Newsletter 0067 - Beer and Pretzel Logic

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OntarioWineReview Newsletter 67 October 2007

• News From Our Vine … The Cab Franc Challenge is ready to roll 
  
• Ontario Wine Review:  Beer and Pretzel Logic or Why I’m taking my Bottles Back
• Grape Guy’s Picks of the Bunch:  Canadian Chard and Vinedresser Shiraz
• In the Cellar:  with Tim Reilly … passing the reigns
• Wine Event Spotlight:  Cab Franc Challenge – The Missing Details are Filled In
  

News … The Cab Franc Challenge is ready to roll

The dates and their categories are set, we’ve got a location, we’ve got the wine, we’ve even got a new ticket price – now all we need is you … The Cabernet Franc Challenge is set and ready to go.  Due to some confusion over ticket prices and discount rates we’ve decided should be all one price ($40) and include a bonus for all those who attend 3 nights or more.  Get all the details below in the ‘event spotlight ‘section or visit the special website set up for this event: http://owrcabfrancchallenge.blogspot.com/.

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Ontario Wine Review:  Beer and Pretzel Logic or Why I’m taking my Bottles Back
(Print a .pdf version of this newsletter.)

On July 5th, my father called me on the phone, “Have you seen this morning’s National Post?” he asked before I got a chance to finish my hello.  “There’s an article about that bottle return policy and how it’s failing.”  I asked him to hold the article for me and I’d look at it later.  As it turned out, it was part of the City Diary section on page A12, and was written by Kelly McParland.  I read it through three or four times, and each time I thought, “What a stupid load of hooey this guy’s spoutin’” (though in all fairness Kelly could also be a woman … I just took he/she to be a man because the article written had to do with The Beer Store – my sexism shows through again – dang! And I thought I was worldlier than that).  Anyway, it had to be some of the worst logic for why the system won’t work I’ve ever heard and I’ve heard lots of reasons.  So, as a public service, I’ve decided to pick apart the article right here and right now – and thank the National Post in the process for giving me fodder for an article of my own.

Grape Guy’s Picks of the Bunch:  Canadian Chard and Vinedresser Shiraz
Visit the winery or their website for more details or to purchase these great wines.

Muscedere Vineyards 2005 Canadian Oaked Chardonnay - $20.00
www.muscederevineyards.com

Of late I have been talking to winemakers who are having dalliances with a variety of wood – that might sound dirty but what I’m talking about is oak.  Hungarian seems to be popular, “Eastern European” is another popular answer and Bulgarian is starting to crop up along with the usual French and American barrels; but very little is ever mentioned about our own homegrown Canadian oak.  So I have to hand it to the boys with the Italian roots for staying close to home for a barrel or two of Chardonnay.  Aged only 4 months in new Canadian oak, the wine shows some real finesse, both on the nose and in the mouth – tropical fruit, vanilla, a hint of oak and some surprising coconut, which makes this wine very appealing on the palate.  A little pricey, but it’s made “in Canada” (grapes and wood) – ya gotta pay a little more for the home-grown stuff.

Pelee Island Winery 2005 Vinedressers Shiraz - $18.95
www.peleeisland.com

In my family, August is a big month – there are at least 2 birthdays and three anniversaries to contend with; that’s why somewhere in the middle of the month, we have “the family BBQ” to celebrate everything all at once.  At this event, we sit around on the patio and everybody catches up, shoots the breeze and inevitably wine questions get thrown my way.  Unfortunately, this year the outdoor part was rained out, but the wine questions flew fast and furious.  One from my brother seemed well timed (as I had just returned from a Vintage Tasting in the Lake Erie North Shore region where I tasted this wine).  He asked, “if I’ve had a good Ontario Shiraz?”  I have tried quite a few, but none seems more true to the peppery-spiciness of this grape than this Pelee Island offering.  The wine is aged 20 months in 5000L Hungarian raw oak barrels (no toasting/charring on the inside of the barrel) and hand harvested from the southern most grape growing point in Ontario – Pelee Island.  The nose is all peppery and spicy – the taste kept the spicy aspect along with rich tannin-filled black fruit … there’s good ageabilty in this bottle and it’s limited to only 900 cases.  It’s worth putting your hands on one or more of the 10,800 bottles available exclusively through the winery – it might sound like a lot but at $18.95 it’s a steal and should go quickly.

These wines are available at the winery only.

Here are the Weekly Wine Notes that were added to the Blog over the past two weeks: 

October 2: Mastronardi Estate Winery NV a’Dorah (read) (listen)

October 9: Pillitteri 2006 Fusion: Gewurztraminer-Riesling (read) (listen)

Also look for these reports in the NEW On the Road with the Grape Guy section:

Australian Wine Tasting – Regional Heroes
Niagara Wine Festival – passport program
Taste! in Prince Edward County

The October 13th LCBO Vintages Release report is available here:
Ontario "Vintages" Releases: Saturday October 13, 2007 Vintages Release
 

I have long been a fan of Carlo Negri’s work – master winemaker for Colio Estate Wines – but after more than 25 years at the helm, Carlo is stepping down and handing the reigns over to his successor, Tim Reilly.  I joined Tim in Colio’s cellar to taste what he’s concocting, how he’s handling some of Carlo’s signature wines, his plans for future releases and how he plans to put his own fingerprint on Colio’s long history of winemaking.

We started the tasting with the 2004 Lily Sparkling Blanc de Noir ($14.95) a touch of sweetness lifts this wine on the palate and makes for a great aperitif.  The deeper than usual colour (not exactly pink, but not white either) comes from 6 hours of skin contact, with light-to-no pressing – basically this is a lot of free run juice.

We moved on to a couple of standout 2006 whites:  the bone dry 2006 CEV Sauvignon Blanc ($14.50) and the delightfully fruity Colio Estate 2006 Riesling ($10.29).  We finished the sit-down bottled wine tasting with the newly released 2005 CEV Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon ($21.95).  This is a combined effort between Tim and Carlo and the first of the 2005 barrel aged wines from the CEV series to come out.  This one has lots of bright red fruit, cinnamon and vanilla on the nose; the palate was still heavily oak influenced, but there was an awesome cherry chocolate finish.  The 2005 needs a little more time in bottle to come into its own, say by Christmas 2007, and the good news is that it will be kicking around for another 7 plus years.  I really liked the Cabernet Sauvignon and Tim hinted to me that the Merlot and Cab Franc are even better.  So off we went to check on the progress of those.

2006 is all Tim’s work – delicately balanced between keeping true to Carlo’s way of winemaking and bringing his own winemaking style into play, “I wanted to stay true to Carlo’s way of making wine,” Tim told me, “he’s been doing it for so long and people expect good quality and good value from Colio because of it.”  With that said, we tasted some of Carlo’s work from the great 2002 vintage, namely the CEV Cabernet Franc ($19.95), which is still showing wonderfully well; and the CEV Merlot ($24.95) which is also a remarkable wine, and still getting better.

Then with wine glass in one hand, “wine-thief” in the other, Tim led me over to where the soon to be bottled 2005 CEV Merlot and CEV Cabernet Franc still rested in barrel.  The Merlot was aged in an 80/20 blend of French and American oak and showed signs of spicy black fruit, rich tannins and some cedary-cinnamon notes.  The Franc was a powerhouse.  Foregoing American oak altogether, the Franc rested in a combination of French, Yugoslavian and Hungarian oaks; rich black fruit, vanilla, cherry, good tannin integration, full mouthfeel – heavy on the cherry and vanilla as it coursed through the mouth.  I can’t wait till this one’s bottled; it’s gonna age beautifully and taste even better when sitting on my table in a few years.

Then it was off to the most recent vintage wines.  The 2006 Meritage is blended and now rests quietly in its oak home; a 30/30/40 mix of Sauv, Franc and Merlot. It has toasty flavours of red and black fruit (heavier on the black) with robust tannins.  Only 6 months in, it’s looking very good.  But this wine is about staying true to the house style Carlo created.  “Carlo has set the bar pretty high for quality wine.”  Tim said and he knows he has to live up to, and follow, in the master’s footsteps.  But Tim is not just playing copycat, he has been given free reign to put his own thumbprint on a wine, namely the new 2006 CEV Shiraz, which still resides in barrel.  This is Colio’s first effort at a reserve Shiraz (or any Shiraz) and Tim has no blueprint to follow.  “I love Shiraz, I’m on my own with this one, which should be really exciting.”  His normally low-key manner now brims with excitement and his eyes begin to twinkle as he discusses this endeavour.  After only 6 months in European oak, this wine already exhibits white and black pepper notes on the nose, lots of tart wood tannins in the mid-palate and a great fruity driven finish … once all these flavours and smells integrate, this should be one blockbuster of a wine.  Tim feels it’ll be another year before it’s even close to being ready to come out of barrel, “maybe longer”.

You would think that there would be a certain amount of butterflies in one’s stomach knowing that you are taking over from such an Ontario winemaking icon like Carlo Negri – but Tim keeps a level head about it and has perspective on it:  “I think early on, I felt a little intimidated by Carlo and his many achievements … I know I have huge footsteps to follow in, but Carlo has instilled confidence in me ... I will work hard, use the influences, ideas and make sure that Carlo can take some pride in that fact I'm a product of his years of winemaking.”  And so far that confidence is showing itself in the bottle.

  What can the Grape Guy do for you … Michael Pinkus (Grape Guy) provides a variety of wine related services that you might be interested in taking advantage of:  he gives lectures, leads seminars, conducts tastings, sets up tours; consults, selects and judges.  He also gives interviews, broadcasts, podcasts and writes.  Contact the Grape Guy if you require any of these services or have any questions.

Psst, Pass It On … keep the good wine flowing. Forward this newsletter to your mom in Milton, your son in Smith Falls, or any other family member or loved one that you know needs good wine advice.