Two Southbrook Wines 2001 and 2002

 

Click here to read the original review from 2005

(Re-Tasted January 2012) ... In truth one of these wines should be in the Lost & Found edition, but out of the two: Southbrook 2001 Triomphe Cbernet Sauvignon and the 2002 Cabernet Merlot ... one was a complete failure and the note would read "blech" ... so instead I decided to put them together here.  Funny part is, the better wine is not the one you'd expect.  

Starting with the Triomphe Cabernet Sauvignon, the (at the time) high end wine on the Southbrook depth-chart - I am sad to report that this wine was 'buggy' ... what I mean by that is that in 2001 the big lady bug infestation in Ontario ruined a whole lotta wine ... Southbrook's 2001 Triomphe's seemed to have been immune to that until now, with ten years under its belt, with flavours and aromas becoming more delicate, the wine can no longer hide the fact the bug aromas and especially the flavour are in there.  The better of the two wines turned out to be the 2002 Cabernet Merlot ... this wine was on the complete opposite end of the scale as it was on the "low end" of the Southbrook portfolio.  Now some might not be partial to green bell peppers, considering it to be unripe fruit, but that aroma and flavour were real hallmarks in both the 2001 and 2002 of these wines.  Today it is showing a roasted and peppered green pepper on both the nose and palate ... reminded me of shish-kabobs or veggies on the BBQ.

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Tawse 2006 Echos Bistro Red

Click here to read the original review from October 23, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted January 2012) ... What a difference 6 years can make.  I just read over my review from October 23, 2007 about this wine, and boy was I crowing about it ... but in hindsight I should have seen this coming a mile away.  2006 was not the greatest of vintages in Ontario and yet there I was telling you this wine would out-last it's 2005 counterpart (something tells me I have to go back and try that wine just to see which is drinking better). I guess I was just so happy to see a wine under $25 from Tawse that I was blinded by everything else.  Now I am not saying this wine is over the hill and should be tossed immediately, but it sure isn't going to be getting any better any time soon, so waiting is not an option with this one.  When first poured all seemed fine, but within 20 minutes a touch of volatile acidity seemed to come wafting out of the glass, and I just could not get rid of it.  The flavours were all dried fruit and spiced wood, the buddy I was tasting with called it "fruit leather" (he has kids so he is more familiar with this confection than I am) - there was also the disjointed smell of blackberries and alcohol ... in the end the wine just seemed to be more wood-spice than fruit and that's too bad.  I would say drink with a grain of salt, but Iam not sure salt would help - just keep an eye, and your mind, on the age of the wine: as an older wine from a so-so vintage it's not bad.

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Chateau des Charmes 2005 St. David's Bench Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Click here to read the original review from August 28, 2007

(Re-Tasted December, 2011) ... We went out for dinner for my birthday this evening, a diner called Angels here in St. Catharines - no it's not fancy but perfect for what we wanted: casual and enjoyable, I had the rack of ribs deal which was quite good.  Anyway, when we arrived home we opened two bottles of wine, a white for Erica (my wife) and a red for me.  Forget the white, it was something cheap and cheesy and as it turned out was not my wife's favourites by a long shot, on the other hand, for me I opened a bottle of Chateau des Charmes 2005 St. David's Bench Cabernet Sauvignon with much excitement.  The nose started off with cassis, cedar and spice while the palate was very leathery and cedary.  I decided to let it sit a bit in the glass and see what happened.  A half hour later the wine was smelling of spices, cherry, clove and cinnamon, quite alluring; while the palate was blackberry, clove and lots of wood spice ... from there another half hour went by and the wine started showing lots of wood character and the fruit started to disappear completely - as I wrote in my notes, "showing lots of wood and a dearth of fruit".  Funny thing, the lone fruit fly who seemed to be roaming our house the past few days drowned in the glass - that is good news.  Also interesting to note, at this hour-plus mark when the wine was poured straight from the bottle the wine had plenty of fruit, it was just as it hit the air for longer than 10 minutes that the wood started to dominate.  Moral of the story: drink fast for fruit, drink slow for wood.

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Sprucewood Shores 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Click here to read the original review from November 2007

(Re-Tasted October 2011) ... In my review of November 2007 I ended my notes saying that I would meet you back for a glass of this in 2012.  Well I'm a few months early but just as impressed as I was back in 2007, maybe even more so.  At the time, this was the first commercial vintage available at Sprucewood, who had a nascent winemaker still trying to find her footing and getting guidance from the more established locals.  Well Tanya Mitchell, said winemaker, listened and soaked in everything - she crafted an excellent wine that stood the test of 4 years in the cellar and a wine that could go for a little longer if given the chance.  The nose is anise seed with a nice earthiness a bit of dried blackberry, raspberry liqueur and after an hour in glass there were notes of a cherry brandy kinda wine.  On the palate there was black licorice, smoky oak notes, cinnamon, spice and a touch of earth; after that same hour as discussed above the cherry came screaming out in the form of cherry liqueur, yet smooth and tasty across the tongue.  A great first effort on the reserve wine and a wonderful starting point for a fine winemaker who continues to make her family run winery proud to this day.

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Chateau des Charmes 1999 Estate Cabernet Merlot

Click here to read the original review April 2005

Taste it Again: July 12, 2009

Taste it Again: January 17, 2008

(Re-Tasted October 2011) ... It is with a little sadness that I write this review.  This is the fourth time that I have put pen to paper over this wine (so to speak) and it is my last bottle in the cellar.  It is currently 12 years from vintage date and by wine standards, when you put that on the table, people say, "my that's old", because very few people can hold onto their wines that long.  And that really is a shame, because if you had you would have found out exactly what I did on this Saturday evening in October 2011 ... it was amazing.  I have been eyeing up this bottle for a little while wondering if maybe I had waited a little too long to pop the cork, but tonight, after trying the Hillebrand 2007 Trius with friends, I thought I`d best try something even older to see how it is progressing - so I ventured downstairs for my last bottle.  The aromas were of dried plum, raspberry, cassis liqueur, cherry whiskey, some slightly leafy notes and chocolate cherries ... very complex and worth sticking your nose into more than a few times just to get all those aromas out of there.  The taste proved to be just as inviting and complex - on the tongue it was sweet, supple and smooth.  Sweet dried plums and vanilla notes - this wine still had marvelous fruit keeping everything alive - a touch on the dry side rather then the fresh side - but what do you expect from 12 years in bottle?  I wish I had 3 more bottles to carry on the experiment with in another 2 years and beyond.  But alas, I say goodbye to my last bottle of this superb wine.  If you have some, drink now for some real enjoyment, or you have the option to wait a few more years just to see where it goes - so far it has been one heck of a journey.

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Hillebrand 2007 Trius Red

Click here to read the original review from March 2009

(Re-Tasted October 2011) ... I really delved into old Ontario wines this night, and was rewarded handsomely on both occasions.  The first was this Hillebrand flagship Trius Red that I was enthralled with upon its release and had visions in my head of it lasting a decade or more, which is why I ended up with 12 in my cellar.  Earlier in the day I ended up going to the Hillebrand futures tasting where I got a chance to try the next in the great line of Trius Red (2010) and an older version (2007).  The folks I was with were unimpressed with the '07 and once I got a chance to taste it began to worry myself - could this wine really be over the hill so soon?  The wine was lean and uninteresting and dare I say a little weedy.  This tasting prompted me to open one of my own bottles and give it a try.  The good news is that the wine is fine, and what we tasted in the afternoon was a funky bottle that was not caught by winery staff as being off - bottle variation does occur.  The nose is still loaded with all kinds of goodness: anise, blackberry, vanilla, cinnamon, pencil shavings and a touch of oak for enhancement of aromas.  The taste is pleasant doling out cassis and blackberry along with anise and vanilla-oak.  For those of you still with bottles in your cellar have no fear, but I think you should open a couple just to get a feel for this wine and how it is ageing ... very nicely I might add.  As for bottle number two on this evening, read on.

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D'Angelo 2006 Iced Foch

Click here to read the original review from August 2008

(Re-Tasted October 2010) ... The lack of Marechal Foch wines reviewed on my site (OntarioWineReview.com) speaks volumes.  While I can find some redeeming features in Baco (another bane of my existence) there is very little in Foch that I find redeeming, to me it always has the faint hint of stinky feet or rotten cheese ... that is until I tried what Sal D'Angelo did in 2008 which turned out to be the greatest use of Foch I had tried, and the best use of a hybrid since I tried a Baco "port" from New York state.  The question is, did this wine stand up over the past 5 years?  Well I have to confess I think it did, but not as well as it could have.  You see Sal insists on using plastic corks and these spoil his wines something terrible.  But, since this was a sweetie with a nice balance of acidity it seems to have withstood the wrath of plastic better than some of his table wines.  There were signs of bricking (colour) around the outside edges of wine but there was still plenty of black cherry, plum and spice on the nose.  The acidity level has dropped significantly making it a tad cloying and more along the lines of sacramental wine but with an intriguing zinfandel-like character on the mid-palate and a very pleasant finish that seems to linger on forever.  All-in-all I would have to say it has stood up nicely and still retains the title of the best use of Marechal Foch I have tasted - though I 'd better start drinking these up or passing them around for Christmas presents, they don't have much longer to go.

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