I Love Rieslings!

Ever since I have been drinking wine I have had an affinity with Rieslings. Way back when I was introduced to the beauty of the grape when I was able to taste many of the great Rieslings of Germany. I remember meeting Fritz Hassenbach of Gunderloch Estates, the only German winemaker to be given multiple perfect scores from the Wine Spectator magazine (He actually came to Stargazers to host a Winemakers dinner in 2003). The experience meeting Fritz was wonderful and over the years I have had the pleasure to enjoy many of his wines, including one of his 100 point wines.

Now I still enjoy a good bottle of German Riesling now and again but not very often. Why would I when we can make just as good a wine here in Ontario. Niagara makes some stellar Rieslings. Angels Gate, Cave Springs and Vineland have been perennial favorites of mine. I am pleased to say that Lake Erie North Shore Rieslings are up to par with both Niagara and Germany. The Sanson Estates 2007 Riesling is a very pretty wine and typical of the style. There is a beautiful pear nose with luscious stone fruit flavors. I like my Rieslings very racy so for my taste it lacks acidity but the supple mouth feel is quite pleasant.

I have a bottle of the 2006 and 2007 Rieslings from Smith & Wilson chilling in my fridge and I will give you my report on the difference in years shortly.

Until then, Drink up!

I'm Back

So I have taken a break for the last six weeks from this blog. Honestly I haven’t been drinking much wine. With the kids being out of school and routines going straight out the window, so went the blog. Stephanie and I are going to be more diligent in our wine drinking… Oops I mean wine writing.

I was down at the LCBO in Windsor and I noticed Colio’s new line of wines “Girls Night Out.” I think that this is a brilliant marketing idea. I know that girls quite often get together for wine and gossip nights and now they have a wine just for those occasion. How does the wine taste? Honestly I don’t know. I am deferring the description to my better half the next time she has a “Girls night out”.

What I have been drinking is Smith & Wilson’s Pinot Gris. This is a full bodied wine for a Pinot Gris. There is lots of grapefruit, banana and a touch of coconut wrapped around a firm acidic backbone. I don’t suggest this a patio sipper, but definitely a food pairing wine. I would suggest either coconut shrimp or scallops with a tropical fruit salsa to match the acidity. Either way it marries well with food as the acidity cleanses the palate for the next bite.

On the docket over the next couple weeks I intend to focus on Rieslings. I have a bottle of Sanson’s Riesling that won bronze at this year’s All Canadian Wine Championships as well as Smith & Wilson’s 2006 & 2007 Rieslings. Look for the notes on these shortly.

Smith's Vidal & Muscedere Pinot Noir

Award Winning Wines:

This weekend Stephanie and I opened up a couple of the wines that won awards at this Year’s All Canadian Wine Championship. The first wine we opened was the silver medal winning 2006 Smith’s Vidal from Smith & Wilson. It was a well balanced, easy drinking summer sipper loaded with grapefruit and pineapple aromas. Enjoy it on its own or with light seafood dishes (pickerel with a pineapple salsa would be a good match).

The second wine was the double gold medal winning 2006 Pinot Noir from Muscedere. It was a light bodied wine that tasted youthful and tight at first. It wasn’t until it was matched with food--- a grilled pork loin with sweet potato roesti and dried cherry demi glace—that the true spirit of the wine emerged. Raspberry and cherry aromas started to jump out of the young tannins revealing a beautiful balance between the fruit and acidity. Muscedere only made 50 cases of this wine, and at $20 retail, this is definitely one to pick up a case to drink in a year or two.

Smith’s Vidal:

Stephanie and I sat down for dinner tonight and opened up a bottle of Smith & Wilson’s Smith’s Vidal 2006. This wine brought home a silver medal at the All Canadian Wine Championships a few weeks ago. The wine has developed very well over the last year into a beautifully wine. The nectarine aromas fill the glass with a very well balanced acidity to compliment the fruit. We enjoyed it over a plate of chicken curry that went very well. The stone fruit really molded with the curry to create a harmonious union.

The other night we enjoyed another medal winning wine. Last year Aleksander’s cassis brought home the best in category medal from the ACWC and we opened up our last bottle of it on the weekend. I remember drinking it last summer and being blown away by it, but now I must say that I was disappointed with the way the wine has developed. It has lots of acidity left and you can tell it is black current, but it has lost its balance. It was harsh and acidic. This leaves me to speculate that fruit wines are not meant to age the same way grape wines do, but of course the only way to prove this is to sit some down and try them a year or two from now. The question is, Can I wait?

ACWC Results

I promised you last week to publish the results of the 2008 All Canadian Wine Championships. Below is a list of the trophy wines and To highlight some local winners, Double Gold Medals went to Muscedere for their Pinot Noir and also to Aleksander for their Chambourcin. I highly recommend popping down to Ruthven to pick up the Chambourcin. It is a phenomenal value at just $10.95 per bottle. Kudos also go to Smith and Wilson for three silver medals for their Syrah, Chardonnay and Vidal.

The quality of Riesling in his area in Lake Erie North Shore is improving as Gold and Silver medals went to Rieslings from Viewpoint and Sanson Estates. Colchester Ridge Continues to shine with their wines as their Merlot and Cabernet Merlot both brought home medals.


All Canadian Wine Championships
2008 Results

Trophy Winners

Best Red Wine of the Year
Jackson-Triggs Okanagan, BC 2005 SunRock Meritage

Best White Wine of the Year
Wild Goose Vineyard, BC 2007 Mystic River Gewurztraminer

Best Sparkling Wine of the Year
Henry of Pelham Winery, ON Cuvee Catharine Rose Brut

Best Dessert Wine of the Year
Hernder Estate Winery, ON 2007 Vidal Icewine

Best Fruit Wine of the Year
Rossignol Estate Winery, PEI 2006 Blackberry Mead

Double Gold Best in Category

Pinot Noir
Muscedere Vineyards, ON 2006 Pinot Noir
Other Single Hybrid Reds
Aleksander Estate Winery, ON 2006 Chambourcin

Medals of Merit
Other Medal Winners
Gold: Viewpointe Estate Winery, 2006 Riesling
Gold: Colchester Ridge Estate Winery, ON 2006 Merlot
Gold: D’Angelo Vineyards 2002 Pinot Noir
Silver:Smith and Wilson Estate Wines,2007 C-K Chardonnay
Silver: Smith and Wilson Estate Wines, 2006 Smith’s Vidal
Silver: Pelee Island Winery, ON 2007 Blanc de Blanc
Silver: Sprucewood Shores ON 2007 Pinot Gris $14.95
Silver: Smith & Wilson Estate Wines, ON 2006 Syrah
Silver: Sanson Estate Winery, ON 2006 Baco Noir
Bronze:Sanson Estate Winery, 2007 Riesling
Bronze: Pelee Island Winery, 2007 Late Harvest Vidal
Bronze: Sprucewood Shores, 2005 LENS Pinot Noir
Bronze: D’Angelo Vineyards 2005 Cabernet Franc
Bronze: Colchester Ridge 2005 Cabernet-Merlot
Bronze: D'Angelo Vineyards 2005 Baco
Bronze: Colio Estate Wines, 2006 Late Harvest Vidal
Bronze: Muscedere , 2006 Cabernet Franc Icewine

The Ontario Wine Awards

This week the results of the 13th annual Ontario Wine Awards were announced with a number of local wines bringing home awards. Colchester Ridge pulled home a gold medal for their Chardonnay and Pelee Island won two silver medals for their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Shiraz. Right on the heals of the Pelee Shiraz was the yet to be released 2006 “Watercress Creek” Syrah from Smith & Wilson which won a bronze.

Bronze medals were also handed out to Colio for their 2005 CEV Merlot Reserve and to Smith & Wilson for the 2006 Viognier.

Five medals for our wineries s a really good showing at this event. I am excited for all the local wines as the annual All Canadian Wine Championship is to be held in two weeks time. Last year 20 wines from Lake Erie North Shore brought home hardware.

Que Syrah, Syrah!

That is what Mary Jane from Smith & Wilson wanted to call the second wine in their Watercress Creek Release line. Last Christmas Smith & Wilson released a 2005 Cabernet Franc under the Watercress Creek label and promptly took it off their shelves in January. Their goal was to create a Christmas limited release wine with the best fruit of each year’s crop. From the 2006 vintage they chose to bottle a Syrah. The plan was not to release it until December, but they did give everyone at last week’s Parade of Chefs sneak peak of what is to come. For those who don’t know, the Parade of Chefs is a fundraiser for the Chatham-Kent Hospital foundation featuring dinner prepared by seven of the areas Chefs. Each of the chefs prepares a different course which is paired with a wine from local wineries including Smith & Wilson, Aleksander Estate, Pelee Island Winery and Colio Estates.

Stargazers pushed the envelope this year by preparing a salad and pairing it with a red wine (salads are hard to pair with any wine and hardest to pair with a red). Chef Ian composed the salad of purple leaf lettuces tossed in a blueberry, balsamic and beetroot vinaigrette and we paired it with Smith & Wilson’s 2005 Chambourcin. Now after having more than two years in the bottle, the chambourcin is developing a lot of blueberry flavors and we kept the acidity of the dressing low as not to interfere with the wine.

The main course was a marinated leg of lamb that was paired with the Syrah. The lamb was good as it was marinated in Asian flavors and the wine was very impressive. The wine smells of ripe plums and when it hits your palate a celebration of blackberries and black pepper begins. There is a juicy acidity gets your taste buds fired up ready for any rare red meat that you can throw at it. There is a lot more going on in this wine that will do nothing but develop further before it is released at the winery just in time for Christmas.

For the last few years I have become quite a fan of Smith & Wilson’s wines. Every year their wines are solid and very well made. They do not try over doing their wines, but just taking what fruit Mother Nature has blessed them with and allowing the natural flavors to shine through. I have made sure that I am on the waiting list for one of the first cases of Syrah to be released in December I would certainly encourage you to do the same.

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.

Thinking about Spring

So with the Spring Solstice and Easter coming up this weekend I have been really trying hard to think spring. I have been drinking mostly heavy red wines because the winter weather just won’t give way, but I have opened up a couple of white wines recently to try and trick my palate into thinking that it is spring. I opened up a couple of Sauvignon Blanc’s this week. Sauvignon Blanc is becoming more and more popular and we can really do a good job making them in Southwestern Ontario. I do like Colchester Ridge’s 2006 Sauv; it has a nice mellow herbaceous nose with sweet musk melon flavors. The finish is crisp and lemony and it would go quite well with sea scallops with lemon butter. Another Sauvignon Blanc I have enjoyed recently is the 2005 from Sanson Estates. Dennis has always made some good wines and this one features aromas of grapefruit & fresh mowed hay with over ripe pear flavors and a citrus finish. A perfect patio wine that would also de well with pan seared whitefish with a citrus salsa. Finally I would be remiss not to mention two more, Harold Wagner’s Log House Dry is a powerful sauvignon blanc with grapefruit nose, warm herbal flavors and a dry finish and Smith & Wilson’s 2005 Sauv (which is unfortunately sold out at the winery, but I still have a case) is a beautiful wine. I spoke to George & Mary Jane last week and I don’t think they have plans to make another Sauv until possibly 2008 or 2009.