Uncorked Ontario

I had a bottle of Pelee Island Merlot 2002 that I was running out of time.

The wine just recently started to leak from the area around the cork so I figured I better open this one soon or it will go bad as air gets inside the bottle. Here is what the corked looked like after I opened the bottle.

Open just in time to taste one of the finest local merlots I have ever tried. There is someting to be said about letting a wine sit. Took this one right to the edge and it was worth it. I am sure in a few weeks the wine would have gone bad and I would have missed this experience.

Orsen Wells coined the phrase about no wine being good before its time. You just have to know when that time is and when it’s running out.

If you have some older wines take some time this weekend to check them out. I know you may have been saving them for a special occassion. If they are starting to leak open them now and enjoy them. They may not be any good by the time that special occasion comes around. No sense wasting a good wine.

Gary

I was in the mood to have a bit of fun today and do something that I haven’t don but have been thinking about doing for some time now. Today just seemed to be the right day to do it.

On my way home I stopped by the Roundhouse LCBO and picked up two bottles of Cabernet Franc. The two I picked up were Mastronardi Cabernet Franc 2006 and Erie Shore Cabernet Franc 2006. Both are the same vintage, both are VQA wines from Lake Erie North Shore region, both are for sale at the LCBO for about the same price.

One final thing before I began my taste comparison. Calabria is a great little pizza restaurant in Cottam and they have a pepperoni and cheese special on Wednesday. Both of these wines taste great with pizza so I ordered one for my tasting evening.

Back and forth between the two wines it was hard to say that one was better than the other. In the end I decided that they are both very similar in taste. Both have a nice green bell pepper taste up front and both paired perfectly with the pizza.

Good wine and good food. What a great evening.

Gary

Wanda and I headed over to Aleksander Estate Winery yesterday. Twenty four lucky people were able to spend the afternoon with Aleksander’s with winemaker Izabela Muzzin as she took us on a tour of her vineyard. What a great way to spend a spring day.

With a glass of Aleksander’s Merlot in hand we headed out the vineyard. Aleksander’s Winery is located on land that was once the Lake Erie shore. Yes, where highway #3 (Essex Bypass) is now was once under water and part of Lake Erie. The soil at the winery is sandy a drains so well no tiling is needed.
 
Essex County is flat, there are a few hills and valleys but nothing that you really ever notice while driving around the county. Next time you are at Aleksander take note of the location. The winery is located in an area that is on one of the highest grounds above sea level in the county. (Almost 600 feet above Lake Erie).  Because of this they do not need wind mills to create any air inversions that the other local wineries need when the temperatures drop.

It’s time to cut back and prune the old vines at Aleksander’s Estate  Winery.  Izabela and Mark Muzzin explained the process to our group. Getting ready for the grape season this pruning is one of the most  important tasks of the growing season. If you have never seen this before it is amazing how much vine is cut off at this time. It’s a long process as each vine is pruned but Izabela stated that this was one of her favourite times in the vineyard. It’s a peaceful time for her when she is in the vineyard all day long.

We headed back inside the winery for some parallel wine tasting of the 2007 and 2008 Vidal. Isabela talked about how the conditions from each growing season gives the wines a different taste. Aleksander’s 2008 vidal (which hasn’t been bottled yet) is so fruity, and is going to be even better that their 2007(in my opinion).

We also parallel tasted Aleksander’s Cab Franc from 2006 (currently bottled and available at the winery) and yet to be released 2007 and 2008 Cabernet Francs.  The 07 and 08 were good, but still need to age a little in my opinion.
The taste difference from year to year in the reds was not as drastic as noted with the vidal.

We had a wonderful afternoon at Aleksander’s Estate Winery. It’s easy to see why they make such good wines that always seem to win awards. Mark and Izabela Muzzin showed their wine making passion. They love what they do and love to share with other their wine making knowledge.

Aleksander Winery plans to release their Baco on Friday, April 3rd. Stop by the winery from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and enjoy a taste of Baco and some savoury treats.

Came across this blog today. Erie Shore Vineyard Blog

The folks at Erie Shore Vineyard do more than just make good wine. They are net savvy and have a web log (blog) that they keep up to date and seem to use it often to post local wine news.

From my experience not all of the local wineries are using the Internet to their advantage. It can be a great marketing tool and a way to keep in touch with customers. Looks like Erie Shore’s Vineyards understands this. 

Book mark this blog. 

Gary

Wanda and I attended the Harrow & Colchester South Chamber of Commerce 16th Annual Wine & Cheese Hospitality Night on Friday.

Price of admission was only $20. Well worth it to sample some new wines from 13 local wineries for about 3 hours. The turn out was very good. By around 8pm the place was packed to capacity with a nice mix of people from young couples to seniors. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The only complaint I heard was that when the band played they were a bit loud and people couldn’t talk to each other. The folks at the CREW were right beside the band. Not the best place to be when you want to talk wine.

Tried some of the wineries new releases. Muscedere’s and Sprucewood’s Cabernet Franc. They were both good. Tasted Erie Shores Late Harvest Vidal (also good) and a wonderful Sauvignon Blanc from Sanson Estate Winery. I stopped in at Sanson’s today wanting to buy a couple bottles of the Sauvignon Blanc that they served bu was told it is only available by the case. It’s nice but I don’t want 12 bottles. I was told that others had done as I had so there is an interest in buying the wine at Sanson’s Estate Winery. The  other option is to buy a case amoung a few friends and split it up. Anyone interested?  

Of noted interest in the crowd was Bruce Crozier MPP – Essex. I emailed Mr Crozier a while back about the “Boycott Cellared In Canada.” campaign that had started on the Facebook social network. At that time the “Official Olympic Wines” would be and still are “Cellared in Canada” blends. Now understand that “Cellared In Canada” wine can be made from up to 70% foreign grapes. If our Olympic athletes must be Canadian, shouldn’t our official Olympic wine be Canadian as well? The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will have a foreign wine posing as “the official Canadian Olympic wine”.

I emailed all of the local MPP’s and at least Mr Crozier took the time to respond. His reply was that he agreed but thought that there was no way the Canadian Government could control what wine the Olympics bought or served. He missed the point but at least he agreed. Mr Crozier seems like a nice man (not all politicians are bad) and I hope he enjoyed some of the “real” Canadian VQA wines that were being served on Friday evening. This wasn’t the right place to follow up and question him some more about why our Government not protecting our Canadian culture and wine industry.
 
A new local winery attended the event. “Black Bear Farms Of Ontario Estate Winery Inc.” I spent a few minutes talking with William Rondelez, owner and wine maker of this new area winery. They are specializing in fruit wines. All of their  wine is made from the fruit they grow on their farm and there is no grape used in their wines.

Some of the varieties they have currently on their shelves are:

Papas Special Reserve for $18.00 / 375ml bottle
Purple Raspberry for $18.00 / 375ml bottle
Golden Raspberry for $18.00 /375ml bottle
Red Raspberry for $16.00/ 375ml bottle
Red Raspberry for $31.00 / 750ml bottle
Strawberry for $15.00 / 375ml bottle
Strawberry for $29.00 / 750ml bottle

With more varieties coming soon such as our gooseberry wine!

I tried the “Papas Special Reserve”. It was very nice. Wanda and I plan on visiting the winery soon. They do not have a web site yet but they are working on one. Their store hours right now are Wed. to Sat. 11:00 am to 6:00 pm Sun 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Black Bear Farms Estate Winery is located at 1137 County Road # 20 West Kingsville Ontario.

Gary