Pelee Island Cab Merlot

A Tale of Two Wines:

As I mentioned last week, I was down at Pelee Island Winery picking up some wine and seeing what was new. As you may have read previously, I am a big proponent of going to the wineries and buying wine direct. There were two finds, the shiraz I raved about last week as well as a 2002 Vinedressers Cabernet Merlot—I think they were clearing out some of their cellar library because they are currently selling their 2005 Cabernet Merlot aswell. This is another of the many reasons to visit the wineries themselves (in additon to the main one, try before you buy), sometimes they have these deals on older library wines that are available nowhere else.

I opened up a bottle of the 2002 and the 2004 Cabernet Merlot for a side by side tasting. The 2002 still had very aggressive tannins and beautiful dried cranberry notes. When I first tasted it my mouth screamed for a rare piece of beef to match the dry ripe tannins. The 2004 on the other hand was quite similar except the cranberry flavour was sweet ripe and juicy and the tannins were much rounder and ready to drink. This is a classic example of vintage years being important to a wine. 2002 was a great growing year and the wines were big and full with potential to age longer. The 2004 vintage created some excellent wines aswell, but more for immediate gratification. I don’t see the 2004 drinking much better with another 2 years of age under its belt, but the 2002 certainly will improve even more (the tannins will mellow and the fruit will develop even more of the intense dried characteristic).

From what I understand from talking to the local winemakers (as well as reading some other wine writers), the wines from 2007 show promise of being one of the best years ever in Ontario. The summer was long and hot with a long fall harvest. This is a good time to stock up on 2005 & 2006 wines to drink now and over the next few years as we wait and let the bounty of 2007 (when they are released) sit in the basement and get better with age.

This week I intend to open up Smith and Wilson’s 05 & 06 Rondeau Red to see what a difference a year makes with it. If you want to experiment yourself, I do have both the 02 and 04 Pelee Cebernet Merlot’s on the list at Stargazers as well as the 05 & 06 Rondeau Reds.