Couple of Wines from the Cellar: Henry of Pelham & Thirty Bench

Henry of Pelham:  Not previously reviewed

Thirty Bench:  Click here to read the original review from September 11, 2012

(Tasted March 2014) ... Tonight I pulled a couple of wines out of the cellar from a couple of cooler vintages.  Started off with the Henry of Pelham 2004 Off-Dry Riesling, which proved it still had plenty of life left in it.  Nose of peach, apricot and apple seed (with no sign of petrol what-so-ever).  Palate was a show of balance between the sweet and the acidity:  apricot, peach pit, touch of green apple along with a bit of Mac, there was even some lilac and honey notes that came into play ... What impressed me the most about this wine was that it kept its sweetness but with good acidity to keeping it from being cloying plus it had a long dried apricot linger to the finish.  Obviously, 2004 was a great vintage for Riesling.  Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

(Re-Tasted March 2014) ... After that enjoyable feast of the senses I decided to move along to another cool vintage, but this time a little more recent, with a bottle of Thirty Bench 2009 Red.  In no sense of the imagination would anyone call the 2009 vintage in Ontario a great red vintage, but Thirty Bench managed to coax something special into their Red.  Now, some 5 years from vintage and 2 years from my last tasting of the wine I found the nose to be lacking of fruit but still appealing with its anise, oak, vanilla and spice; this continues on the palate, lots of vanilla and spice, but adds a hint of cassis to the background.  The wine is smoothing out nicely with silky tannins and sweet oak, but should not be held too much longer as fruit will start to fade even further.  Right now it is a real pleasant drinker for BBQ fare.

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Thirty Bench Wine Makers 2006 'Triangle Vineyard' Riesling

Click here to read the original review from March 25, 2008 Weekly Wine Note

(Re-Tasted July 2013) ... Riesling fans had a new face on the Riesling frontier to explore in the 2006 vintage - it was the family of Rieslings from Thirty Bench:  three vineyard designates (Steel, Wood and Triangle) and a bottle of blended Riesling that encompassed all three vineyards.  Triangle is usually the most mineral, the most citrus-based, the driest and the one Riesling fans covet because of all the classic Riesling characters that offers.  But now some 7 years later it was time to re-look and re-taste this wine ... and let me tell you it is just as good, or maybe even better, now that it has some good age on it. Gone is the petrol that seemed to be there from the get go, now it's a lovely citrus and mineral blend, and it still tastes and feels fresh in the mouth.  The nose starts with lime and mineral and never lets up all the way to the finish ... the palate has lemon-lime zest with plenty of mineral, acidity and a long lingering finish.  This is one fantastic wine with no sign that it is ready to give up yet, or any time soon.

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Thirty Bench 2007 Red

Click here to read the original review from June 2009

(Re-Tasted March 2013) ... Last night I went back to a 2005 vintage wine and was very impressed, tonight I step up two years to another great Ontario vintage, 2007, to re-taste a wine from 30 Bench.  This mainly Cabernets blend (Franc and Sauvignon make up a whopping 95%) has no intention, and shows no sign, of letting go of its dark fruit aromas and flavours any time soon.  From from first sniff to last sip it still has lots of it.  The nose is black raspberry, blackberry and spiced cherry, while the palate shows off a little more complexity: blueberry, blackberry and spice are the mainstays, followed up by hints of oak, anise and white pepper, there also seems to be a slight mocha note that appears on the finish.  But there is always that dark fruit just waiting in the wings to push all the others aside and assert its dominance.  This wine is still very, very good.

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Thirty Bench 2005 Cabernet Franc - Small Lot

Click here to read the original review from June 19, 2008

(Re-Tasted August 2012) ... "Hello sweetheart," is how I should have greeted this bottle, had I known the wonders of its contents, but instead it was just another pull of a cork.  But this 7 year old Cabernet Franc was a spectacular find in my cellar.  The fruit was truly amazing: dark and spicy ... and the nose kept giving up more and intriguing aromas that the palate seemed to match note for note.  At first there was that dark fruit with hints of cedar, pipe tobacco and anise; then as the night wore on it developed peppered/spiced cranberry notes and vanilla-licorice.  This beauty of a bottle still has plenty of time to develop, though I suspect the wood is going to intensify and the fruit character will diminish - will it happen tomorrow or in the next week - I doubt it, it might not happen for a few more years, but what I can tell you for certain is that this wine, right now, has the perfect mix of fruit, oak and character - the more I drank the more awesome this wine became.

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Thirty Bench Winemakers 2005 Red

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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Thirty Bench Winemakers 2005 Riesling

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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Thirty-Bench Winemakers 2006 Small Lot Cabernet Franc

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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