Colchester Ridge Estate Winery:

Last Thursday night Stargazers was pleased to welcome Bernie Gorski from Colchester Ridge Estate Winery (CREW). Colchester Ridge has been open for 2 years now and their passion is really starting to shine in their wines. Bernie, who happens to own another business hauling bulk wines for the local wineries, makes very approachable and fruit forward wines. Some of the wines that we featured last Thursday were his Chardonnay which features a crisp apple nose and lively acidity. The full creamy body has a hint of anise that went well with a tarragon cream sauce. He currently has two other white wines, a gewurztraminer and a sauvignon blanc, and he plans to release a riesling soon. Bernie’s wife Nancy and I had a debate about whether the Gewurztraminer tastes more like Pez candy or Bananna popsicles (in the end we decided that both flavours are there).

I think Bernie shines with his full bodied, easy to drink reds. He has a Cabernet Merlot blend as well as a straight Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cabernet Merlot is a big full bodied wine wine waxy crayons aroma with deep current, black pepper and wood notes. The tannins are quite pronounced but do balance out with 15-20 minutes in the glass. The single varietal wines are along the same big easy drinking style.

One wine that surprised me was Bernie’s icewine. I tasted it in early February and at that time it taasted like eucalyptus, mango and grapefruit with a racy acidity. After tasting it again now, the wine has changed dramatically. The eucalyptus and the racy acidity has balanced out leaving a very beautiful mango/peachy wine. I can only look back and say that in February it was going through a classic case of bottle shock.

Now I don’t think there is any scientific proof that wines go through a funk (a period of time where it doesn’t exibit its true flavours and potential) for the first month or so after being bottled, but winemakers know it is so. Wine can also go through periods of funk as they age so if you have a number of bottles in your cellar and you try one that doesn’t seem to be as good as the last bottle you tried, make sure you wait a month or so before opening up the next bottle as it may just be in a funk.

On another note, this summer is going to a busy time in and around the wineries this year. Make sure you check out some of the winery festivals such as Mastronardi winery’s Festival of Dionysis coming up June 7. It is a fantastic party every year, for more information take a look at the Mastronardi newsletter ar http://www.mastronardiwines.com/newsletter/springsum08.pdf.

Mastronardi Estates

So on my wine tour a few weeks ago I stopped by Mastronardi Winery. They are located just up the street from Colasanti’s on Mersea Rd. 3. The Mastronardi’s originally bought the property off of Colio (it was the original CEV vineyard) to turn it into Greenhouses, but they discovered they enjoyed the challenge of growing grapes so they started up their own winery instead. They have hired Lyse Leblanc (formerly of Leblanc Estate Winery) to make the wines and she is doing a great job. The first I would recommend is their Sparkling wine a’Dorah. It has very tight bubbles with lots of toasty bread and complexity (Plus my Daughter Madeline loves Dora… The Explorer… and before the age of two she seems to be taking to wine too). If you are fonder of still wines, their Chardonnay has a nice balance of oak and fruit and their Meritage is full of blackberry and tobacco. The wood is balanced and it has a refreshingly clean finish. They also make a Zweigelt that is a good simple easy to drink table wine with a hint of foxyness to it. Overall they are doing a great job and with the experience of Lyse in the barrel room, Mastronardi’s is a winery to watch.

Next weekend I am heading to Niagara with the family for Cuvee. A festival put on by the Wine Council of Ontario. I am looking forward to experiencing all the latest wines from across the province and on Saturday I have been invited to an ‘Experts Tasting’ put on at Brock University exploring the ‘Art of the Blend’. I am looking forward to this as I believe in my experience that wines from this area show best when blended together. I will bring you up to speed on the events next week.