(Re-Tasted August 2013) ... If Jerry Kopanski has ever wondered why Cornerstone winery isn't a more widely known winery it's because of nasty pieces of business like this - and poor winemaking decisions. Now before I go on let me say I have met Jerry (owner of Cornerstone) and like him very much - he's genuinely a nice guy - in fact I wrote his winery up in my early days (see here). Of course we all know where nice guys end up , and being nice gets you nowhere when shady winemakers are looking to ply their "craft" on unsuspecting owners, and then you have the guys selling you things that will "make your wine better" (ie: closure). This Reserve Riesling was sweetened with "ice wine quality" juice - it was decent in its prime and showed potential to be interesting when it matured - but here we
are 7 years on and it is attrocious. The main reason is the cork: plastic ... I touched the corkscrew to the cork and it began to sink into the bottle - it took a concerted effort to grab it and keep it from going further in. It was loose and it did not need any effort to remove it, there was also little to no pop, more like a simple slide and out. The wine itself was orange in colour, literally orange! (I hope the picture does it justice) Being the consummate professional I am I gave it a taste: oxidized apple juice with some tin can linger - one is the result of the cork, the other from the winemaking. So both contributed to the downfall of this wine. On a positive note for Cornerstone, with the hiring of Andrzej Lipinski (a bona fide winemaker) as the new winemaker, Jerry Kopanski and Cornerstone are finally taking steps in the right direction, and hopefully putting the past behind them.
NB: I have one bottle left of this wine - I will give it another try, just in case. But I hold no hope out that it will be - maybe I'll be surprised.
NB: I have one bottle left of this wine - I will give it another try, just in case. But I hold no hope out that it will be - maybe I'll be surprised.
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