We were in town to visit the Canadian Raptor Conservancy (a kind of Zoo for Raptors) and dropped by here to check them out. We visited, in all, three wineries in the region, and these guys are by far the most mature of the group. They have repurposed Kilns from Tobacco to make apassimento style wines (think Amarone). They are wisely applying the process selectively, not all grapes lead themselves or benefit from, apassimento. This one is 100% Cab Franc, 100% Kiln dried, and then 24 months in oak. Dark in color with a mild dark berry nose. On the mid palate the wine displays some vibrant, big bold black fruits. On the medium length finish the wine has some nice big tannins and acidity. It’s nice and dry at 7.2g/l. This is a BIG BOLD wine. If you like your wines expressive this is a drink now, otherwise aging/decanting will soften it, I like it just the way it is. I would give this an 89. Not in the LCBO but available for $49.95 a bottle at the winery. I also tried their Inferno (Petite Verdot based) and M1 (Merlot based), both of which are also apassimento in style and these were also excellent. Similar taste profiles. All are from estate fruit. Quite an impressive family of wines from an emerging region (for now there is no Appellation for this area). We had lunch on their patio which was lovely as well.
From the Wineries Web site:
$49.95
The 2016 Kiln Hanger is an Ontario Wine Award Gold Medal Winner in the Appassimento Red Category. It was kiln dried for 25 days and aged in French and American Oak for 24 months, producing flavours of raspberry, strawberry jam, and plum, with slight hints of pipe tobacco, nutmeg, and anise.
