The Stars of Ontario are Shining

I love the month of June in Ontario – well, more specifically, I love the middle week of June in Ontario. A few years ago, our provincial government decided that the second week in June every year would be designated Ontario Wine Week. It was a nice gesture on their part – too bad they still have tons more to do to help out Ontario wineries. To coincide with Ontario Wine Week, Tony Aspler and the Ontario Wine Awards competition holds a tasting during Ontario Wine Week to showcase the winners of his prestigious awards – now that is something to look forward to. If you are passionate about, or have ever been curious about, Ontario wines, then this tasting is definitely not one you ever want to miss.

This year, instead of being at their usual home of the Distillery District, the Sip & Savour Ontario tasting was held at the Pantages Hotel in downtown Toronto. Prior to the walk around tasting, they also held three tasting seminars focusing on three grapes that Ontario excels at making – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and, my favourite, Riesling. Each seminar was led my someone who is highly esteemed in working with the particular grape in question – Bill Redelmeier for Chardonnay, due to his efforts in organizing the Chardonnay tasting at London House back in May, Norman Hardie for Pinot Noir due largely to his pioneering efforts in Prince Edward County and Natalie Reynolds for Riesling due to her focus on Ontario Riesling at her winery, Thirty Bench Winemakers. Having already had multiple discussions with Bill and Norm over the years on their particular subjects, I took advantage of the Riesling seminar opportunity and sat in on a tasting that included two gold medal wines, one silver medal and one bronze medal winner from this year’s Ontario Wine Awards competition. Although I had never had the opportunity to meet Natalie prior to that day, I discovered rather quickly that she and I share a couple of opinions when it comes to Rieslings. Both of us prefer Rieslings made with Weis Clone 21B and both of us recommend picking up Rieslings that are under $20 because, not only are they good value in general, after a few years of proper aging, they will become something spectacular.

Of the four wines that were in the seminar, my favourite ended up being the silver medal winner – Tawse Winery 2009 Sketches of Niagara Riesling. At $18 a bottle, which was not the lowest priced wine either (in case you were wondering), and a blend of mostly Weis Clone 21B with a slight amount of Clone 49, this wine had aromas and flavours that were not overpowering but not overstated. A combination of citrus and stone fruit with a string of minerality, this wine was the most balanced of the four in the seminar. The others were either lacking something or came off too strongly – the Tawse Winery Riesling was absolutely perfect.

Now on to the main tasting – the walk around featuring the various wineries of Ontario. Although there were a lot of the regular favourites, I wanted to go into this tasting looking for wines I had never tried before or wineries I had never visited before. Well, of the twenty five or so wineries in attendance, only one winery was brand new to me so that was my first stop for the day – Five Rows Craft Wine of Lowrey Vineyards. This is a very small winery, and most of their fruit is sold to another winery, but the Lowrey family keeps five rows to themselves to make wines from for customers who appreciate a fine wine and having that extra something special to open up for friends and family. While all of the wines they had on the table were quite lovely, the two that impressed me the most were their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and their 2007 Pinot Noir. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon was a silver medal winner in this year’s Ontario Wine Awards and it is a very well rounded, enjoyable wine. Aromas of blueberry, cherry and vanilla with flavours of jam with soft tannins and great balance. The 2007 Pinot Noir was completely different from the Cabernet Sauvignon – as it should be – but was equally delicious. Aromas of berry, earth and a slight whiff of tobacco which continues on to the palate where it shows great balance and just enough tannins to age this wine for many years if you like.

While there were plenty great white wines in this tasting, there were two that stood out that day – a white blend from a virtual winery and a single varietal from a celebrity winery. The white blend is Nyarai Cellars 2009 Trois – a blend of Viognier, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. This wine has great aromatics – not too subtle but not overpowering either – and the flavours are a delicious combination of stone, tropical and citrus fruit. It has great power and a nice, lingering finish but it is not so “in your face” that it is unbearable either. The single varietal wine from the celebrity winery was Mike Weir Wines 2008 Chardonnay. A few years ago I did an article on all of the celebrity wineries popping up in Ontario and, naturally, Mike Weir Wines were included in that article. That was before Mike had decided to change from Creekside Estate Winery and move to Chateau des Charmes and, although I did find the wines enjoyable then, there is a difference that is noticeable and quite enjoyable. This particular vintage was bright and lively, even with being slightly over chilled, and it seemed to continue endlessly. This was just one of those wines that, even if you were serving it to a wine snob who “would never” drink a celebrity wine, would even be surprised.

So, the next time you are deciding which bottle of wine to open for dinner – or with family and friends on your deck on the weekend – take a serious look at the wines of Ontario. Our winemakers are making some amazing wines and, although they may not all be available in your local wine store, all of these wineries are more than happy to deliver the wines to your doorstep…or your office desk. Cheers,

Seventeen Days - Day Ten

On the tenth day of the Olympics, we raise a glass, in honour of our athletes, of Tawse Winery 2008 Quarry Road Vineyard Gewurztraminer. Tawse Winery was named Best Ontario Winery at the 2009 Wine Access Canadian Wine Awards and this particular wine was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2009 Ontario Wine Awards. At the Olympics today, we see a day of Freestyle skiing in the Ski Cross competition (including their medal round), medal rounds in Biathlon, Alpine skiing, Speed Skating and Bobsleigh. There are continued rounds of Curling and Hockey so there is definitely something to choose from to enjoy your gold medal wine with our gold medal athletes. Tawse Winery sells this wine exclusively at their wine shop or online. You can contact them at (905) 562-9500 or info@tawsewinery.ca as well as order online directly at this link: http://tawsewinery.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=11

A week of Ontario wine…day 1

Have you heard the radio commercials or seen the TV commercials lately promoting the wines of Ontario? This is the Government of Ontario’s attempt to promote the wineries of Ontario as we head into our very busy harvest season. There is just one problem with their attempt…less than one quarter of the wineries in Ontario are receiving promotion time as a part of their attempt.
Now, the goal of my blog and of my business interests is to promote all Ontario wineries so I would be remiss if I did not go to all of the wine tastings that were featuring Ontario wineries. I did manage to go to most of them – I missed one due to a scheduling conflict – but this blog is going to be dedicated to the various outstanding wines I had a chance to try from all of these tastings. The first day of tastings featured Tawse Winery from the Beamsville Bench and Rosehall Run Vineyard of Prince Edward County.

Tawse Winery 2008 Foxcroft Block (Wismer Vineyard) Riesling
$22.00 per bottle
The aromatics on this particular wine are not strong but they are pleasantly there. Strong minerality and stone fruit make up the aromas of this particular wine with a good concentration of flavours on the palate. Mostly stone fruit with a slight hint of lemon on the palate, the finish has some substance to it…not quite long but definitely medium in length.

Rosehall Run Vineyards 2007 Rosehall Vineyard Chardonnay
$29.75 per bottle
Dan used mostly new barrels to make this barrel fermented Chardonnay and you can tell from its powerful nose and creamy texture. Stone fruit, pears and a hint of lemon make up the aromas and flavours with just a slight hint of butterscotch in the creamy palate. This wine is still developing in the bottle so what you taste one week could be enhanced a couple of weeks later. A pleasant, lingering finish makes this one of the most appealing Chardonnay’s I have tasted in recent months. Well done Dan.

Rosehall Run Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Franc Cold Creek
$29.75 per bottle
The aromas one this wine can only be described as WOW! Almost pure berry but with a thread of cedar weaving throughout, this wine is filled with equally powerful flavours. Raspberry, Cherry, Cedar smoke are just a few of the key players in your mouth when you sip this wine. The tannins are smoothed out making this a very enjoyable wine to drink now but, if you have the patience, there is no reason why you cannot age it for a year or so.

Rosehall Run Vineyards 2007 Rosehall Vineyard Pinot Noir
$37.75 per bottle
This wine is just very powerful – it’s the only way it can be described. Prince Edward County has become known for making phenomenal Pinot Noir in recent years and this is definitely one to add to the list of great examples using the Heartbreak Grape. This wine is an absolute medley of flavours and aromas – violets, cherries and cedar are the predominant notes but there is also the presence of kirsch, more floral and mineral.

Tawse Winery 2007 Robyn’s Block Chardonnay
$42.00 per bottle
This wine was made spending six months in tank and then twelve months in oak. The oak was all French oak and twenty percent of the barrels were new. The twenty percent new oak translates into a wine that has a slightly creamy palate but it does not have that strong, over powering, licking the side of a barrel, over oaking that Chardonnays of the past became known for. This is more of a kiss of oak with some smoky complexity along with apple and pear flavours. Although I have never been a huge fan of Chardonnay, this is one of the few Chardonnay’s from Niagara that I have always enjoyed. The current vintage definitely does not disappoint and I highly recommend picking up a bottle or two of it.

Now, in order to not make these blog entries too massive, because there were a number of outstanding wines tried this week and the next, I am dividing the entries up to the days that the wines were tasted. If you are interested in ordering any of these wines, please visit the wineries’ websites for ordering information.

Rosehall Run Vineyards
https://www.rosehallrun.com/aspx_orderwine/orderpage.aspx
(613) 399-1183
1-888-399-1183
Visit the tasting room and retail shop at 1243 Greer Road, Wellington

Tawse Winery
Phone: 905 562 9500
Fax: 905 562 9600
Email: info@tawsewinery.ca