Canadian Wine Guy

Garnet in color with a lovely varietal nose of rustic notes and soft red berries. On the mid palate the wine displays strong rustic notes that linger in the top of the mouth. On the medium length finish the wine has some firm acidity and a bit of spiciness. This wine has eased nicely, when we originally bought it at the winery it was no where near as nice. The wine leaves a chaulky dryness in the mouth that is best appreciated without food. I would not go so far as to say palate singing, but close. I would give it an 89-90.

From the LCBO web site:
Hidden Bench Estate Pinot Noir (V) — VINTAGES#: 274753
Style – Medium-bodied & Fruity  › $29.95
Release Date: December 31, 2014 Alcohol/Vol 13.6% Made in: Ontario, Canada By: Hidden Bench Vineyards and Winery Sugar Content:5 g/L Sweetness Descriptor: XD – Extra Dry Style: Medium-bodied & Fruity

Description: The Hidden Bench commitment to quality (and to their customers) has seen them set a very high bar for themselves and their wines, and any wine that does not meet their expectations will not be released. Their estate Pinot comes from select parcels from their three estate vineyards. Look for red cherry, herbs and mineral notes expressed in an elegant and refined package. Try this with bacon-stuffed mushrooms.

I last blogged about the Bella Terra Chard and was thoroughly impressed. I had met the rep for Pondview at an LCBO in store tasting and he insisted that since I enjoyed the Chard I had to try the Cab Franc. Who am I to argue. I love Cab Francs and love Niagara ones. Dark in color with a mild nose of dark berries and a hint of licorice. On the mid palate the wine exudes some lovely rich dark cherries to match the nose along with a hint of mocha. On the medium length finish the wine displays some nice firm tannins, some nice acidity and some dryness that builds in the mouth. Most noticeable without food. This is a well made, smooth, even elegant cab franc. Pondview are in the Niagara on the lake area. I would give this wine a solid 90. Yumm. Some cab francs are too big to be paired with softer meals. This one is elegant enough to be paired paired with softer meals. I paired it with cornish hen and it went very well. Complimented the meal nicely. Sadly not in the LCBO so you will have to take a trip out to the winery. Pitty 🙂

From the winery’s web site:
$35.15/Single

A long warm growing season has given us some fantastically ripe fruit providing full bodied wines full of voluptuous flavours. This is a wine that would like to aged longer than the car ride home. 8 – 10 years (if you stand it).
Intense aromas of black licorice, currants and olives on the nose with hints of roasted red peppers and Herb de Provence. Dark Chocolate, melted over spiced red raspberries, berries and plums saturate the palate, lending itself to a long finish, encased in firm tannins.
This is another of our unfiltered Bella Terra reds

Pale in color with a mild citrus nose. On the mid palate the wine matches the nose with some lovely citrus notes to match the nose. On the medium length finish the wine leaves a hint of the citrus notes to linger in the mouth. This is a smooth, gentle, well made, food friendly Sauv blanc. Don’t pair it with anything too hearty or you will not be tasting the wine at all. I would give it an 88 or so.

From the LCBO web site:
Cave Spring Sauvignon Blanc VQA — LCBO#: 529933
STYLE – Light & Crisp
Pale straw; quite fragrant, with a floral, grapefruit, gooseberry and grassy/herbal nose with a hint of peach; dry, delicate, crisp with good fruit and moderate length. $15.95

Dark in color with a firm nose of dark cherries. On the mid palate the wine matches the nose with dark cherries coming through. The fruit is quite nice and fairly bold. It’s more reminiscent of a cab than a Merlot IMHO but there are some mild subtle plum notes. On the medium length finish the wine has some nice smooth tannins with the oak and alcohol well in check. We paired it with a baked macaroni in a red sauce and it went very well, holding it’s own. I would give it an 88-89. Quite nice.

From the LCBO web site:
Featherstone Red Tail Merlot 2012 — VINTAGES#: 131540
STYLE – Medium-bodied & Fruity
The 2012 vintage has been very kind to Featherstone. This is another solid [offering] from the winery’s red portfolio. The nose shows inviting raspberry, cherry and plum aromas with light spice. It’s lush and smooth on the palate with medium weight showing flavours of raspberry, plums, licorice and spice with a smooth delivery through the long finish. Score – 90. (Rick VanSickle, winesinniagara.com, July 13, 2014) $19.95

Release Date:January 10, 2015 Alcohol/Vol 12.5% Made in:Ontario, Canada By: Featherstone Estate Winery Sugar Content:4 g/L Sweetness Descriptor: XD – Extra Dry Style: Medium-bodied & Fruity

Another wine from the Marc Anthony portfolio tasting. Inky dark in color with a nose of dark berries. On the mid palate the wine displays some lovely blueberry notes backed by some nice peppery notes and acidity into a medium length finish. A very nice varietal shiraz. I would give it an 89 or so. Available from Marc Anthony wines for $18.48 a bottle in cases of 12. Yumm.

From the winery`s web site:
2012 Shiraz Our Reserve Shiraz is inky in colour with aromas of dark fruits, violet, and peppercorn. Full-bodied with flavours of cherries, rosemary, anise, and brambleberry. A touch of cedar rounds out the long finish.

Vintage Report
The 2012 vintage is a reminder that the Okanagan is one of the world’s northern-most serious wine regions. After a generally dry, warm growing season, the last few weeks of harvest ‘chilled out’. The summer ensured ideal fruit development resulting in slightly reduced workloads in our vineyards. Yields were spot-on and summer pruning was not as involved as in previous years. Veraison took place under nearly ideal conditions that lasted from mid-August to the end of September. The continuation of mild, sunny autumn weather gave rise to optimism among our winemakers with reports of grapes having developed thick skins and expectations of flavourful, extracted wines. The harvest began on September 13th with sunny skies and moderate temperatures, delivering the early ripening varieties. The night cooled drastically in the second half of September, preserving the freshness of our top quality wines and brining welcome respite after an incredibly dry growing season.
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Winemakers Notes
100% Shiraz
13.5 alc/vol
T.A. 5.5 g/l
RS Dry
Oak: Aged in French & American oak for 14 months
Harvested: October 2012
Vineyards: Oliver & Osoyoos

Another wine from the Marc Anthony portfolio tasting. I last reviewed the Quatrain and lvoed it so much I bought a case and shared it with some family members with discerning tastes! I love Okanagan wines, they are so big and bold. This one is dark in color with a mild nose of red berries. It`s not giving any hints of what`s to come … On the mid palate the wine displays some lovely cab sauv notes along with some nice complexity. On the medium length finish the wine displays some nice dryness, tannins and some acidity. The complexity on this wine is really noticeable with all of the blend working in harmony. This is a well made rich wine. I would give it a solid 90. Available from Marc Anthony wines for $39.95 a bottle in cases of 6. Yumm.

From the winery`s web site:
2010 Compendium New Release! 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc

A compendium is a ‘collection’; this Bordeaux inspired wine is part of Mission Hill Family Estate’s ultra-premium wine collection. Elegant and complex, COMPENDIUM reflects great care and dedication in everything we do from viticulture to winemaking.

The grapes were selected from designated blocks within our estates in Osoyoos and Oliver; they were hand harvested and hand sorted and then gravity filled to small French oak fermenters. After 3 weeks extended maceration the free run wine and a small portion of lightly basket pressed wine was aged separately in French oak barrels for 13 months.

The grapes for the 2010 Compendium were sourced from some of our top vineyard parcels along the Osoyoos and Black Sage Benches. It is a dark, dense and brooding giant of a wine, featuring a complex mix of black currants, blueberry, licorice, mint and dark chocolate. The palate is rich and full-bodied with muscular tannins and well-focused flavours.

Winemakers Notes
41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc
Hand harvested from Osoyoos and Oliver Vineyards in October 2010
Fermentation & extended maceration in small French oak fermenters
Aged in French oak barrels for 13 months
Alcohol: 14% | Total Acidity: 6.0 g/l
Bottled on September 13, 2012

I have not had much exposure to Lake Erie wines so when I was at Taste Ontario a while back I tried this one. Dark in color with a lovely nose of dark cherries. On the mid pallet the wine displays lovely bold dark cherries to match the nose along with some chocolate notes. On the long finish the wine displays some hints of pepper along with some smooth tannins and nice dryness. This is a well made varietal cab franc. A bigger one at that. I would give it an 89 or so. A nice surprise. This one sure isn’t cheap $39.95 but it is good if you can endure the price.

From the LCBO web site:
Cooper’s Hawk Cabernet Franc Reserve 2010 — VINTAGES#: 335729
STYLE – Medium-bodied & Fruity
The first red to come off the property is a winner. Blackberry and tobacco greet the nose, while blackberries and blueberry skin are the stars on the palate — it has a juiciness on the mid-palate before the nice tannin backbone takes hold on the finish. Score – 3 1/2+ Stars (out of 5). (Michael Pinkus, ontariowinereview.com, April 23, 2013) $39.95

Release Date:October 2, 2014
Alcohol/Vol 13.3% Made in: Ontario, Canada By: Cooper’s Hawk Vineyards Sugar Content: 5 g/L Sweetness Descriptor: XD – Extra Dry Style: Medium-bodied & Fruity
Description: Cabernet Franc is a critical component in many of Bordeaux’s greatest wines, and is one of the cornerstone grapes of Ontario winemaking. In Ontario, Cab Franc also creates top-flight single varietal wines.This is a VQA wine

I enjoy being close to two wine regions, Niagara and Prince Edward County. The wines from PEC are coming along nicely. Casa Dea has been doing some consistently good wines for a while now. This one, is just an example of that. I last wrote up the 2011 vintage of this wine so when I wanted a bubbly for New Years eve I reached for this one. Pale in color with a nice nose of minerality and citrus. On the mid pallet the wine matches the nose with a nice crisp dry wine showing notes of minerality and citrus. The bubbles are nice and fine. The wine is medium in length with the citrus lingering a bit. I would give this a solid 88. Very nice. Next time you want some bubbles give this one a try! Well done PEC …

From the LCBO web site:
Casa Dea Dea’s Cuvee Sparkling VQA — LCBO#: 261263
STYLE – Light & Fruity
Pale straw colour; light citrus aromas with mineral, yeasty and biscuit notes; off-dry with light apple and citrus fruit flavours. $18.95

Alcohol/Vol 12.5% Made in: Ontario, Canada By: Casa-Dea Vineyards Ltd Sugar Content: 28 g/L Style:Light & Fruity

I was walking through the local LCBO and Neils Wandler from Pondview was sampling Pondview’s wine so I gave this one a try. I liked it so much I bought three bottles. Golden in color with a nice albeit mild chard nose. On the mid pallet the wine displays some lovely chard fruit along with some nice vanilla notes. Slightly creamy in texture. Medium in length with some firm acidity on the finish. Not too much to be called bitter, just enough to add some character. This is an excellent California style chard and probably one of the best Chards coming out of Ontario that I have tasted to date, even ones costing a whole lot more. Hats off to Pondview. I would give it an 89-90. Yumm. We paired it with pan fried sea scallops and it went perfectly. Grab a bottle or 3 if you can while you can.

From the winery’s web site:
This is a Chardonnay we’re very proud of. It’s our first wine that has won a medal in France. It won a bronze medal at the Chardonnay du Monde international Chardonnay competition in France. Out of 872 Chardonnays from 42 countries, we were the only winery from Ontario to win anything. It was fermented and aged in French, American and Hungarian barrels for 11 months. This full bodied wine has sweet aromas of ripe pineapple, pink grapefruit with a hint of butterscotch. The palate is fresh with green apples and citrus with a long soft finish of vanilla cream.

From Neils:
Awards
2013 Chardonnay du Monde – Bronze
2013 Intervin – Bronze
2013 National Wine Awards of Canada – Bronze

Out of 872 Chardonnays from 42 countries, PondView Estate Winery was the only Ontario winery to win anything at Chardonnay du Monde.

From the LCBO web site:
Pondview Bella Terra Chardonnay 2011 — VINTAGES#: 347922
Spent nine months in 80% French oak … On the nose you’re going to get some buttery, baked apple and vanilla cream notes. On the palate it’s got peach and some butter-poached pear, a little tropical fruit; you’re also going to find mid-palate some vanilla and butterscotch, which is really lovely … On the finish there’s a kind of bitterness – call it the acidity, call it some sort of citrus … [that] balances out all those rich barrel notes and that rich fruitiness … Score – 89. (Michael Pinkus, OntarioWineReview Video, July 19, 2013) $24.95

I had the absolute pleasure of being invited to the Marc Anthony portfolio tasting where this wine was being poured. I enjoyed it so much I bought a case. And then took one of the bottles to my family Christmas gathering. There are some real wine gurus in my family so I choose the wines I take carefully. Dark in color with a lovely nose of dark and red berries. On the mid pallet the wine displays lovely red berries, cherries and some black berries. There’s some nice chocolate notes as well. On the long finish the wine displays firm tannins, typical of Okanagan wines. Right out of the bottle the tannins were a little over powering. The wine is a little young. After about an hour of breathing they had died down nicely leaving some firm tannins, some nice complexity and some nice long dryness. This is a lovely well made wine. I would give it a solid 90. If you have folks that don’t get a chance to try BC wines this is an excellent choice. It rarely comes to the LCBO to order by the 6 bottle case from Marc Anthony for $39.95 delivered to your door. Yummm. Be sure and serve it with a hearty dish to hold up to this wine! If your looking for a smooth easy drinking wine … look elsewhere, wimps need not apply 🙂

From the winery’s web site:
2010 Quatrain A Quatrain is a poem or stanza that is always composed of four lines.

This 2010 hallmark wine is similarly composed of four grape varieties:
Merlot 40%, Syrah 20%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20%, Cabernet Franc 20%.

The grapes were selected from the best blocks within our estates in Osoyoos and Oliver. They were hand harvested, hand sorted, and gravity filled in small lots to French oak fermenters. After extended maceration, the free run wine and a portion of lightly basket pressed wine was aged separately in a selection of 100% French oak barrels for 12 months.

The 2010 Quatrain is an elegant wine, boasting red berry, black cherry, eucalyptus and cedary spice aromas and flavours. Syrah adds a juicy-fleshy texture to this uncommon blend, lending a seamless profile of ripe fruit, dark chocolate and spice to the gutsy structure of the three dominating Bordeaux varietals.

Inky dark in color with a nice nose of dark berries. On the mid pallet the wine displays some lovely dark cherries along with some nice dryness, some tannins and a bit of acidity. This one is still showing it’s fruit well. We paired it with maple coated salmon and it held it’s own but the dryness and complexity of the finish was much more noticeable without food. I would give it an 89 or so. $24.95 at the winery.