SpotlightToronto.com’s 30 Days of Local Wine feature has inspired me. 30 unconventional words that help define Local Wine in Ontario.
Picking up on #2, I will apologize for a three day hiatus where I didn’t have internet access. Words will be fleshed out Monday night, and we’ll pick up the pace for the rest of the month! (JW)
A macro-blogging experiment, coinciding with SpotlightToronto.com’s 30 Days of Local Wine feature through the month of September. 30 unconventional words that help define Local Wine in Ontario.
Being Canadian, I have to apologize. I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry.
Really though, apology and humility are synonymous with wine tasting. When working through my Sommelier classes, our excellent instructor had to shoot down many tasting descriptions our class had. It wasn’t because he wanted to offend anyone, but rather to help improve their abilities.
We face rejection every time we taste. It’s a big reason why people are reticent to share their feelings about wine. But hey, it’s just a matter of being wrong. Not the end of the world! I’ve been wrong so many times, and surely have more up my sleeve.
Day 2’s challenge: be okay with being wrong, because it’s the only way things can become right.
If nothing else it’ll be good practice for marriage.
A macro-blogging experiment, coinciding with SpotlightToronto.com’s 30 Days of Local Wine feature through the month of September. Expect 30 unconventional words that help define Local Wine in Ontario.
If you’ll allow it, 30 Words of Local Wine begins with ‘acceptance.’
Whether you’re in Ontario like I, or another province/state that produces wine, we have to be willing to first accept the responsibility of developing that wine culture. (Responsible wine culture.)
Niagara didn’t always make wine, and only relatively recently began growing vinifera grapes. Since the late 1970s though, producers have been tasked with the challenge of converting Ontarians into a) wine drinkers and b) wine appreciators. There’s a difference.
You don’t have to be a wine appreciator, but we all benefit when wineries have local support from wine drinkers.
On Day 1 our job is simple: try some Ontario wine if you haven’t already. If you aren’t a wine drinker, all we ask is for an open mind.
Accept change, cause we’re here to stay.
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)