Delaine Syrah - Coyote Franc - 7 Deadly (Ontario / California)

So I won't bore you with too many of the details ... tonight we had some folks over for dinner and I think it tied in with March break some-way some-how.  Anyway, it's a Thursday night and I pulled out three bottles of wine for the masses.  Two were from Ontario: an one new and an old one, plus a little something from California.

We kicked things off with something I was really interested in trying, a Coyote's Run 2005 Cabernet Franc ... and thankfully it did not disappoint.  I reviewed it in full as part of my Taste it Again blog and it can be found here.  The other bottle from Ontario was a beauty of a Syrah from the Delaine Vineyard, part of Jackson-Triggs, it's too young to have a Taste it Again written about it so you can read my original review from November 2013 here.

So the focus of this What I'm Drinking is a 7 Deadly Zins from Michael David out of California ... this one is probably one of the most recognized names in Zin, no matter where I have gone and say I love Zinfandel inevitably someone will say to me, "Have you tried that Seven Deadly one?"  The answer is, many times.  The last one I had was showing some Syrah like qualities of smoked meat, this particular night it was an older 2009 version and while it was very tasty it was also quite typical of Zin:  smoked raspberry and cherry with a seam of vanilla running through it.  Delicious and just what I expected, but nothing earth shattering, I would have to say that the 7 Deadly is getting better than this standard version they put out in 2009.

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A Night of Old Vines Wines (Ontario / Australia)

What a fabulous night of wine.  Three Ontario and one Australian.  A dinner at a friend's house that proved to be just as tasty with food as it did with the wine.  But it's the wine that always impresses me and so that is where our focus will be.

We started the night with a Lailey 2010 Brickyard Chardonnay, it was one of the Brickyard vintages that was not already in my cellar, and a trip to the winery the weekend before revealed that they had only one case left, they had also decided to taste a bottle while we were there ... needless to say we bought a few as it was delicious:  rich and buttery, with lovely grilled peach notes.  A hot vintage Chardonnay that seems to blend the big buttery flavours of California and the acid balance of Ontario.

Next on the list was an Angels Gate 2005 Old Vines Chardonnay ... this one was a real surprise to all of us, though I am sure I tasted it back in its younger days.  The age of the wine and the age of the vines work in harmony to give a lovely balance of complexity:  Toffee, caramel, hint of toasted marshmallow, rich and mouth-feeling with creamy vanilla and spiced pineapple puree, plus there was a real beauty of a long finish.  This was one that was the pleasant surprise of the night and one I wish I had more of because the creamy smoothness and complexity of this wine was amazing; best of all it still retained an element of acidity that kept it in balance.  This was a sipping Chardonnay that we polished off before dinner ... so two bottles down and two more to go.  The first two were a perfect match to the crab dip (see I do remember some of the food).

Our host was thrilled to provide and open the next bottle, because she has been waiting to open it for a very long time, a Reif 2007 First Growth Pinot Noir ... made with the oldest vines on the Reif property; and I would have to say it has held up extremely well.  The nose is full of earthy, cranberry, and black cherry notes; this all follows onto the palate while adding white pepper, currants and toasted oak ... there's also some beautiful acidity that acts as a backbone and keeps this wine upright and refreshing, not overbearing.  Another hot vintage wine that is standing the test of time.

The final bottle was a Torbreck 2005 GSM out of Australia, but not just any GSM, an old vines Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre ... and from what I have read this wine is suppose to be a nasty piece of business (according to the folks on CellarTracker) ... but in truth I think the wine just needed more time to finally come into its own.  The nose has nice tobacco notes with a cassis syrup aroma or sorts mixed with black-peppered-raspberries.  The palate was loaded with sweet plum, black cherry, and more of that raspberry-pepper combination.  A delicious end to the evening.

As you can see, if you were a fan of old vines wine this was the night for you ... and since I am this was a great night.

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A Mixed Bag from Bubbly to Malbec to Dessert (France / Argentina / Ontario / Australia)

I have been a little lax about updating this blog because we re building a new website and I keep hoping we can move all blogs to one location ... But the change over is moving at the speed of IT, and anyone who has worked with an IT department knows exactly what that means.  Subsequently I have not posted anything here thinking that I would just have to move it or it would not get swept up in the move ... but since we find ourselves behind schedule I thought I best keep going with my wine finds ... this one goes back to a dinner party we attended in early January - with a friend who is as passionate about wine as she is for making great food, not sure which one comes first in her book:

We kicked things off with a hybrid of our own doing:  a Chateau des Charmes Sparkling Brut and a dash of Tawse 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine, on it's own the Icewine had strawberry, cherry and hints of spice, not too sweet, with nice balancing acidity.  Combined they made one hell of an impressive aperitif.  There was also another bottle of bubbly on the table that night, but alas I did not take note of what it was.

Our friend is a huge fan of Malbec, and I thought I grab one from the homeland and one from the adopted land (France and Argentina) - both wines had a fair bit of age on them.  The Argentinean was a Altos 2002 Las Hormigas, and it was head-snappingly atrocious in both smell and flavour ... granted, maybe it was a little too long in the tooth, but I can't believe that plastic cork helped in any way.  The French version was a Chateau de Gaudou 2005 Cahors Tradition, and it showed amazingly well with plum, spice and pepper notes on the nose; palate was well-balanced with black raspberry and a lovely cedar finish ... now it also wasn't all Malbec (80%), it also had some Merlot (15%) and Tannat in there as well (5%).

Final wine of the night was Lillypilly Estate 2002 Noble Blend, I thought it was lovely for its age: caramel, apricot, lemon, baked pineapple, and after a while develops marmalade notes, these all appeared on the nose; palate showed off honey-apricot with some lively acidity, creamy mid, and a floral-vanilla finish ... alas I was the only one who really enjoyed this ... but then sometimes my inner wine-geek takes over.

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Wines of New Year's Eve 2013 (Germany / California / Ontario)

New Year's Eve to me has always been a time for pulling out an older bottle of wine, and then after that it's a free-for-all.  We started with ordering Chinese food from our favourite place, it took almost two hours for us to finally sit down and eat it, and we picked it up (they were just that busy), and to pair with it I chose a bottle of St. Urbans-Hof 2005 Riesling Kabinett, which was a real beauty: nose of apricot, hints of petrol, and a lovely bit of lime cordial; on the palate we found peach, pear, and apricot, flavours along with sweet lime notes which all lead to a nice long, lingering finish. The wine, although 8 years old still tasted fresh with that signature Mosel sweetness, but always backed by great balancing acidity.  My wife stuck with Riesling after the Urbans-Hof bottle was finished, opting for an Ontario beauty in the form of a Featherstone 2012  Black Sheep Riesling.  I went in another direction and picked out another Dave selection: an Elusiv Cellars 2010 Pinot Noir (Monterey County) from the wine fridge.  Now, for those who have been following along this holiday season, you'll be glad to know the Elusiv is more Pinot-esque than my last bottle of "Pinot Noir" (Belle Glos Meiomi) ... nose is very raspberry, with black cherry and plum backing it up; as it warmed beets and white pepper also showed up.  On the palate were sour cherries, black cherries and clove backed by good acidity, and some typical Pinot earthiness.  As midnight rolled up on us I pulled a bottle of Hinterland 2009 Rose (from Prince Edward County) out of the fridge, which had been chilling most of the day - I managed to pop the cork at the exact moment the countdown reached zero - perfect sparkling to ring in 2014 ... Happy New Year - we left the old year with a magnificent Riesling and brought in the new with a marvelous bit of bubbly.

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Rock Wall Winery 2011 Rock Hound (California)

The holidays are a time for the three 'F's': family, feasts and forgetting ... yup, we forgot one of my niece's gifts on Christmas Day which gave us the perfect excuse to have them over to our place to share in some beef stew and a few bottles of wine.  Now I know the title of this post only refers to one wine, that's because it is the only wine I have not written about recently; the others, like the Rosewood 2011 Pinot Noir, the Malivoire 2011 Small Lot Gamay Noir and the Cattail Creek 2009 Riesling, have all appeared on my website in the past few years and it's too soon to write a "Taste it Again" piece, though the Cattail Riesling is getting close.  I can say that all those wines are drinking very well, and of the 3 the Cattail received the most compliments.  And so, without further ado we'll move on and take a look at the Rock Wall 2011 Rock Hound ... I did a little digging to find out what exactly the Rock Hound was made of, but my research could only bring up the 2010, which was a blend of Syrah (70%) and Petite Sirah (30%), though some further digging might have shown the 2011 is the same blend (depends what they were serving at the 2012 Rock Hound Event) ... I got this wine from my friend Dave, in Michigan, who works at Champane Wine Cellars, who told me this was a big wine that needed early opening and a decanter, so I did both.  Aromas of cassis and black raspberry along with a mix of black and red licorice; palate showed quite a bit of milk chocolate, spiced-blackberry, some sweet dark fruit, nice pepper notes, licorice root and a long finish.  I probably could have aged the wine a bit more or left it in the decanter longer to get more of the fruit out of it, but I liked the way it was drinking with those multitude of flavours, and it paired well with the stew.

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One from France, One from Ontario and One from Washington (France / Ontario / Washington)

My brother and his wife came over for dinner, we made roast pork and a whole bunch of appetizers ... maybe next time we'll just have an appetizer party because there was lots of pork left over and very little of the appetizers ... the wines we poured were interesting and enjoyed (enjoyable).  My brother kicks his evening off with a little Dead Elephant, an India Pale Ale from Railway City Brewing Company located in St. Thomas, Ontario - I'm a fan of the Dead Elephant, but it sounds disgusting to tell people you're sucking on a Dead Elephant on a hot summer day.  Bro has never done such a thing and his response to having his first was to have a second (he must have liked it), at one point he turned to me and said, "quite hoppy, more so than you'd expect in an India Pale".  The ladies (my wife and his) decided to go with white in their glass, so I opened a bottle of Keint-he 2009 Chardonnay out of Prince Edward County, they polished off the bottle in record time.  Myself, I kicked off my evening on the red side with a chilled bottle of Laurent Gauthier 2011 Grand Cras Morgon, a "vieilles vignes" (old vines) Gamay from the Beaujolais' Morgon region: black cherry and cranberry, both tart, with white pepper notes to compliment ... I must say this wine was quite young and still has plenty of time to go, proving that Beaujolais can age, this could easily go 5+ years.  The dinner wine was from one of my favourite regions in Washington, Horse Heaven Hills, this is the one from Columbia Crest, 2009 Les Cheveux, a Bordeaux blend:  lovely blackberry and black raspberry with a great chocolate seam that runs right down the middle, proved to be very smooth and silky.  All-in-all a great night of food and wine.

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Ten Birthday Wines - Starring a 1970 Bordeaux (France, Germany, Ontario, California)

'Twas the night of my birthday and friends were in the house - bottles of wine were opened and here's what we had:

Starting with a Dr. Burklin Wolf 2004 Riesling, which was quite an interesting older German Riesling full of honey and waxy notes with some apricot pit ... this was the first dead soldier of the night (some wines did not get finished).  Other whites of the night were a Thirty Bench 2012 Riesling, Chateau des Charmes 2010 St. David's Bench Chardonnay, Cave Spring 2012 Dolomite Chardonnay, Vineland 2011 Elevation Riesling, and a Vineland 2005 Dry Riesling (this one did not show well).  Speaking of not showing well, we also opened a bottle of Ruhlmann 2004 Sylvaner Bouquet Printanier - Cuvee Prestige, sealed with a cheese-o plastic cork, this wine should never have spend this long in my cellar, nor should it have been opened tonight - this wine should have stayed lost.

Surprisingly, only two reds were opened, a Tom Eddy 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which proved to be a delightful wine, well aged, well balanced but certainly not the star of the night ... on any other night maybe, but tonight it was a 43 year old Bordeaux that stole the show.  The Chateau Gruaud Larose 1970 Grand Vin was absolutely stunning, considering its age.  To the average everyday wine drinker this is going to sound unappealing, but to wine geeks (like a couple around the table tonight) this wine kept changing and opening and giving different aspects of its character that were admirable: starting with Band-aid and forest floor on the nose and a bit on the palate, there were also welcome (and surprising) hints of raspberry that appeared, not strong, but subtle and appealing.  No doubt the wine is very mature, but still very drinkable. The most surprising part is the acidity, which still stood up and kept the wine "fresh" or at least the palate from getting tired.  The biggest and best compliment I can give this wine is that it is savoury and sexy - in its own kinda way.  This is only the second wine I have ever had from my birth-year, this time it was extra special cause it was my actual birthday.

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Family and Five Bottles of Wine (Ontario / France / California / Australia)

It's always fun to gather family around the table, it's even more fun to ply them with alcohol and find out just what you can get people to try ... now it's not like I was pouring strange wines, in fact this might possibly one of the best array of wines I have poured for a group in a long time, starting with the Collin Bourisset 2011 Brouilly 'Les Terres Bleues', something new to hit the LCBO shelves here in Ontario.  This is a lovely wine from the Beaujolais region of France and one I just couldn't wait to try again.  I put a touch of a chill on this bottle and it just sang from the glass with lovely ripe cherry with a hint of white pepper on the finish and the freshness of acidity to keep it lively on the tongue.  I could have had two more bottles myself, but instead we moved on.  The EastDell 2010 Gamay Noir was a perfect follow up to the Collin Bourisset - a little more darker in the cherry department; my full review can be found here (video and written review).  Moving on ... for dinner of fresh pulled pork and some left over ribs from our feast a couple nights before at Ravine Vineyard, I pulled the cork on a Villa Mt Eden 2008 Antique Vines Zinfandel ... what a pure Zinfandel delight this is - there was smoky plum, hints of cocoa, dried cherry and red licorice, touches of spice, all melding together and pairing so well with the pulled pork and ribs; yum.

After dinner you had your choice of sweeties:  2008 Chateau des Charmes Cabernet Franc Icewine (opened specifically for my mother-in-law who has a sweet-tooth that makes mine look like a minor itch) and an Australian Tawny Port-style wine from Dutschke called Old Codger (which three people partook of) ... The Codger is a wine I've had in my cellar for quite some time and has no date on it: spiced orange and cherry on the nose with a smoother than expected mouthfeel of dried cherry and spice along with the 18.8% alcohol heat ... it was a cool night (6 Celsius) so the warmth of this liquid was quite welcome.  As for the Icewine, mother polished off a good 3/4 of the bottle, which was just simply a lovely version:  strawberry, raspberry and cherry mingling together with a honeyed sweetness and near perfect acidity to keep it from being cloyingly sweet, there was just enough left in the bottle for me to get a little taste and make this note.  Congrats to the Chateau on this beauty - if I were to score it (which it turns out I never did on my website, I'd give it 4.5 stars)

It is my understanding that everyone had a great time - and ate well - and of course, we drank well too.

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Lazy Sunday - One White / One Red both Pinot Family Members (Ontario / Oregon)

The sun is shining for the first time in awhile this Sunday ... so we decided to watch it from the comfort of our den (after all it was still just 5 degrees out), put on the new Louis CK special ("Oh My God" - very funny) and watch a bunch of other things, while trying to decide what we should have for dinner on our new wheat-free diet (sorry, lifestyle change).  We came up with some kind of pizza concoction made with cauliflower - my wife asked, "what happens if it doesn't taste good?" - I responded, "well, we've always got wine."  And with that we each opened a bottle.  She, a bottle of Huff Estates 2011 Pinot Gris and me, a bottle of Maysara Winery 3o Pinot Noir from Oregon (read: Three Degrees).  I have recently reviewed the Huff so it's all linked up, but this is my first experience with Maysara wine.  Turns out it is an organic/biodynamic winery out of Oregon and for the most part when I see a US winery playing with the biodynamic I get a little queasy ... I just don't think they have it quite down pat yet ... it's just too new to them.  Anyway, I did not know this about the wine before I sipped at it, I found the wine incredibly earthy with hints of vegetation that were not all together pleasant.  That's when I inspected the bottle and thought I would try to give it the benefit of the doubt.  Next up on the nose and palate was a mushroom-iness ... after about 45 minutes to an hour I began to find some fruit.  First came cranberry then a little later some sour cherry came by for a stay ... and thankfully the earthy, mushroom and vegetation took a back seat.   Was this my favvourite Pinot ever ... not really ... but it did come across better in an hour than it did from the start.  As for the pizza, not bad at all.

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Sparkling Wine Nightmare (Ontario / New Zealand / Ontario)

This Friday I felt like captain Walter E. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now as I experience "The Horror.  The Horror." ... but not of war, the horror of a sparkling wine debacle of the like I have never seen.  Earlier in the day I consulted with my wine database and decided this weekend I was going to celebrate Friday with my oldest bottle of bubbly in the cellar:  a Jackson-Triggs 2003 Methode Classique Proprietors' Grand Reserve.  And so I put it in the fridge in the morning hoping to open it around 5 or 6 o'clock in the afternoon after the work day was done.  And it it came to pass.  Six PM and I got out two sparkling wine glasses - unwrapped the capsule and slowly started to remove the cork ... with barely a pop, a hiss or a fizz.  Had I been able to pull the cork out of a bottle of bubbles soundlessly?  If so this was the first time I have ever done that.  Alas the bottle had lost all its bubble it was flat, uninteresting and for the most part oxidized.  I looked at the cork and it was a short, stubby thing that never (even three hours later) expanded.  So bottle one was faulty.  Now I had to hastily find something else.  This time a bottle of Oyster Bay Brut Rose from New Zealand ... I popped this one in the freezer and waited half an hour ... this one made a beautiful explosion as the cork was pulled from the neck and the fizz in the glass was exactly what I was looking for.  I poured one glass, and before I could pour the other a funny smell hit my nose.  I put my sniffer in the glass, and wouldn't you know it ... corked.  Shit.  Back to the cellar for a third bottle - my plan for dinner at 6:30 backed up by another half hour as I waited for my third bottle of bubbly to chill in the freezer: this time a bottle of Cave Spring Blanc de Blancs - I popped the cork at 7:15pm; washed out the sparkling glasses and poured my third bottle in the glass ... hazzah - finally a bottle we could drink ... but the time for bubbly had passed.  We drank the wine and it had its usual deliciousness, but we were not in the mood for it.  Although I love sparkling (and so does my wife) it just had lost its appeal this evening because of the trouble; the time for bubbles had passed.  Sigh - we'll try again in a few weeks and hope for better results - but now I know that there's a time for sparkling and there is a time to just give up.

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Domaine Boudau 2008 & Finca Las Palmas 2007 (France / Argentina)

Easter dinner with family, it's what the holidays are all about.  A brother who can make a hell of a lamb and another who picks a hell of a good bottle of wine (or three) it's a perfect combination for a fun and delicious evening.  Started with a bottle of the inaugural Tawse 2011 Gamay - could have used a bit of a chill, but it was a nice wine to start the evening.  Next up, a bottle of Domaine Boudau 2008 Côtes du Roussillon Le Clos a beauty full of white pepper, plum, spice and black raspberry - good acidity and some fine tannins round it off.  Even more interesting was the shockingly imperceptible 15% alcohol - this wine packed a hidden punch amongst all that fruit and light-spice flavour.  Also poured with dinner was a bottle of Trapiche 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Finca Las Palmas from Argentina, paling in the alcohol department by a full percentage point; but it proved to be an even bigger hit than the Boudau with its chocolate-mocha-coffee nose that followed through onto the palate adding rich dark berries and a silky smooth finish along the way.  I was very happy with the performance of all these wines ... after all they had to match up with the dinner that was cooked to perfection.  I'd say the Boudau has a few more years left under the hood - while the Las Palmas is ready to drink now.

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A Night of Three Bottles: 2 Chards and a Vidal Bubble (Ontario / British Columbia)

Next Saturday night we are heading over to a friend's house for dinner ... this Saturday we stayed home and did that housework stuff that people tend to do (when they are bored).  My wife then prepared dinner for our Sunday dinner guests (Guinness Pie) and started the fresh bread process, which she was going to make Sunday afternoon.  Then we sat down together and tried to decided what we were going to have for dinner.  For the discussion of who was going to cook dinner we opened a bottle of Lighthall 2011 Progression - a bubbly from Prince Edward Country made in the Charmat method from Vidal grapes (I reviewed it recently so check out the review by clicking on the wine name).  Then we decided on pizza, cause neither of us wanted to cook, and so while waiting for the delivery guy to appear we opened a bottle of Sandhill 2010 Chardonnay from British Columbia - now I am a self admitted ABCer but you would never be able to tell as we opened another Chard after this one - but let's not jump ahead quite yet.  This is a beauty from a part of Canada that I am more fond of their reds than their Chardonnays.  A cooler vintage and a steady hand by winemaker Howard Soon has made this one of the best Chardonnays from the Okanagan I have tasted in recent memory.  Looking at Howard's notes: "The cooler 2010 vintage provided slower ripening, compared to the warmer 2009 vintage, however this assisted in developing perfect balance between ripe flavours ..."  I could not agree more.  A nose rich in peach, pineapple and vanilla led to a palate with hints of vanilla, spice, peach pit and caramel apple with a nice spiced apple finish ... here in Ontario the wine is selling for the same price as it is in BC, which is an accomplishment unto itself - great value and a delicious bottle.  As mentioned we opened another bottle of Chardonnay and this time it was a beauty from Ontario's own Coyote's Run, 2010 Black Paw - this one was a little more richer because of the hotter vintage we had in Ontario (another rarity for us to eclipse BC for heat) - it's another review that can be found on my website.  Needless to say in was a good night of good wines - and we slept very well.

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Colaneri 2009 "Visione" Syrah (Ontario)

In a Twitter discussion with Colaneri I mentioned that I would be drinking a bottle of their wine tonight ... it's too early to call this a Taste it Again review - seeing as I only reviewed this wine a little over a year ago - but I can give you my impressions of the wine a year later ... heck, it's still very good (I gave it 4.5 stars back in November 2011).  The nose still has a strong aromas of smoked meat, adds dried and smoked cherries to the mix with hints of blackberry.  The palate comes off as sour black cherry and pomegranate to start, then comes the Montreal smoked meat with extra white pepper rub, then there's also a nice spiced-smoked-cherry on the finish.  The wine is holding up nicely and has managed to smooth out a bit, but still enticingly delicious.

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4 Bottles from 3 Countries (Ontario / New Zealand / Portugal)

An interesting night of wine.  Started with one of my last two bottles of Stoney Ridge's inaugural Sparkling wine from 2005 ... sadly it was corked, you could smell it right off the bat, thankfully the taste was intact for the first few sips so we could see where it would have been - it was still fresh and lively with acidity, sadly the flavour was consumed with cork notes within minutes.

Next up was a bottle of Angels Gate 2005 Old Vines Chardonnay - the tasting of this wine is documented here - so there is little more to say about it.  Next up was a bottle of Marisco 2010 Marlborough Pinot Noir, which I tried last on November 14 - little has changed with this wine, it is still delicious and I expect it to get more so in the next few years, if I can just leave some bottles alone and stop showing them off.  The real surprise of the night was a bottle of Ferreira 1999 Late Bottled Vintage Port.  Now I know people say that LBV Port does not age nor does it change and needs to be drunk within a few years of purchase, but I disagree ... I think this bottle is still as delicious as the day I bought it, maybe even more so, it is smooth and delicious with chocolate and cherry's galore along with great spice and herbs on the finish.  A surprise and a real treat.

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New Year's Eve 2012 (New Zealand / Ontario / France)

A quiet night at home, just the way we like it ... ordered Chinese from our favourite place (Magnolia in St. Catharines), got our favourite oriental dishes to send off the old year and bring in the new - even made us a plate of brownies to eat before the new year's diet kicks in on the 2nd ... plus a few movies sure to keep us entertained until midnight:  Barney's Version, The Gauntlet and The Expendables 2 (that should bring the New Year in with a bang).  Thing is ... we never made it to midnight, we fell asleep about an hour short, but we still had great wines, a great meal and each other to ring the whole thing in with, both the night before and the morning of ...

The wines we rang old the Old Year with were eclectic: My wife, the Riesling fan, chose a 2011 Quarry Road Riesling from Tawse (she finished the whole bottle) from right here in Ontario.  I went outside the province, the country and the continent - going all the way to New Zealand for a bottle of Akarua 2011 Rua Pinot Noir for its black cherry, cranberry, coffee and licorice nose, which leads to an earthy, cassis, black cherry and licorice palate - think I'll let my other couple of bottles sit a few more years and come back to them.  I'm sure the Riesling paired better with the Chinese than the Pinot but it was still a delicious bottle of wine.

The next morning we did what all great alcoholics do - start the day with a drink - we did not pop the cork on the Champagne the night before so it seemed only right to pop it at 6:30 the next morning (only 6 and a half hours late):  Louis Roederer Brut Premier (non-vintage) with delicious almond biscotti and crusty bread notes ... after a nice hefty glass to ring in the New Year we did the unthinkable (to some - sorry Carolyn) we made Mimosas (you know combined orange juice and sparkling wine, I would say 75-25 in favour of the wine) ... and that really got the day started right ... we also finished the last half of the Expendables 2.  Happy New Year Everyone.

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Valdiviesvo 2009 Single Vineyard Malbec and Two Others (Chile / Ontario)

It was the day of Christmas and we stirred ourselves from where we had been stationed in Michigan for the last few days and came back home to the comfort of the surroundings of St. Catharines (where we call home).  Invited out for a Christmas get-together I thought it only right to bring some of the amazing Ontario juice I had tried in the past couple of months but also something that would blow the socks of guests from somewhere else.  The two Ontario wines I chose were favourites of both my wife and myself - her newest fav Riesling: Cave Spring 2011 Riesling, and my Gamay of choice from 2011: Malivoire 2011 Small Lot M2 Gamay - both will soon appear as reviews at www.ontariowinereview.com. The other was a Malbec form Chile - yes I know Malbec is making a name for itself on the other side of the Andes in Argentina but it seems there are some old vines in Chile and they seem to be doing a bang up job with the grape as well.  The Valdivieso 2009 Single Vineyard Old Vines Malbec is a wine I tried a few months back and really enjoyed it - and tonight I thought it would be fun to give it a try.  Rich in blackberry, smoke, vanilla and mocha notes were what made this wine a delicious addition to the night's poured wines.

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From Beer to Sweet Wine the Holidays Officially Get Underway (Ontario, France, Lebanon)

Tonight there were eight different bottles opened, well nine actually, but one was corked, as friends came over to kick off the holiday season.  The first thing to be cracked was a bottle of beer, we had made a trip to Oast Brewery in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Saturday afternoon and walked away with a 6-pack of beers (two different) to start our evening off for those who wanted suds with their pigskin (total blowouts the 4pm games were).  Those who wanted to start their evening off with wine chose the Colio 2011 CEV Sauvignon Blanc or the Tawse 2011 Quarry Road Riesling (linked to full reviews on my website).  As we plowed our way through appetizers and on to the main course (pot roast, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, roasted cauliflower, and fresh homemade cast-iron skillet bread - all lovingly prepared by my kitchen maven wife); I offered up dinner wines.  Cave Spring 2011 Dolomite Chardonnay (reviewed on site) was the white of choice but it was the next four wines that proved very interesting and the ones I had not tried in quite some time (if ever).  Kicking off with a Chateau Lagrezette 2000 Cahors (France) ... this was old school Cahors Malbec, before they started making them all drink now, a la Argentina, this needed time - and we gave it 12 years - and it still needed an hour in the decanter to mellow and give it that smooth, lush, black fruit quality with barely a hint of those robust tannins it once had in its youth.  Next up a Lailey Vineyard 2007 Niagara Peninsula Pinot Noir (the first bottle we opened was corked, rats!), this proved to be quite a lovely wine that still has plenty of time in front of it.  An hour and a half in decanter could not subdue the tannins and rough around the edges spices, but the fruit was coming out quite nicely and seem to be holding the middle ground defiantly against the tannins and spice on either side.  This one still needs time and I have a few bottles left so I am quite prepared to give it what it needs ... let's see what happens in two years or so ... my guess and hope is that as the tannins subside that rising fruit quality we found tonight will advance further. The surprise of the night was the Chateau Musar 2008 Musar Jeune (Lebanon), this wine had a sweet fruit edge, middle and core and a youthfulness to boot - it was the wine most asked for seconds of, I only had the one bottle open, I'm sure I could have gone through two or three.  Lastly, with the multitude of desserts served I took a flyer on a non-vintage sweetie out of France: Croix-Milhas Maury - Mute Sur Grains, Vin Doux Naturel ... not sure how this one went over as many did not finish their glass - that should tell me something - so I can only speak for myself here: the wine was drier than expected, with a spicy edge to it that might have been a turn off for some ... when you think sweet you rarely think about a spiciness to go along with it.  Then again with all the wines consumed previous, maybe it was just one too many bottles in a fantastic evening of food, wine and friendship.  Thank you all for coming and let's do it all again next year - with different wines of course.

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Malivoire 2010 Pinot Gris (Ontario)

It's too early to look at this as a Taste it Again (http://tasteitagain.blogspot.ca/) wine, but it's worth taking another look at it especially on a hot summer day on an island in Lake Nipissing.  When first I unscrewed the cap and tried the wine it was fairly bland, but I have to tell you that after an hour (back in the fridge with half a glass removed) it opened beautifully.  The aromas were a lovely peach and lime mix, while the palate follows right along with the right amount of acidic backbone and lime pith on the finish - a real refreshing patio wine, especially for where I am (see above).

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Riesling, Two Chardonnay and a Pedroncelli Zin (Ontario / California)

Tonight we had someone coming over to the house, which means bottles of wines will be consumed ... tonight four in total (tomorrow a big headache).  Starting with a new winery's 2011 Riesling, Di Profio Wines just opened here in Ontario (June 15) and we took some wines home with us from the open house.  The wife loved this green apple and lemon laced dry Riesling and it made for a great little wine to sit on the deck in the early part of the evening.  This was followed by two Chardonnays - both from Ontario.  Starting with the incredibly mouth filling Southbrook 2010 Whimsy! Chardonnay (previously reviewed in full) and then followed up by the leaner, but just as equally impressive, Chateau des Charmes 2010 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay (soon to be reviewed).  But for dinner tonight was a mess of pulled-pork and there is but one wine I can think of that goes with that, and unfortunately Ontario does not make it, Zinfandel.  Pedroncelli 2007 Bushnell Vineyard Zinfandel was a perfect pairing for the sweet meat with nicely spiced plums, hints of soft leather, dark cherries, cassis and just a touch of earthiness to ground it (ha ha).  A lovely end to the evening.  No wait, we did open one more, a bottle of Quinta do Infantado Ruby Port ... now the evening was complete ... let the headache, and the midnight nap on the couch, begin.

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World Tour on a Friday Night (France / Australia / Ontario)

Friends from Toronto came over in the evening (9:23pm) and the wine started following - as well some game meat sliders hit the BBQ (wild boar and kangaroo) ... so the big reds seemed to be the ones to bring out.  In honour of the kangaroo the 2008 Stalking Horse Shiraz seemed the good option, plummy, chocolate and dark fruited, big alcohol, really full in the mouth.  For no apparent reason I also opted to open a beauty of a French wine from the Languedoc, Domaine de Bachellery 2007 Grenache Fut de Chene.  The dark fruit shines on this one with touches of vanilla and spice; a seemingly delicate wine that proved to be delicious with both burgers, but still showed power and boldness once you got a few sips in.  The evening ended a few hours later with a bottle of Peninsula Ridge 2010 AJ Lepp Vineyard Merlot (http://ontariowinereview.com/wine-reviews/peninsula-ridge-2010-aj-lepp-reserve-merlot-); which proved to be the best wine of the evening (and I'm not just saying that because I live in Ontario) - it was delicate with mocha and coffee notes on the nose, and proved to be a complete opposite to the big-and-bold-ness of the French and Aussie wines.

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