2 Pinot Noirs (Day 3 of Wine & Chocolate)

On the last weekend in February Chris and I toured 4 wineries, 2 serving pinot noir and 2 serving merlot.  The pinots were offered at Reif Estate Winery and Lailey Vineyard.  From the chart below, you can see that Chris and I didn't agree on much that day!

	Wine	Staff	Atmosphere	Chocolate	Passport Value
Chris' Choice	LV	LV	LV	LV	even
Jan's Choice	REW	LV	REW	LV	even

THE WINES & THE CHOCOLATES

Reif served its 2008 pinot noir alongside a dark chocolate square topped with caramelized pine nuts.  There was a definite smell of yeast to this wine, which permeated the taste as well.  The predominant flavour of strawberry-rhubarb ended with a hint of black pepper on the back of the tongue.  The flavour was very consistent from the first taste to the mellow finish that faded quite evenly.  Chris felt this indicated that the wine had passed it's prime.  Although I initially liked the added flavour of the pine nuts and the not-too-dark chocolate, once my square was gone the wine tasted bitter and broken.

Lailey served its brand new 2010 pinot noir with a dark chocolate covered juniper berry.  Its nose was more complex; notes of raspberry accompanied the yeasty smell.  Raspberry also dominated the palate, and Chris noticed an underlying spiciness.  The structure of this wine was much more defined than Reif's, attributable to its young age.  Both the chocolate, which was not at all sugary, and the juniper berry complimented this wine nicely, and even the chewiness of the berry added something to the experience. 

By the end of the day, all we could really conclude was that these 2 wines were different enough that we didn't feel we'd gained a good understanding of pinot noir yet.  Note that neither of these wines are available at the LCBO, although you can get the 2009 Lailey there for $25 per bottle.  At the wineries themselves, Lailey's 2010 is $25.20 and Reif's 2008 is $15.15.  Chris will use this as evidence that he was right about Lailey's superiority, but it just further convinces me of Reif's value for money.  I am fairly inclined to try the Lailey 2009 though!

THE STAFF & THE ATMOSPHERE

With a property littered by wine-making relics of bygone eras and an interior of dark stained oak hardwood, Reif emits old world charm.  It also houses multiple rooms for simultaneous events.  Unfortunately, the room set aside for the wine and chocolate festival was staffed by a rather young, rather rude girl who was more interested in chatting with another couple of patrons than with us.

Conversely, Lailey's unpaved parking lot leads to its one room tasting bar of an unremarkable modern style.  However, Chris struck up quite the conversation with the friendly staff who told us all about the winery's history, products and upcoming events.  Although the property was not much to look at, I did really like the outdoor mounted display map of the vineyards.

2 cab franc icewines (Day 2 finale)

Stops 1 and 3 for Carrie and I were Southbrook Vineyards and Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery, each of which were serving cab franc icewines.  In hindsight, this is not even a fair comparison.  Simply put, there is a reason why Jackson-Triggs has won dessert-wine medals for its cab franc icewines at the Canadian Wine Awards in each of the last two years and why Southbrook has not. 

 The colour of Southbrook's 2006 Cabernet Franc icewine was on the rusty side of normal, possibly showing its age.  The server told us to expect Christmas spices such as nutmeg to then give way to hints of caramel and vanilla.  Although that was technically correct, there was a pervasive burnt flavour that ruined this wine for us.  Sometimes I enjoy tart dessert wines, but those usually have a refreshing tang to them, not a stale aftertaste of burnt Christmas cookies!  Southbrook offered us a choice of truffles: dark chocolate icewine or caramel filled milk chocolate.  Carrie chose the former and I the latter.  She felt the dark chocolate overpowered the wine, which makes sense because dark chocolate usually helps break though the syrupy sweetness of cab franc icewine but since that wasn't the dominant sensation of this wine, it didn't benefit from the match.  I, on the other hand, found that the caramel in my truffle helped this wine out quite a bit.  On a side note, I asked the server if at 6 years old this bottle wasn't reaching the end of its life and was quite surprised when she told me that it could age for 20 plus years.  I'm assuming she's confusing cab icewine with regular cabs since a quick review of the websites of Henry of Pelham, Inniskillin, and Jackson-Triggs reveals a maximum suggested cellaring of anywhere from 4 to 10 years.  To be fair, though, Southbrook admits that icewine is not its specialty, and the visit was enjoyable enough overall to warrant a return during a different festival showcase.

A few blocks down the road we found a much better example in the Jackson-Triggs 2007 Proprietor's Grand Reserve.  With juicy strawberry on the nose, flavours of cherry and raspberry throughout, and a consistent body and structure, this is the bottle you should use to explain what cab franc icewine is supposed to taste like.  I do question the decision to serve a caramel and pecan topped milk chocolate square though.  Although the caramel and pecan worked nicely, the milk chocolate was the same level of sweetness as the wine so the two effectively had to fight for attention.  Incidentally, the LCBO sells the 200 ml bottle for $24.95 and the 375 ml bottle for $74.95, although you could purchase the 375 ml at the winery during the festival for $44.95.  By comparison, Southbrook charges$26.95 for 200 ml or $49.95 for 375 ml.  Don't bother doing the math; just try the Jackson-Triggs.

Niagara College Teaching Winery (Day 2 cont'd)

NC Teaching Winery served its 2008 Dean's List Chardonnay with a milk chocolate topped with cashew brittle.  Carrie picked this stop because she prefers whites over reds, and this was one of the few whites offered during Days of Wine and Chocolate.  (I think she'll like May's Wine & Herb tour better.)  I'm not going to comment on the wine because I don't really know Chardonnay well, but this turned out to be one of the better chocolates of the day!


As for the winery, there is not enough parking outside the store itself.  This wouldn't be a problem in nicer weather but I don't want to walk across the street from the College in February.  Also, the sheltered entrance apparently doubles as a smoker's cove and the smell on the way in is quite abrasive.  Inside, though, the circular tasting bar and panoramic windows to the vineyards gave both a welcoming and a professional impression.

The highlight of this visit, though, wasn't actually the wine, but a new product called Ice Syrup.  The entrepreneur who developed this idea was there to demo his product, which is essentially unfermented icewine to be used as a syrup for both sweet and savory dishes.  We tasted both varieties, the vidal and the cab franc.  I liked them both very much, but felt the vidal offered more diversity and could be served as part of an appetizer, entree or dessert.  I'm looking forward to wowing some unsuspecting dinner guests with this one.

Day 2 of Wine and Chocolate

On the second weekend of Wine and Chocolate, Chris and I decided to spend our quality-together-time with other people.  He went to visit his sister in Toronto, and Carrie came with me to four wineries that she picked based on their descriptions in the touring pass.  I'll begin with our very disappointing, but also very informative visit to Diamond Estates.  After this, Diamond and I will be going our separate ways.

First of all, its location is not a pleasant visit for a festival; it looks and feels more like a roadside fruit stand than a winery boutique.  Second, we didn't enjoy its wine and chocolate offering at all.  The server prepared cocktails of its 20 Bees Brand sparkling wine and late harvest vidal, a 4 and a 10 on the sugar scale, respectively.  Now to begin with, the proportions were all off; similar cocktails I've tried have had relatively much less bubbly and much more dessert wine.  Not that this mattered much, though, because Diamond's chocolate pairing was a white chocolate truffle with a creamy pomegranite flavoured ganache center, easily 10X sweeter than the cocktail, and made the drink taste even more bitter.  Although I usually appreciate when a winery sets up a private room for festival tasters, in this case it made not liking the wine even more awkward.  Carrie suggested later that the winery should have provided spitting buckets!

My real reason for giving up on Diamond, though, is that we learned it has officially discontinued the East Dell brand Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, arguably the two best wines it produced, so as to avoid brand confusion amongst the several labels that it bottles.  It plans to continue with its Black Cab and Summer Rose, the former which I never liked as much as everyone else seems to, and the latter which I'm just going to replace out of spite!