, red blends and Icewine. These are Godello’s 23 Canadian wines that rocked in 2023.

From the Naramata Bench

Tantalus Blanc De Blancs Traditional Method 2020, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Truly noses as blanc de blanc made from only chardonnay, orchard fruit suspended in sparkling animation. Gingery and rightly oxidative while tightly wound, grippy and ready for anything that is to follow. Flesh from the fruit of the trees fallen in to the hand even before it was picked from the stem. Croccante, succulent, a scintillant raciness in every respect, satisfying and long. Would really like to see this again after the decade strikes ten. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted blind at NWAC2023, June 2023

WineAlign National Awards of Canada judging in the Okanagan Valley

Hinterland Les Étoiles 2018, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario

Traditional Method and the archetype for making bubbles to speak on behalf of a very specific terroir whilst using estate grown Prince Edward County chardonnay and pinot noir. Hinterland is THE PEC version of Grower’s Champagne because Jonas Newman and Vicki Samaras spend more time with their vines than anything else. Considering how many waters their toes dip into that says something and Les Étoiles means business. It is a serious sparkling wine, with intense flavours and the kind of backbone most fizz can only dream of hanging their flesh upon. The 2018 is precocious and wise yet the exploits of its behaviour have only just begun. So taut, so tightly wound and yet so bloody generous. Fresh and with gingery oxidative moments but ultimately in control and introspectively complex. Re-visit as often as possible for up to 10-plus years. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted March 2023

Henry Of Pelham Cuvée Catharine Carte Blanche Estate Blanc De Blancs 2017, Traditional Method, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario

Consistently crafted as a Blanc de Blancs that sees 60 months on the lees from estate grown chardonnay. From a varietal growing season so ideally destined for sparkling wine because a cool and wet spring plus summer emerged in late August to hot days and cool nights through October. In the middle of that spell is the chardonnay pick for sparkling and as good, complex and riveting as this arch-classic Ontario bubble may have been beforev- well bring on 2017 for next level complexities. Tasty, piquant and toothsome, of toasty brioche like never before and this swirl of creamy fruits and exotic seasonings. Feels like aged Growers’ Champagne and the fact that it is from Niagara makes it all that much more satisfying. Plenty of crunch, succulence and acid-driven energy from a meticulous bubble. The benchmark for local. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Okanagan Valley

Blue Mountain Reserve Brut R.D. 2014, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Always pleased to welcome the BR R.D. into a glass and here is an old but a proverbial goody, that being 2014 and consumers must be reminded just how special this research and development is to determine the excellence of Blue Moutnain’s indagative sparkling wine. A blend of chardonnay and pinot noir, the first 10 percent more than the last with some of the most restrained, reserved and demure aromatics in the Okanagan Valley. All ways to say this is lovely, quietly generous and so settled to gift pleasure above all else. A most complex game of citrus and orchard fruit, distillate by nature, expertly seasoned with fine sea salt, white pepper and lemongrass powder. Such a gift nine years after vintage at a ridiculously reasonable price. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Trail Estate Pinot Noir Sparkling (P.N.17) 2017, VQA Ontario

Here flies from the glass a sparkling gambit that has to be winemaker Mackenzie Brisbois’ most conventional wine. Just pinot noir and from an inverted vintage that gets better and better with time. A 2017 of wildly fantastical aromas and gravitas that make every aspect, component and iterated moment shine. This is a scintillant of excitation that delivers succulence we richly desire from Ontario sparkling wine. The mix of heady perfume, intensity of palate raciness and texture sliding into structure is truly something. If you are not put into an absolute tizzy and hypnotized by this fizz you may not be paying attention. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2023

Simon Rafuse, Blomidon Estate

Blomidon Estate Winery Brut Blanc De Blancs 2016, Nova Scotia

A 2016 Bland de Blancs that saw 60 months on the lees. Super aromatic and expressive as if breezes were blowing through, Fundy winds with sea kelp and wet clay. Ideal phenolics in an idealized B de B that surely captures place, especially in a vintage like this, but truth is tells Simon Rafuse, “extreme climate event weather in Nova Scotia is making vintage cuvées nearly impossible.” Much of the fruit here comes from the estate block on the bay north of Port Williams, a sandy site that makes for more gentle, elegant and abiding chardonnay. Using old barrels helps to fatten and flesh up that fruit. Seems like an ideal match for the scintillant style of traditional method Nova Scotia sparkling wine. Super fun and energetic bubble. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted at i4C, July 2023

Lightfoot & Wolfville estate vines overlooking the Minas Basin

Lightfoot & Wolfville Cuvée Evelyn, Nova Scotia

Pinot Noir 85% Chardonnay 15%. If a bit too oxidative in tendency confirmed by the preserved lemon, well it also supports an ambitious style (reminiscent of top, top Cap Classique) that defines this traditional method, pinot noir controlled sparkler. Amazing toasty quality and just the right level of acid sourness to electrify and stretch in the finest nimble way while maintaining balance. Just has to be a top tier cuvée for this house. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted blind at NWAC2023, June 2023

Godello and Taylor Whelan, CedarCreek Vineyards

CedarCreek Pinot Noir Rosé Platinum South Kelowna Slopes 2022, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

As perfumed as it can ever get for Rosé with a salutary seasoning to elevate flavours up into a complex level of vinous gastronomy. Just scents like ripe pinot noir set up for food matching where plates like tamarind-glazed duck tacos, lemon thyme roasted game birds or anything spit grilled (a.k.a. al pastor) would willingly sidle alongside. Can handle a side of pickled onion, beet or turnip and also the truth. What a terrific use of Home Block and Simes vineyard pinot noir fruit, a white-like wine of protected aromatics, lees addendum, not to mention how blessed it is by a beautiful autumn that made sure Rosé could also be graced by true Okanagan phenolic ripeness. Perfect storm of a Rosé and we should all be thankful for the happenstance. Will age more than a bit as well. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted June 2023

Vineland Estates Riesling Elevation St. Urban Vineyard 2022, VQA Niagara Escarpment, Ontario

Credit know-how, track record and pedigree – all those essentials of a producer with varietal experience from THE place in this country where it all began. Yes, all this matters but step forward and know that Vineland Estates uses modern technology in both their farming and also winemaking practices in ways no one else seems to equal. So what does this mean for this archetype of an Ontario riesling? So much. St. Urban 2022 is the cleanest, freshest and most luxe yet, simply put it’s all about pinpointed accuracy, finesse and well, great science. The fruit is crisp, the acids purposed and the finish long, silent, salient and salty. This will age alongside some of the best, with noticeable phenolics in tow, making for sapid moments too. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted September 2023

Gabriel Demarco, Cave Spring Cellars

Cave Spring Riesling CSV 2019, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario

From the first 2019 CSV holds the intangible riesling cards and feels well-ripened, despite the vintage not being one of the warmer ones up on the Niagara Escarpment. Truth is CSV ’19 wears its phenolics on both sleeves as noted in the botanical resins, melon skins and stone fruit pit aromas. Already possessive of a subtle petrol kiss and acidity of a clear and present high number. Nothing dangerous mind you and the phenol-acid relationship in the wine is quite static, stoic and immovable, at least in this stage of early youth. Will mature quicker than some though the mineral quotient will always ride shotgun. CSV 2019 feels like healthy drinking. It will likely assist in averting the damage of cells resulting from free-radical oxidation reactions and also promote anti-inflammation capacity. More than riesling. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted April 2023

Tawse Riesling Carly’s Block 2020, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario

Stoic, cool, gelid and reserved riesling in the vein of a cool climate though the palate richness suggests a warmer vintage. High sugar and also equally so in acid, well-balanced and bespoke where the relationship between grape and geology is ideally matched. This is extremely well made. Finish is extraordinary, with tremendous grip. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted blind at NWAC2023, June 2023

ed. The 2007 Carly’s Block tasted in July during a visit to Redstone Winery also rocked for 2023. One of Paul Pender’s great works indeed.

Charles Baker

Charles Baker Riesling Picone Vineyard 2019, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario

Crisp and crunchy but more importantly indelibly phenolic and with all parts moving as one, in synch and so incredibly harmonic. Symphonic riesling from the fabulous Baker boy out of 2019 and with this amount of time now passed, increasingly uncovering proof that it is indeed a vintage for the ages. Texture and intensity with shots of umami are created as a result of that stamp of particular Vinemount Ridge ripeness. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted April 2023

August Chicken of the Woods

Westcott Chardonnay Block 76 2020, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Ontario

The 2020 may be as ideal as it gets for chardonnay across most sub-appellations of Niagara and Block 76 from Westcott up on the Vinemount Ridge proves the theory in so many ways. The statuesque musculature and moment frozen in time visage is something else from a chardonnay so stoic, confident and the kind of act sure attitude that speaks to farming and winemaking cohesiveness. From Garrett Westcott to Casey Kulczyk – there are no holes in this chardonnay. The barrel is huge and yet subtle, the fruit pristine and treated to precision, finesse and at the end of the day, Westcott family love. Benchmark for vintage, ridge and estate. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted August 2023

Hidden Bench Chardonnay Felseck Vineyard Unfiltered 2020, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario

Estate chardonnay is a cracker 2020 for Hidden Bench and along comes single-vineyard Felseck to crank up the volume for something off the charts. The aromatic bites and flavour washes deliver a Beamsville Bench wall of varietal sound. This is driven, single-vineyard minded and stubborn chardonnay to put symphonies of sound in our heads. Like massed pianos, guitars and string arrangements from which pervasive aromatic perfume and transonic flavour intensity collect to personify cool climate Bench chardonnay. The farmer, maker and proprietor may not be the fruit themsleves, but Felseck 2020 is most definitely their wine. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted July 2023

Leaning Post Chardonnay Senchuk Vineyard 2020, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario

Not just the next vintage of the Senchuk homefront chardonnay but potentially one that will be talked about for a decade in retrospective tastings and longer. Whether or not a bottle is present, the reverberations will percolate through the ages. Not just a matter of varietal stuffing created by soils rich in clay and alluvial alloy in which stones feel pulverized into the textural fabric of this wine. You can chew this like taffy and feel the juices run as it liquifies and spreads across the palate. Hovering acidity keeps all the fruit covered, then lifted and placed just where you want this cleanest and purest of Lincoln Lakeshore fruit to be. We are all impressed and those who are not should be mystified due to reasons misunderstood. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted July 2023

Chardonnays of i4C 2023

Rosehall Run St. Cindy Chardonnay 2020, VQA Prince Edward County

The ode goes to Cindy Zwicker Reston, Rosehall Run co-founder and the honour is more about good deeds and love than it is just about name. St. Cindy is no small gift of a label and the good thing is Dan Sullivan’s work puts the saint in the Cindy. Few Prince Edward Country chardonnays were able to avoid ripening, softening, elevated alcohol and loss of tension but double R’s Cindy is the balanced one. Yes it is ripe and also rich but even more important is the pitch perfect seasoning, grip retention and finest moments where extract and tannin collide. This is really, really good chardonnay. The kind of stuff taught in chardonnay winemaking school but riffed upon in the real world. What else needs to be said? Drink 2023-2026. Tasted March 2023

Grimsby Hillside Vineyard

Bachelder Chardonnay Frontier Block Grimsby Hillside Vineyard 2021, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario

Vintage number three from Grimsby Hillside Vineyard and now more specific by way of a split, with the Frontier Block as the plot within the larger plot, along with that of Red Clay Barn. Drilling down into this historical vineyard that has risen as fast as any New World terroir, just about anywhere these sorts of things are measured. Here named for the final frontier, that being the “last terroir” in Niagara and who knows, maybe it will soon be the first rolling off of everyone’s lips. GHV-FB 2021 is a force, that much is clear from the first look. Or nose, for what matters. Cool and stony style from a wide open space where limestone, shale and gravels conspire to create something new and with absolute potential. It’s already arrived thank you very much and while words like luxe and opulent do not come to the tip, others like succulent and scintillating do. Just something so real and right at your doorstep, vivid beyond chardonnay compare, a stealth fish swimming in clear waters. Truly complex for chardonnay and it must be noted, unlike any other in the world though at the same time feeling like something you’ve known your whole life. Make an exception to delve into this exception because when it comes to chardonnay, this is what we need. Remarkable clarity and distinction, precision extraordinaire and a wine to cast nets far and wide to secure as many bottles that could be found. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted December 2023

Ramps of 2023

Stanners Pinot Noir The Narrow Rows 2020, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario

Warmest of vintages and yet as only pinot noir (especially from PEC) is want and capable of doing there is no dramatic rise in alcohol. Conversions will be conversions and they are almost always magical as it pertains to the County. The specificity of the Narrow Rows elicits a varietal human response like few, if no others out of the County and that means love. The wave of fruit effortlessly tumbling into sweet acidity and structure fitting like a glove makes all parts happy, singing and generous. They do their work with chivalry, philanthropy and love. The vintage is a conundrum for PEC reds but the Narrow Rows and subsequent actions will be judged as right in the future, in part because of the block and in part because the Stanners team abides by what this pinot noir needs to be. A top pinot for 2020 Prince Edward County. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted March 2023

Judges of the 2023 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada

Privato Tesoro Pinot Noir Woodward Collection 2020, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Inviting, sexy and rising in high spirit, song sung hitting the high notes and a pinot noir that rocks from the first. The perfume is just so very brushy hillside or escarpment and perhaps a bit northerly in location. Crunchy and succulent, judiciously oaked and spiced. mid to more than that in weight, impressive concentration without density and length – such never-ending length. This is the right pinot for the people. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted blind at NWAC2023, June 2023

Thomas Bachelder

Bachelder Old Eastern Block Lowrey Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021, VQA St. David’s Bench, Ontario

For Lowrey Vineyard go east young man, the east is the best – or at least east is oldest, planted in 1984 by the family for the legend Karl Kaiser. The lineage of alliances runs from Kaiser at Inniskillin with Jaffelin (now Rémoissenet), through Le Clos Jordanne and Bachelder forays into Oregon. Today the eastern block of old vines have passed their 35 year mark which means they are truly heritage, not only for Niagara but for anywhere in the world. A glacial heritage too, with limestone being a determining factor to make pinot like this seem soil-driven, mineral-bent and shaped by millennium. Bachleder’s job is to not fuck it up and though he never does, for 2021 he finds another gear. One that is measured and paced for pinot noir – which is exactly what it needs and wants. The sweetness and purity of both fruit and acidity is seamlessly braided to spin a wine that will surely be timeless. Truly special and deserving of much love so give it. Success? Did it come out? All his wines come out. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted December 2023

The first Morel of 2023

Thirty Bench Cabernet Franc Wild Cask 2020, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario

Full and splendid varietal expression with such a distinctly captured frank-ness in concentration that really sets the Bench on fire. All the fruit imaginable with help from ant ideal growing season and then the salt and pepper seasoning that sees wood do what’s right and also necessary. The linearity and even-keeled notions of this Thirty Bench are just so measured, persistent and incremental. Will age gracefully over 10 years time. Last tasted April 2023

If at first this may seem like middle road taken for grape and vintage, of medium specs all the way through, keep coming back to this wine. From fruit through acidity and into tannin there is harmony, seamlessly woven and without falter. Good pH balance connectivity to structure so that the cabernet franc doles in sapidity as much as anything else. Right amount of chalkiness and a temperament that is really quite fine. No mind that oak persists as a factor just on the right side of heavy for now. Should show beautifully in another year’s time and with (Bench) distinction for many years to follow. Equal parts salty and sapid is always great combination. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted blind with the Experts’ Panel, April 2023

Stratus White Label Red 2020, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario

The blend for Red is always vintage dependant but can’t say there is any shock to see cabernet sauvignon art 40 percent taking the 2020 lead. Next there is cabernet franc (27), followed by merlot and malbec (13 each) and finally petit verdot (7). Six weeks of picking between the merlot and the cabernet sauvignon with specs in the end right on par with that (latter) varietal wine. Meaning magnanimous, ambitiously structured and of a potential to see the 2020, 20th anniversary Red as becoming one for the Stratus ages. Certainly more juiciness and also fun (and pleasure) but make no mistake. These tannins bite back, the wood is far from integrated and years will be required to see this make good on its promise. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted September 2023

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

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

Good to go!

godello

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WineAlign

Godello’s Ontario wines playlist

Apr29

Writing about Canadian wines has been intrinsically inspired by music because quite frankly, one is always connected to the other. The wines of Ontario have always been at the head of this coupling and the relationship is borne more or less of its own accord. Music came first of course because before wine there was this gangly Toronto teenager every Saturday morning at 8:59 am sitting on the curb in front of Vortex Records at Dundas and Mutual Streets waiting for Bert Myers to open his shop so that kid could be the first in. The 1,600 vinyl record collection still gets plenty of spin time, as does Spotify and Google Music. The CDs? Not so much. Invariably a glass of wine is in hand, more often than not with an Ontario VQA designation in tow.

Canadian music has been great for as long as I have been listening. When did Ontario wine get here too, or the question begs, how? Not by virtue of any particular ethos through customs and traditions going back over many generations of wines. No, success and cumulative proficiency exists by dint of these wines without any forced supervision. They are governed by themselves and indeed across the entire industry. Done are the blanketing days of spare and powerful Ontario wines that were often too spare, so that the ribs of tannin showed through in painful obviousness. Today the contigious embracing of cool climate idiosyncrasy, fringe exceptionality and a unique Somewhereness makes Ontario the envy of the developing wine world.

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

My writing about wine an occupation whose reality is examined to points of madness, of long, run-on sentences, often at odds with grammatical winemaking realism. My tireless, tiring sentences and phrasing can at times offer a feeling that is potentially endless. Often I like my music to be the same in a Genesis-Frank Zappa-Pat Metheny like continuum but that too is changing. The young pop meeting hip-hop stars that my children listen to are growing on me. As are the unknown, the indie and the tireless players. And they need our help. The wineries too. Just ask Neko Case. “For every piece of music you stream/use for free today, please pay for one if you can. Music and art seem as effortless and breathable as air because an army of humans lovingly make it and propel it for the good of all.” Support local and order your next case of wine from an Ontario winery.

Compiling any wine list is never easy. Not when the subject matter is the most fleeting of consumables, a drink ever-changing, almost never tasting the same twice and destined for eventual failure. We know by instinct that wines cast the shadow of their own destruction before them and are designed from the first with an eye to their later existence as ruins. Wine critics can only regard what is in the glass by what sensory enjoyment or displeasure is activated at that exact time. In most cases there are no second chances. Music is different, timeless, often repetitive and can always be given a second chance.

Music and wine can work magic when paired together. Sometimes it’s just a matter of breaking wine down to the base, choosing grapes from places where they are made in straightforward and simply powerful ways. Likewise, clicking an uncomplicated, three-chord arrangement on YouTube or Spotify can really change the outlook of a day. With a glass of wine in hand there’s a familiar internal silence when sublime music plays, is performed, gifted. The following wines combine lyricism with melody. They write the songs.

Sparkling Wine

Ontario’s sparkling wine oeuvre has transformed into something unstoppable, immoveable and utterly impressive. Truly. Examples tend to be sharp, of lean and intense fruit, with more toast and edges than other Canadian counterparts. The climate is ideal for making bubbles of all ilk; traditional method, cuvée close, ancestral, charmat and pétillant naturel, a.k.a. pét-nat. For every occasion and at all times, especially with music blaring, or soothing softly, as you wish. There are no wrong pairings for Ontario sparkling wine.

Hinterland Lacus Pétillant Naturel 2017, VQA Ontario ($24.00)

Hinterland’s Lacus is gamay noir made in a fully accumulated yeasty style, re-fermented in bottle and yet wholly antithetical to the Jonas Newman’s sweeter Ancestral. Lacus could mean “lake” or “cistern,” perhaps in nod to all the meandering, surrounding and irregularly patterned water in the County, or perhaps it might mean “award,” as should be what we all get in tasting this delightful sparkling wine. Different and comforting, textural and exceptional in varietal, land and stylistic usage. Utterly versatile and electric as need be. Elevates pétillant naturel wine into the real world for many to enjoy. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted June 2019

Pairs with The Tragically Hip’s My Music at Work

Why? The opening lines say it all, for what’s happening today.

Everything is bleak
It’s the middle of the night
You’re all alone and
The dummies might be right
You feel like a jerk
My music at work
My music at work

Henry Of Pelham Cuvée Catharine Carte Blanche Estate Blanc De Blanc 2014, Traditional Method, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Escarpment (315200, $44.95)

The vintage tension is felt right from the aromatic get go and there can be no doubt that you are nosing Niagara’s most accomplished sparkling wine. Lime and wet concrete, fennel pollen and Baked Alaska. All tolled a terrific entry and no downturn into ginger and savoury crème brûlée followed by a moment of silence and contemplation. Use this for all, whenever and wherever. It will work for everyone, including those who will appreciate the faint sweetness to balance the year’s anxieties. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted November 2019

Pairs with Alessia Cara’s Scars to Your Beautiful

Why? H of P’s Cuvée Catharine is also a wine of hope, youth and beauty. A wine from our very own backyard, just like the the singer from Brampton. The first line helps.

But there’s a hope that’s waiting for you in the dark

Riesling

It seems that in Ontario riesling is perpetually on the rise and the reasons why are as varied as the artistry it’s equipped to display. It has been 40 years since the Pennachetti family of Cave Spring Vineyard and German vintner Herman Weis planted riesling in St. Urban Vineyard on what is now Vineland Estates. My how things have changed. The trending line ascends as the general public comes around and warms to the versatile grape so popularity is not just in the hands of geeks, oenophiles and connoisseurs. Ask your favourite sommelier, product consultant or wine writer. Riesling’s neighbourhood is beginning to gentrify in a big way but it’s also expanding experimental and ancestral horizons. Varietal power, finesse and omniscient existentialism for a signature and singular Ontario purpose is perpetual and unwavering. Versatility goes with eccentric, electric and eclectic tunes so get your funk, funky and funkadelic groove on.

Adamo Estate Riesling Wismer Foxcroft Vineyard 2017, VQA Twenty Mile Bench (11236, $19.95)

Grower’s Series as in purchased fruit raised by serious Ontario grape farmers, in this case the Wismers and their expansive and generous Twenty Mile Bench-Foxcroft Vineyard. In Shauna White’s hands this Wismer fruit is ripe, developed and open-knit for skies the limit flavour potential. Cut your teeth on this juicy somnambulist riesling of citrus, peach, yellow plum and wide-eyed excitement. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted March 2020

Pairs with The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights

Why? The song is new but timeless, retro, thrown back to the mid 1980s with synth rhythms like Take on Me by A-Ha. Adamo’s riesling sleep walks, blinds us by its light and connects rieslings going back through time to today.

Oh, when I’m like this, you’re the one I trust
Hey, hey, hey

Cave Spring Riesling Adam Steps 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench ($24.95)

Adam Steps is the riesling positioned up the middle lane, with more sugar than the Estate and near equal to CSV, with acidity higher than the former and similar to the latter. It’s the fatter, juicier, more generous one and in many ways much like the Feinherb’s of Germany. This is a very forward vintage with elevated levels of all its typical character, including tropical notes of guava and pineapple. May not be the longest age worthy AS but it is a most pleasing one. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted February 2019

Pairs with Drake’s Passion Fruit

Why? You might think this would pair better with sauvignon blanc but Adam’s Steps smells just as tropical and well, the first line.

Ayy, y’all get some more drinks goin’ on, I’ll sound a whole lot better

Ravine Vineyard Riesling Patricia’s Block 2018, VQA St David’s Bench ($35.00)

From the botrytis block and you can feel, sense, and taste it very much so in this vintage. This in spite of a 30 per cent number out of a year when humidity and brix did not quite jive in terms of penultimate timing. Tart, leesy and so bloody sensorial. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted September 2019

Pairs with DJ Shub’s Indomitable

Why? The indigenous electronic music of PowWowStep is so riesling, so Ravine and so Patricia. “I want Canadians to see that pow wow culture is beautiful in both imagery and spirit,” explains DJ Shub. “I also want young Native kids to know that they can find support and happiness in their lives, even if they can’t see it right in front of them.”

Chardonnay

In Ontario, raising chardonnay is about growing grapes and making wines in places previously discounted. There is no secret that Ontario winemakers have worked tirelessly to develop the ability and the acumen to make world-class chardonnay. Always reinventing itself and potential fulfilled, chardonnay, the slow train coming. Few ideals or notions are hotter these days than those relating to cool climate viticulture and the selvage regions from where such wines are produced. As for music and chardonnay? The great singer-songwriters and bands of course; the classics, icons and archetypes.

Westcott Vineyards Estate Chardonnay 2017, VQA Vinemount Ridge (424507, $27.95)

This 2017 from Westcott is really just what you might imagine were you to close your eyes and draw a triangle in your mind from the Vinemount Ridge, to judiciously oaked chardonnay and through to Westcotts’s manifesto. Niagara chardonnay should be about farming and this most certainly is, but also a microcosm of place, again of truth, but like all good, great and ethereal chardonnay must be. The florals are high for the place and the texture like organza, filament and lace. The obtuse vintage be damned it is this team that has found the right path and the way to varietal understanding. This teaches us about the ridges and benches but also about cool climate chardonnay. Thanks for this. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted October 2019

Pairs with Bruce Cockburn’s Wondering Where the Lions Are

Why? Like the song everyone always wants to hear him play, timeless, so Canadian and one that teaches so much about being us. The dictionary and playlist wrapped into one with a chardonnay that speaks to all of us in a cool climate vernacular.

Sun’s up, mm-hmm, looks okay
The world survives into another day
And I’m thinking ’bout eternity
Some kinda ecstasy got a hold on me

Hidden Bench Estate Chardonnay 2017, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Escarpment (68817, $29.95)

You may consider this 2017 (estate) chardonnay from Hidden Bench the transition, meaning it demarcates the passing of the varietal torch, from Marelize Beyers to Jay Johnston. And indeed there is a little bit of each winemaker’s finesse, grace and cumulative style. Perhaps a step away from richesse with a step forward in structure. That means the linearity and subtlety speaks ahead of the developed flavours and so a longer primary period will allow this to drink consistently for nearly five years. After that it will develop more flint and smoulder, if less golden sunshine richness. These are of course details in minutia and shadows to discover. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted February 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lin-a2lTelg

Pairs with Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows

Why? Everything about Cohen’s music lives in shadows and everybody knows that a Hidden Bench chardonnay does the same. Even if the plague is coming fast, from one great to another, everybody knows.

Everybody knows,
Everybody knows,
That’s how it goes,
Everybody knows

Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Chardonnay 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($44.95)

Welcome back, to that grand vineyard place that we’ve talked about. Down on the farm near the water where chardonnay was purposed grown and put in the hands of a young Thomas Bachelder. The results were dramatic and now that unparalleled fruit is back in the monk’s world, he wiser and more experienced than ever. The transition is spooky seamless and the awe in hand providing breathtaking posits in moments more than fleeting. Behold the presence of orchards and their just ripened glow of fruit with sheen so fine. Let your glass allow the ease of the aromas and flavours to fall in and emit with conscious movement, without conscience or effort. That’s the 2017 Grand Clos. Chardonnay that is. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted November 2019

Pairs with Rush’s Limelight

Why? Le Clos Jordanne is back in the limelight and on a literal level, the return of this iconic Ontario chardonnay by Thomas Bachelder is about living as a performer, on a stage, with all eyes upon them. A wine with a higher purpose.

Get on with the fascination
The real relation
The underlying theme

Rosé

Who needs only light, southern French styled Rosé when you can also have full fruit, plenty of colour and a healthy dose of personality? In many cases the nearly pale and vin gris examples still persist and excite but there are those bled and rendered, heavily hued and teeming with fruit. Ontario made Rosé is more diverse, complex and multifarious than ever before. In terms of working for the consumer that means more choice and that’s a beautiful thing. Whether you are making yours to be a crowd pleaser with a heathy dose of residual sugar or dry as the desert, the unequivocal voice of necessary conscience will always whisper “balance in Rosé is key.” Like Canadian music which also pairs well with bottles of blush.

Leaning Post Rosé 2018, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($20.95)

Hmmm…salty. Lovely lithe and spirited Rosé here from the LP boys, redolent of fresh-picked strawberry, Maldon sprinkled and just herbaceous enough to care for signature red grape varieties ideal for the quick, calm and easy blush bleed. The sour edge just adds to the mystique and the by the boatload charm. Just right. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted February 2019

Pairs with Shawn Mendes’ Stitches

Why? Don’t want to get too serious with Rosé so a little pop music with a slightly salty and bitter sound seems like just the plan.

And now that I’m without your kisses
I’ll be needing stitches

Malivoire Rosé Moira 2019, VQA Beamsville Bench ($24.95)

Production is “as much as I can get from that site,” tells Shiraz Mottiar, so maximum 800 cases. As always the aridity and the salinity continue to rise, the acids, minerality, near brininess and ultimate stoic balance so secure at the top of the game. Such a high acid vintage for everything but certainly that includes Rosé, yet still the least amount of skin-contact of the three Malivoire blush. Acids just don’t correlate to hue and flesh. Thank pH for the needle’s movement in how this translates from vintage to vintage. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Pairs with Justin Bieber’s Intentions

Why? Moira just gets to me and a glass always leads to creativity. The Ontario Rosé muse unparalleled.

Shout out to your mom and dad for making you
Standing ovation, they did a great job raising you
When I create, you’re my muse
The kind of smile that makes the news

Gamay

Not that there is ever a bad time to partake in the wonders of gamay, but with the mercury rising, spring is the right time to be with the gamay you love. If you’ve never experienced the nuanced pleasure of great gamay, whether it be from Beaujolais in Bourgogne’s southern reaches or from Ontario’s cool-climate hinterlands, its prime time you did. The gamay produced in Ontario can run the gamut from light, fruity and joyful to dark, serious and structured. Winemakers are on their gamay game and the quality has never been better. The kind of songs to match gamay need to exhibit intrinsic purity and also variance so be picky and intentional here.

Château Des Charmes St. David’s Bench Vineyard Gamay Noir Droit 2017, VQA St. David’s Bench, Niagara On The Lake (346742, $19.95)

Quite a reductive and structured gamay with healthy extraction and great vintage fruit. Resides in the black raspberry realm with a balancing sheet of strawberry roll-up. Nothing shy about this, in a ripest of St. David’s Bench vein and so much could be taught about Ontario gamay through the work of this maker. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted October 2018 and March 2020

Pairs with Neil Young’s Homegrown

Why? Both Château Des Charmes and gamay strike me as the epitome of homegrown and the St. David’s Bench estate is simply the Neil Young of Ontario.

Homegrown’s
All right with me
Homegrown
Is the way it should be
Homegrown
Is a good thing
Plant that bell
And let it ring

Stratus Gamay 2017, VQA Niagara On The Lake ($29.20)

Gamay gets neither more ripe nor extracted in Ontario and yet there’s a step back dance grace about this singular ’17. If ever the word Cru might come to mind when nosing and tasting local gamay this would be one, specific to a time and a place. Wild cherry, black cherry and concentrated cherry syrup are the big, bigger and biggest attributes, all cut through by a knife’s edge acidity. Wild gamay of grip, with very good length. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted February 2019

Pairs with Robbie Robertson’s I Hear You Paint Houses

Why? To be honest lyrically this song has nothing to do with Stratus or gamay but it features Van Morrison and that’s pretty much the reason. Robbie and Van together is like Stratus and gamay.

I hear you paint houses
Right down to the wire

Pinot Noir

Thoughts about pinot noir always articulate an opinion. Smells like cherries, shows earth and mineral notes of/from clay and limestone. Texture is specific to the village where it is grown. In Ontario there are pinot noir crus few would ague against the probability that in most vintages quality will be a guarantee. Crus like Lowrey Vineyard on the St. David’s Bench, top blocks in Prince Edward County, several vineyards up on the Beamsville Bench, Wismer-Foxcroft, much of the Twenty Mile Bench and Four Mile Creek. The naysayers who continue to doubt whether pinot noir is a viable signature grape in this province are not paying close enough attention to the signs, portents and in conclusion, the results. As for the songs it plays and sings? Gotta be both old and new, retro and still avant-garde, crooning while ambient, poppy yet just a bit unusual and always stuck in your head.

Inniskillin Montague Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017, VQA Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula ($30.95)

From a vintage both turned on and stood on its head with cool and wet summer conditions followed by unprecedented heat in September. The resulting look at pinot noir means strawberry like you’ve never noted before and Montague’s certainly jamming with concentration. Sweet fruit carries just enough varietal tension and depth to keep it grounded in the clay-earthy realities of Niagara. Not like Montague’s past perhaps but great fun nonetheless. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted November 2019

Pairs with City and Colour’s Hope for Now

Why? Dallas Green’s voice, of sweet tension, like Ontario pinot noir and Montague’s clay-earthy reality.

What will it take to live as if I would not another day?
To live without despair, and to be without disdain
How can I instill such hope, but be left with none of my own?
What if I could sing just one song and it might save somebody’s life?

Rosehall Run JCR Pinot Noir 2017, VQA Prince Edward County ($39.00)

A bit high-toned, magically spirited and rebelliously volatile. Earthy and lithe in fruit though quite raspberry-pomegranate and exciting for those who like it not only lightning searing, but intensely meaningful. Hard not quiver with impatience at the thought of this treat before me and what such a singular pinot noir will become when it matures. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted blind at NWAC19, June 2019

Pairs with Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You

Why? PEC pinot noir, this vineyard and that winemaker. Musically structured like a song from Blue, chord and tempo changes, magically spirited and intensely meaningful. Thank you Dan Sullivan.

You taste so bitter
And so sweet, oh
I could drink a case of you darling, and I would
Still be on my feet

Congrats to Cliff and Colin @stannerswines for their The Narrow Rows Pinot Noir 2017 Gold Medal performance @judgement.of.kingston 2019. We the judges deliberated long and with great care to come to this well-deserved conclusion.

Stanners Vineyard Pinot Noir The Narrow Rows 2017, VQA Prince Edward County

A super-saturated, honed and zeroed in upon place in a vineyard ripeness with a touch foxiness. Reality from limestone bled into fruit wavering on a spectrum where berry fruit

sits on one end and earthy beetroot all the way over on the other. Touches both and then properly meets in the middle. Cherries are red, herbs are green and tension stretches a wire between two poles. Tomato water and tomato leaf with fresh basil. That’s just matter of fact and a good struck balance in combination. You almost feel it’s at once too ripe and then a bit green but those moments are fleeting and so the summation in accumulation is the thing; must, seeds, stems and the work of kind, nurturing and gentle hands add up to great delicacy. It’s local and it’s so bloody good. Delicious even. Unlike any pinot noir ever made previously in Ontario. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted blind at the Judgement of Kingston, November 2019

Pairs with Ron Sexsmith’s Gold in Them Hills

Why? Pinot is a song of hope, crooned by a Canadian treasure. Colin Stanners may as well be the Ron Sexsmith of Prince Edward County, shy and brilliant, reserved and funny.

But maybe it’s the perfect day
Even though the bills are piling

There’s gold in them hills
There’s gold in them hills
So don’t lose heart
Give the day a chance to start

Cabernet Franc

At the brazen and confident right of Ontario’s most important varietal reds is cabernet franc, a Bordelais grape that paints a more palatable picture than those brushed by both merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Transparently honest and forthright by nature, brassy and highly energetic, righteously indignant like a young band with a big sound and no shortage of swagger. Frank Ontario red, frankly speaking.

Tawse Natural Wine Cabernet Franc Redfoot Vineyard 2018, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula ($28.95)

There’s a symmetry in this cabernet franc and as it is the natural one in the Tawse stable, it’s actually the connection between vineyard and varietal that brings about the a ha moment. Redfoot has to date been the gamay block for natural executions and cabernet franc has been a Laundry Vineyard affair. The dots are connected through the Lincoln Lakeshore lexicon from one to the next, first in grape and then in winemaking, or lack thereof. This Vin Nature is both the least “natural” of all the Tawse tries while at the same time most like the Laundrys of past vintages, though it’s really somewhere in the circulative middle of a stylistic that includes the Grower’s Blend. In fact there’s no great departure from those cabernet francs so why not make them all this way? If the results are same dark fruit, same blushing acidity, same piquancy, same herbal undertones and nearly the same clarity of structure, why not risk it across the board? Could drink this with abandon. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted September 2019

Pairs with The Arkells Knocking at the Door

Why? “There’s a fearlessness to it that I think a lot of sports fans and teams want to feel,” said frontman Max Kerman. The song has been anthemic at hockey games and women’s marches. Paul Pender’s natural wines do something eerily similar and reach a very large audience.

That’s me, I’m knockin’ at the door
I’m thirsty
For more, for more, for more
That’s me, I’m knockin’ at the door
I’m knockin’ at the door
I’m knockin’ at the door
That’s me

Southbrook Saunders Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2018, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula ($28.95)

Nothing if not classic Bench-raised cabernet franc with crunchy fruit, dark red and savoury plus that unmistakeable current of dark currant and capsicum. There’s no mistaking the origin or the execution, nor the varietal expressiveness. Transparent, honest, real and blessed of so much purposeful character. May not charm everyone from the word go but a couple of years will sort them out. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted December 2019

Pairs with Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs

Why? The bounce in this song reminds of cabernet franc’s varietal dance, crunchy, savoury and honest. That’s just how Ann Sperling interprets fruit from Saunders Vineyard, tripping over piano keys and a background of strings making ambient sounds, rising to a crescendo.

Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m moving past the feeling
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m moving past the feeling again

Good to go!

godello

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Nineteen Canadian wines that rocked in 2019

Dec26

Love year-end lists? Stick around. Hate ’em? See ya. It is always a matter of great difficulty to contain the retrospective excitement in thinking about what happened over the previous 12 months with respect to Canadian wine. This while enjoying holiday down time, with December winding down. The exercise began on Godello in 2013 and this seventh instalment naturally not only includes six more than the first, it also happens to act as segue, transition and salvo to usher in a new decade.

Unity opinions aside this nineteen as a number is but a fraction of what could, should or would be celebrated in this coast to coast entity we call Canadian wine. Allow a quote to be used again, in unabashed redundancy of repetition. This curated list is “biased, exclusive and decisive but it is meant to celebrate a select few with a mandate to elevate and exult the rest. It’s also a proclamation read to many who remain ignorant to an ideal of great wine being made in Canada, to tell the insolent they are not welcome here anyway. The winemakers in this country are in full command of their acumen, craft and future. They own it.”

Fearless #ontariowineawards leaders @tony.aspler and Deborah Benoit running a tight #owa2919 ship @gbcchca ~ best quality work coming out of Ontario folks

In 2019 the opportunities for tasting Canadian wine upped the ante and increased the possibilities hundreds fold. This despite doubling international travel over a year further afield and abroad which made it twice as difficult to keep up the Canadian pace of assessment. That said there were more than 1000 tasted once again. The WineAlign team never wavers in the relentless pursuit, often at the WineAlign headquarters and in 2019 in convene at the June WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Ontario wines were judged as well thanks to Tony Aspler and also with David Lawrason at The Great Canadian Kitchen Party, the artist formerly known as Gold Medal Plates.

Aldé blending session day @ravinevineyard ~ Rosé 2018 looking stellar

Over the past 12 months the little négoce project known as Interloper Wines with Scott Zebarth, Marty Werner and Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery continued the pursuit of Niagara Lakeshore and Niagara-on-the-Lake excellence with Aldé Rosé 2018, a 100 per cent cabernet franc. The third vintage of Interloper Cabernet Franc appeared with the 2018 release, as did the second incarnation of the As Is Field Blend 2018.

Oh hey @nicholaspearce_ thanks for making us look so good!

In 2017 there were 17 and in 2016 there were 16 noted. In 2015 that meant 15 and 14 for 2014, just as in 2013 the filtered list showed 13 as the number chosen to cant, recant and decant excellence in Canadian wine. Last year? You would be correct if you guessed 18. Roll out the 2019 red carpet. Whence comes the sense of wonder we perceive when we encounter certain bottles of art? Here are the 19 most exciting Canadian wines of 2019.

Avondale Sky Sparkling Rosé Méthode Traditionnelle 2017, Nova Scotia ($27.82)

Leon Millet like you’ve never experienced with red currants folded into tomatillo salsa from a traditional method upbringing and a recent disgorgement. Energy, excitement and then boom, black currants and a whoosh tidal wave of Fundy exhilaration. An entirely new look at bubbles and from a Nova Scotia class where the sky is the limit. Drink 2019-2020. Tasted September 2019

NWAC19 Gold Medal Winner

The 2014 vintage, labelled as Balance Blanc de Blanc Brut, marks the Teaching Winery’s first venture into the style of Sparkling made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes. It also marks the first product made 100 per cent from grapes grown on the College’s Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus vineyards. “It celebrates the balance of knowledge, passion and creativity of the winemakers, professors and students who all pursue excellence in the field of winemaking.”

Niagara College Balance Blanc De Blanc Brut 2014, VQA St. David’s Bench, Ontario ($26.95)

Gingered entry for blanc de blanc of stoic beauty, marbled bust focus. Lemon and a dustiness indicative first of low yields, but then, the obviousness of do not disturb winemaking. Toasty and preserved lemon richesse, elegant and cumulative. So good. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted blind at NWAC19, June 2019

From a crown cap versus cork closure tasting with Flat Rock’s owner Ed Madronich and current winemaker David Sheppard. The two wines count as one for the purpose of this list.

Flat Rock Sparkling (Crown Cap Closure) 2006, Traditional Method, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (383315, $34.95)

Wines were all under crown for 36 months, disgorged in January 2010, three quarters pinot noir plus chardonnay and then re-sealed under crown, Six cases were sealed under cork but otherwise both wines are exactly the same, same cellar conditions, same dosage, same everything. Less hue in this number two (crown), same but different, less oxidation, less caramelization and yet on par or near in terms of that ginger-miso tone. Lemon adds to the milder orange crème brûlee and the energy, spirit and lift is more pronounced. Greater vision in acidity and even some lingering reduction. Like the first it is in fact full of sensibility, reason, plenty of seasoning. Likewise and differently so much fun to behold and to drink. Certainly more heightened sensation created by mousse and carbonation that actually affect the mouthfeel and texture. Made by Marelise Beyers. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted September 2019

Flat Rock Sparkling (Cork Closure) 2006, Traditional Method, VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (383315, $34.95)

Wines were all under crown for 36 months, disgorged in January 2010, three quarters pinot noir plus chardonnay and then re-sealed under crown, “However,” explains Ed Madronich and the big raison d’etre for this tasting is that six cases were sealed under cork, complicit with or perhaps explicitly for Ed’s Mom. Both wines are exactly the same, same cellar conditions, same dosage, same everything. Just the seal on 72 bottles changes the nature of the game. The colour is deeper in this number one (cork), more oxidation, more caramelization and more deep ginger-miso tone. Quite orange crème brûlee as well. Acidity persists, wealthy, rising, more than intact. In fact it’s well-reasoned, seasoned and in tact. So much fun to behold and to drink. Made by Marelise Beyers. Drink 2019-2020. Tasted September 2019

Charles Baker Picone Vineyard Riesling 2016, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario (241182, $37.20)

Baker’s ’16 is the child of a great vintage’s phenolics and so without needing to concern oneself in wondering about ripeness or fruit quality it allows for a beeline straight to the tannic structure. That’s the crux of 2016, built upon a core that may as well be centred in the very heart of Colmar. Sugar may as well be nowhere and nothing because balance induces dreams utterly grounded in aridity. So reminded of Bernard Schoffit and The Rangen, austere yet entangled, lean, direct, sure, focused and precise. In the zone and will be for 12 blessedly slow developing years. Drink 2021-2030. Tasted October 2019

Ravine Vineyard Chardonnay 2011, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (173377, $28.00)

Looking at this 2011 Chardonnay now and with learned imagination back through time this screams the vintage. Great Scott, cracker jack Chablis dressing up into Premier Cru status cloaked candidly in Ravine clothing. This eight year-old chardonnay shows off as one of then winemaker Shauna White’s great early moments, an achievement of planning through execution and clearly a success from a cool, austere and so very varietal vintage. Maybe even a legacy defining moment for what was and can continue to be. A purveyor of land, a youthful precociousness and all the local possibilities on offer. This is so pure and purposeful for the grape and for Ravine. Just great right now. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted September 2019

Le Clos Jordanne Winemaker Thomas Bachelder

Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Chardonnay 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (184549, $44.95)

Closson Chase Churchside Chardonnay 2017, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario ($44.95)

Platinum hue and reserved aromatics indicate a reductive tendency so give it some air. Comes out and away clean and more expressive, with periodic mineral notes, not exactly saline but certainly from the table. Lovely fruit in the melon to orchard way and elevated by acidity plus fine grape tannin. Lovely and composed wine right here. Last tasted blind at NWAC19, June 2019

Truth be submitted, discussed and told the 2017 Closson Chase Vineyard is a lovely, accessible, County for all chardonnay but this, this is something other. This Churchside ’17 from a block of vines at the prettiest little chapel around delivers the fullest fruit compliment of the times, in headline, lede and body of work. It does so with a posit tug of tension and spot on, pinpointed and precise attention to balance. States a case with best butter, better toast and even greater purpose. The ’17 Churchside undulates and circles, coming to rest in the moment where it all melts down, like a ball in place on the roulette wheel, always having known what number it would be. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted June 2019

Meyer Micro Cuvée Chardonnay Old Main Rd Vineyard 2017, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia ($65.00)

The Old Main Road is a Naramata Bench growing site of silt over clay loams at 350m. The northerly aspect links fruit to indirect sun for higher acid-driven chardonnay. This specialized plot-block-pick-separation of origin intensifies the citrus and the savoury strike of scintillant. It’s reductive and not redacted in that it’s protected by a shell of tannin but bursts with rumbles and shakes. This is singular and unique in ways most Okanagan chardonnay does not begin to touch. Great potential and possibility exist so expect so much from this wine now and for a half decade minimum more. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted April 2019

Stratus White 2015, VQA Niagara Lakeshore, Ontario (660704, $38.20)

The latest incarnation of Stratus White is a gem-like one, part reductive and part honeyed. The dual attack is duly noted and doubly paid great attention. Warmth and this remarkable phenolic multiplicity add up to the most strikingly reserved White in quite some time. It will develop more secondary personality and less fade into lean, smoky, shadowy and unfruitful feelings than many that have come before. By many stretches of imagination this is a deeply curious blend and ultimately a beautiful one. So bloody didactic and interesting. A ten years forward retrospective will regard White 2015 as a benchmark for the locomotive Ontario appellative white locution. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted February 2019

Stanners Vineyard Pinot Noir The Narrow Rows 2017, VQA Prince Edward County, Ontario ($45.00)

A super-saturated, honed and zeroed in upon place in a vineyard ripeness with a touch foxiness. Reality from limestone bled into fruit wavering on a spectrum where berry fruit sits on one end and earthy beetroot all the way over on the other. Touches both and then properly meets in the middle. Cherries are red, herbs are green and tension stretches a wire between two poles. Tomato water and tomato leaf with fresh basil. That’s just matter of fact and a good struck balance in combination. You almost feel it’s at once too ripe and then a bit green but those moments are fleeting and so the summation in accumulation is the thing; must, seeds, stems and the work of kind, nurturing and gentle hands add up to great delicacy. It’s local and it’s so bloody good. Delicious even. Unlike any pinot noir ever made previously in Ontario. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted blind at the Judgement of Kingston, November 2019

Hidden Bench Pinot Noir Locust Lane Vineyard 2015, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario ($48.00)

Locust Lane is the one of greater tension and posit tug, holding court and keeping fruit on a short leash. The aromatics are not as sweetly floral but what you will note, if you wait for the fleshing is this glycerin texture and seamless weave of structure. This is the savoury, almost minty and surely cantilevering pinot noir, from the field and out over the length of the wine’s attention. Will linger, prosper and live long. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted March 2019

NWAC19 Platinum Medal Winner

Howling Bluff Pinot Noir Century Block 2016, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia ($35.00)

Wow. Now we’ve come into pinot of some curious, unusual and stand up to be noticed excitement. The aromatics are circling, rising, elemental, exaggerated and complex. There’s umami here that few others seem to find or are capable of seeking out. Fine if slightly tonic tannins and structure, texture, architecture and blessed complexity. This will morph into many things by way of many stages. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted blind at NWAC19, June 2019

Thirty Bench Winemaker Emma Garner

Thirty Bench Small Lot Cabernet Franc 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario ($75.00)

In many respects this is the flagship of all the Thirty Bench wines, a varietal exploration like no other, of direction, microcosm and intention. It’s an extracted and concentrated cabernet franc but stays free of encumbrance, hinderance or adulteration. It’s dramatically plush and yet shows nary a note of green or gritty, nor astringency neither. It’s a showpiece to be sure and even of an ambition not typical of its maker but as for structure, well that’s as impressive as the concentration. We’ll be tasting this at an Expert’s Tasting in the mid 20s. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted August 2019

NWAC19 Platinum Medal Winner

Desert Hills Estate Winery Ursa Major Syrah Eagle’s Nest Vineyard 2016, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia ($40.00)

Inky, ferric, serious, structured, regaling and ripping syrah. Full throttle, absolute ripeness, carefully extracted and utterly purposed. The acidity, tannin and overall structure seal all the deals and put this in a category of its own. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted blind at NWAC19, June 2019

Big Head Raw Syrah 2017, VQA Niagara Lakeshore, Ontario ($65.00)

Never before have we encountered syrah this way in Ontario. A wild ferment and use of concrete vats is one thing but the Brettanomyces off the charts is intonate of something wholly other. The exclamation is emotion both Andrzej and Jakub Lipiniski acknowledge and embrace. The thought and the recognition lights up their faces. It expresses itself in peppery jolts, with sultry, hematic, ferric and magical notation. It’s like liquorice on steroids, melting into a feral liqueur. “Wow that syrah is crazy,” tasters are heard to exclaim and yet you can see how much they relish the experience. As I do, without knowing why, except for the fact that in its big headedness this is a very balanced wine. Some way, somehow. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted March and April 2019

Lawrason and Gismondi

NWAC19 Gold Medal Winner

Nk’mip Cellars, 51 percent owner by the Osoyoos Indian Band Cellars, part of the Arterra Wine Group, as per Anthony Gismondi is “ably guided by winemakers Randy Picton and Justin Hall. Nk’Mip Cellars took home one platinum, two gold, three silver and five bronze medals, adding to its legacy of consistent performances at the nationals. The unique, First Nations winery is well worth a visit, as is lunch on the patio.”

Nk’mip Cellars Winemakers Talon 2016, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia ($23.99)

Really juicy shiraz based blend (44 per cent with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, cabernet franc and pinot noir) with rich, ropey, red berry and savoury tones. Big fruit and if oaked with generosity it’s a construct that seems more than capable of the handling. Big effort, personality and acidity to carry it high. Boozy to a degree and again capable of finding balance. Isn’t this what cool climate blends should strive to achieve? Forget the formulas. Look to great agriculture and a master blender to realize goals. This reaches a milestone and likely at a ridiculously affordable price. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted blind at NWAC19, June 2019

Tawse winemaker Paul Pender

Tawse Meritage 2015, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (581165, $67.95)

That aromatic combination of dark plummy fruit and tangy blood orange is a straight give away for many more impending complexities to come. A three-pronged Bordeaux varietal mix of merlot (45 percent), cabernet sauvignon (28) and cabernet franc (27) with so much going on you might not understand what it’s trying to say. It’s like Glossolalia, a “fluid vocalizing of speech-like syllables that lack any readily comprehended meaning,” a.k.a. in tongues. Never mind the distractions and the madness but instead head straight to the intersection of structure and balance because that’s what matters. The fruit is bold, the woodwork finely chiseled and precise and the end result is the work of masters; agriculturalists, oenologists and winemaking hands. This will live on through epochs of Canadian Meritage notability and infamy. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted blind at NWAC19, June 2019

With Phantom Creek’s Anne Vawter

Phantom Creek Phantom Creek Vineyard Cuvée 2016, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia ($100.00)

Some of the estate’s finest cabernet sauvignon makes its way into the flagship red, also made up of the other four Bordeaux red grapes. There is a sweetness that comes through from layering so much quality fruit in a way that neither the Becker blend nor the varietal cabernet sauvignon seem capable to manage. There’s also a deep sense of tannin and an almost dark brooding character, but also a smoky, savouriness that adds to the mystery and the dimension. So stylish and composed, amalgamated of the finest fruit bred from great attention to agricultural detail. Incredible length too. One of the most professional wines in Canada. Drink 2021-2030. Tasted February 2019

Southbrook winemaker Ann Sperling

Southbrook Organic Vidal Icewine 2015, VQA Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario (581165, 375ml, $49.95)

The most unusually brick red-orange hue makes this vidal Icewine a one-of-a-kind wonder and the best news of all is how complex the wine is to follow suit. Yes the curiosity factor runs high but so do the gamut of aromatics and flavours. Coffee, toffee, crème brûlée, apricot, guava and strangely enough the spongey filling of a Crunchie Bar. What a childhood memory that digs up. Acids are strong, relevant and still humming so the sugars are carried along with great companionship. Benchmark vidal usage and to no surprise. Ann Sperling’s work with varietal orange wine combined with her knowledge of Icewine make for a union divine. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted December 2019

Good to go!

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