After a morning of gardening (or should I say weed ripping, frustration and sweat) we decided to spend our afternoon tasting the products of a few wineries in the area as I was looking to complete an article on Gamay Noir I had been working on and needed a few more tasting notes to add. My wife is a Riesling fanatic and thus a stop at Featherstone for a taste of their Black Sheep 2010 and to Cave Spring for a glass of 2009 Dolomite were a must (both also produce Gamay, so it was two birds with one stone) ... with 7 Rieslings on the menu my wife was prompted to call Cave Spring "Riesling heaven". It was then time to head home, and once there, we decided to keep up the Riesling high as two more bottles of the grape's output were opened. A sumptuous 2010 Norman Hardie offering and we also dug back in time and pulled out a bottle of 2006 Dolomite from Cave Spring. Each wine we tried seemed to get better than the last ... summer afternoons, and evenings, were made for Riesling.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Malivoire 2009 M2 Small Lot Gamay (Ontario)
Way to soon for a Taste it Again review, but not too soon to pull out another bottle and give it a try. I am working on an article for Tidings about Gamay Noir and it reminded me of this beauty from Malivoire - a barrel selection of interesting Gamay from the 2009 vintage - which was a stellar vintage for Pinot Noir in Ontario so why wouldn't the Gamay Noir grape benefit!?! They, the folks at Malivoire, have now repeated this barrel selection process for the 2010 vintage, but there's just something about this inaugural bottling that has something special. Is it the super delicious flavour of black cherry with enough spice to hold it all together? Or is it the fact that you can cool or even chill this wine to make it all at once better and to watch it blossom as it warms up to that perfect temperature in the glass? I paired it with a garlic pork chop dish and had a great time sipping it before, during and afterward (who's kidding anyone, it is such a gulpable wine that the before was even more enjoyable) ... this is one wine not soon forgotten and just in case you were wondering here is my original review: http://ontariowinereview.com/wine-reviews/malivoire-2009-m2-gamay-small-lot-.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tinhorn Creek 2002 Pinot Noir (British Columbia)
I was just sorta wondering about in my cellar (well looking at the management program really, but it sounds better the other way) and noticed that I had a 9 year old bottle of Pinot Noir from Tinhorn Creek in British Columbia, siiting there (I also have an 8 year old bottle of the same wine) but the 9 year old one struck me as something I must put my hands on and drink right away - and so I did. What a fantastic beverage this turned out to be ... the nose was still alive with fruit: black cherry and cranberry with a touch of earth and lots of red fruit, which seemed to pop out after the wine had been opened about half-an-hour (and with a slight chill). The palate was just as engaging with earthy red fruit and great palate cleaning acidity, there was also just enough spice to keep it all very flavourful. I tried the wine three different ways ... right from the cellar - where the fruit ended up being darker and the tannins more aggressive; with about half an hour of chill in the fridge - this is where the fruit really popped and seemed very good, it was the best temp for the wine; and with a full chill to it (some 2 hours kin the fridge) - robbed the wine of much of the flavour. This wine also made me think that I am possibly not drinking enough Pinot.
Monday, July 25, 2011
La Puerta 2007 Shiraz (Argentina)
Not everybody agrees with me on the plastic cork issue ... well not everybody that sells wine. Most winemakers and winery owners know the effects plastic (synthetic) corks have on their product and my own experience has shown me that about 80% of the bottles I open that are closed with plastic or synthetic have some kind of fault. So when I unwrapped the capsule from this bottle I was skeptical as to what I would find in the bottle. Thankfully, to a degree, this was one of the wines in the 20th percentile that seem to be, for the most part, unscathed by a bad closure decision. The nose was mostly pepper and blackberry with a hint of an oxidative quality that was so slight it took awhile to come out. On the palate more dark fruit and white pepper with a port-like mid palate that may or may not have been produced through too much air getting past that cork. Not as bad as I anticipated, but once again I wish producers would mark somewhere on their label that they used an alternative closure so I (and you) wouldn't hold onto these bottles past there prime (which is no more than 2 years).
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Dynamite Vineyard 2008 Zinfandel - North Coast (California)
Tonight's dinner was bbq back ribs, and that means a no-brainer to drink: Zinfandel. I had recently acquired this bottle of Dynamite Zinfandel (not a review just the name) from Michigan for under ten bucks, around $8.99US, and with the exchange rate being what it is that means I got it for even less than that. I couldn't have asked for much more from an under $10 Zin - it had lots of plum, vanilla and black cherry aromas to start with, the palate followed pretty much the same way with hints of wood-spice as the opening bite. As the wine opened further and I got deeper into my mound of ribs the wine developed a cinnamon plum sensation and gentle spice through the mouth. Not dynamite, but pretty darn good.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Josef Drathen NV Wiltinger Scharzberg Riesling Extra Dry Deutscher Sekt (Germany)
First let me say that if you pronounce the word for German sparkling wine wrong in the liquor store, you might get slapped, especially if you ask the wrong person. German sparkling is called "Sekt" - but saying it wrong could wind you up in a lawsuit, in jail or worse ... but when acquired can make the world a happier place (I'm talking about the wine, although the other works too). Anyway, enough preamble, let's get right down to it (which is how most men like it anyway). This is a delicious German bubbly made from the Riesling grape and is full of Riesling smells and flavours and even has the minerality you expect to find in a good Riesling from the Mosel region. The nose is apple, peach and even has a citrus-mineral note ... on the palate it is more refined down to the apple-mineral with a touch of sweetness. The wine is fresh, lively and tasty and perfect for the kind of hot temps we've been having here in Southern Ontario.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Montrail - Gervais - La Posta (France / Argentina)
Last night of this short and sweet trip to Pine Island (Lake Nipissing) and it seems we have a Mediterranean flair to our last supper. Have no fear, I'll put a stop to that by showing up with three wines, two from the Rhone Valley in France and another from Argentina - and all red blends.
Kicking off the last supper was the pre-dinner Cave de Montrail 2009 Segruet - Cotes du Rhone Villages ... this one was fairly harsh on the old palate. Starting with the nose the aromas were blackberry, cassis and a hint of pepper, obviously fairly inviting. Palate-wise there was some beautiful red fruit with black fruit backing along with some rugged pepper corns and the drying effect of cocoa powder. Very good but very grippy, this wine will need a few years to settle down.
With an extra two years under its belt the St. Gervais 2007 Le Reserve du Crouzau - Cotes du Rhone Villages has smoothed out making it a wonderful match with the hopped up Medi-chicken. Red fruit, blueberry and spice on the nose hints mildly at what is to come on the wonderfully full and enjoyable palate: spiced-vanilla-blueberry with a mixture of white and black pepper and a chocolatey finish ... it glided smoothly across the tongue with just a mere hint of tannin. Lovely.
At this point it was not hard to convince everyone they needed to try one more (for the road) so I opened a bottle of La Posta 2008 Cocina Blend (bought specifically for the cottage experience). A blend of 60% Malbec and equal parts Bonarda and Syrah this Argentine wine really delivered on the fruit. Nose was a little bit of everything to everyone: cassis, pencil shavings and a touch brambly in nature, but the palate was focused and delivered rich dark fruit, vanilla, plum, black cherry, cinnamon and sweet pepper ... turned out to be a favourite around the table ... as I knew it would be.
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