2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (5 of 6)

Stop #5: Tawse Winery

We hadn't intended to visit Tawse on our icewine tour, but since we were in the neighbourhood having already stopped at Angels Gate and Greenlane, and since we were out of our favourite riesling, we thought we'd stop in and stock up.  Ironically, we left thirty minutes later with five other bottles, completely forgetting about the riesling until we got home.  I'll focus here on the icewines, and save our two new reds for a later post.

Tawse didn't use its regular tasting bar for the icewine festival; instead, we were escorted by a server into one of the underground barrel cellars for a private tasting of two icewines: the 2008 chardonnay and the 2010 cabernet franc.  I didn't even know you could make icewine out of chardonnay.  The server explained that it's not common because of the large investment and risk involved.  Chardonnay is a low yielding grape to begin with, and icewine only yields 15% of a regular harvest.  Combine that with the risk of a mild winter and an additional 15 months of barrel aging and most producers just aren't interested. 

Neither of these wines have been released to the LCBO, so after the tastings we bought one of each.  The chardonnay has a beautiful, mild, floral nose that I didn't expect.  The flavours of vanilla and honey came out nicely with a creamy, mild, brick cheese from the Upper Canada Cheese Company.  I'm starting to understand that icewine doesn't really need a food course to go with it, but only a little taste of something to unlock its flavours.  I will probably serve this bottle within the year, possibly with scones and creme Anglaise.  As an aside, in a prior post I had previously attributed the burnt flavour of Cattail Creek's vidal to the oak barrels, but I must have been wrong because this oaked icewine had no harsh flavours whatsoever.

The cab franc was also very good: richer, sweeter and less spicy than the one we tasted earlier in the day at Angels Gate.  You could definitely taste rhubarb and sour cherry.  The wine was served with Lindt's dark chocolate with sea salt which broke through the sweetness and seemed to ground the flavours.  Chris commented that he's having trouble distinguishing cab franc icewines from each other but I think this was because it was our 8th tasting of the day.  Either way, I'll review it more fully when we open the bottle.  The server suggested pairing this wine with a flourless chocolate cake so maybe we'll share it with some of our gluten free friends! 

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (4 of 6)

Stop 4: Greenlane Estate Winery

Confession: we only picked this winery on our festival tour for two rather superficial reasons.  First, it was our day to taste riesling icewine and no other wineries in the Beamsville area were serving any.  Second, they were also serving gourmet grilled cheese, which placated Chris after the Gorilla cheese fight the week before.  We'd never even heard of Greenlane, probably since it only opened in 2010, and were a little skeptical when we drove up because of the small barn like exterior, the unpaved parking and the fact that the public washroom is in a separate building on the other side of the lot!  So, when we walked into the small but stylish tasting bar to be greeted warmly by a hostess despite the crowd of tasters, we were instantly impressed.  The hostess took her time to explain the tastings, took our passports and ordered what turned out to be our lunch.  The sampling included 2 wines and 2 baguette sized gourmet sandwiches.  This really impressed me because the passport itself only costs $30 for six tastings so the winery only gets $5 for each of us, less any fee it has to pay to the industry association for festival advertising, etc.  Greenlane treated this as an opportunity, perhaps a marketing expense, to gain exposure to new consumers whereas some other wineries treat the $5 as cost recovery and some even try to profit from it by keeping their portions extra small.

The first tasting was their 2007 Cabernet Merlot with an aged cheddar and bacon sandwich.  Since we were so impressed with the experience so far, I really wanted to like this wine but in the end agreed with Chris that it was a bit too thin and acidic.  The second was the 2008 riesling icewine with a grilled Gorgonzola and spinach sandwich.  Chris felt the gorgonzola was too strong for the wine but we weren't really there to review the cheese, and I personally don't think a gorgonzola can be too strong. This riesling was entirely different from the one we tasted earlier in the day at Angels Gate.  It was very juicy, like biting into a ripe green apple, and somewhat more syrupy.  It's finish wasn't quite as clean as most icewines, implying not enough acidity, but I actually like this quality.  (The longer it lingers on the tongue, the less likely I am to drink the whole bottle!)  Interestingly, the wine really picked up the grilled butter on the baguette.  Since this is the second time I've noticed this, I'm determined to try serving icewine with Grandma's traditional Scottish shortbread next Christmas season.  For the bottle I did buy, I was thinking maybe grilled pineapple to go with it.  (Please comment if you think that's a terrible idea and a waste of an otherwise good bottle!)

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (3 of 6)

Stop 3:  Angels Gate Winery

Today was our first visit to Angels Gate, although it has become our go-to at the LCBO for its consistent quality and remarkably low prices.  Their riesling is one of our defaults and sells for only $13.95; we've also tried their similarly priced Gewurtztraminer and were equally pleased.

The estate itself feels quite elegant on approach, with a winding stone walkway leading up to a tall oak doorway.  The overall look reminds me of a converted monastery somewhere in the Greek islands.  Its patio boasts a panoramic view of Lake Ontario and a unique menu of tasting platters.  We will definately be back for lunch once the seasonal terrace re-opens  in June.  Inside the building, the staff were friendly, knowledgable and helpful.  They also had some interesting stories about the former EastDell Estates; apparently several of EastDell's jilted brides ended up there in tears.  So did one of its chefs, presumably with fewer tears.

Using our festival passports, we tasted the 2008 "Snow Angel" riesling icewine, served with small blue cheese topped pizza squares.  We knew a riesling wouldn't be nearly as sweet as the vidals we tasted last weekend,  but were still surprised that it wasn't more syrupy.  We simultaneously remarked that it more resembled the late harvests we've tried than the icewines and I'm pretty sure I uttered the word 'tart' at least once.  Chris really liked this one though so we did buy a bottle and will likely put it down for 2-3 years before eventually serving it with a cheese course.  (Apparently the wine should always be sweeter than the dessert but I can't think of any desserts that would be less sweet than this.  Apparently riesling is also the icewine that ages the best.)


The server also offered us a taste of the 2008 "Snow Angel" cab franc icewine.  Compared to the only other cab franc icewine I can clearly remember tasting, the one served at our wedding, this was much lighter in colour: almost a burnt coral.  I know I described its flavour as tangy.  Unfortunately I can't tell you anything else because I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take notes.  However, I did buy a bottle, so will research what to serve it with and review it more fully another time.

Finally, before we left we took a gamble and bought two bottles of their 2009 pinot noir without first tasting them.  My logic is that many of the 2009 Ontario pinots are getting rave reviews attributed to that year's growing conditions.  (Click here for the reviews).  Although Angels Gate isn't mentioned by the reviewer, I'm really starting to trust this brand.  I strongly suspect that while it sells $6-16 cheaper than the competition, there won't be a proportional difference in quality.  My plan is to try 1 bottle in about a year and a second maybe two years after that.

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (2 of 6)

Stop 2 - Inniskillin Wines

Let's face it; it really doesn't matter what I think about Inniskillin's icewine.  It has won enough awards to generally be considered the best in Ontario, so my humble opinion is largely inconsequential for what could be one of the best dessert wines in the world.  (Actually, in 1991, its vidal was declared just that.)  What I can do, though, is to tell you just how thoroughly enjoyable our visit to the winery was.  The tasting, pictured here, consisted of the 2008 vidal icewine (served in the appropriate Riedel glasses) with an apple tart.  The server told us to expect flavours of mango, apricot and lychee throughout.  I'm not sure I could identify what lychee tastes or smells like, but Chris says he found it on the nose.  The taste was clean and fruity, held together by a light buttery flavour.  Perhaps the fact that I wouldn't have thought of pairing such a sweet wine with such a tart dessert just shows my lack of experience, but I was amazed at just how well the tart's buttery crust, icewine marinated spy apples and vanilla infused whipped cream complimented all of the wine's flavours.  If I had realized the wine hadn't been released at the LCBO yet, I would have definately purchased a bottle or two! 

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (part 1 of 6)

After we'd ordered our passports for the festival, I went on a planning frenzy to decide which 6 wineries to visit, and in what order. I came up with 4 criteria; we would visit 2 wineries per day, in close proximity to each other, each serving the same type of icewine, one serving something savoury to eat and the other something sweet. A couple of hours later, I showed Chris the itinerary. Since he couldn't convince me to work in a trip to Gorilla Cheese, and I wouldn't go along with his idea of wandering haphazardly through wine country and stopping wherever the -17 degree wind might take us, he eventually agreed to my plan.

First Stop: Cattail Creek Estate Winery

Cattail Creek was serving butter chicken with its 2006 Vidal Icewine. Many of the wineries participating in the festival are trying to convince their patrons that icewine isn't only for dessert. Unfortunately after this pairing, I'm not convinced. The butter chicken itself was quite good, although the serving they gave was mostly rice. The flavour didn't overpower, nor was it overpowered by the icewine, but they didn't exactly compliment each other either. We think maybe the idea was that butter chicken is often served with a mango chutney and vidal icewine often has a hint of mango flavour, but this certainly didn't jump out at us while we were tasting.

The wine itself had a very strong aroma before the glass came anywhere close to your mouth. (This might be because they weren't serving using icewine glasses, tapered in at the top to hold the aroma in.) Either way, both the smell and the tast were very rich, almost creamy. Chris thought fruit (apricot & peach), and I agree with the peach but thought more of toffee. Although the taste (like almost all vidal icewine in Ontario) was very good, there was an undertone or a strand in there that I didn't like ... almost a burnt flavour that I can't really describe.  Since this is one of Ontario's few barrel fermented icewines, I wonder if it's the oak I'm tasting but I just don't recognize it.

While we were there I noticed their novelty wines, a late harvest cab franc infused with chocolate and strawberries and a late harvest vidal infused with chocolate and orange. I have to admit I'm annoyed that even though I bought a bottle of the red, they still charged me $2 for the tasting. I wanted to point out that they were offering free tastings of the cab franc icewine, and my tasting was of a much less expensive wine, but I kept my mouth shut. I walked away feeling like the winery had sort of missed the purpose of the icewine festival: demo your products, grow your brand, increase your sales and market share in the long run. The ironic part is that once we got in the car, Chris told me he didn't even like the bottle I'd bought, but didn't want to be rude during the tasting!  Oh well ... at least the winery donates $0.50 from every bottle sold to the Lincoln Humane Society.

But I thought East Dell was closed?

Shortly after our wedding at the beautiful EastDell Estates Winery on Locust Lane in Beamsville, Canadian golfer Mike Weir bought the property, closing the aptly named View Restaurant, the attached gift shop and the tour operations. Apparently even the previously booked weddings were cancelled, some brides having only weeks to reschedule in a new venue.

This left my friends and relatives, newly addicted to the Black Cab, wondering if, and for how long, they would be able to find EastDell Wine in the LCBO. As it were, Weir didn't buy the existing inventory at the time of sale so the bottles that you buy up to and including the 2009 vintage will be exactly the same as before.

Actually, it's entirely possible that even after '09, you won't notice a difference because Diamond Estate Wines, the company that owns the EastDell brand still owns De Sousa Wine Cellars, of the same terroir as the Locust Lane location. (That's probably most important if, like me, you love almost all of the Rieslings grown anywhere near "the bench".) It's more likely that it will be Mr. Weir's consumers that notice a difference as his brand will no longer be produced at Chateau des Charmes using grapes from I'm not exactly sure where.