Calamus Estate 2007 Meritage

Click here to read the original review from June 2010

(Re-Tasted December 2013) ...  It's time for another Taste it Again wine and this time I've got a bottle of Calamus 2007 Meritage to put through the rigors of re-tasting.  6 years from Vintage date and long ago sold out, this wine was incredibly popular and one of the best wines made at this young winery up to that time.  I came across this wine resting in my sideboard as one I had set aside to drink soon and see how it was showing, I have another bottle lying down in the cellar for a few more years to see the ageablility of the 2007 vintage.  So this is a wine we will revisit in years to come.  It's important to note this wine is sealed with a screwcap, does that play a part in what is to come?  We'll see.  The wine seemed to 'open' in a variety stages:  at first the nose was black licorice and cocoa with some earthy, black raspberry, mocha and black cherry - very appealing and enticing, definitely a good sign, now if only the flavours will be that complex.  The palate started out with coffee, cocoa, and hints of smoke ... but as the nose continued with those great aromas the palate seemed to grow thinner.  Sure there's a smooth spicy note to the finish but the middle seems kinda hollow, it's a donut of a wine at this point: nice beginning pleasant finish but nothing in the middle to hold it up.  After an hour the wine lost it's earthiness but still remains a little hollow down the middle and a woodiness is starting to come through.  Half-an-hour after that things are finally coming into balance, that wood finish is still dominating but the front palate says mocha and cassis ... As I mentioned, I still have another bottle and it should be interesting to open this wine up again in a few years.  At the moment you need to decant or give it time in glass.

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Calamus Estate 2007 Riesling

Click here to read the original review from June 2008

(Re-Tasted June 2013) ... Suddenly the day became all about Riesling.  We started with a bottle of Rockway 2006 Riesling and it just ballooned from there.  Next thing you knew we had opened 4 different Rieslings (3 from Ontario, 2 older vintages and one 2012).  This Calamus Riesling came at the beginning of the Riesling-glut.  It's from the 2007 vintage, a hot vintage here in Ontario, and one where I find Rieslings did not fair very well over the long haul.  Surprisingly, this aged one was not as bad as others I have tried from that vintage.  The nose started out with lanolin and beeswax notes, and those continued through the entire tasting, there were also some subtle petrol notes ... then came some fruit in the form of Fuji apple, lemonade and lime zest.  The palate dropped the lanolin for extra beeswax while adding apple skin, peach pit and pear puree mid-palate.  The acidity was fairly decent for both its age and vintage leading to a long finish of key lime ... this wine has held up pretty decently all considering, though if I were you, I don't think I'd hold it much longer if you're still holding any at all.

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Calamus Estate 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

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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Calamus Estate Winery 2005 Calamus Red

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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Calamus Estate Winery 2005 Riesling

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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Calamus Estate Winery 2006 Calamus White

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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