From the Cellar
Older Ontario Wines With Fabio and Family (Ontario)
25 Sep 2014- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(August 10, 2014) ... After the Vintages Tasting of the Lake Erie North Shore region a few of us went back to Fabio Muscedere house for a BBQ and an old Ontario vintage wine party broke out ... I had brought two of those wines and Fabio provided a couple others ... I believe other wines found their way out to the table as well but I: a) lost count and b) wasn't supremely impressed with them ... Not that these four wines below were anything to write home about ... Well two weren't anyway.
Marynissen 2001 Cabernet-Merlot ... I had some high hopes for this one, but then I was reminded that this was the lady bug year, but I still held on to a faint glimmer of hope that Marynissen was not affected. Alas, this was a dud from start to finish: Stinky nose laced with stewed fruit with plenty of Asian lady beetle thrown in - this was horrible. But not as horrible as the Viewpointe 2004 Cabernet Franc, a cabbagy mess from start to finish - it made the Marynissen seem palatable by comparison.
On the other hand, a bottle of Southbrook 2002 Triomphe Cabernet Franc - Watson Vineyard, showed some real character for a 12 year old wine, it seems to have held up okay; though as more air got into it more and more green pepper began creeping in on both the nose and palate. Within an hour it was hard to overlook it. Speaking with former Southbrook and now Lailey winemaker Derek Barnett, a few weeks later, he claims not to be surprised. Our final bottle just happened to be a Lailey 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon, now this quite possibly was the best bottle of the evening: smoky, meaty and oaky with some decent fruit and good tannins backing it up; this wine still has a few years ahead of it.
