This is one of the wines that I picked up while I was visiting wineries during the Niagara Ice Wine Festival. The first stop that we made was at Stonechurch Vineyards. Ever since I tried the rosé from Malivoire I have been on the hunt for other good rosés. When i went into Stonechurch they encouraged me to try the 2008 Syrah Rosé that had just been released. I haven't found very many Syrah's in Ontario that I like but until visiting Stonechurch Vineyards I had never tried a Syrah Rosé from ANYWHERE before. I would definitely drink an Ontario Syrah Rosé again. This particular rosé has a strong green pepper on the nose. The initial taste is also of green pepper, it is very refreshing. The mid-palate is red fruit, such as strawberry, with some of the familiar pepper that you get from a syrah, and the finish is still of red fruit but I get more of the bitterness and tang of raspberry. I think that this wine would pair really well with fish, seafood, or even grilled chicken.
Archive for the ‘Tastings’ Category
Niagara Ice Wine Festival
Well I had a great time at the Niagara Ice Wine Festival, how about you? Since I was out with the kids I only had a chance to visit 3 wineries but it was a great afternoon nonetheless. We stopped in at Stonechurch Vineyards, Southbrook Vineyards and Strewn Winery. We also tasted a lot more than just ice wines, however for this post I'll focus specifically on the ice wines from Southbrook. Southbrook offered 2 Vidal ice wines for tasting, a 2004 barrel fermented and a 2005 steel fermented. I thought both of them were fantastic. At the time, I thought I liked the 2005 better but now that I think back, I really want to try the 2004 again! The 2004 barrel fermented Vidal tasted like baked apples to me, delicious. A lot of people think that it actually tastes like Christmas cake! It definitely has a sweetness and breadiness to it that the 2005 steel fermented ice wine does not have. The 2005 was much lighter in both taste and colour. Much more of the tropical notes came out, making me think that it would taste awesome with coconut.
On top of having the chance to taste some great ice wine, I also ran into Ann Sperling, the Director of Winemaking at Southbrook Wineries, and had a nice chat. We had met previously at Wine Camp TO. It is really nice that I'm starting to recognize people out at the wineries.
2008 Inox Chardonnay – Peninsula Ridge Winery
If you are looking for a very light, fruity chardonnay with great minerality and acidity then the 2008 Inox Chardonnay from Peninsula Ridge Winery is it. This chardonnay tastes unlike any other chardonnay I have ever tried. Immediately upon tasting it I love the acidity and minerality. These are not often the first things I think of when I taste a chardonnay. Then on the long finish I can taste citrus fruit ranging from orange to lemon to lime. Although I can appreciate chardonnay, it is not one of my favourite varietals. However, this one stands out.
For those of you who don't know what inox means, as I didn't, inox is another term for stainless steel. This would indicate that this wine is unoaked.
2008 Trius Riesling Dry – Hillebrand winery
Well I decided to pop the cork, ok well unscrew the cap, on a bottle of 2008 Trius Riesling Dry. This wine is definitely much dryer than the other rieslings that I have been drinking lately. I found this wine quite acidic with a lot of minerality. It does have some tropical notes to it but it had even more of a citrus component to the taste. I drank this wine on it's own but I think it would be much better paired with a rich food such as a fatty fish or perhaps even a spicy asian dish.
2007 Red Moose – Konzelmann Estates
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to go on the Cellar Rat Experience tour at the Konzelmann Estate Winery in Niagara on the Lake. While our guide was showing us around the vineyard I noticed on a map that Zweigelt vines were grown onsite. This caught my attention because I was very unfamiliar with this grape and it was one of the varietals that was in the Pelee Island Eco Trail Cabernet Franc wine that I have previously reviewed. I was suprised to find out that Zweigelt is not only found in blends but that Konzelmann Estates actually bottles it and sells it as a single varietal wine. The guide told us that they had been selling Zweigelt for years but it never sold well because people didn't know how to pronounce it. They decided to label the wine as Red Moose and it has now increased in popularity. During the second part of the tour we had the opportunity to taste the 2008 Zweigelt vintage right out of the steel vat and on the way out I picked up a bottle of 2007 Red Moose at the boutique.
Personally I was pleasantly surprised by this wine. I wonder why I hardly ever see this varietal sold outside of a blend. The 2007 Red Moose was very deep in colour and full bodied. I found it quite fruity, with notes of cherry and raspberry. I also found that it had a wonderful spiciness to it.
Wine 101 Oakville
If you would like to taste some wine and help out a good cause check this out.
WINE 101 OAKVILLE
Otello's Banquet & Conference Centre
2273 Royal Windsor Drive, Oakville
Monday, September 28, 2009
Champagne Reception: 6:00 pm
Tasting: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
$55 per person
To order tickets, kindly contact VINTAGES at 416-365-5767 or
1-800-266-4764 (Monday–Friday 9am to 5pm, excluding holidays).
Events are restricted to guests 19 years or older. All ticket sales are final. Wines poured at this event will be measured and some wines may run out. In order to optimize the tasting experience for all participants, please refrain from wearing any cologne or perfume. Please do not drink and drive.
Participate in an on-site silent auction with proceeds in support of Ian Anderson House. For more details, visit www.ianandersonhouse.com.
Cave Spring Cellars
This afternoon was spent in the small village of Jordan, Ontario. It is a beautiful little village that is centered around the winemaking industry. The Pennachetti family owns Cave Spring Cellars, The Inn on the Twenty as well as the Jordan House. After a fantastic lunch at the Jordan House Tavern we made our way down Main Street to Cave Spring Cellars. I love the atmosphere in the boutique there. It is a very large boutique that has a lot of space to walk around and browse the bottles of wine and stemware that they have for sale. When in the store I feel comfortable and not cramped, I'm not worried that I'm going to turn around and accidently knock something of great value over! The bar is very long and today there were a fair number of employees working and available for tastings, so they were able to accomodate the busy stream of summer tourists who were flowing in. In one corner of the boutique there is a raised section that has a very comfy looking couch. This was a perfect spot for my very tired and uninterested 3 year old son to curl up and rest.
The following is a list of the wines that I sampled along with my first thoughts as I tasted each (All of the wines came from the Cave Spring Cellars VQA Niagara Peninsula selection.):
2007 Reisling Dolomite – Minerals
2006 Chenin Blanc Sparkling – very dry and refreshing
2007 Pinot Noir – black fruit
2007 Gamay – black pepper
I purchased a bottle of the Dolomite and a bottle of the sparkling wine to take home. I really enjoyed all of the wines, but decided on the two white wines because they were available only at the winery store.
After having sampled and purchased some wine, it was time for the public tour to begin. We decided to sign up. It was a very informative tour led by the friendly Cave Spring Cellars guide Jessica. We had a chance to see the presses and the cellar room. Jessica pointed out an old picture of the building taken back in the 1920s, long before it became Cave Spring Cellars in 1986. It was really interesting to see how little it had changed over the years. The facades are very much the same. They did a wonderful job of renovating the inside of the buildings though, very impressive.
Well I hope I'll soon have an opportunity to enjoy the bottles of wine that I purchased. I'm especially looking forward to a nice hot day where I can sit outside, enjoy the sunshine and savour the bottle of Chenin Blanc Sparkling wine. Sparkling wine is not just meant for New Year's!
2005 Baco Noir Reserve – Henry of Pelham Family Estate
Every year my husband and I get the urge at the end of February to take a drive to Niagara to do a wine tasting. It is usually on one of those days where there is a slight hint of spring in the air. It is still cold outside, often there is snow on the ground, yet the sun has a warmth to it. We find a sitter for the kids and take the drive out to wine country. For the last 4 years we have coincidentally done this on the Cuvee weekend. However, we have never taken advantage of this and bought a passport. This year, when yet again we showed up on Cuvee weekend, we decided to buy a passport and try to hit as many wineries as we could in the 2 days left of the event. One of the wineries we stopped at the first day was Henry of Pelham Family Estate. It was busy when we arrived and quite lively, full of discussion. Amongst the other visitors, we met one of the people who was in charge of organizing Cuvee and had a chance to discuss what we liked and didn't like about the event. I have to say that there wan't much that we didn't like! After much chatting we sampled several wines and I really liked the 2005 Baco Noir Reserve so I picked up a bottle. Very reasonably priced too! Recently one evening I sat down with a glass of this very deep purple, full bodied wine. I drank it on it's own. It smelled of cherries and cedar on the nose and tasted of plums and cedar. One thing that I also really smelled and tasted was chocolate. I loved the dryness of this wine.
Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Reserve – Konzelmann Estate Winery
Konzelmann Estate Winery is situated in the Niagara region diretly on the south shore of Lake Ontario. The Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 reserve is full bodied, deep purple in colour with a strong blackberry scent on the nose. It tastes of blackberry, cedar, and smoke. Personally, I was able to detect some tabacco on the nose as well as chocolate on the taste. I really enjoyed this wine paired with a medium-rare sirloin cooked on a charcoal grill. I think this was an exceptional wine and would definitely drink it again. There were a lot of tanins but I did not find it over the top. I appreciated the dryness as there is an obvious fruit component. It makes for a good balance.
2008 Eco Trail Cabernet Franc – Pelee Island Winery
I can say that I have not had a lot of experience with wines from Pelee Island before. I have tried a few here and there over the years but only two since I have decided to put some energy and focus into my interest of wine tasting. The first one that I tried was the 2007 Cabernet Franc from the Pelee Island Winery. I had gone to the LCBO specifically looking for an Ontario Cabernet Franc to try. An employee recommended the Pelee Island Winery 2007 Cabernet Franc and indicated that it was very popular and was selling well. I was very impressed with this wine. It was much darker in colour and had a fuller body than I was expecting for an Ontario wine. I enjoyed the pepperiness of it and made a mental note to try it again in the future. The second wine that I tasted was the 2008 Eco Trail Cabernet Franc from the same winery, Pelee Island Winery. I was really looking forward to it as I had enjoyed the previous year's Cabernet Franc so much. This particular wine was from their Eco Trail line. This line is dedicated to stimulating interest in the island and it's wines. The label on this particular wine depicted a local species of frog. Although the label did stimulate interest in the island for me, the wine itself did not stimulate my palate in the same way. I didn't find this wine as full as the previous Cabernet Franc that I had tried from the winery. It also didn't have the same pepperiness. I found it fruity, tasting of strawberries and could taste a lot of the residual sugars. I can't say that I didn't enjoy this wine but it was just not what I was expecting and I was a bit disappointed. In researching this wine a bit further in order to write this post I browsed around the Pelee Island Winery website. I found that although this wine is labeled as a Cabernet Franc, it actually consists of 60% Cabernet Franc, 30% Chambourcin and 10% Zweigelt. I believe this would explain why it was different than I was expecting. I would like to buy this wine again and give it a second try.