Barrel upon Barrel:

Last night I have a couple over for dinner who really enjoy their wine. This was the perfect opportunity for me to open a couple of wines to compare together. I chose three wines to compare, the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Double Barrels from Smith & Wilson. George and Mary Jane have a knack for making remarkably consistent wines. The 2004 was one of the first wines they released when they opened the winery. Today it is drinking very well with a beautiful tobacco nose with ripe plums and hints of black and bell pepper. The 2005 (which is still on the winery shelves) is much rounder than the 04 (due to the longer hotter growing season); with cedar on nose and a similar ripe plum and black pepper flavors. The 2006, which was just bottles about 6 weeks ago and not expected to be released until September, is just in its infancy but showing signs that it is not going to have a problem filling the shoes of the 2004 and 2005. It is similar in body to the 2004 with hints of young strawberry and hints of oak. As the wine opened the plum and black pepper flavors came through and rounded into a very good, approachable wine. I don’t think that any of these three wines are meant for long term aging with best enjoyed within 4-8 years.

We all agreed that the 2005 was the best of the three vintages having much more concentration and body. We finished off the night with a couple of dessert wines from Erie Shores. Their Winter Harvest Vidal is full of brown sugar and peaches with a little bit of spritz. After being opened up awhile caramel apple flavors began to appear. The 2004 Erie Shores Vidal Ice Wine was a traditional syrupy wine with stone fruit and brown sugar. Both wines complimented the fresh fruit pizza we enjoyed for dessert, but the unanimous choice as favorite was the Winter Harvest Vidal. Not that I don’t like Icewines, but after a big meal the lighter late harvest styles seem to be much more enjoyable.