Palivou Vineyards 2000 Agiorgitiko (St. George) - (Greece)

I don't showcase a lot of Greek wine because I don't have a lot of Greek wine in the cellar, but after tonight's bottle I have to ask myself why?  I just finished putting together a blog entry for Ottawa Life, that will appear in September, about a tasting of Greek wines I did back in May.  I was then looking through the earlier part of my wine cellar (organized by year) and found this 2000 Agiorgitiko and thought it would be appropriate to open that up for dinner.  Funny thing is I used to drink quite a bit of Greek wine, one of my early favourite reds was a light bodied easy drinker from the Aegean Islands.  

I have learned over my time of drinking and writing about wine that I am not always going to get those fresh fruit flavours just because I open a fresh bottle of wine.  Wine ages, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but when you open a ten year old bottle you're definitely gonna get something interesting.  Which brings me to this bottle:  It's old, but it's definitely still quite drinkable with dried fruit mixed with cedary-oak notes (more wooden than fruity) with hints of acid and spice.  It seemed to go pretty well with the goat cheese stuffed chicken breast I made.  I'm surprised at how well it stood the test of time ... about 20 minutes into the drinking I noticed a bit of that foresty floor aroma and taste, but not in a rotten way, more in a character nuanced way ... I must admit I was shocked, amazed and surprised that the wine was still as alive as it was.

Check out the OntarioWineReview.com website ...catch up with the latest news and reviews from Ontario sign-up for the free biweekly newsletter and much more.

Don Sebastiani 2007 SKN Cabernet Sauvignon (California)

SKN - what in the world could that mean? Could be Skin minus the I but no, it actually is an acronym for Screw Kappa Napa.  With its eye catching orange label this wine grabs your attention, not surprising the producer is listed as Three Loose Screws ... but forget about the packaging and marketing for a minute, because label will get you to buy a wine a grand total of once, what`s in the bottle will have you coming back time and time again.  This is a relatively easy recommend because most people recognize the Napa brand as being wine of quality (but still crap does come from the region), this is a pretty basic Napa Cab but a tasty one at that.  The nose is full of chocolate, blackberry, black cherry and plum while the palate is dark fruited with pepper and spiced-plum gives length to the finish with just a hint of mocha on the linger ... seemed to go well with the Venison Honey Garlic sausages I paired it with.

Check out the OntarioWineReview.com website ...catch up with the latest news and reviews from Ontario sign-up for the free biweekly newsletter and much more. 

Hollick Wines 2004 Red Ridge Cab / Shiraz / Merlot (Australia)

I think I am starting to doubt my sanity ... I know I have seen the bottle, I even drank from a glass poured directly from it, but for some reason I can't find any information about this wine.  Tonight we had dinner at a grillhouse called Wildfire in St. Catharines, dinner was excellent with steaks the size of your head and ribs that were delicious and saucy.  Ordered a bottled off the Bin End menu, when it arrived I tasted it and it was getting older but still with lots of spice and tannins to match with our main courses.  I turned the bottle around and saw the name of the producer as Hollick and knew it was Australian (so said the label on the front) - but as far as anyone ever tasting or seeing this wine on Yahoo, Google or CellarTracker, no dice.  I can tell you the nose had good spice character and the palate had a decent amount of dark fruit, though it was fading in favour of the ramped up spice with hints of pepper while the finish turned out to be a pleasant linger of spiced plum. All in all a decent wine for the evening meal.

Check out the OntarioWineReview.com website ...catch up with the latest news and reviews from Ontario sign-up for the free biweekly newsletter and much more.

Two Reds and a White on Meatloaf Night (Ontario / Argentina)

It's not often I have a three bottle night, but it is not everyday you get to celebrate a birthday and an anniversary.  My parents came to visit on Friday afternoon (it had been my mom's birthday and their anniversary in the past week).  We were making them dinner, but because of their early arrival there was time to catch up before dinner was served.  What better way then out on the deck in the beautiful sunshine and nice weather.  Mom was talking about a wine she had had earlier in the week with a friend that she thought was quite nice; turns out it was a 2008 Gamay from Malivoire.  I said, "If you liked that one then you're going to love this one," and I grabbed a bottle of Malivoire's 2009 Small Lot Gamay, this one is a stunner and one of the best Gamays I have tasted out of Niagara so far.  My wife is a white drinker, so when she returned and joined us on the deck it only seemed fair that she get a great wine too, which lead me to pull out a Cave Spring Cellars 2009 Dolomite Riesling.  Finally, with dinner a special meatloaf with my first attempt at an Israeli couscous salad (turned out pretty good), for this I pulled out a bottle of Finca El Retiro 2004 Tempranillo Reserva Especial (from Argentina) - this was a spicy number that still had some good dark fruit to balance off the spiciness.  Smooth and enjoyable, especially with the meatloaf.

Check out the OntarioWineReview.com website ...catch up with the latest news and reviews from Ontario sign-up for the free biweekly newsletter and much more.

Two Ontario Whites - Semillon and Riesling (Ontario)

Friends came over tonight, and because it was hot outside and later in the evening, white wines took center stage ... two wines I have previously reviewed and have enjoyed - now I am enjoying them again.  How about I just link 'em up here and you can read them at your leisure:

Rosewood 2010 Semillon (**** 1/2)

Calamus 2008 Vinemount Ridge Riesling (*** 1/2)

Check out the OntarioWineReview.com website ...catch up with the latest news and reviews from Ontario sign-up for the free biweekly newsletter and much more.

EOS 2004 Paso Robles Zinfandel (California)

Last time I was in Michigan to visit my wife's family I took a few minutes to check out this liquor store everyone said I should ... alright so it was more like an hour, I don't spend "a few minutes" in liquor stores.  So while the family visited I shopped for booze and found a number of interesting bottles, mostly Zinfandel - a real American staple and their gift to the vinous world (if you can get past the pink stuff) - and I feel When In Rome ... (you know the rest).  Anyway, I got this a few weeks ago and yes it was already 7 years old when I picked it up (as I look at the EOS website I see they are selling the 2008 version) ... but boy am I glad to have put my hands on this one, it is drinking exceptionally well right now.  The nose is plum, blackberry and vanilla while the palate was smooth going in then grabbed the tongue with a hint of pepper and a decent amount of acidity on the finish.  Through the mouth there was dark plum, spiced cherry and vanilla and the finish ended slightly sweet (probably due to the 14.5% alcohol) with a delicious spiced-plum.  I paired it was a balsamic glazed chicken and it was one of the best pairings I have had in a long time as the wine melded with the slight char on the chicken ... I thought I had gone too bold with my wine tonight but now I am glad I don't listen to myself or the "experts" who say Zin can't go with chicken.  Goes to show that on paper pairing isn't perfect, you have to experiment to gain knowledge.

Check out the OntarioWineReview.com website ...catch up with the latest news and reviews from Ontario sign-up for the free biweekly newsletter and much more.

Perrin & Fils 2008 Rasteau L'Andeol - Part 3 (France)

Alright ... so here we are on the fourth night of this bottle being open and the Wine Shield is in the bottle (installed correctly?) - theory is that the Shield should protect the bottle from oxidation for longer than if the bottle was left unprotected.  Truth is the wine has port like flavours and smells, which is a sign of oxidation.  So did it protect the wine better?  I'd have to say that my findings are really inconclusive on the matter ... one bottle does not a test make.  I'm going to have to give it another go in the next couple of weeks, but this time I will have to open two bottles of wine so that I have a control bottle and one under the wine Shield, to see if it makes a difference; and I think I know just the bottles to do it with  For now I wouldn't rush out and get Wine Shield unless you want to experiment with it as I am going to do.

Check out the OntarioWineReview.com website ...catch up with the latest news and reviews from Ontario sign-up for the free biweekly newsletter and much more.