Taste it Again Grape Guy

Two Southbrook Wines 2001 and 2002

2012-01-26T08:43:00.001-05:00

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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2012-01-26T07:16:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-08T21:30:00.000-05:00

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

2011-10-30T21:00:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-22T21:30:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-19T16:30:00.000-04:00

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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Legends Estates 2006 Semillon

2011-10-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2007

(Re-Tasted October 2011) ... My momma once told me, "If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all" ... and if I were to stick with that theory I would leave this page blank. This is truly one of the nastiest tasting wines I have ever had the misfortune of putting into this column ... and absolute disaster. And I can't blame the winemaking, the winemaker or the grape - this wine was ruined purely on a closure decision. This was, in its time, the first ever single varietal Semillon made in Ontario, and it was a beauty. I remember fawning over this wine and had I been giving stars at the time it would have received the coveted 5-star rating. Now Semillon is an ageable grape, so this had the potential to be something exciting as it got older. But alas, a plastic cork has killed this wine's dreams of being something extraordinary in its autumn years. The wine was oxidized all to hell and just plain nasty to smell and taste. I can't stress how much I loved this wine in its youth, and how much I abhor what I found upon popping that plastic cork ... unfortunately from such great beginnings this wine isn't worth cleaning the toilet with. I really wish we would learn our lesson about plastic corks ... the good news is I think some are getting the message, as I am seeing less and less of them, especially in Ontario wines. If you have any of these wines, flush 'em! Do not stop by the kitchen in the hopes of cooking with it, do not ruin your meal ... this is a lost cause. And if you must know, I dumped 3 bottles - and smelled/tasted each one. As for my mother's advice, all I can say to that is, "sorry mom".

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Huff Estates 2006 Wismer Vineyard Riesling Reserve

2011-10-17T21:00:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from November 20, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted October 2011) ... Reading my original review from 2007 I notice that the big change to this wine is the nose ... in the original the smells were sweet with peaches and apples, but now 5 years later those smells have move more toward the way the palate is going to offer them up. The first aroma to grab the nose is petrol, but it subsides quickly to reveal green apple and lime notes. The palate for this "dry" Riesling really is, and if you like sweetness in your Rieslings you've waited too long to enjoy this one; but if you enjoy 'em dry you've got what you came for: lime, sour lemon, orange peel and just a hint of petrol to show it has some age. This one is definitely living up to its billing.

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Pelee Island 2005 Vinedressers Shiraz

2011-10-16T21:30:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2007

(Re-Tasted October 2011) ... This was my second bottle of Shiraz (or Syrah) on a night of disappointments. The good news, I guess, that the wine in this bottle was still alive. Now 2005 was a good year for reds in Ontario and the southern most point, Pelee Island, got some real nice flavours out of these grapes, as per my notes of September 2009 - but now looking back over them I see that there was all kinds of the same flavours back then that it has now, but with an element added and an element taken away. Some 4 years later the wine seems to be falling apart. Back then I was in love with the spicy-peppery notes in the wine and started to see some dark fruits emerge. But the nose has gone all cedary along with those black pepperish aromas; while the palate has the spice and black pepper there seems to be a real cedary flavour, and the thought of some fruit coming to the rescue is long gone ... there does not seem to be a spec of fruit left in this bottle. Granted the wine seemed to smooth out over the course of an hour, dropping some of the harsh tannins that also were prevalent in the bottle, but it remained all woody and black pepper in flavour. While it was drinkable it seems to work better with the food than on its own.

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Colio 2004 Lily - Blanc de Noirs

2011-10-14T20:30:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from December 2007

(Re-Tasted October 2011) ... I am getting to the point in my sparkling wine collection that I can hold a few bottles on reserve to see how they age. There was a time when I only had a couple of bottles on the rack, because bubbly was made for special occasions and it seemed that those "special occasions" were few and far between - so why have too many. But then I came to realize that bubbly is for any and all occasions and as long as you're staying within your budget you can have a bubbly whenever you want, or whenever the mood strikes ... and trust me when I tell you that there is plenty of well-prices sparkling wines out there, and bubbly does not have to come out of Champagne to be good. Now, with that preamble I can tell you that I opened this bottle on a Friday night 'just because': Because it was the weekend, because it was the first weekend my wife and I were home at the same time and did not have the jet off to go somewhere; because it was Friday, and because it just seemed like a fun thing to do ... heck can you think of a better reason? This Blanc de Noirs from Colio is made from Pinot Noir grapes and was the first year they made this particular bubble (though they had been making a Blanc de Blanc version for years). The nose had mostly a toasted hazelnut aroma with a slight raspberry character, very pretty. The palate still maintained crisp apple with a hint of lemon and as it sat delivered biscuity, nutty and baked apple notes to go along with it, plus there was a pleasant long finish. This wine has really developed into something interesting with plenty of character that was worth delving into ... glad I saved this one.

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Reif Estate 2007 Kerner

2011-09-04T19:00:00.001-04:00

Click here to listen to the original review from January 27, 2009 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted September 2011) ... I just finished listening to my Weekly Wine Notes podcast about this wine and I have to admit I was in some kind of mood that day (download it to see what I mean), seems I was "giving the finger to old man winter" drinking a fruity summertime white in the dead of the cold season. This time I drank this wine when it was suppose to be drunk, in summer, with different, but still very pleasurable results. The nose piled on the grapefruit skin with acacia and lavender honey ... at first the palate was full of grapefruit rind / pith with a touch of sweetness through the mid-palate and a bitterish finish, there was also some slightly floral nuances on the tongue. But give it about 15-20 minutes and it became tropical with hints of papaya. What started out a little funky ended beautifully.

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Chateau des Charmes 2005 Rosé Brut

2011-09-03T20:00:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2008 or OWR Newsletter #92

(Re-Tasted September 2011) ... This is my go-to wine for special occasions ... I got engaged to this bottle and now I am celebrating my 1st Anniversary with this bottle, and I am positive I celebrated a few more things but failed to write them down. Started off our anniversary afternoon with a delicious lunch of homemade fish tacos and a plan of a few movies on the big screen (in the den); what could be more romantic than opening up a bottle of bubbly while still in your jammies. This wine is getting better and it would also seem to be getting a tad sweeter as it ages, but not unpleasantly. The nose is baked strawberries, with some raspberries notes and a hint of bread crust in the background. The palate is big on sweet strawberries, while raspberries join the mouth-party to tone back the sweetness with a little of their signature tartness and then comes that fresh bread crust on the nice long finish ... this was the perfect wine to celebrate another momentous occasion with; and the good news I still have more bottles with which to celebrate with.

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Hillebrand 2005 Trius Red

2011-08-28T21:13:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2007 or OWR Newsletter #60

Or even look at the previous Taste it Again review - March 2009

(Re-Tasted August 2011) ... It's like a re-taste of a re-taste; it seems that every two years I pull out a bottle of this and re-taste the wine, and now it's my third go round with the 2005 Trius Red. '05 was a good year in Ontario and the reds loved the weather. According to the most recent LCBO vintage chart they rate Niagara wines from 2005 a 9A (meaning a nine out of ten and "A" for can be aged longer) ... I would agree. This red blend is drinking well now but could stand another 5 years or more without too much degradation. The nose is black currant, black raspberry, vanilla and cinnamon spice. The palate doles out oak from the get go before the wood relinquishes its hold and lets the spice and the the black fruit emerge, so some patience when drinking now is a must. If you have some in the cellar, like I do, drink one now just to get a frame of reference and we'll talk about this one again in a couple of years. Cheers.

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Colchester Ridge Estate Winery 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

2011-08-05T12:18:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from August 2007 or OWR Newsletter #63

(Re-Tasted August 2011) ... Since I am going to the Lake Erie North Shore on the weekend to give a talk about one of my favourite Ontario grapes, Cabernet Franc, at their annual Vintage tasting (Sunday August 7) - I thought it only right to re-taste a wine from the region. I have two sitting in my current Taste it Again box, one from Colchester Ridge and another from Sprucewood, both wineries will definitely be in attendance at the event ... but in this case Colchester has home field advantage as it is there were the event will be taking place, so I plucked that one out of the case for a re-taste. Smell was a little funky and vegetal which made me believe I was going to have a problem but I am always willing to give a bottle a second or third chance so I swirled and sniffed again with much the same result. I decided to take a sip and see how the palate had fared, and I was pleasantly surprised. First thing I noticed was the acidity was quite pronounced, which helped to bring the wines flavours out, they thankfully did not match the nose. Yes there seemed to be a lot of wooden character along with cassis and spice notes which begin to emerge the longer the wine remained open - but I would say this wine is on it's downward spiral so drink now but let stand open about an hour before diving right in.

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Cave Spring 2006 Riesling "Dolomite"

2011-07-30T18:42:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from February 2008 or OWR Newsletter #77

(Re-Tasted July 2011) ... Seems I have sipped on this wine in this column before (January 2010) and I still can revisit this wine a few more times in years to come and I'm thrilled by that because this is a classic: the first bottling of this soil specific Riesling by one of the preeminent Riesling producers of Niagara. This wine is still a beauty with smells of apple, mineral and apricot on a soft pillow of petrol that just gently wafts through without being intrusive. On the palate there is mineral and apple with some spiced peach syrup and another hint at some petrol to carry it along to the finish, it really is just a soft titch. While the finish is lime based with some excellent length ... still hold up beautifully, can't wait to open the next bottle.

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Chateau des Charmes 2005 St. David's Cabernet Franc

2011-07-07T17:27:00.001-04:00

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

(Re-Tasted July 2011) ... This was a pleasant surprise of a wine to pull out of one of my Taste it Again boxes: one, because I love Cabernet Franc and two, because the folks at Chateau des Charmes seem to do it quite well - and they are particularly ageable, especially when it is the single vineyard series. So, needless to say I was thrilled to pop the top on this one. 2005: good vintage, nice heat, ripe grapes, so this one should do just fine in the glass some 6 years later. At first I have to admit I was a little skeptical, woody and cigar notes lead the aromas to the nose, but then as it opened there was some raspberry notes that also started to come up. With a little more time the wood started to subside and the fruit and cigar ash rose ... very pleasant. On the palate the same thing occurred, but it unfolded a little quicker, instead of half an hour to start to mellow (which was the time for the nose to start) it took half that time for the palate to start coming around. Spice, tobacco, cedar, and a cocoa powder dryness on the finish - there was also that woodiness, but as I mentioned it started to dissipate within a quarter of an hour and replaced itself with a the oomph and bite of a spiced characteristic. This wine needs some time in a decanter, and make sure you have a big glass to pour it into or this bruiser will get the better of you. Advice: Drink or hold a few more years.

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Fielding Estate Winery 2006 Sparkling Riesling

2011-05-06T16:47:00.014-04:00

Click here to read the original review from July 3, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted May 2011) ... Another Friday night and another bottle of bubbly opened ... tonight we were celebrating being young and alive, or was it the coming of spring weather on the weekend, or maybe because it was a quiet night at home ... really do I need a right proper reason to open bubbles? I chose this inaugural Fielding bubbly for this non-occasion and wondered how a 5 year old sparkling Riesling would taste. First I have to say the bubbles were quite persistent and long living for a wine that was made in the Charmat method (I expect shorter lived bubbles, you know, they die in the glass 20 minutes after the wine has been opened). The nose was baked apple and pear, while the palate showed hints of petrol and lovely tangerine notes. Not sure what I expected but what I got was more than I bargained for - I still have a bottle of this left, will be interesting to taste in another few years.

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Calamus Estate 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

2011-04-06T20:26:00.001-04:00

Click here to read the original review from February 2008

(Re-Tasted April 2011) ... It was not really a good day for trying Ontario wines, some days are just like that, you want to drink wine from a region but everything you open doesn`t work out. You probably read about the nasty Reif 2006 Cabernet Franc opened earlier this day, well later we opened a bottle of Calamus 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, with better, but not great results. The nose was initially rife with acetone notes and a little bitter on the palate. After finishing those few mouthfuls I grabbed up the bottle, screwed the cap back on and gave the bottle a vigorous shaking, much to the room`s shock. I then poured myself another tasting. The results of the sudden shock of aeration vastly improved what was shaping up to be a miserable drinking experience ... the acetone crept into the background and revealed dried blackberries and forest floor aromas. The bitterness also abated and turned into dried blackberry on the tongue, but there was also a prevalence of bitter wood tannins making there way up the back palate and onto the finish, which I suspect will soon take over the front as well. As my host pointed out, `this wine is on the decline`; so if you have some in your cellar the time to drink it now, give it plenty of air, and a good shake.

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Angels Gate 2006 Sussreserve Riesling

2011-04-03T07:34:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from April 2007 - OWR Newsletter #55

(Re-Tasted April 2011) ... I feel I got really lucky with this wine. Better yet, I feel that Angels Gate got really lucky with this wine. Not because it worked from concept to wine - the idea of Sussreserving is not a new one - but because they sealed it with a plastic cork and there seems to be little damage to the wine because of it. I am not going to get into a rant about plastic cork here, though I think they are a blight on the wine world - but I will say that my bottle seemed to be okay (for the most part), if you have any in your cellar, it might not be. Anyway, tonight was Chinese food night and so a Riesling seemed to be the perfect thing to pair it with. On the nose this wine have a slight petrol note, some sweet tropical aromas (like pineapple in syrup) and just a hint of oxidation, just a hint mind you. On the palate there was plenty of apple juice like qualities and a slight lemon rind bitterness on the finish. All-in-all not bad for 6 years from Vintage date and being under plastic this whole time. But as I said, if you have any in your cellar or collection, it`s time to fish it out and test the waters, so to speak.

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Stoney Ridge 2005 Wismer Vineyard Cabernet Franc Reserve

2011-03-03T19:44:00.001-05:00

Click here to read the original review from January 2008 ... OWR Newsletter #74

... and also the Taste It Again review from March 3, 2009

(Re-Tasted March 2011) ... Why I seem to drag this wine out in March I am not sure. Two years ago, almost to the day, I pulled a bottle of this out from the cellar and gave it a re-taste, and it showed very well. Not surprising, it was only a year from whence I tasted it (or at least posted my review). Now some 3 years from the original review, two years from last tasting and 6 years from vintage date it is time to re-taste this wine again. This wine was made by Stoney Ridge's then winemaker Liubomir Popovici and he has done some really good work on this wine. The nose has some great blackberry, cassis, cedar and good spices lingering around; the taste is loaded with spice, cassis, chocolate liqueur, some dried red fruits (namely raspberry and cherry). Across the tongue it is smooth yet with enough tannins to make it interesting, there is still a few years left in this bottle and as I check my inventory I see I will be reviewing this wine a few more times before I am done with what I have. I am sure that over time winemaker Liubomir P has been referred to as "Lube" ... and I would say this is a good oil (wine) by Lube with no filler; (though I am not sure if it is unfiltered - or the pun would be even better). If you have any of this wine you could sit it for a few more years or enjoy it now with a little decanting.

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Henry of Pelham 2006 Off-Dry Reserve Riesling

2011-02-13T19:53:00.016-05:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2007

(Re-Tasted February 2011) ... Another Sunday night, another battle with our demons ... our love of Chinese food from our local favourite. I would say we eat Chinese from the Magnolia Restaurant as often as we eat chicken, which I think is once every couple of weeks. And once again I dug around looking for a wine to match, coming up with a 2006 off-dry Riesling from Henry of Pelham. '06 was a decent year of Riesling, not too great for the red grapes but a year that Riesling loved and this wine shows it. The nose is pear and peach with a nuance of petrol, some talc and limeade. The palate was lemon and green apple based with nice acidity and a long luxurious finish. There is no rush to drink up the bottles in your cellar, this one still can age and should improve gracefully over the next 5 years or more. Thankfully I have one left myself and will thoroughly enjoy it when the time is right ... that time could be now, but I'm willing to see this one through a few more years.

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Tawse 2005 Echos Bistro Red

2011-02-10T23:56:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2007 - OWR Newsletter #60

(Re-Tasted February 2011) ... If memory serves, this was Tawse Winery's first attempt to bring their wine to the masses, what I mean by that is that the price of the wine was not in the stratosphere, this was a very respectable $25 dollars, and while not your average every day drinker it was a special occasion wine that you could have on more of those semi-special occasions. Back in July of 2007 I wrote that the wine could age 7 years or more. I said this for two reasons: the pedigree of the wine and the pedigree of the vintage - both have good reputations. When I first stuck my nose in the glass I thought I was going to be disappointed because there was an awful stinky smell emanating from the glass, with a little swirl and some air it seemed to open it up a little more and created some raspberry and wood spice smells - have to admit I was hoping for more. But hold the phone, this wine was not done quite yet. The palate was smooth and proved to be quite complex: dark strawberry, cherry, vanilla wood, hints of spice and a cocoa-strawberry-woody finish. Still quite nice and very drinkable, just don't smell it without giving it a swirl or you'll be disappointed. Seems I will be revisiting my other bottles of this wine sooner rather than later, but we are approaching the 7 year mark, so its time anyway.

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Vineland 2006 Cabernet Franc

2011-02-01T15:14:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from June 17, 2008 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted January 2011) ... Reading my notes from my previous review I told you to "Drink your ’06 now while waiting for the ‘05’s to come around" - in other words "Drink Now`. I, on the other hand, because of this column, decided to hold on to the bottle and see where it goes. Truth is it is not a bad wine, and if you like that hint of Ontario green pepper, then this is starting to turn your way. The nose is dried raspberries with just a touch of the green pepper. The palate shows a little bit more depth with tobacco, touches of smoky, dried fruit and a herbaceous note coming through, (read: that green pepper again). The wine is smooth, dry and relatively pleasant to drink. If you have any left now is really the time to drink up, not sure if you have two or three years left but it`d make for a great BBQ this summer.

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Fielding Estate Winery 2006 Gewurztraminer

2011-01-31T12:11:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from October 2007

(Re-Tasted: January 2011) ... The first thing I noticed, when pouring this wine into my glass, was the golden colour of the wine - it sure did show its age in that respect. But the rest of the wine showed little sign of age, the nose was full of peach and pear sweetness, maybe a touch of honeyed apricot also played with the olfactories. On the palate there was a touch of pear, a hint of spice and good acidity that still left the tongue feeling a little prickly. The finish was also quite exciting with a long lemon pith flavoured finish ... this wine has aged very nicely, but don't wait too long to drink your remaining bottles, I'd hate for you to lose those great smells and flavours to too much ageing.

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Calamus Estate Winery 2005 Calamus Red

2011-01-19T11:57:00.002-05:00

Click here to read the original review from April 24, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted January 2011) ... It's nice to see that Ontario wines can stand the test of time, granted it is only 5 years for this particular wine but it has come through quite nicely, with little to no degradation in quality. If you look back at my original review you'll see this wine went for the relatively inexpensive (read: cheap as chips) price of $13.00 a bottle. Thirteen dollars a bottle for a wine of this quality? Seems almost surreal. Reminds me of the old joke about the worm looking out the flying bird's rear end and him saying, "you wouldn't shit me now would you?" But seriously, this was some delicious wine for the price, and now just a hair over 6 years from vintage date it proves itself again. The nose is white pepper, red berries (mainly strawberries) with spiced blueberries and also some wood spice. The palate is also intriguing with dark fruit, spice, good acidity and dusty tannins, lively but dry ... this bottle still has a few years left in it, say another 3 or 4 just to be on the safe side. That price tag is looking more and more like a steal the older, and finer, this wine gets.

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Vineland 2006 Dry Rieslng

2011-01-09T21:57:00.002-05:00

Click here to read the original review dated October 2007

(Re-Tasted January 2011) ... When you think of certain wines from certain wineries you expect good things ... and when it comes to Vineland and Riesling they fall into that category. This was a Riesling that kept on giving
as the night wore on. The nose started out with peach and paraffin and there was even a hint of bug-repellent in there, but it was a background smell that did not overpower the wine, it was just sorta there and it disappeared with time to leave just the peach and paraffin. The taste was much more involving on the tongue. Big acidity kicked off the show, lemon and lime notes with a slight paraffin backing. Then time and air took over and it mellowed the wine. It started off acidic and harsh but mellowed to crisp and refreshing. The finish also delivered the goods, cutting through the lemon and acid to bring mac and green apple crispness to a long lingering finish. Don't let the initial smell and taste fool you this one just needs about 15 minutes in the glass to really show you where it's going.

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Chateau des Charmes 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon - Paul Bosc Vineyard

2011-01-04T21:28:00.036-05:00

Click here to read the original review dated October 2007

(Re-Tasted January 2011) ... Theoretically 9 years from vintage date, but can you really count another year 4 days into the new year? For argument sake let's call it 8 years. And still going strong. I have to admit I was rightfully impressed with this bottle of wine. It was one of the first times that the term "terroir" really meant something to me. In 2002 Chateau des Charmes created two Cabernet Sauvignons, one from the St. David's Bench vineyard and another from the Paul Bosc vineyard - the only thing separating these two vineyard is York Road. If you have ever visited the winery St. David's vineyard is the one where the winery sits, Paul Bosc is across the road. To taste these two wines you would not believe that was the only difference, they were completely different wines. Now, some 8 years on, I find myself with a bottle of the Paul Bosc version. This wine was the powerhouse of the two and it still has plenty of life left in the bottle. The nose is dark berried with a nice spiciness to it ... over the course of the evening an alcohol smell started to eminate from the glass (say 2 hour after opening and decanting). A very closed wine at first I did decide to decant to get the most out of this one. The sediment was grity and fine but did not detract from the taste of the wine. Taste-wise there was nice cassis, dark berries and a little bit of wood tannins. Given time there was also dried blueberries and a touch of cocoa on the finish. This one still needs time, yes it's mature, but not mature enough, those tannins could still use a little softening. I predicted 10-15 years, and so far I am right on track.

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Featherstone 2006 Old Vines Riesling

2010-12-29T14:12:00.007-05:00

Click here to read the original review from October 2007 - OWR Newsletter #56

(Re-Tasted December 2010) ... Holy Hanna, is this a mouth puckering wine or what? Obviously a rhetorical question. Tonight we opened a 4 year old bottle of Featherstone's Old Vines Riesling, made from, at the time, 30 year old vines, some of the oldest in Niagara. The nose doled out a citrus stoniness while the palate was big on lemon and mineral and nice balancing acidity. The finish reminded me of sucking on an apple core - there's flavour there but there are all the pits; but by no means is that to insinuate this wine is the pits, in fact it is it's polar opposite ... still delightful and a wonderful pairing with fish.

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Maleta Estate Winery 2005 Cabernets

2010-12-28T09:23:00.002-05:00

Click here to read the original review from November 2007 - OWR Newsletter #70

(Re-Tasted December 2010) ... Well I was right 3 years ago when I predicted this would be a blockbuster of a wine to lie down and that it would need 2-3 years of bottle age to mellow; ha-za for me. A blend of the obvious Cabernets: Sauvignon and Franc, though I can not seem to find a percentage in any of the records I have of this wine (let me check one more place) ... well digging a little deeper shows that it might be a titch Franc heavy (by about 6%). This is truly one of the best re-tasted reds I have tried because it shows so little signs of aging, the fruit is big and in-your-face, on the nose it has lovely black fruit, some definite black cherry and a delectable chocolate raspberry smell develops with some time open. The taste is also very fruit forward: cassis, blackberry, black cherry with hints of tobacco notes in the background. Tannins are smoothing but are still relevant and most definitely there. This wine could still use a few more years without much degradation, it'll peak in the next few years but is delicious to drink right now, especially with some kind of meat or pasta dish.

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Thirty Bench Winemakers 2005 Red

2010-12-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from October 16, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted December 2010) ... There are those I am sure who question my choice of pairing, me being one of them, but I enjoy seeing what might or might not go with what, and I invite everyone to experiment with the foods they eat and the wines they drink (more on that in a minute). Tonight I opened a bottle of 2005 Thirty Bench Red, a primarily Cabernet Franc blend (65%) from the very decent vintage of 2005 (compared to what has come after in Ontario: 2007 and 2010 - "very decent" is an apt description to this year). The nose was very shy upon opening and stayed that way for the better part of an hour, mostly everything just smelled smokey. The palate was tucked away inside itself too ... this just required some time and I gave it some, but I refrained from pulling out the decanter, instead I allowed it to do it on its own in glass and bottle. About an hour later the nose started to develop blackberry, black raspberry and that smoke turned more tobacco-ish. The palate took a bit longer and between the one and two hour mark it really began to blossom. Spicy black fruit with a touch of dried tobacco leaf, the smokiness remained and there was also some good drying tannins that started to come about.

If I had to do it over I think I would have decanted, but it was nice to see the evolution of this wine on its own. Still a lovely wine and with a few years left, though spice dominates the fruit and will probably continue to do so as it ages - wait too long and you'll just have a spicy tannic mess ... 3-4 years max. As for the food I finally paired it with: maple-soy salmon, both food and wine held up well to each other.

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Jackson Triggs 2004 Late Harvest Riesling

2010-12-05T09:38:00.001-05:00

Click here to read the original review from February 2006 - OWR Newsletter #25

(Re-Tasted December 2010) ... Had some friends visit on the weekend, some non-wine-drinking American friends; obviously they were closer to my wife than they were to me. The question is how do you get non-wine drinkers interested in wine. I poured a few different wines on the Saturday night to very little affirmative reaction, until I poured this six year old sweetie from Jackson-Triggs, I turned my head to see if this one was being enjoyed and found an empty glass staring back at me, hurray. I was not surprised to see the glass empty because this was a very tasty older Late Harvest Riesling with a wonderful blend of apricot, baked apple, along with honeyed peach and pear notes. The colour was a pretty golden yellow and hints of petrol crept up the nose, but nothing could deter one from those other wonderful flavours taking over the tongue and winning you over. Not sure how much time this bottle has left, I would say a year, maybe two - but it is a delicious mature sweetie right now, so if you have some it would be a perfect pour for the season we find ourselves in, especially when those non-wine drinking Americans come to visit.

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Jackson Triggs Proprietors' Grand Reserve 2006 White Meritage

2010-12-02T09:21:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from March 2008

(Re-Tasted December 2010) ... The question here is: when does a White Meritage get too old? Now granted this is only 4 years from vintage date, but it's still a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (87%), which is considered a "drink now" kinda wine and Semillon (13%), a grape (at the time) still relatively new to the Ontario climate.

The first thing I noticed about this wine is the colour, more golden then yellow; as white wines get older they tend to darken, where as red wines lighten. The nose was a mish-mash of aromas: Bartlett pear, over-ripe pineapple, a slight hint of grassiness, honey notes and some strange ash-like smells too, that weren't off-putting just funny to be found there. Thankfully about 20-25 minutes later there was a really nice smell of white grapefruit that started to emerge. The palate was hit and miss with some of that over-ripe pineapple coming out, grass and peach pit notes. It also seemed that the acidity was playing possum, sometimes it was there and in subsequent sips it was not. Strange wine after all this time, but I still managed to finish the glass, and enjoyed it.

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Coyote's Run 2005 Cabernet Franc

2010-11-26T21:11:00.019-05:00

Click here to read the original review from May 22, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted November 2009) ... There are those who swear by screw cap wines and other who swear at them - I am one who is all for the screw cap as long as the results are good after some aging occurs, because I like to age and re-taste my wines. So if you give me a moment I am going to check out what I said back in May 2007 about this wine.

Seems that back then I was talking about a lot of black fruit coming thru on this one, but some 5 years from vintage date it looks like a lot of that fruit has dropped out and instead is giving off aromas of green pepper, red current and graphite. The palate also has plenty of green pepper, regular black pepper and a lot of non-descript flavours, yet is soft and smooth with a good long finish. The wine isn't great, nor is it unpleasant, it's perfectly suitable to drink and enjoy, just not something you would stand up and take notice of. In the end I give this wine a pass because it is drinkable, and after all isn't that what we look for in our wines.

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Lakeview Cellars 2005 Merlot

2010-11-15T21:50:00.001-05:00

Click here to read the original review from June 19, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted November 2010) ... I don't want to waste too much of your time reading this because to much time was wasted already on this bottle. I wasted too much time trying to drink it and come up with something nice to say about it (I really can't), and I hope Lakeview wasted a whole bunch of sleepless hours trying to decide on the closer of this wine, because they really ruined a perfectly good bottle of wine with what they chose. I took this over to a friend's house to watch a little Monday Night Football, eat some wings and, in general, have a good evening. One of the attendees is a big fan of Ontario wine so I was looking forward to sharing it with him. Off came the capsule and staring at me was a plastic cork. But can't let that influence you because it's what's in the bottle that counts. At first there was a big smell of black cherry and I breathed a sigh of relief ... but it took only 10 minutes before the wine was undrinkable, oxidized, woody and sour. My Ontario-fan friend said, "it tastes like it's been in a decanter for about an hour too long." I couldn't have put it better myself. I have two more bottle of this wine which I will try to locate and taste to see if the same thing occurs with each.

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Inniskillin 2004 Montague Vineyard Merlot

2010-10-25T18:54:00.001-04:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2008

(Re-Tasted October 2010) ... When you look at a bottle of 2004 Ontario red you secretly hope you haven't waiting too long to drink it. This one's 6 years from vintage date, and a rather weak vintage at that, but this is a wine made by one of the old guard of Ontario winemaking ... it is also a single vineyard offering grown on the Montague vineyard, and finally, it's Merlot, a grape that does well in the big O and usually needs a few years to start showing well even in the best of years. With this pedigree and knowledge I opened this wine with a bit of enthusiasm. Smells were almost non-existent, maybe some dried and woody aromas started to emerge some 30 minutes after opening, but nothing really got traction in the aromas department. Tastes were dried dark fruit, black licorice, wood and still with some nice spice character. After 2 hours of being open it had gone more wood than fruit; but the interim was quite a pleasant experience.

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Chateau des Charmes 2001 Estate Bottled Pinot Noir - Add Two More Years

2010-10-11T20:05:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from December 2005 - OWR Newsletter #19 - Pinot Tasting

First Re-Tasting: April 28, 2008

(Re-Tasted - again - October 2010) ... On the back of this bottle I had written, "Hold Two Years: 12/05"; so either I was telling myself to drink it in December of 2005 or I lay it down in December of '05 and was saying I should drink by December 2007 - either way I missed the deadline ... both time. I opened this bottle for Thanksgiving (the Canadian version), we weren't having a traditional turkey dinner, instead I had whipped up a casserole using ground turkey, lentils and brown rice (actually tasted much better than it sounds) ... but I figured a Pinot Noir would make it feel more traditional than it was. I also had a bit of a scare when I cut two fingers chopping onions (the folks on the Food Network make it look so easy) ... so I really needed a drink once everything was in the oven. My previous foray with this wine, in April 2008, was not a good one - but I did not know that when I opened this bottle. I pulled out a Schott Zwiesel Pinot Noir glass and poured the wine in. The cork broke during the opening and it was a little on the moist side about 3/4 of the way up, but otherwise everything looked in good condition. The wine itself showed little sign of bricking, or browning, and the smells coming off it were pleasant enough, if slightly non-existent. The best way to describe the nose is what it settled into 20 minutes after opening, wooden-raspberries, up until then the wine was a little shy, giving away little at far as aromas go. Taste-wise it remained fairly closed through the entire hour and a half it was in the glass, lots of tannins and wood spice, fruit barely perceptible, if at all there. But it was not unpleasant to drink, in fact it seemed a nice pairing with the turkey-lentil casserole, and who knows maybe the wine needs even more time to come around - it has definitely improved since April 2008 when I could barely stomach it.

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Stoney Ridge 2005 Proprietor`s Reserve Brut Sparkling Wine

2010-09-13T13:32:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review from December 2007 - OWR Newsletter #72

(Re-Tasted September 2010) ... I first tried this bubbly in March or April of 2007 and then again at the Cuvee ``experts tasting`` 2 years ago. The first time I tried the wine I thought it was good, the seond time I thought it was very good and just the other day (my third go around with a bottle of this bubbly) I thought it was excellent. This wine is just getting better with age, and that`s a good thing for those who were wise enough to have bought a few bottles and have let them rest awhile. I opened this for a friend`s birthday and used some new Champgne glasses I got as a wedding present (it`s great when people know just what to get you). The bubbles were persistent and playful - the aromas were biscuity, yeasty, bready and and slightly butterscotched. The bubbles played on the tongue with dry lemon, apple and a slight toffee note danced their way through the mouth. I have one bottle left and I am looking forward to opening it ... the big question is when ...

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Tawse Winery 2006 Echos Red

2010-08-26T08:13:00.002-04:00

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

(Re-Tasted August 2010) ... It's the day after the trying, and I just finished reading my previous review of this wine and can really see/taste the change in this wine over the past 3 years. If you would like to refresh yourself with what I said previously click on the link above, I'll wait while you check it out.

Today I opened a bottle and was surprised at the incredible aromatics of the wine, lovely and red fruited - the taste was so-so, but what can I expect from a wine trapped for 3 years in bottle - so I let it breathe a little more, swirled it some more and let it sit while I cooked my dinner (BBQ pulled chicken). When I finally sat down about half an hour later the wine told a different story. The aromatics were still there with raspberry and licorice along with some vanilla wood backing it up. The taste was much better after the initial sip: sour cherry, cranberry (lots of sourish red fruit throughout) with firm acidity, but it paired well with the BBQ chicken and the sauce I poured over top. The wine's a little lean but still good with food - the back label said it is a full-bodied wine, but I wouldn't go that far, medium-bodied at this point, at best. Time to drink it up now and over the next 2-3 years.

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Vineland Estates 2005 Cabernet Franc

2010-08-04T08:35:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review from May 2007 - OWR Newsletter #56

(Re-Tasted August 2010) ... I have a confession to make and I feel bad that I have to admit this to you, but I feel we are friends and that I can share this with you: I stole this wine from Vineland Estates, I hope winemaker Brian Schmidt can forgive me.

Okay, I didn't really steal this bottle of wine, but drinking it tonight I sure feel like I did ... I paid a piddly $12.95 for this bottle, but it tastes like a wine twice its price and it will seem even better in years to come. This was one of those "wine bargains" you hear talk about, a wine that delivers beyond its price point. This is a beauty of a Cabernet Franc with smoky black fruit, spiced dried cherry tobacco and much more, and what's more this one is far from being past its prime - there's lots of life left in the bottle. 5 years for a $12.95 wine, do you really expect that kind of longevity? Not really. 10 years? That would be amazing, and I think it's very doable here, another 5 years wouldn't put too much of a ding n the taste. It will be nice to test this theory in a few years, and looking in my cellar I see I will be able to do just that.

Now I realize that I didn't just steal this bottle, I committed an act of grand theft larceny; I hope the folks at Vineland don't send the cops to my door after reading this - but if they do I hope the constables that shows up like wine, we can share a bottle before they haul me away.

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Henry of Pelham 2005 Cabernet Franc

2010-08-02T19:07:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from May 2007 - OWR Newsletter #57

(Re-Tasted August 2010) ... I've been eyeing up this wine for about a month now, trying to decide the exact time to give it a try, would I be too early? Too late? Or would I be in the sweet spot?

I re-read my original tasting note about this wine and noticed that a straight Franc is a rarity in the world of Henry of Pelham, so this bottle is to be cherished. But it's not touchy-feely time; now is the time to pop the cork and give it a go. My first sniff was that of spice and pepper, very welcoming. A few swirls of the wine and some herbs come to the fore, like Italian seasoning, then a smokey tobacco note, then some dried cranberry (I knew there had to be some fruit in there somewhere). The taste is smokey-red fruit in nature, with some dried tobacco leaves, spice and white pepper ... and that was just in the first 10 minutes.

The next ten offered up more excitement. Sweet vanilla-cherry-tobacco caressed the nose, while the palate showed black cherry with a spiced nuance ... nice to see that fruit has finally decided to show itself, and very nicely I might add. Tannins are soft and supple and each sip offers up more and more flavour and enjoyment. If you bought a few of these I would suggest trying one now, as this wine has really started come into its own (not that it wasn't good from the get go, but it's gotten better); I would also leave a bottle lying down for another couple of years as I can see this one getting even better by 2012-2014. Enjoy ... I know I'm going to.

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Lailey Vineyard 2005 Zweigelt

2010-07-03T22:00:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from June 12, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted July 2010) ... I’m not sure I can add much to this review except to say “yum”. Did some painting today and went to the Lailey Barrel Burning BBQ mid-afternoon, when I got home more painting and then decided I had had enough so went in search of something to drink – this Lailey Zweigelt jumped out at me as something interesting to have. Zweigelt is a grape you see a lot in Austria, but here in Canada it isn’t as plentiful, it’s light and fruity and made properly a really great quaffing wine. 2005 was a very good red vintage here in Ontario and this wine shows just how good the vintage was. Tasty red berries, mainly cherries, with good acidity to keep the sweet fruit in balance – the more I sip on it the more in love with this wine I get – it hits the spot and is still a wine very much worth drinking, “with summer barbeque” as the label says, or on its own. If you have some I would say drink now or hold another couple of years.

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Fielding 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

2010-05-31T18:51:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from May 2007 - OWR Newsletter #56

(Re-Tasted May 2010) ... Well, well, well ... tonight I hold in my hand a wine that my original review says hold for 2-3 years, at which point the wine should be hitting it's peak - I don't think I am far off here. When first opened there was some pretty aggressive tannins on the back palate thru to the finish, but as I get deeper into this wine, and it has had a chance to air some, there is definitely a real change for the better happening. The nose has some blackberry and licorice, while the palate is showing rich black fruit, vanilla and nice spice with a finish that has a good deal of tannins backing it up. I want to say hold it for another 2 years and see what happens - I'm even going to put my money where my mouth is on this one, I see I have 2 bottles remaining, one is going down for an extended sleep of another 3 or so years ... I guess we'll see what happens when it wakes up; but right now I am enjoying this wine so I gotta go. Cheers.

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Chateau des Charmes 2002 Estate Cabernet Merlot

2010-05-25T08:37:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from February 2007 - OWR Newsletter #49

(Re-Tasted May 2010) ... Those of you who have read my blogs and newsletters from the beginning know that I was quite taken with the 1999 Cabernet Merlot from the Chateau - it was one of my first real "Holy Sh*t" moments with aged Ontario wine ... the kicker here is, I tried the wine when it was already 5 years old. I was able to put my hands on half a dozen bottles and have drunk them sparingly over the years relishing in the subtlety and nuances of an ageing wine (I have one bottle left).

When the 2002 came out, a fabulous Ontario vintage, I snatched up quite a few Estate Cabernet Merlots. Tonight I once again was looking forward to re-experience an aged Charmes wine ... but ever 8 years on you'd be hard pressed to distinguish this from a younger version. This is one big brawny bottle of booze. Upon opening there's plenty of tannins along with dark chocolate that is very appealing; but there's also mucho fruit behind all that muscle along with cinnamon, spice and vanilla oak.

45 minutes later the wine has finally toned down so that other smells and tastes are distinguishable - it's smoky with licorice, lots of spice and still with the big tannins - at the point there's more barrel tones then fruit - the sweet spot for this wine is about the 25 minute mark after opening when things seem to meld together just right.

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Viewpointe Estate Winery 2005 Riesling

2010-05-20T18:29:00.001-04:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2007 - OWR Newsletter #65

(Re-Tasted May 20) ... Tonight it was time to pull out an 'old' Riesling; now truthfully 5 years isn't that old for a Riesling but when it's from a hot vintage like 2005, which seem to have the tendency to prematurely age, you figure your Riesling is going to be old tasting. But this is a really beauty at 5 years of age. The nose is lemon with a touch of petrol and Bartlett pear. The palate has apple and pear with a nice smooth sweetness through the mouth - very sippable and very enjoyable on this very summer-like day.

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Stoney Ridge 2004 Founder's Signature Collection Meritage

2010-05-06T18:21:00.048-04:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2007 - OWR Newsletter #66

(Re-Tasted May 2010) ... The first sniff of this wine did not give me very much faith that I would be consuming a glass, let alone a sip or two - but sometimes you just have to dive in and give it a try. The first smell of this wine was like smell a mild turpentine or paint thinner ... not something I really wanted to put in my mouth ... but then I gave it a few more swirls and let it rest on my desk while I did a few other things. Then I came back to it about 20 minutes later. The turpentine smell had faded and it was now a sweet dried fruit smell, imagine sticking your nose into a bag of raisins and cranberries, maybe even some prunes, and snorting deeply and you would have the smell of this particular glass of wine. Not everybody's cup of tea. Flavours should give one pause also. Not that fresh lively fruit that has become all the rage, this one is more dried fruit, but there is a sweet element that is rather pleasing, but there is a fine line here - give the wine too much air and the taste is pruney (okay if you like prunes I guess), too little and it like sucking on wet tobacco leaves, but a few quick suck-ins of air and a swish about the mouth brings out sweet dried cherries and a touch of vanilla-cinnamon along with some tobacco notes ... in this case, the complete package is better than the sum of its parts.

I don't recommend holding onto this wine much longer (especially if you like a lot of fruit in your wine), but it is a very interesting wine to drink now and one I would not shy away from if offered again. I have one bottle left, might be interesting to take this week and see if those at the Artevino judging agree.

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Two Wines (2005 Rieslings), Two Wineries - One Night

2010-05-02T17:24:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review for the Hillebrand 2005 Dry Riesling from April 2007

Click here to read the original review for the Jackson-Triggs 2005 Delaine Riesling from April 2007

Both wines appeared in Newsletter #54

(Re-Tasted April 2010) ... A lazy Sunday afternoon just calls for white wine, and today I yanked out two Rieslings to taste again - both from the hot 2005 vintage, a year that has shown a propensity for premature petrol aromas and flavours on the wines. But these two are from long time and top producers in Ontario, would they suffer the same fate? As it turned out both these wines had just the right amount of gas, were delicious, and each in its own way.

The Trius Dry Riesling was first on the list of bottles to be opened, it showed a wealth of fruit with apples and limes taking centre stage, there was just a hint of petrol on the nose and palate, just the right amount for the age of the wine. There was also good clean acidity and a medium length finish - this wine was still holding well and probably will for a few more years.

The Jackson-Triggs single vineyard Delaine was also very nice and showed classic signs of a Riesling of this age. The smell was quite different from the Trius, the nose had apricots, lime and wildflower honey notes, while the palate showed apples, apricots and lime. Good acidity helped this one through to its medium length finish with just the merest hint of petrol on the final swallow.

Two delicious Riesling that are still very much alive and well and hopefully living in your cellar - I know I still have a bottle of each so we'll have to revisit them in a few years.

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Tawse Winery 2004 Dry Riesling

2010-04-30T20:00:00.004-04:00

Click here to read the original review from January 2007 - OWR Newsletter #47

(Re-Tasted April 2010) ... I expected a heck of a lot more from this wine, but instead this is what I got: First, 2004 would have been a decent vintage for Riesling (Konrad Ejbich in his book about Ontario wine gave Riesling an 82 with "more aging needed") - not too hot, not too cold, it was a decent vintage. My own review from January 2007 speaks of pineapple, mango, mineral and melon, a potential for improvement in the bottle and I concluded by saying "this wine's best years are still ahead": I gave it 2-5 plus years. Well that educated guess proved to be a lesson in humility because I was way off. This dry Riesling is now almost totally unpalatable: petrol and apple are prominent upon opening (mostly petrol) with a massive amount of palate awakening acidity ... give it 20 minutes and now it's all acid and petrol with the fruit fading fast, it never recovers, it never gets better. I remember hearing a story about this wine - it was suppose to have a touch of sweetness left behind, but instead it was fermented bone dry and had sweetness added back to it. This science experiment was not a good moment in Tawse's short but illustrious history. Instead of telling you this wine's best days lay ahead I should have said that Tawse's best days were ahead, because this piece of their history could have an only be improved upon - and it has been with a change of winemakers and production practices. On the Yuk vs. Yum scale I think you know where I sit on this one - too bad, because I did have high hopes, the wine should have aged much better had it been made right.

Had this wine as aperitif at a family dinner -

to see what 1970 Bordeaux we had with the main click here.

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Lailey Vineyard 2007 Gamay-Zweigelt

2010-04-26T20:41:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review from March 2009

(Re-Tasted April 2010) ... While I sang the praises of this wine in my previous review I have to be honest, I never once pulled this wine out last year for BBQ season. Instead, a little over a year from my initial review, I have pulled a bottle out to give it another taste. I wanted something simple yet enjoyable this evening and I got exactly what I bargained for. The fruit is red, the spice has become herbal and both mingle in the mouth to give a nice medium length finish. This is one easy drinking red that you could easily chill and enjoy on the patio this summer - and this time I might even take my own advice. No BBQ tonight, instead I had a simple beef stew and all went well, before, during and after dinner.

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Angels Gate 2005 Single Vineyard Gewurztraminer

2010-04-25T15:33:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review from April 2007 - OWR Newsletter #55

(Re-Tasted April 2010) ... I have heard it said by many people, "Gewurztraminer does not age," and yet when I inventory wine cellars I find bottles of German, Alsatian or Austrian Gewurzt, some as old as ten years, and their owners swear they are better now than the day they bought them. I my mind this could only mean one thing, I had to put this theory to the test: find out definitively whether Gewurztraminer will age or not. Now, one bottle does not a test make, but you have to start somewhere.

My first comment / observation, upon removing the capsule on this bottle was one of dismay, under the skirt was a plastic cork. That just signals to me that the winery never expected anyone to age their wine. Plastic cork is just the worst closure for aging, period; I think I would prefer a gasoline soaked rag to a plastic cork - but that's just one man' opinion. So, was the wine affected by this nasty abomination? My answer is an unequivocal, I don't know - I need to do more testing on aged Gewurztraminer, but I can almost guarantee that it didn't help. The initial smell was melon (cantaloupe) and apple with some floral and sweet over-ripe banana (or even banana chip) aromas; flavours followed pretty much along the lines of what the nose suggested, more apple than melon, more banana than floral, but all components were there. What I can tell you is that there was a definitive lack of acidity. It was a drinkable for sure, but the sweetness was more present then the acidity, which made it a little tough to swallow in any great quantity - good thing I had people to share the bottle with.

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Ridgepoint Wines 2004 Meritage

2010-04-14T18:59:00.026-04:00

Click here to read the original review from February 6, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted April 2010) ... I opened this wine with some trepidation - not sure why, but the year two-thousand-four holds a certain amount of dread for me ... something in my psyche that makes me think twice, except when I am opening a Riesling. Thankfully, my dread of the vintage was ill-placed after sipping and sipping this wine, as it proved to be a real winner (still). The nose stayed pretty much constant trhough my hour-and-a-half tasting of it, but the palate swung wildly to and fro. At first sniff the nose was a little woody and a touch herbaeous (grassy), with a hint of fruit lingering in the background.

The taste was all over the map and yet proved to be very appealing at all stops along the way. At first it was sour cranberry and woodsy with sourish tannins and ballsy acidity, which really took over and became apparent on the finish; thankfully, some fruit did play a part at the end with cranberry and sour cherry coming along to linger in the mouth.

Twenty minutes on and the nose is getting more woodsy with ever passing minute, but the palate has begun to smooth out and develop woodsy-cherry and vanilla-spice. Another 20-minutes pass and the cherry-wood turns to a soft green pepper, while the palate is still fairly smooth with only hints of green pepper beginning to emerge there too. This wine is about a year or two passed its "peak", but it's still quite drinkable and a good example of a nice middle aged wine (6 years from Vintage date) from a so-so year.

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Inniskillin 2004 Brae Burn Vineyard Shiraz

2010-03-18T09:03:00.028-04:00

Click here to read the original review from August 21, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted March 2010) ... Still in a Syrah / Shiraz mood and still wanting to go Ontario I looked further into my cellar inventory and found this Inniskillin 2004 version. It's a single vineyard wine from the Brae Burn vineyard, from a year that is thought to be pretty dodgy. Pouring the wine into the glass I noticed that it was still pretty red in colour with little signs of its age. The nose gave little in the way of positive smells but the palate still had elements of spice and cassis. The finish is where things got interesting, it was kind of a sour-butterscotch seasoned with white pepper, sounds odd and not very appealing but in a strange way it was quite drinkable and enjoyable. Then there was the lingering finish which dropped the butterscotch note and left behind the pepper and some wood characteristics. For the record, decanting striped this wine of any flavour or character so I poured straight from the bottle.

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Peninsula Ridge 2005 Syrah

2010-03-18T08:17:00.021-04:00

Click here to read the original review from the May 1, 2007 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted March 2010) ... I, in general, find winemakers to be a conservative lot when discussing the longevity potential of their wines. I remember Jean-Pierre Colas telling us that he expected this to be a 2-year lived wine and that was about it. The pedigree of the wine should have deemed it to last longer: 2005 was a good growing season and an experienced winemaker - should be enough to gain at least another year or two ... and it was - it was the 5 years that killed it.

Recently I was asked to try the 2007 version of the Reserve Syrah being released by Peninsula Ridge, and that reminded me that I still had a bottle of the 2005 edition (though not the reserve). So tonight I cracked it open to give it a go, wanting to see if Jean-Pierre was wrong in his assessment. The last time I tried this wine was back in January of 2008, it took some time to open, and needed to be decanted, and it finally did revealing a nice raspberry earthiness. Today I was not that lucky. The nose started out with lots of green pepper with a faint flutter of raspberry in the background and then things turned south quickly, the smell became very paint thinner-like. Remembering the need to decant I did ... though it did little to help the wine, it brought out a little more of the fruit and dulled the paint thinner aspect, but it still was hard on the palate and the pleasure of the fruit was short-lived itself. This wine needed a lot of work to make it drinkable (15 minutes of shaking and stirring the decanter) and I am not sure most people would have worked this hard to try and get a drinkable wine out of it. In the end I came to the conclusion that it was not a horrible wine, it just wasn't very good anymore. If this were the last bottle in my house and the stores were all closed I could have drunk this wine, but since I have other stuff to chose from it did not make the cut. Turns out Jean-Pierre was right, though he was off by at least a year. I moved on to another wine.

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Flat Rock Cellars 2005 Riesling

2010-03-05T11:06:00.045-05:00

Click here to read the original review

(Re-Tasted March 2010) ... Even when on the road I carry my own glasses, I also occasionally carry my own wine. Take for example right now: I am on a train back to Toronto, I am carrying two Californian, a Spanish and an Australian - if this train breaks down I am ready for the long haul. That's why in a La Quinta Hotel in Calhoun, Georgia, I'm sipping away on a 2005 Flat Rock Cellars Riesling. It's not the kind of summer weather you expect when you thing of Georgia, in fact it's pretty chilly in the state this time of year. Now I'm a Canadian, so that means I am ready to throw on some shorts in this 64F (12C) degree weather, but others are dressed as we would at home for below zero temps. In the hotel, I popped this bottle of Flat Rock Riesling into a garbage can of ice and waited an hour or so for it to chill. I then brought out my traveling Schott Zwiesel glasses and I was ready, all I needed was a balcony to sit on to enjoy, unfortunately there was not to be found. The nose didn't seem to want to give much up in the way of smells revealing only lemon rind and hints of petrol. The palate was willing to show a little more: petrol, lemon curd, a touch sour, a bit of tartness and a decent amount of acidity. This was once voted as the best white wine in Canada, it didn't exactly live up to that rating today ... but it just goes to show that there is so many factors at plays when tasting wine: it had been a long day on the road (13 hours) and we were quite tired; the wine was not (tired), but I think we were too tired to appreciate and enjoy it. Though it was nice to have a taste of home so far from it.

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Thirty Bench Winemakers 2005 Riesling

2010-03-04T12:29:00.001-05:00

Click here to read the original review

(Re-Tasted March 2010) ... When it is perceived that Riesling is all you do then you'd better do it really really well. Now I know that Thirty Bench makes more than just Riesling, but every year they put out four Rieslings, three vineyard specific versions (Steel, Wood and Triangle) and the other a blend of those three. They've gotten so good at it that most people consider them a Riesling producer above any other grape variety. Now those of you who follow this sporadic column know that I have been talking about the premature petrol in hot vintage Rieslings, namely 2005 (I have a feeling 2007 will follow in '05s footsteps). I found that this wine suffered from it too, but surprisingly, not to the extent of some others and, for the most part, primarily on the nose. Smells were very petrol and peach pit -esque, but the palate delivered lemon-limey-ness and green apple acidity. It certainly wasn't fresh, it had aged Riesling notes all over it, but it wasn't as loaded with gas as many other 2005 have been apt to be.

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Jackson-Triggs 2004 Proprietors' Reserve Meritage

2010-02-22T19:02:00.004-05:00

Click here to read the original review from January 2007

(Re-Tasted February 2010) ... I'm not one to mince words and when it comes to plastic corks I have a real problem holding my tongue. The guy who invented plastic corks should be taken out back and shot. He/she has done wine no favours at all, in fact I think he single-handedly ruined a few vintages of good wine. The other thing that drives me crazy, is when I peel back the capsule of a bottle of wine and find a piece of plastic staring back at me - the immediate thought that runs through my head is "I have been waiting x-number of years to open this bottle and now I have to worry that it has oxidized because I had no idea it was sealed with a plastic cork" - it's infuriating.

So here I am tonight with a bottle of Jackson-Triggs 2004 Meritage and plastic is what I see ... I am already predisposed to be slightly pissed off, but I push on. The smells emanating from the glass are those of raspberry, licorice and a slightly sherried note; and with the passage of time it does not seem to be getting any better. Taste-wise, at first there was a vanilla-caramel note surrounded by dried red fruits; alas that does not last long and the wine seems to be wilting quickly in the glass, becoming more dried and lackluster.

By the second glass fruit is gone and the smell is fishy and funky with the merest hint of dried black fruit and cedary notes. Another 15 minutes past and I could have sworn I was drinking bilge water and that's too bad because this was a beauty in its prime. Has it's day past? That is a tough question, find one that wasn't sealed with plastic, or a plastic cork which has held it's seal and I think this one is ripe for the drinking - but the closure has helped age the wine faster, blast you plastic cork I still have two bottles in my collection.

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Thirty-Bench Winemakers 2006 Small Lot Cabernet Franc

2010-02-07T10:18:00.004-05:00

Click here to read the original review from May 5, 2009 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted February 2010) ... 2006 was not a great year for Ontario reds, in fact it was pretty lean picking. That siad, this Cabernet Franc was probably one of the best reds I tried that year: loaded with concentration and fruit. Now four years from vintage date I must say it's holding up quite well. The nose has maintained a fari amount of freshness of fruit, showing primarily black raspberry, with some secondary aromas of cocoa powder and chocolate. There also seems to be an alcohol note creeping into the mix, though it isn't as prevalent as to take away from the enjoyment of the wine. Taste-wise it's still very tasty: black raspberry, cherry-tobacco and tannin-rich blackberries. Still very nice. If you have some in your cellar consider drinking this wine over the next 2-3 years for optimum flavours.

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Jackson-Triggs 2004 Proprietors' Reserve Shiraz

2010-01-10T09:31:00.001-05:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2007 - OWR Newsletter #47

(Re-Tasted January 2010) ... There are two kinds of wine in this world: 1) the right wine at the right time, and 2) the right wine at the wrong time; and we've probably all experienced both. The right wine/right time is when you are drinking a wine and the mood, place and taste is perfect - everything just seems to come together in the right way. Then there is the right wine/wrong time bottle - the one you thought you were going to enjoy but something happened on the way to the glass and in the end that wine just didn't "do it for you". I think this was one of those wrong time wines. The colour was good, the smell was okay and the flavour was there, but I am not sure it is what I wanted to be drinking this Sunday evening. So I looked at it with my reviewer's eye, instead of my drinker's palate. There was pepper and cassis all the way through the wine, though about 15 minutes in there was a strong smell of wood alcohol and a woody aftertaste; but then given another 20 minutes that disappeared. Now almost an hour after opening and pouring, there seems to be an intermingling of white and black pepper with a long cassis, black pepper finish. Drinkable but nothing that'll knock your socks off. I seem to have a couple more bottles left, I think I should give one a little more time and see where it ends up. For now it drinks well but won't leaving you screaming for more.

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Cave Spring Cellars 2006 Dolomite Riesling

2010-01-02T14:53:00.001-05:00

Click here to read the original review from February 2008 - OWR Newsletter #77

(Re-Tasted January 2010) ... Sipping on this wine January 2nd in the late afternoon with my fiancee watching Angels and Demons (starring Tom Hanks), she turns to me and says, "I think you finally got one" ... she is referring to the wine I have poured for her of course. Erica is one of my toughest critics for the wines I pour, probably because she has a very limited scope of wines she really likes, Rieslings top the bill while she merely tolerates most other wines, especially reds. But not just any Riesling will do, it has to fall into a certain kind - and this one did. The first thing that popped from the glass was the minerally-lemon and faint hint of petrol; the palate was a blockbuster of flavour for the mouth: apple, peach pit, mineral bits, lemon and lime, lip-smackingly good and quite dry. The finish was long and had citrus-mineral notes all over it with a lovely bit of acid bite. The only thing that betrayed the age of this wine was the label and the colour. I know my previus review on the website reads "2005 Dolomite", but if I am not mistaken, 2006 was the first year the Dolomite Riesling came out at Cave Spring, and now I am too late to fix my error on the site. No matter, this is still a beauty of a wine and I look forward to sipping on it more in the future as I have a few more bottles in my collection.

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Henry of Pelham 2005 Reserve Riesling

2009-11-14T18:14:00.001-05:00

Click here to read the original review from April 12, 2007 - OWR Newsletter #54

(Re-Tasted November 2009) ... Back to one of my favourite topics, the 2005 Rieslings and their development. I have quite a few bottles of this wine in my cellar (4 more to be exact) so I had really high hopes for it when I bought it ... and I have to say it is coming along nicely, though at first, I have to admit, I was a little nervous. The initial smell was very gassy, and when I say very gassy I mean it was like standing at the pump having just spilled gas on your pants. And then if you can imagine getting into the car with your pants on wet with car-go-juice then you'll figure out what it was like to smell this wine. It took about 15 minutes for that to dissipate, but once it did there was a very pronounced lime-mineral note that emerged. The petrol came screaming through on the tongue in much the same way as it did on the nose, being extremely domineering in the first few minutes, but then it quieted down and giving way to lime rind, mineral/stony nuances and with only hints of gasoline. By the time an hour had passed the wine was warm but quite drinkable ... maybe I should have opened and let sit out for a bit then put in the fridge, next time, and with four bottles to go there will definitely be a next time.

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Vineland Estate Winery 2005 Semi-Dry Rielsing

2009-11-13T18:37:00.003-05:00

Click here to read the original review from July 20, 2006 - OWR Newsletter #35

(Re-Tasted November 2009) ... Pop went the cork! And with that another '05 Riesling was opened, I expected to be hit over the head with petrol smells, but this one didn't do that. Sure the aroma of petrol was present, but it was not heavy-handed as it has been in many of the '05 I have tried in the past couple of years; in fact, the most dominant smell was lemon, a very welcome smell in 2005 Rieslings. But this wine really shone in the mouth, here I found a lot of complexity and believe there is still more to come. There was lemon and lemon rind with hints of sweetness across the tongue. There was also some tangerine notes along with petrol hanging out on the finish ... the longer the wine sat open I found some mac apple emerge into mix with the lemon, tangerine and petrol. This wine is still has time to develop and is drinking very nicely right now.

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Thirteenth Street 'Reds' Again, Last Bottle

2009-11-02T19:22:00.008-05:00

Click here to read the original reviews from January 2006 - Re-taste January 2008

(Re-Tasted November 2009) ... After all these years I am still in a quandry about this wine, even more so now, especially in light of what is going on in the Ontario industry. Yes, I know, it is a Cellared in Canada wine made from Ontario Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and Zinfandel from California. Do I mollify myself by saying this is a one-off from the boys at 13th Street, who make incredible VQA wines - in fact I do, but what a one-off it is. No date adorns the bottle, hence I have no idea how old this wine is, but considering my first review is from January of 2006, then it must be at least 3 years old, but the boys at The Street don't have a "blending license" so it must be either a 2003 or a 2005, adding another 1 - 3 years to the bottle. So now that we have accomplished nothing how does this wine taste? Smells needed some coaxing with an aerator revealing some plum and spice with hints of pepper; the palate was still in the very drinkable range of its lifespan offering up plenty of spice and pepper with an array of black fruits that were just beginning to fade. So if you have some of this wine sitting on a shelf, now is the time to drink it. I have to say, reluctantly, this is a very good wine, it shows what kind of wines can be made in this category and that they are not all some form of cheap plonk.

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Calamus Estate Winery 2005 Riesling

2009-10-19T17:56:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review from December 2006 - OWR Newsletter #45

(Re-Tasted October 2009) ... If truth be told, it was probably Derek Saunders (owner of Calamus) who got me to think strongly about doing this blog. I had already been putting wines down for aging purposes before this wine found its way into an aging box (number 10 to be exact), but Derek said, "I want you to take this bottle and age it for a few years so we can get an idea of how it tastes." At the time he gave me this bottle Ontarians thought it tasted pretty good, not only did Derek sell out quickly of this $12 Riesling (a real bargain), but he also won an award for best Riesling at the Ontario Wine Awards for it. I had written on the bottle "Derek wants to know what I think of this wine after a stay in my cellar" - and I guess now I am about to tell him. The initial nose (upon opening) was heavy on gasoline; the taste was high octane with lemony-peachy notes with high acidity - but the sweet petrol was powerful and overtook much of the flavours. After about 20 minutes the wine calmed down a little, the petrol notes settled, though it was still there, and we were able to pick out big citrus tastes including grapefruit and lemon rind and an acidity that really rocked the tongue. It aged pretty well, though still suffers from "premature petrol" that most (if not all) 2005 Ontario Rieslings came to get.

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Norman Hardie 2005 County Cabernet Franc

2009-10-11T09:01:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from December 5, 2006 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted October 2009) ... Norm Hardie isn't known for making Cabernet Franc, his specialties are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay; he's also been known to make a pretty good Riesling and Pinot Gris, this would have been his first Cabernet Franc at his eponymous winery. 2005 was a pretty good year for Ontario reds, though it was a short crop year (meaning we had far less fruit then usual due to a worse than usual winter). This Franc is very Pinot like with a nose that's very raspberry and smoky with tobacco notes. The palate also screams Pinot Noir, so much so that I re-checked the label to make sure it really did say "CabernetFranc": light red fruit, cranberry, sour cherry and some tobacco with a tart acidic finish. There was also a fair bit of earthiness on both the nose and palate, which was another reason I had to re-look at the label. This tasted like a Franc made by a Pinot producer - or a Franc that was mislabelled; either way it was unrecognizeable as a Cabernet Franc, but it was far from a bad wine.

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Ridgepoint Wines 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon

2009-09-07T10:36:00.001-04:00

Click here to read the original review from December 2006 - OWR Newsletter #45

(Re-Tasted September 2009) ... This is a double medal winning wine - Gold (All Canadian Wine Championships) and Silver (Ontario Wine Awards) - that signals not bad pedigree for longevity. There is plenty in this wine to make me think it has yet to peak; yet there are other signs that tell me it may be at its plateau and won't get much better. The nose is loaded and complex (so too is the palate) so there are plenty of smells to distinguish: blackberry, oak, licorice, plenty of green pepper, spice, cassis and even a touch of cocoa. The palate also shows complexity: pepper, spice and black currant, there's still good tannin grip on the tongue, but there is also a fair bit of oak tannins here, and green pepper comes through loud and clear unless you decide to decant (I used a Vinturi to smooth it out, little gadget seems to work, though I am still putting it through its paces). Decanting seemed to soften the green-pepper to a dull roar. Finally, there's a nice long finish on this one with hints of gritty-sawdust like tannins left behind on the tongue ... makes me thinl that maybe she hasn't peaked quite yet. As you can tell I am still on the fence about this one, but it is getting close to peak or plateau so now's the time to drink (within a year or 2) - lucky I have one bottle left to test in two years, then I will know for sure. Had I been able to keep the bottle open for 3-hours I think I would have a better handle on it, but alas the bottle was polished off in an hour ... maybe next time.

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D'Angelo Vineyards 2002 Cabernet Franc

2009-08-31T08:15:00.003-04:00

Click here to read the original review March 2007

(Re-Tasted August 2009) ... At first, I was not sure I was going to like this wine, nothing scares me more than seeing a plastic cork on a bottle of aged wine; more often than not I taste a little plastic in the glass. This time thankfully I did not, but it did seem to be bland, boring and nondescript ... at first. When this happens the question that is always asked to me is, what do you do, wait or dump? I have patience when it comes to wine (and so should you), thereby giving the wine a chance, after all it has been cooped up in bottle for quite some time, in this wine's case 5 years - see how you would feel, and how slowly you would open up, if that happened to you. Turns out the wine went from its original state of nondescriptiveness to something drinkable in a little under half an hour. The wine ended up smelling pretty good and matching well with food. The nose showed dried black fruits, oak and hints of graphite. Palate-wise there was licorice, vanilla, oak and still had a titch of spice, though it also managed to be quite smooth and easy going. This wine is not going to get any better the longer it sits, it's ready now - just give it some time before you pass judgement on it.

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Chateau des Charmes 2002 Estate Cabernet Merlot

2009-08-16T18:58:00.005-04:00

Click here to read the original review from February 2007 - OWR Newsletter #49

(Re-Tasted August 2009) ... Another day, another re-taste, another surprise. Today's re-taste is a Chateau des Charmes Cabernet Merlot blend from the great vintage of 2002. I remember this vintage as one of the first great ones of the millennium. Now sure it pales in comparison to what we had in 2005 and 2007 but '02 was still a very collectable vintage, when it comes to red wines in Ontario - I have a rack ust full of these babies waiting for inclusion in the Taste it Again or Lost & Found columns. Tonight we're trying again one of my favourite wines from the '02 vintage (because I was just such a fan of the 1999 version of this wine). The nose has blackberry and cinnamon - but this takes some time to open up, that's why I used the glass-to-glass method (pouring wine from one big glass to another a number of times to coax the wine to open up - this is great when you don't have time to decant because you can accomplish it in a mere fraction the time). The taste is blackberry with some vanilla oak notes and some tannin bite. When the cork is first popped this wine has a bit of a bitter finish, but when opened it smoothes right out and is quite sippable. The colour of the wine is is still very youthful, but keep in mind this wine needs lots of aeration to get it to the point of easy enjoyment. Decant or try the glass-to-glass method. I have a few more bottles, and we'll be looking at this wine again in the coming years.

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Marynissen Estates 2002 Cabernet Merlot

2009-08-15T12:46:00.003-04:00

Click here to read the original November 28, 2006 Taste the Season Report Original review

(Re-Tasted August 2009) ... Tonight was my mother's 71st birthday - it you've met my mother then you will not believe that last statement, but it is true. So tonight I thought 'let's try something special'; I scoured my wine rack in search of something old yet with the possibility of being wonderful. Marynissen has been making good reds since the very beginning, in fact these may be some of the oldest red grape vines in Ontario (vinifera I mean). John Marynissen passed earlier this year and in many of his bios you would have read about what a pioneer he was to the industry, planting Cabernet Sauvignon in 1978 when eveyone else thought it foolhardy. I remember trying this wine for the first time and being blown away by it's power and hopeful longevity - 2002, after all, was a very good vintage here in Ontario, paling now to the 2005 and monster 2007 vintage. Tonight I also tried my first experiment with a little aeration device called Vinturi.

The wine when poured directly from the bottle was a little on the harsh side, the Vinturi seemed to soften it ... something that time did on it's own (3 hours open in a glass on the counter) but the Vinturi did it in half the time and by the glass. Now back to the wine itself. The nose had pronounced forest floor, vanilla oak, dried sour cherries and dried blackberries aromas. The taste was of cedar and dried blackberry but very smooth (3 hours later and when Vinturied) ... there was also bits of grit and lots of sediment, so I should have used a filter. All-in-all a very impressive wine and an impressive first use of the Vinturi ... but I have to give the full nod to the wine - the gadget can only make a good wine better, it cannot improve a crappy wine; John Marynissen gave me that opportunity by producing something of excellent and long lived quality. He will be missed.

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Coyote's Run 2005 Cabernet

2009-07-26T23:09:00.006-04:00

Click here to read the original review from June 2007 - OWR Newsletter #58

(Re-Tasted July 2009) ... After the debacle that was the La Frenz Gewurztraminer I managed to locate a bottle or Coyote's Run 2005 Cabernet, a blend of the Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon. 2005 was a good year here in Ontario (if you don't mind a short crop) and the red wines turned out very well, and ageable. This wine is still in its infancy, at only 4 years from vintage date, and it still has some grip as well as lovely flavours.

At first I was concerned, the opening salvo to the nose was lots and lots of green pepper ... but that dissipated quickly leaving many more interesting aromas to develop over the next 2 hours: spiced-blueberry, cinnamon-raspberries, a touch of black licorice and at the tail end of the 2 hours some lovely black raspberry. The palate also showed plenty of complexity: dark fruit with lots of vanilla flavours kicked us off, then it moved into cinnamon, graphite and oak character while the dark fruit remained. There was a nice pleasant smoothness through the mouth right up to the point where pepper and gritty tannins left behind a long lasting impression. This one has a few years left in it for sure, so you can safely open now and enjoy, or let it sit for a bit and enjoy it later - either way you're on solid ground.

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Colio Estate Winery 2002 Barrel Aged Cabernet Franc Reserve

2009-07-25T22:01:00.004-04:00

Click here to read the original review from August 2006 - OWR Newsletter #41

Retasted back in November of 2008

(Re-Tasted July 2009) ... Some might read this review as a negative review - but in truth it is nothing of the sort - it is just an okay review of a 7 year old wine. This is a wine that seems to have lost its character. Back in the day it had big tannins, lots of berries and other fruits, along with spices and a grippy finish. Today, it seems to be just a wine. The flavours are nondescript, but that's not a bad thing. It has little in the way of smell too, but again, not a bad thing. There are some woodsy notes in the mouth, but not enough to really write home about. This wine has turned into a plain everyday house wine, you know you're drinking a wine, but there are no varietal characteristics ... it's flat and uneventful; but that does not make it bad, it just makes it something to sip on ... it won't wow the crowd, but then again it won't offend either. It's perfectly approachable and pleasant, but don't expect to strike up a long conversation about it.

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Sanson Estate Winery 2002 Bird Dog Red

2009-07-24T21:46:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from March 2007 - OWR Newsletter #51

(Re-Tasted July 2009) ... After the atrocity that was the Muscedere 2004 Cab Franc Reserve, I decided to give another Lake Erie wine a go: Sanson's Bird Dog Red. Dennis Sanson, is one of the unheralded winemakers of the Lake Erie North Shore region - it seems that everything he touches turns to liquid gold - or at least something close. This is his 2002 Bird Dog Red, a Bordeaux blend of Franc, Sauv and Merlot and it has aged well. The nose seemed to be ever-changing throughout the few hours the wine remained open, starting out as pepper and herbs, segueing into hints of green pepper and then moving on to include a little vanilla about an hour and a half in. The palate was also peppery from the get go, then came a touch of fruit, blackberry, for a brief visit, before the secondary flavours of pepper and spice took over for the long haul. It smoothed quite noticeably in the time it was opened (3 hours), and fruit did drift in an out of the realm of recognition, but mainly this wine was dominated by herbs and spice, which did most of the talking. For those interested, and who still have a bottle in the cellar, I do believe this is a last chance bottle, meaning that it does not have many years ahead of it, but it is still quite drinkable.

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Muscedere Vineyards 2004 Cabernet Franc Reserve

2009-07-24T21:34:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from January 2006 - OWR Newsletter #48

(Re-Tasted July 2009) ... When will winemakers and winery owners learn not to put wines under plastic cork ... heck I hope it's soon because I am tired of wasting a lot of time, money and taste buds on these atrocities. First things first, if you make a wine that you think will age, find a screwcap or a cork to seal it under, forgo the plastic cork, please. I remember liking this wine back in January 2006 - in fact I called it good value and recommended buying a few to lie down. So I now must apologize, had I remembered it was a plastic cork I would have told you back then to drink it up, and quick. This wine, from the very get go, had a funny taste and smell - once I got through that and started to identify what it was turning into I was able to pick out green pepper and smoky notes, and these aromas followed through on the palate.

I hope Rob and Fabio (owners of Muscedere) have changed over their closer, if not, be ready for more of the same in the coming years.

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Mountain Road Wine Company 2004 Botrytis Affected Riesling

2009-07-15T21:15:00.005-04:00

Click here to read the original review from January 2006 - OWR Newsletter #21

(Re-Tasted July 2009) ... Today's word is "outstanding". That is the best word I can come up with to describe this wine. Back in 2006, when I reviewed this wine for the first time, I said it was under-valued. Today Steve Kocsis, winemaker and owner of Mountain Road has rectified that situation by putting this wine is a half bottle (375ml). But back in 2006 he was selling this beauty in a 750ml for $17.95 and people thought he was crazy ... today I don't think that opinion about Steve's state of mind has changed, but the wine sure has, and for the better. The nose is a beautiful combination of apricots, dried pineapple and a touch of petrol. The palate is just as interesting with lots of dried sweet fruits: pineapple, apricot, mango, and papaya - the only problem is that with such a big bottle it's hard to finish it ... well, not that hard - but still it is a lot of sweetness to deal with all in one sitting. The wine is also a bit on the thick side, meaning it has some viscosity, but nothing that's off-putting, it just has an anticipation factor when pouring (like Heinz ketchup - but much less thick). I also made note of the nice golden colour that this wine has taken on. Looking at my inventory it seems I still have another bottle of this one kicking around, and boy am I happy about that.

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Chateau des Charmes 1999 Estate Cabernet-Merlot

2009-07-12T17:37:00.001-04:00

Click here to read the original review from April 2005 - OWR Newsletter #02
Previously Tasted Again: January 17, 2008

(Re-Tasted July 2009) ... It was once said to me that "wine tastes better in the presence of the winemaker" - I am sure that anybody who has experienced tasting with a winemaker can attest to that. Tonight I got a rare opportunity to taste a bottle of Chateau des Charmes 1999 Cabernet-Merlot Estate Bottle with the Bosc family - but this story has a little bit of a twist, it was a bottle that I had been storing for the last 4 or 5 years, and it had traveled 2000km to get to the table.

On July 2nd I found myself enroute to the Annual Pine Island tasting held on an island just south of North Bay ... knowing that I would not be returning to my abode until the 13 of July, I knew I had to take the bottle with me. So I packed it carfeully in bubble wrap and into a cooler bag, packed with bubble wrap around it to keep it safe - this is where the bottle resided for the next 10 days. I then stored the wine in our cabin on the island, thankfully the weather never hit a temperature above 20 (celsius). My next stop was in the US of A (Detroit), where I visited with my fiancee for a few days and kept the bottle in its bag in her cool basement. Then to Niagara I went - where the bottle had to rest in a trunk all day as the temperature outside rose. At this point I bought a couple bottles of cold water and stowed them in the bag with the bottle, as a gauge as to how well the bottle was being insulated. Thankfully when I returned to my B&B that evening the water was still cool. Finally, the bottle made its way, 10 days later, to the Bosc table where we pulled the cork and I held my breath. Had I ruined this carefully stored bottle that I had launched my website with (as the first red reviewed) back in April 2005? Had I taken enough care of this bottle through all this moving about? It was show time ...

Paul Bosc Jr. popped the cork and gave it a sniff - he then poured a little off and sampled it, so did I. I little smoky and dark fruitish. We let the wine breathe in the bottle for an hour. Now back in 1999, Junior was not the winemaker, Paul Bosc Sr. was, and he showed up to try the bottle (this is where the part about "in the presence of the winemaker" comes in). The wine proved to have a life all it's own - still with vibrant fruit, it actually tasted young, this 10 year old bottle that had been hauled from town to town tasted young. The nose was black fruited, on the dry side, with licorice and raspberry notes. The flavour was black fruit, vanilla with a hint of pine, sour raspberry and cassis. The tannins still had a grip yet smoothed through the mouth - and kept those flavours with barely a change over the next three hours. Outstanding wine, "a vintage on par with 2002," said Paul Jr. I have some bottles of the 2002 Estate Cabernet Merlot - I guess we'll see if that statement really is true in 2012.

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Maleta Winery 2005 Cabernets

2009-07-10T06:00:00.003-04:00

Click here to read the original review from November 2007 - OWR Newsletter #70

(Re-Tasted May 2009) ... I had the opportunity to give this one a re-taste during the 42 Wines / 21 Wineries event held in Toronto. I was so impressed with how it tasted that I reviewed it, gave it 4 1/2 stars and was prepared to put it in my newsletter - then suddenly I realized I had reviewed it previously. So instead of putting it in the newsletter, it moves here to the Taste it Again section, where I will now post my re-review of this wine with a smile, that's because I noted in my previous review (of November 2007); "Still a little closed this wine will require another 2-3 years of bottle age to open up a bit ...", and I was right. By the way, this wine is still for sale at the winery and an excellent pick up indeed, only $15.95.

Sometimes a winery can really do you a favour by holding onto a wine. The average time between purchase and consumption of a bottle is anywhere between 12-48 hours – that doesn’t leave a lot of time for ageing the wine and allowing it to develop and come into its peak period. Maleta is just now releasing their ’05 blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc. 2005 was a good growing season for red grapes and for making ageable red wines. This one spent 2 years in a mix of French, American and Hungarian oak, all that age has given great complexity to the wine on both the smell and in the taste: smoky, blackberry, raspberry, cinnamon, spice as well as a plethora of other dark nuances of berries and herbs. There’s also great acidity, and good bite on the tongue from those tannins. An easy cellar candidate for the next 5 years, but also something to drink in the next 12-48 hours. Priced for a multiple purchase so that you can do both.

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Hillebrand Winery 2006 Trius White

2009-07-02T12:16:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review from October 2007

(Re-Tasted July 2009) ... If memory serves correctly this is the first year that wine maker Darryl Brooker concocted this blend. I remember it having Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay and some Pinot Gris – but then sometimes my memory fails as to content – but I do remember this was a very nice wine. In my conversation with Darryl, I remember him saying it leaned more towards a drink-now style than anything meant to age. I have learned over the years that winemakers can be pretty conservative about their wine’s age-ability assessments (especially Darryl, who seems to undercut everything); but this time I think he was right on the money with his assessment. Don’t take that to mean the wine has gone bad, it just has lost a lot of the freshness that made this wine so damn tasty a few years back. Today the first smell was a bit on the sulphury side, but that blew off in a minute of two. Next up the nose were some melon and apricot smells, but not of the fresh variety, and hints of floral began to peak out the more air that got in. The palate showed signs of floral, apple and over-ripe peach, but left a rather unpleasant aftertaste behind and the acidity seemed fairly flat too. After about two hours some acidity returned and the flavours blossomed a little more, but by then most people were onto red and had no use for a wine that didn’t wow from the start. My advice would be to decant this one and take your chance.

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Chateau des Charmes 2005 Estate Bottled Riesling

2009-06-21T15:45:00.002-04:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2007

(Re-Tasted June 2009) ... In 1967 The Lovin' Spoonfuls sang a song called "Boredom" ("my whole life is boredom"), these are the same guys that sang "Did you ever have to make up your mind" and "What a day for a daydream". Unfortunately, there was no day dreaming about this wine and we made up our minds pretty quickly ... in 2009 this wine was boring ("my this Riesling is boring"). I am sitting here on a sunny day in Michigan, staring out at a blue sky and the temperature heading north of 80 (that's about 25 on the celsius scale) and I am staring into a glass of Riesling that has either entered a very boring stage or its lifecycle or is on its way down. I would like to just believe it's in a "dumb phase", a place in a wine's life where nothing exciting is happening, but if you were to open it in another year, or had opened it the year before, it would sparkle. There was petrol on the nose and a touch of over ripe, bruised apple; the palate pretty much confirmed that, but the acidity and sweetness seems to have failed the wine and it just sat on the tongue without bringing enjoyment or pleasure. Not sure if I have any of this one left, but if I do it would be nice to look at it again in another year or so, to see if it really was just dumb or boring at 4 years old, either way, at this point anyway, it was a disappointment.

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Chateau des Charmes 2002 St. David's Bench and Paul Bosc Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

2009-06-05T08:01:00.006-04:00

To read the original review from July 2006 click on the vineyard below:
St. David's Bench - Paul Bosc Vineyard

(Re-Tasted June 2009) ... This is the story of two wines that might surprise you, even 7 years from their vintage date. First, let's take a minute to talk about the terroir of these two wines - or better yet, the proximity to one another. It may not seem like much separates these two vineyards, but that little stretch of road means so much. You see (for those who have been to Chateau des Charmes) the St. David's vineyard is what the Chateau sits in the middle of; while the Paul Bosc vineyard is located just across the parking lot; separated by a piece of asphalt called "York Road", but amazingly that makes all the difference.

I opened these wines on two consecutive nights so that I could compare them. Starting with the St. David's Bench wine. This one had a lovely nose of toasted cinnamon, dried blackberries and black fruits along with a vanilla-cedar note. The taste was full of peppered-blackberries some tannin bite along with cinnamon and vanilla. As time wore on with this wine other flavours emerged, including hints of bittersweet chocolate, a cedar-black licorice finish and a pleasant cafe mocha aftertaste.

The Paul Bosc bottle was quite different. For starters, the first bottle I opened was badly corked, thankfully I was able to locate another in my cellar, but still you never like to see a wine you've been ageing go bad (or be bad from the start, as this case may be). Once the second bottle was opened the true smells and flavours of this wine came out. A nose loaded with black fruit, spice and some vegetal notes, though that blew off within the first 15 minutes. Taste-wise there were lots of spices and pepper along with some pleasant black fruit flavours. This wine showed little signs of its age, with no hints of the dried fruit that was in the St. David's bottle; and there was still quite a bit of youthful tannins, big fruit and spice.

It's amazing to compare these two wines ... sure it's just a road, but it's the road that makes all the difference; that and the two different soils the grapes are grown in. Both wines still have plenty of time left in them, though I would say the David's has less - say 3 or 4 years, while the Bosc shows no signs of slowing down in it's evolution, another 5+ years here.

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Colchester Ridge Estate Winery 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot

2009-05-30T08:57:00.001-04:00

Click here to read the original review from February 2007 - OWR Newsletter #50

(Re-Tasted May 2009) ... Here's a winery I have been impressed with since the get go, so I was excited to see a bottle of their wine come up in my Taste it Again program. If you haven't heard of Colchester Ridge then you haven't been anywhere near the Lake Erie North Shore region (outside Windsor) and you're missing out on one the unsung and up-and-coming wineries of Ontario; year-in and year-out this "new" (est. 2001) winery brings out wine that are as good or better than anyone in the region, and great examples of the vintage in Southern Ontario. The Lake Erie region has a longer growing season than Niagara or Prince Edward County and even in "bad" years they take advantage of this extra growing time. 2004 is far from the best year we've had this decade, but in this wine you'd never guess it. Upon opening there's wood, lot's of wood (which in some cases is used to mask problem years),but thankfully it's not overpowering, though it was certainly enough to cause some initial concern. Twenty-minutes later all that changed. The woodsy started to settle down and revealed herbs and spices, there's a smoothness to the palate and hints of dark, slightly dried fruit began to emerge. Forty-minutes on and its herbs and subtle green pepper notes that take center stage, still with that nice easy smoothness. After almost two hours the wine has reverted back to the start with lots of wood and some herbal notes. If you've got some in your cellar now's the time to drink this wine, but let it sit open for half an hour before drinking, and then drink over the next two.

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Mountain Road Wine Company 2002 Cabernet Franc

2009-05-29T07:23:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from October 2006 - OWR Newsletter #42

(Re-Tasted May 2009) ... I have been sitting on a mountain of 2002 wines from Ontario (no pun intended, I swear). It would be safe to say that I have at least 40 different bottles of 2002 just waiting for me to try them (either again or that have become "lost") - this number also doesn't cover the amount of multiple bottles I have, just the number of different wines. You see, 2002 was the first big vintage of the new millennium, some might argue 2001 was pretty good too, but 2002 was a year to crow about, and many wineries did. Since then we have seen good years in 2005 (although short cropped) and the monster 2007 (from which wines are still coming onto shelves). In my inventory I noticed I had a few different bottles from Mountain Road, I'll get into the reserves I little later in the week (which I had not previously reviewed), but I thought I would start looking back right here, with this 2002 Cabernet Franc.

This is a wine I would call a "window wine", that's because it drinks in a certain window; let me explain. I opened the bottle and was immediately struck by a peppery smell, then the green pepper materialized, I expected that because it was in my original note. But instead of fresh green pepper it was more of a roasted green pepper, with toasty charred-like notes. The flavours revealed littled, just lots of dry woodsy flavours. So out came the decanter and the trials began.

With quite a bit of air the wine's nose soften even more, still on the roasted green pepper side but soft and fairly aromatic (if you like the smell of green pepper that is). With air the palate produced more black pepper and spicy tastes along with biting tannins and plenty of acidity. The fruit has almost completed dropped out of this wine and the flavours have become mostly secondary characteristics (barrel notes - woods and spices). The longer it remained opened and the more air the more bitter the finish became, so the "window of drinking" is somewhere within 30 minutes to an hour of opening, or swirl it around in the decanter for about a minute or two.

This wine is rough around the edges and the finish is a little on the bitter side, so not one for drinking on its own. What I did find quite appealing was how well it did go with food. I decided on chicken tonight and with each bite and sip I took together I noticed the wine added a nice smokiness to the food - bbq'ed flavour without the grill.

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Flat Rock 2004 Gravity Pinot Noir

2009-04-28T20:00:00.003-04:00

Click here to read the original review from August 2006 - OWR Newsletter #36

(Re-Tasted April 2009) ... I have heard it said that Pinot Noir is one of those weird grapes that has an ebb and flow to its aging process. Here's what I mean: Let's say you open a bottle of 2004 in early January of 2008 and the wine is beautiful and succulent with lots of berries and cherries - the kind of wine you are happy to own, your experience tells you that the wine can age another 4 to 5 years with ease. Wanting to capture that wine moment again you open a bottle of the same wine 6 months later, it's lackluster, no sign of fruit and little indicatiojn that this is even wine. Ready to pitch your case of 2004 you get unexpectedly sidetracked and the wine remains in your cellar another year. You come across it and remember the nasty stuff you tried - curious you pop the cork and try it again ... this time the wine is sublime. And that's Pinot Noir, not just a heartbreaker but a head-scratcher as well. Today, I opened up my last remaining bottle of Flat Rock's 2004 Gravity Pinot - one of my favourites from that vintage - and I found myself disappointed. Sure there are Pinot smells here, earthy, anise seed, forest floor, and fruits that aren't exactly fresh but not dried out either. The taste is another mystery of sorts: earthy forest floor, dried cranberry, slightly raisiny, touch of anise but quite smooth. We call this a "dumb phase", for Pinto Noir - not showing great, but not showing all that well either - if I had another bottle I would keep it in the corner for another 6 months to a year and try it again.

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Featherstone Estate Winery 2005 Riesling

2009-04-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2006 - OWR Newsletter #40

(Re-Tasted April 2009) ... As I continue to experiment with ageing wine and vintage years I draw some rather interesting conclusions. One of which is that 2005 was not a good year for Riesling. Allow me to qualify that statement a little better: 2005 Riesling aren't aging very well. Riesling, one of the most ageable whites, with its high acidity and slight residual sugar, can age beautifully, developing flavours that are out of this world sublime. One of the signature smells and tastes of a well aged Riesling is petrol/gas/kerosene - a Riesling with 10 years-plus on it has this smell in spades, but they should materialize slowly over time. My findings so far, about 2005, is that those Rieslings have developed over-the-top petrol notes prematurely; and when I am talking petrol I mean sticking your head into a gas tank and breathing deep. Only 4 years from vintage date they should not have the level of gas that many of them do ... thus I can make the conclusion that the hot years (which '05 was) are unkind to the cool weather loving Riesling. This Featherstone offering follows that theory right down to the conclusion. The nose is fairly complex, adding spice and floral notes to that big petrol smell. The flavours fall off sharply with no fruit, no spice, no floral - a hit of something sweet mid-palate almost tries to redeem this wine, but it concludes with a bitter petrol aftertaste. These tastings of the '05s is a bell-weather for the 2007 Rieslings of Ontario - so unless you dig on petrol, early drinking is the key for these wines ... you can hold your 03s, 04s, 06s and the coming 08s.

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Huff Estates 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon / Cabernet Franc

2009-04-07T08:32:00.005-04:00

Click here to read the original review from August 17, 2006 - OWR Newsletter #37

(Re-Tasted April 2009) ... On this Tuesday night I opened two bottles of Prince Edward County wine - this Huff Cab Sauv/Franc and a 2004 Grange blend. These were two different, yet difficult vintages for Ontario winemakers, and the grapes, and both these wines are from an up-and-coming wine region ... so how did the Huff wine fare:

This wine offered up more than the Grange wine and it was a year older - but, did what it offer up appeal? That is the big question. The nose was big on green pepper and quite stemmy (smelled like plant stem). The colour had definitely gone from red to brick and there was lots of wine diamonds on the cork and plenty of sediment in the bottle (and in my initial glass). So I decided to decant and wait.

The initial tasting, before decanting, was not as bad as maybe the nose would have indicated. The tannins had soften over the years, the taste was soft green pepper mixed with smoky-woody flavours - think green pepper cooked over an overly smoky wood fire. The decanting did its job, and an hour later the wood had soften to a palatable level, and there were even hints of fruit, of summer's past mind you, but there was an indication of dried by-gone fruit. I thought this wine showed a lot of character - but the question still remains: do you like that kind of character?

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The Grange of Prince Edward County 2004 Cabernet-Merlot

2009-04-07T08:12:00.004-04:00

Click here to read the original review from August 17, 2006 - OWR Newsletter #37

(Re-Tasted April 2009) ... On this Tuesday night I opened two bottles of Prince Edward County wine - this Grange Cabernet-Merlot and a 2003 Huff blend. These were two different, yet difficult vintages for Ontario winemakers, and the grapes, and both these wines are from an up-and-coming wine region ... so how did the Grange wine fare:

The nose from start to finish was a little funky. When I say start to finish I mean I like to give these old wines some time to breathe, get accustomed to being outside the bottle after all these years. But the nose never did come around to anything - no fruit, no wood, nothing.

The taste was something altogether different. It started off smooth and sweet, almost port-like, no tannins were present at all, for it's first hour is was a straight forward nondescript grapey wine; meaning it tasted like grapes or juice juice - then it slowly started to develop a burnt sugar and caramel note in the sweet finish. If I were a betting man I would have to say that in this tough vintage, where proper ripening was hard to get and the alcohol making sugars were not naturally present in the grapes, they must have chaptalized the wine (added sugar) to bring the alcohol up to a respectable level (13%). But now a few years down the road the added sugar is really coming through as the only characteristic of this wine. If you like boozy grape juice then this is your wine but as far as agein any further ... how old do you like your boozy grape juice?

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Rosehall Run 2004 St. Cindy Pinot Noir

2009-04-03T21:49:00.005-04:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2006 - OWR Newsletter #39

(Re-Tasted April 2009) ... Before I start telling you about this wine let me say this: I really wish Dan Sullivan would ditch the plastic corks and put the real stuff (or even a screwcap) into his bottles. These plastic things are impossible to remove and yet through all the struggle they give such a piss poor seal. There I have said it and I am happy to get it off my chest ... Dan, you're making too good a wine to be messing with this plastic crap ... okay enough, on to the wine. Tonight I was of two minds, a Primitivo from Italy or a Pinot Noir from Dan Sullivan's Rosehall Run - the Pinot won out and I would have to say it was a pretty good choice. The nose was very muted, even hours after opening ... yes I nursed this one from 6:30 to about 9:30 in the hopes it would open up ... it never did. I got a touch of earthiness right from the beginning and strawberry emerged at the end (at about 9pm). - but nothing much else showed up to the nose party. The taste showed signs of cranberry and sour cherry but it too was a little on the muted side. The finish was the best part, it actually showed some character and flavour with black licorice, leather and sour cherry. They say that Pinot matures in waves ... I was certainly not at the crest of this wine, but I certainly wasn't at the bottom either - I think I caught this one on it's way up, or down.

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Vineland 2004 Semi-Dry Riesling

2009-03-12T17:41:00.004-04:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2006

(Re-Tasted March 2009) ... Sometimes it's the coincidences of life that are the most interesting. One week ago today I opened a bottle of 2005 Dry Riesling from Vineland. Today I was at mom's house and she had just open (the previous night) a bottle of 2004 Semi-Dry Riesling and could not stop talking about how wonderful it was. With a recommendation like that I just had to give it a sip. Lo and behold mom was right. The nose was a mixture of peaches and apples with hints of lime - a fruit cocktail for the olfactory lobes ... there was a hint of petrol, but it was ever so slight that you had to be looking for it to find it. In the mouth the acidity was huge - at least a triple swallow before it completely cleared the palate. Crisp with peach, lime zest and an elongated finish ... lovely; I'm not going to say it, but it sure goes a long way to prove my premature petrol point.

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Vineland 2005 Dry Riesling

2009-03-05T17:21:00.005-05:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2006 - OWR Newsletter #35

(Re-Tasted March 2009) ... Now this was a wonderful surprise. I have had a few people tell me to get off of my 2005 premature petrol kick, and that I have made my point. Well I am glad that some see it that way, but I am still going to try these bottles and see/taste what has happened.

I opened this one with the thought that it was going to do the exact same as all the rest: big gasoline nose and taste; but surprisingly it was still very fruity. Sure it had some of those petrol notes but it also had plenty of fruit. The nose was rusty apple, citrus, petrol and sweet tart (you know those sour candies we all loved as kids). The acidity on the tongue was biting, the citrus sour, lots of tart lemon with peel still attached - but there was also this lovely pineapple finish. This one certainly bucked the trend of most 2005 Rieslings I have tried.

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Hillebrand 2005 Trius Red

2009-03-04T19:28:00.002-05:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2007 - OWR Newsletter #60

(Re-Tasted March 2009) ... While out on the wine trail during Cuvee Weekend 2009 I popped into Hillebrand where they were doing a Trius vertical tasting with the 05, 06 and 07 vintages. It's not really very fair to the 06, being the lighter of the vintages, sandwiched between the big years, I think a better comparison would've been to try the 2002 (another big year), but I digress. I know we're not that far along in the 05’s lifespan, but it's interesting to see how it's coming along. Really, what is there to say here, three years from vintage it shows no sign of age whatsoever, if anything it’s gotten better as it starts to come into its own. Blackberry, tobacco, smoke; still with great tannins and a taste of that parallels the nose. Through the mid-plate there's excellent dark fruit which carries through to the finish and leaves behind drying wood tannins. If you have any misgivings as to how long this wine will age, I think you best waylay those fears, this one is easily a 10 year wine, if not more … from today.

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Stoney Ridge 2005 Cabernet Franc Reserve Wismer Vineyard

2009-03-03T19:23:00.003-05:00

Click here to read the original review from January 2008 - OWR Newsletter #74

(Re-Tasted March 2009) ...It hasn't been a long time since last I tried this wine, so I suspect the notes from January last year are going to be pretty much the same as the notes taken this year. This wine has such a smooth mouthfeel, and as air gets into it it seems to just glide down the throat - but I think I am getting ahead of myself here. First let's give it a sniff. There's black raspberry, ranberry and sour cherry with subtle nuances of sweet vanilla oak. In the mouth it is even better than the nose suggests, and juicier fruit. The taste is ripe cherries, raspberry, vanilla and silky tannins ... smooth and delicious - gulpable even - it was all I could do not to chug-a-lug this wine. And now, on-sale for a paltry $14.95 at the winery.

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Norman Hardie 2005 Riesling

2009-02-14T14:51:00.003-05:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2006 - OWR Newsletter #39

(Re-Tasted February 2009) ... It was a Riesling weekend. Having consumed, or at least opened and tasted a Lailey Riesling the night previous, I twisted the cap on this Norman Hardie with some trepidation … was I in for the same rude awakening I have found on so many bottles of 2005 Ontario Riesling? My quick answer was yes, but after giving this wine a few hours to mellow I was surprised to say “not as much”. When I first reviewed this wine back in September 2006 (for Newsletter #39), I was convinced it was one of the best Ontario Rieslings I had tried from that year. I have to say that after a bit of aging this wine still doesn’t disappoint, but you have to show some patience. When first opened I was smacked in the face by the gassy smell of petrol, "here we go again", I thought. In about 20 minutes the petrol diminished enough to find a little lime on the nose. The palate was a little more forgiving – there was definitely some fruit here: green apple and watered down lemon-lime nuances, there was also lots of mineral notes and a steady seam of petrol on the tongue. The aftertaste was anything but petrol though – it smoothed and righted itself into a delicious peach nectar. Another hour passed and apple showed up on the mid-palate, though always as an accompaniment of petrol. Lots of Ontario Riesling of 2005 are showing a load of premature petrol – this one is probably the best of the lot for blowing it off.

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Lailey Vineyard 2005 Riesling

2009-02-13T14:48:00.004-05:00

Click here to read the original review from November 28, 2006 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted February 2009) ... I’m not trying to belabor a point here, nor am I trying to bore you with one 2005 Riesling after another – but I am proving to myself (an hopefully to you) that 2005, although a great year for red wines (aside from the short crop), was not so kind to the whites – especially those whites that like it a little cooler.

There is a camp in Ontario that believes that Riesling is a grape we can hang our hat on – I don’t disagree, but nor do I whole-heartily agree … I believe our grape is Cabernet Franc, but I am about to get off topic. Riesling is a grape we do well with most years, 2005 was not one of them though. Sure our Rieslings were lively and fresh in their youth, but I would still consider 3 years youth … this wine (and many other Rieslings from 2005 – just check out others reviewed on this blog) taste like a Riesling many years past 3, say 10 years-plus, in its development progression; in fact, I tried a 1987 Riesling from Germany at a recent Vintages tasting that did not have this much gasoline on the nose … and I tasted a wine made by this very winemaker (Derek Barnett) – a 1992 Riesling – that showed very little sign of petrol … but this wine … Once I popped the cork I thought I was working at a gas station. The taste is along the same line, yes there is a little lemon and lemon rind here, but it quickly gets overpowered by the petrol – even after being opened a few hours it never recovered. In a few more years I’ll be filling my car with this one, not my glass.

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Hillebrand 2002 and 2005 Cabernet Franc - side-by-side

2009-02-09T08:55:00.004-05:00

Click here to read the original reviews from May 2006 and July 2008

OWR Newsletter #30 (2002) and OWR Newsletter #87 (2005)

(Re-Tasted January 2009) ... This is the tale of two winemakers, two styles and making wine in two very good vintages. During the Niagara-on-the-Lake Days of Wine and Chocolate event, I found myself upstairs in the Hillebrand private tasting room where they pour old and limited edition vintages. My steward, Austin, was interested in having me try two Cabernet Francs, both available in very limited quantity at the winery: the 2002 and 2005 Trius. These two wines were made from grapes grown in 2 exciting Niagara vintages by two very different winemakers. The 2002 was made by J.L. Groux (now with Stratus), while the 2005 was made by then new-winemaker, Darryl Brooker (by way of Australia and New Zealand). This is a comparison between an old world style winemaker (J.L.) and a new world style winemaker (D.B.) – granted the wines are 3 years apart, but their styles are definitely apparent.

There are similarities in these wines (smell), stands to reason as they are made from the same grape, they are: tobacco and green pepper; but each has it to a different degree and in a different flavour profile. The 2002 is like raw pipe tobacco with up-front green pepper, whereas the 2005 is a sweeter cherry-tobacco with the subtleness of green pepper that’s seems almost imperceptible. Other notes in the ’02 include: spice, cinnamon, pepper and oak; while the ’05 delivers more up front fruit, cherry, as well as a smoky quality.

Palates also show a certain amount of similarities (from the grape) and differences (in style). The 2002 has plenty of acidity, black pepper and subtle green pepper on the tongue – there’s also lots of cedar/oak qualities with drying tannins and dried black cherry on the dusty, dry finish. The 2005 is much more fruit driven, big on spices with white pepper instead of black … good tannins are the backbone of this one. The finish is spiced blackberries and cedar.

This was an interesting tasting pitting styles and vintages against one another. Both wines still have plenty of time left in them: the ’02 can easily see 2012 (and quite possibly a few years after that), while the ’05 will be drinking well into 2014 and beyond. All this for an unbelievable $14.95 (upon release, and even now, if the winery still has any left) … you can definitely say that the adventure continues for these two wines.

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Carmela Estates Winery 2004 Pinot Noir

2009-01-30T17:51:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from August 2006 - OWR Newsletter #37

(Re-Tasted January 2009) ... Those who are even a little skeptical on the winemaking ability of those in Prince Edward County should have been around when I popped the cork on this ‘04 from the County. What a marvelous piece of winemaking, though I have to admit I am not too surprised because he has becomes somewhat of a celebrated master of this particular grape here in Ontario over the past few years. For those not sure of whom I speak, I’m talking about Norman Hardie, who currently has his own eponymous winery right across the road from his former employer (Carmela). Not much info on the bottle as to the origin of these grapes (though speculation is that they came from Wismer Vineyard in Niagara) … it is a VQA Ontario, but PEC did not have their DVA designation in 2004 when these grapes were harvested, nor did they have it when this wine was released in 2005. But they did have one thing going for them, a well traveled Pinot-lover in winemaker Norman Hardie, who’s goal is to make the ultimate Ontario Pinot Noir. Here he brought the yield down to one-tonne per acre, that’s fairly radical for that time. The nose is smoky and earthy, with cinnamon, dried sour cherries and vanilla nuances. Taste-wise you’ll find spiced cherry with a vanilla mid-palate, nice tannins which still retain quite a bit of a drying kick on the tongue and a toasted cinnamon finish. Absolutely lovely, and definitely at its peak right now – I am not sure whether to open my other bottle or lay down for another couple of years just to see what happens.

As mentioned this wine is Norman Hardie-made and sold for much less than what Norm is now charging for his Pinots (at the time it was a $20 bottle) … this was the winery where he cut his teeth in the County and if you have some bottles of this you are in for a wonderful surprise … this wine shows the love and dedication Norm had/has for making really fine Pinot Noir. Kudos.

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13th Street 2004 Cabernet Franc

2009-01-16T17:48:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from August 2006 - OWR Newsletter #36

(Re-Tasted January 2009) ... Well paint me red and call me Charlie - actually, let's not and say we did. About a week ago I re-tasted a 2004 Cabernet Merlot from 13th Street, and while the tasting was not a disaster, it was not the greatest either. So it was with a little trepidation that I opened this bottle of Cabernet Franc wondering if it too would suffer the same way it's brother had. I have to tell you, that after trying this wine I am more convince than ever that Cabernet Franc is Ontario's grape to run with, even in a mediocre year like 2004 we can make a wine from this grape that'll age better than just decently. The nose still had dollops of spice, a touch of vanilla and hints of cherries (which showed up about half an hour after opening) ... the palate showed the telltale Ontario sign of green pepper along with a little white pepper and some sour cherry. Smooth and clean on the palate and very tasty, I would say it has aged much better than the Cab-Merlot. I wouldn't wait too much longer to drink it if you've got any, it's pleasant right now but I can't see this one getting any better.

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Stonechurch 2004 Pinot Noir Reserve

2009-01-15T17:16:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from July 2006 - OWR Newsletter #34

(Re-Tasted January 2009) ... Goodness, gracious me ... a line most memorably uttered by Peter Sellers in a duet with Sophia Loren, and that would be the way I would describe this wine; but not in a cutesy way, like the song, but in a disappointing way - as if to say, what the heck is this stuff. I don't usually bad mouth a wine but in this column I can not sugar coat. Here I try older wines that I have stored and see where they are today. The wines are no longer available at the winery, so the only place that one could find this wine is in one's cellar - and if you have a bottle of this all I can say is, "you poor bastard". This wine was a delicious Pinot upon its release, but the years have not been kind to it at all. Could it be the fault of the plastic cork or is it faulty winemaking - I'm not sure, but this wine was absolutely abysmal. The stink emenating from the glass was not what you expect from Pinot (you expect a little earthy and a litte dirty), but this was just funky and foul. Here are my exact notes from this opening and tasting: "Not pleasant at all, awful stink on the nose with an underlying nastiness of decay and roting fruit, dirty, but not the kind you'd expect to find on a Pinot ... sour, bitter taste." I let the wine sit for an hour, two and three, after the fourth hour my notes read, "has settled into just plain nasty - old used gym sock nasty." Sorry Stonechurch, this wine did not stand the time of time - in this dimension or any other. Yuck!

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13th Street 2004 Cabernet-Merlot

2009-01-14T07:37:00.006-05:00

Click here to read the original review from October 2007 - OWR Newsletter #68

(Re-Tasted January 2009) ... In and amongst the reviews of 13th Street's new wines and old favourites that I have been doing of late, it just so happened that a couple of bottles of their wine has also come up for re-taste from the 2004 vintage (this one and a soon to be open Cabernet Franc). Not sure what sparked me to lay down some wines from 2004, which was a pretty mediocre vintage, but I wanted to see what would happen to a wine from a quality driven house over time from this vintage; and there is no doubt that 13th Street Winery is a quality house here in Ontario. Unfortunately, if I was trying to prove that to an outsider with this wine, I would not have won over a convert. The wine right from the bottle was green and vegetal, "reedy and weedy" as I have heard it called on occasion. I attempting decanting, which got rid of some of the tastes and smells of the weedy/reedy nature, but not enough. There is very little by way of fruit here, maybe a bit of cedar now that the air has gotten to it. 20-minutes in and the best thing I can say is that it's defintely a smooth wine, tannins are almost non-existent; it's wet and can refresh if that is what you are looking for in a wine (and doesn't do poorly with cheese, and cracker) - heck it's still drinkable, but not 13th Street's most shining moment under cork.

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Calamus Estate Winery 2006 Calamus White

2008-12-30T11:12:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the original review from September 2007 - OWR Newsletter #66

(Re-Tasted September 2007) ... Found wine is always interesting; I never would have put this wine aside, but a devote white drinker might happen to lose a bottle or two in their cellar. That is the condition upon which I stumbled upon this bottle. But this is not a Lost & Found wine, it’s a Taste it Again wine, a wine I tasted back in September of 2007. Back then I recommended it as an end of summer selection (and possibly next summer too) - good thing I added the caveat about the acidity holding up, which at this moment it would seem it hasn’t. The nose is all buckwheat and lavender honey with a faint hint of orange flower; the flavour is also honey, the more bitter and sour buckwheat kind with the merest hint of tangerine. It wasn’t bad to drink, just not as good as it was in it’s youth. But then again it was meant to drink in its youth. So if you still have a bottle or two of this I would suggest you drink it now, as in right now, as in go directly to the wine cellar or fridge, take out that bottle, do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars.

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Cave Spring 2005 Select Late Harvest Cabernet

2008-12-28T12:17:00.001-05:00

Click here to read the original review from March 2007 - OWR Newsletter #52

(Re-Tasted December 2008) ... Age has not diminished the pleasure of this wine one bit, the nose is still lush with strawberries and cherries while the palate is loaded with strawberry flavours - the sweetness is toned down so it does not come off as sickeningly sweet in any way shape or form - just an incredibly easy going sipper that disappears from the glass very quickly. Best of all, there is no sign of age on this wine - the colour is still a beautiful pinky-red and the nose is still very vibrant with those fresh berries and cherries. Don’t be afraid to keep this one for a few more years.

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Fielding 2005 Reserve Riesling

2008-12-25T11:43:00.003-05:00

Click here to read the original review from April 2006 - OWR Newsletter #29

(Re-Tasted December 2008) ... Another ‘05 Riesling and another opportunity to prove my premature-petrol theory. Fielding’s Reserve Riesling did not disappoint in that regard, there was a big petrol smell to this wine, with very little sign of fruit, especially on the nose, though the petrol did also continue its dominance in the mouth as well. After about 20 minutes some fruit did emerge as an apple juice sweetness became apparent, then there was a bosc pear flavour on the tongue 10 minutes after that … all still soaked in gas. The finish proved exceedingly long with apricot and petrol residue kicking around for an extended stay. To my delight the acidity remained fairly intact and caused me to swallow many times before it cleared the palate. This wine has aged nicely so far, but once again those that do not like their Rieslings with either gas smells or flavours will find themselves disappointed.

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13th Street Winery 2005 Riesling

2008-12-23T16:22:00.002-05:00

Click here to read the original review from August 2006 - OWR Newsletter #36

(Re-Tasted December 2008) ... 2005 was an interesting year. It’s the year we had the short-crop, it’s the year we had that stupid 99-1 rule imposed on us (for Cellared in Canada wines only), and it was the year that some great grapes grew because of the a great growing season (it was the winter damage that caused the short-crop). It was also a year in which I noticed “pre-mature petrol notes” in the Riesling. Now the smell of petrol / gas /diesel is a normal smell for Riesling to develop as it gets older, but somewhere near the end of 2006 (the year the 2005 Rieslings would have come out) I was already noticing a predominance of gas on my Riesling. Some say it was the hot summer that caused this; whatever it was it an interesting occurrence. Now some 3 years from vintage date it’s interesting to look (and taste) back at these wines to see where they are now. This 13th Street offering is big on the diesel smells, so much in fact that it is practically all you can smell. On the palate the wine still keeps it’s foot on the gas, but here you’ll also find some over-ripe apple and peach notes on the mid palate. Finally, you should love the finish, which maintains great acidity and a lovely lime flavour. This wine has held up quite well, and while it is definitely not over the hill those who don’t like to smell the Autobahn in their Rieslings best get to drinking this one right away.

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