Lailey 2009 Chardonnay - Niagara Peninsula

Click here to read the original review from August 2011

(Re-Tasted February 2014) ... When I first reviewed this wine less than 3 years ago I gave it four-and-a-half stars, and today I think I might just give it a little bit higher because it has turned into one spectacular wine.  The nose is so alluring with aromas of rich buttery-toffee along with peach and vanilla; on the palate there's a vanilla butter sensation that mixes so well with the fruit of citrus, peach and mac apple, almost to the point of being a puree it's so creamy; but then comes the finish:  there's a hint of spice that lingers lovingly on the tongue bringing everything all together and there's that great acidity, the 2009 vintage was known for, that keeps everything from being cloying or too sweet ... sure there's a sweet fruit entry, but that is backed up by that spicy dry finish and that's what makes this wine such a beauty.  Oh, and did I mention the peach pit essence that appears on both the nose and palate as it sits in glass.  If you have one of these in your cellar it'll hold for another few years, and if you have a few bottles I would recommend grabbing one out now and giving it a shot - it's a little piece of heaven.

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Lailey 2008 Old Vines Chardonnay

Click here to read the original review from June 2010

(Re-Tasted December 2013) ... Tonight I felt like a Chardonnay, it does not happen often, but for some reason a Chardonnay was calling my name; oh yes, now I remember why, salmon was on the menu.  But I did not feel like just any old Chardonnay, I wanted to try something older and from one of my go-to producers, that is a short-list indeed (as I suspect it is with most people).  Hence I hold in my hand a bottle of Lailey 2008 Old Vines Chardonnay.  In my original review I gave it 4 stars, and if I were to try it and rate it again today I think I would raise that score just a bit.  Everything just seems to have melded so well together and there are flavours and smells that just weren't even thought of back in 2010, in fact the fruit was a little shy back then, today, let's just say, it's not as shy.  The nose kicks things off with vanilla and butterscotch and then as more air gets into this wine the fruit begins to emerge in the form of apricot and grilled pineapple.  Taste is just as exciting, maybe more, but what really floored me was the great acidity that hit the tongue first, then the flavours start to develop, butter and spice are out of the gate first followed by vanilla, coconut and caramel ... as with the aromas fruit is the last thing that starts to show, this time in the form of mac apple, grilled peach and grilled pear. Very tasty and very appealing ... I have a couple more bottles kicking about and look forward to trying another ... soon; if you have any, now's a good time to give it another go.

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Lailey Vineyard 2008 Zweigelt

Found October 2013

It causes me great pains to write such a review - because I am usually a fan of wines from Lailey - but at Thanksgiving I decided to open a few older bottles with the family.   Now I have to take some responsibility for this bottle, after all I was the one who waited this long to open it; but how else do we learn about older wine unless we store them away and open them on a rainy day.  Now I know Zweigelt isn't known for it's robust and fresh fruit character but this one was pure badness:  leathery, pencil shavings, band-aid along with caraway seed, and even more band-aid.  There was not one person who could find a redeeming feature about it ... chalk this one up to experience - thankfully we had some other excellent bottles that night.  Lost & Found Rating:  Trash

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Lailey 2007 Niagara Peninsula Riesling

Click here to read the original review from June 2008

(Re-Tasted August 2013) ... The '07 Niagara River was surprisingly vibrant and gave me hope for this bottle - but the Niagara Peninsula left me a little cold, and I'm not just talking about the temperature of the wine.  There were hints of lime throughout, and they kept reappearing on the nose, palate and finish - but the acidity was lackluster and because due to that fact, diminished the complete experience of the wine.  There were hints of lemon zest and Vaseline on the nose; in the mouth the best part was the sweet mid-palate that turned into a lime cordial-like finish; but alas there really was no acidity to speak of to prop the whole thing up - thus the wine eventually tasted flat and sweet by the middle of the first glass.  But it was much better than the next wine we opened ... comparatively this one was a treat (I guess it really is all about perspective).

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The Tale of Two Lailey Wines - 2008 & 2009

Click here to read the original review from June 2011 (2009 Canadian Oak)

 Click here to read the original review from June 2010 (2008 Brickyard)

(Re-Tasted August 2013) ... Friday night turned out to be Chardonnay Night in My Backyard - we had a friend over and she's a big Chardonnay fan, and recently we have been drinking, or at least tasting, quite of bit of the grape.  We had tried quite a few good one's and my wife decided we should have our friend over to taste some of our favourites ... but then something happened on the way from concept to execution - I changed the program.  Instead of pouring a number of recent Chardonnays I dug a little deeper into the cellar

and pulled out two older bottles.  Now, not being a big Chardonnay fan from way back, my cellar does not run deep in older vintages of Chardonnay - ask me for a Zinfandel or a Cabernet Franc and I am sure I've got something from the late 90's but a Chardonnay, my last of the 2004's were consumed earlier this year and after that I might have something from 2007 and onward. 

The plan was to start new and work back - the first was from Closson Chase, then I pulled two more out, and as it turned out both were from Lailey (one of the wines was not in the original plan).  The 2009 Canadian Oak was a four star wine, when I rated it back in June of 2011, and today it shows the acidity of the vintage, it still has lovely Chardonnay character but the acidity is the thing most noticeable - sipping it on its own it was a little harsh, but when paired with appetizers it held up really well.  The other wine was the 2008 Brickyard, back in 2010 I gave it a rare 5-star rating, and I think it still deserves it.  The wine was smooth and buttery with vanilla notes, but it was the fruit that was still vibrant and ever-present riding the wave of butter and vanilla - it's as if the wine has barely aged a day - it's still wildly drinkable, paired great with the rosemary salmon, and had just a light dusting of caramel for something sweet on the finish. 

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Lailey 2007 Riesling - Niagara River

Click here to read the original review from June 2008

(Re-Tasted June 2013) ... I'm not sure about your thoughts on the issue, but I for one am leery about warm climate Riesling; so when the hot temps roll into Ontario for extended periods of time over the course of the summer I'm thrilled for the reds but wonder how it will affect the aromatic whites ... and no grape gets more affected that Riesling.  Hot vintage Rieslings are great first out of the gate ... but then in year two they start to develop a huge amount of petrol - almost to the point of being overwhelming.  That was the case with a 2005 Lailey Riesling I had retried in 2009 and plenty of other '05 offerings ... so I have to admit that I was expecting the same thing here.  It seems that somewhere in the interim there was some learning done and this 2007 (another hot Ontario vintage) did not come off as poorly as that 2005.  The nose still retained peach and mineral notes with just the merest hint of petrol, nothing that over-powered the aromas, it lingered lightly in the background.  The palate didn't show much in the way of gas, instead it rose to the table with wet stone and peach pit along with acidity that was still holding on, not a lot mind you, but enough to keep some semblance of balance in the wine ... the thing that really came through was that stoniness.  The 2007 Riesling is holding up surprisingly well, especially when compared, at the same age, to the 2005 version ... not sure how much longer I would keep this wine but it makes for a nice summer sipper this summer for sure.

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Lailey Vineyard 2009 Sauvignon Blanc

Original Review January 2011 on a now lost Podcast

(Re-Tasted May 2013) ... It seems that the original podcast I made for this wine is lost, but I gave it 4-stars, so that has to mean something, doesn't it?  The other day while looking for something white and interesting in my cellar (besides myself) I came across this bottle of Lailey Sauvignon Blanc from 2009 - I sent an email over to winemaker Derek Barnett asking what he thought its chances of still being good were and he responded: "Drink it!!! From that vintage it should still be fresh, might have evolved with more intense green on the finish."  He wasn't far off, but I must say it is still a really enjoyable wine for those interested in how wine evolve - especially whites like Sauvignon Blanc.  It is also interesting to note that this wine did see some oak, so what happens with this wine might not be equivalent to those done without oak.  2009 was a great year for acidity and it seems to have preserved the wine it very intense way.  The wine is quite grassy but with really pleasant hints of creamy-vanilla (from the oak) and the citrus has turned more grapefruit rind than fresh juice giving it a slightly bitter-ish finish.  Intense for sure, but in a good way.  With all this praise I will also say that this might be the last summer to drag this one out and really enjoy it.

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Lailey Vineyard 2005 Canadian Oak Cabernet Franc

Found August 2012

There aren't many using Canadian oak to age their wines, so seeing it on the label is fairly unique; but winemaker Derek Barnett of Lailey has been using it since his days making wine at Southbrook - when it was located in Richmond Hill - so he has a pretty good handle on it.  This wine, now some 7 years from vintage date, showed a little of its age, but also showed that it had some life left in it too.  The nose started out with dried raspberry, and the palate was oaky, cedary and tomato stem-ish ... not a great start, but as I like to tell people, "you get locked in a bottle for X-number of years and see how you feel the moment you get out" ... so this wine needed a little time to reset itself.  In so doing - about half and hour later - the nose showed signs of black currant and smoky-toasty oak.  The palate also seemed to turn itself around and had dried blackberry, hints of coffee with a woody finish - most remarkably is that it did show quite a bit of fruit on the mid-palate before doling out the mostly woody finish.  If you have some in the cellar, I think now is the time to drink it.  Lost & Found Rating:  Tolerable +

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Lailey Vineyard 2005 Cabernet Franc

Found July 2012

I find it surprising that in the 51 wine reviews I have done of Lailey wines over the years that I never got around to putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) for this one.  One, because I love Cabernet Franc and am a proponent of it being Ontario;s red grape - and two, winemaker Derek Barnett seems to know how to handle the grape quite well, especially if you look back at some of his Southbrook wines from the later 90's and early 2000's.  But all that, as they say, is water under the bridge.  2005 was a good vintage in ONtario and the longevity of the reds should be quite substantial, this one is now 7 years form vintage date and is starting to show that age, most by what it lacks instead of what it has.  The nose is dried cherry and tobacco; while the palate has lots of dried red fruit, most notably cranberry, well spiced and a touch on the woody side .. then we get to the finish, here we find a lack of any fruit at all and instead get a sweet wooden sensation on the tongue ... not exactly what I was looking for but then again, not totally unwelcome.  Lost & Found Rating:  Tolerable

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Lailey Vineyard 2005 Zweigelt

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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Lailey Vineyard 2007 Gamay-Zweigelt

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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Lailey Vineyard 2002 Canadian Oak Pinot Noir

Found February 2010

I rescued this bottle from the scrap heap of annihilation - basically someone I knew was going to throw it down the drain figuring it was too old (without even trying it) - what a waste. I brought it over to share with some friends one wine soaked evening. Not exactly at it's peek this bottle was making it's slow decline - but it still had enough stuffing to keep all in attendance interested. Loads of dried fruit and tons of sour cherry, all backed by a touch of wood tanins and lots of acidity. In its prime this would have been one fantastic wine, but I think at this stage, old age was taking its toll and getting the better of this bottle. Lost & Found Rating: Tolerable but fading

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Lailey Vineyard 2005 Riesling

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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