Well aren’t we in a Burgundy mode? If you read the review of the Burgundy yesterday you would be thinking “why Canadian Wine Guy would you review two Burgundies in a row?” Well fun enough, this is a Canadian burgundy, a joint venture between Canadian wine conglomerate Vincor Canada and Burgundy based Boisset . Vincor owns Inniskillin, Sawmill Creek and Jackson Triggs as well as a few other smaller Canadian wine producers. Boisset is an equally large vintner with vineyards primarily on the Rhône both in the Burgundy region and the southern Rhône region. When the two of these got together to create Clos Jordanne it brought some excitement to the Canadian wine industry. Their decision was to plant and produce as if Clos was a Burgundy house, soil separation and only Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. This, as well as French influenced wine makers, allowed the house to begin to produce excellent wines with a good sense/feeling of a French wine.
This Clos is the Village Reserve which is very reasonably priced for the effort, skill and patience put into it. For Clos Jordanne reds they have three Pinot Noirs with the Village Reserve being the best priced. The grapes come from all of the Clos vineyards and the care taken can be seen and sensed quickly on the wine. While not one of the true “terroire” Jordanne wines I doubt most would call this the inferior horse in the stable. While a single vineyard wine produces great variations (if unsure refer back to the Château des Charmes review where a mere 50 meters made all the difference in the world) if does not truly indicate superiority over it’s multi terroire cousins/brothers/sisters (or whatever they may be called.) On to the tasting!
Without a doubt I was surprised by a slight rusty colour as I both decanted and later poured into our glasses. The scents were primarily fruit, cherries and raspberries with black cherry winning the war once the swirls started. Swirling brought out a nice blend of smells, some of which i was not truly able to distinguish while also getting both oak and hint of earthiness (not the bad moldy/dusty, just a hint of earth). First sips did little to dampen the cherry flavours and provided a nice light Burgundy style wine with a hint of oak on the finish. The following sips brought forward a bit more oak and a little less cherry with a small undertone of apple and a small bit of floral. Wow, alot of smells and feelings out of this wine, but still very enjoyable. I found that for a Pinot Noir this wine still holds strong tannins, not overwhelming but strong none the less.
I took some time to rate this, one because it was Canadian and I did not want to show favouritism for the region and two because it is so largely different from the red wines I truly think Niagara and Okanagan does best (Bordeaux style). After much thought and careful deliberation’s I came up with a rating of 88.
Mrs.CWG says
“Even for $25 I would have this again, but I wouldn’t share it!”
