12.5% alc./vol. - VQA Niagara River, Ontario, Canada - $35 at Winery

8.5 Grapes

This may not be Pinot for some people, but it’s Pinot for me.  It’s finesse that acts the word — not abetting a weak vintage and excusing a product.  Sultry and satin-smooth, dancing, pressed close for the first time with sweat in your eyes and lust in your heart. Slightly funky (Brett-astic) with lean/tart red fruits; great acid.  Cote de Beaune-Villages imitator.  Blood sausage, tender veal cheeks, or crispy dark-meat chicken.  Drink now-2014.

13.5% alc./vol. - VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada - $38 at Winery

8.5 Grapes

Sometimes I wish my words could be as well-sculpted as the wine sampled.  Here, I may fail.  Great intensity and scope across the board: nose is entreated with a fine, purely mineral essence, supplemented by toasty bread. The palate’s ripely hewn fruit and sterling acid belie a fleshy, mouthfilling chomp, flossed out with some strangely appropriate wood-tannins.  I’ve become extra-selective in purchasing lately, yet I dropped the cash for this in a heartbeat.  Seduction, thy name is Chardonnay.

12.5% alc./vol. VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario - $12.95 in Ontario (662478) (375mL); $24.95 in Ontario (542522) (750mL)

9 Grapes

Niagara’s 08 Gewurztraminers sing a fine tune — no further proof necessary than this aromatic phenom.  Excellent bitterly-driven essence of dried spice and orange zest, while an opulent palate proffers lavender bath wash, nectarine core, and a bit of wildflower on the back end.  Decisively exotic.  Worth the plunge with pork rillettes. (JW)

% alc./vol. not noted - VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario, Canada - $39.95 at Winery

9 Grapes

I see this wine like Pierre Thomas of the New Orleans Saints: a bruising, well-rounded running back (c)hard on nay-sayers. Dominant, between-the-tackles alcohol, but with commensurate aromatic vision and finishes [palate] runs very well.  Awesome sweet apple blossom, white peach and nectarine-pit fruit and some gritty, sponge toffee on the back-end.  A solid pick for your keeper league, a.k.a. cellar.  (JW)

13.5% alc./vol. - VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario, Canada - $29.95 at Winery

8.5 Grapes

You know when you taste a wine and you can’t get a firm grip on it because it’s closed, ironically, like a tight fist?  Example C, right here.  And yet, despite the primary fruit restraint, the vanilla/char bouquet is powerfully telling.  Give it a few months to get humming, then drink over the next few years with coconut-curried chicken.  Limited to 60 lovely cases. (JW)

13.0% alc./vol. - VQA approved/sub-app not noted; Ontario, Canada - $19.95 in Ontario (573147)

8 Grapes

If you need a safety net purchase in the Vintages section, you found it.  Lots of bright, rosy vanilla off the nose (if, you can imagine vanilla to be rosy).  Apple blossom and pie crust throughout with an underscored subtle toast.  Very well built for the price.  Composed of barrel fermented and stainless steel portions; b-f the majority shareholder. (JW)

9% alc./vol. - VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario, Canada - $11.95 (375mL) in Ontario (129759); $18.95 (750mL) at Winery

8 Grapes

Also known as “spritz,” the Chardonnay Musqué hits some key style marks in the guilty-indulgence category.  Lightly effervescent, sweet, yet with some quality balancing acid too.  Pretty good varietal-perfume play off the nose with an underlying tangerine zing.  Tangy zip better than Miracle Whip.  Could be wicked cool with a dessert like baked Alaska. (JW)

13% alc./vol. - VQA Ontario, Canada - $24.95 (To Be Released)

8 Grapes

An honourable hybrid.  Where most fall into the realm of short and pithy, there’s admirable depth here.  Barrel-spice leads the charge on the nose, augmented by a little leather and a tart, juicy dark-fruit combo (prune? blackberry?).  Cap it off with a whiff of drying leaves in the autumn breeze.  Not a worldbreaker, but a fighter punching above its weight. (JW)

12.9% alc./vol. - VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada - $38 at winery

8.5 Grapes

This wine has changed since sampling upon release, maybe faster than first expected. I admit I’m having trouble pinning down the fruit, swarmed by barrel-heavy aromas.  Smoked grain, caramel-toffee, muesli, butterscotch; a commendable, supple texture too.  Spotting a touch of tropical citrus and some still-bright acid suggests another aging 2-5 years, then release the caged bird and let it sing with warm, butter-drenched lobster.  (JW)

12.3% alc./vol. - VQA St. David’s Bench, Ontario, Canada - $55 at winery

8 Grapes

How do we judge reds?  Because this is a good red, if not a very good red, but it’s tough to make the leap to great or exceptional red when a region hasn’t truly defined its blends.  Rich purple colour with low opacity, Ravine’s Reserve Red delivers crushed currant/cassis, herb and barrel-accents with bracing structure.  Great length and not exceptionally tannic with fine sensual appeal here. (JW)