F'ing Winery Tour (Flat Rock Cellars)

Our third and final stop of the day took us further east on the Twenty Mile Bench to Flat Rock Cellars.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the rain was coming down much harder, and it was getting cold, so we couldn't really enjoy the property or its usually breathtaking views.  I might be way off with this one, but it seemed to me that the combination of the blossoming trees, the hexagonal shaped buildings and Flat Rock's stylized logo work together to suggest an east Asian inspiration.  Anyhow, it was raining too hard to consider this further so we rushed into the glass enclosed, six-sided tasting bar to complete our tour.

At the passport station, the server offered us the 2010 Pinot Noir with a crostini topped by a brie-like cheese called Soeur Angele and Killer Condiments Muskoka Cranberry Compote.  The predominant aroma of the wine was of yeast, and perhaps a hint of ash.  The yeast carried through to the taste and was joined by a not-too-tangy cranberry flavour which complimented the crostini nicely by bringing out the kick of sweet hot pepper in the compote.  The light to medium body of this pinot suggests it would be good either with food or on its own.  Chris really struggled with this wine, was unable to identify the nose, and thought he tasted strawberries, but I suspect his palate was just done for the day!


Finally, we tasted the 2008 Chardonnay.  On the nose, I clearly detected mildew, but I may be wrong, as the winery advertises it as petrol / minerality.  Chris described the scent as clean, suggesting Pine Sol or furniture polish.  (At this point I asked if I should be the one driving!)  I find the taste of chardonnay hard to describe in general, but Chris commented on the consistent, buttery texture and hint of lemon flavour.  A unique feature of this wine is that it is stored in oak barrels for only 70% of its fermentation, then is finished in steel.  This accounts for the wine's sharp, clean finish.

Now, I mentioned in my review of Featherstone that our wine storage is currently full so we couldn't buy anything.  However, Flat Rock uses screw tops instead of corks, so the bottles don't need stored on their sides.  This became our justification for buying one bottle each of the wines we'd tried, as well as a 2010 bottle of Flat Rock's premium brand pinot noir, Gravity.

F'ing Winery Tour (Featherstone Estate)

Our second stop of the day took us further east onto the Twenty Mile Bench.  Featherstone Estates, like Fielding and Flat Rock, is family owned and operated.  I'm rather impressed with the business savvy of the 3 wineries for taking the initiative to work together on this tour, and for recognizing that growing their shared market is a better strategy than fighting for market share. 

Some wineries feel like you're visiting a boutique  that happens to be surrounded by a vineyard.  Featherstone is quite the opposite - a vineyard that happens to house a boutique.  In fact, I'm tempted to call it a grape-farm with its farmhouse for a store, barn to house the casks, and very own ducks for its very own pond.  (They even use local sheep and a trained hawk to help maintain their vineyards, but I'm saving that for another visit and another blog post.) 

The first wine we were offered at the tasting bar was a rose: 50% cab franc and 50% gamay.  The server quite rightly described the nose as strawberry-rhubarb which continued throughout the taste, although on the tongue the strawberry was more dominant.  Unlike many pink wines, this was not a candied strawberry flavour; it had the pungency of strawberries that are one day too ripe, making it taste more like 'real wine'.  Chris noticed a hint of cherry as well.  The server also told us to expect perfect acidity, but we disagreed, remembering the tingly rose we'd tried at Pondview in February. 

Then in the next room we had our wine and crostini pair.  This crostini was topped with chevre noir cheese and Killer Condiments sweet pepper relish which made a FANTASTIC pair with the 2010 cabernet franc.  The wine itself had a scent of leather and red pepper and we were both very pleasantly surprised by its fullness and consistency - much better than the only other 2010 cab franc we've tried from Ravine Vineyards.  We wanted to buy a bottle, but since our wine storage is currently full, we'll wait until we return in the summer to see the sheep at work.

F'ing Winery Tour (Fielding Estate)

Seriously. That is the actual name of this annual event co-hosted by Fielding Estate, Featherstone Estate and Flat Rock Cellars, three F-named wineries all in the Niagara Escarpment regional appellation. A $10 passport buys you two wine tastings at all three of the wineries, each accompanied by a crostini topped with a local cheese and well paired example of Killer Condiments.



We had driven by our first stop, Fielding Estate Winery, several times en route to East Dell Estates, but had never stopped in. Situated right on the Beamsville Bench, Fielding's sleek facility almost looks like a modern Swiss ski lodge built on the side of a mountain. After the long driveway, you turn behind the building and enter the second story from the back, to be greeted with panoramic windows overlooking the sloping vineyards. This first room features the regular tasting bar and the very well organized wine boutique. The other half of the building houses the 2 story casks surrounded by a catwalk, where the passport tastings were held.

The crostinis at this stop were topped with Ermite Bleu cheese and Killer Condiments' maple-caramelized onions. The first wine, a sparkling riesling, really picked up the maple, and brought out the smoky flavour of the onions. It also stood up surprisingly well to the blue (albeit mild) cheese. I wouldn't usually think to serve a sparkling wine with an appetizer, but this one would certainly work.  On it's own, the wine struck a nice balance between the sweet riesling grapes and the dry bubbles, with no obvious taste of alcohol. Its nose was weak, but its palate carried a refreshing taste of citrus.

The second wine, Fielding's 2009 Red Conception is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.  I have stayed away from blends on this blog because I was worried the tastes would confuse me and I wouldn't learn anything useful.  However, as soon as I tried this one, I immediately tasted the advantage.  Until now, to get away from the harsh woody flavours of cabernet sauvignon, I have been favouring milder reds like cab franc and pinot noir;  the blended approach allows you to keep the cabernet sauvignon flavour but tone it down with the merlot.  The nose on this wine was decidedly weak, and we had to swirl a lot to get a decent whiff of what we think was cedar.  The aromas, like the flavours, were very muted.  This wine also picked up the maple flavour and nicely complimented the Ermite Bleu, but was slightly overpowered by the strong taste of the onions.



An Exercise in Wine Pairing

There were no wine events we could make it to during March so there hasn't been much to blog about.  We did have a dinner party though, hosting Jan's colleague Brad and his wife Kim.  This provided an opportunity to drink 2 of our recent acquisitions, try some new recipes and experiment with food and wine pairing as well.

As an appetizer, I made a goat cheese and caramelized garlic tart in puff pastry.  This was a complicated recipe from a rather difficult cookbook Jan got for Christmas from sister-in-law Kerri.  (I think she thinks I'm a better cook than I actually am.)  Then as a main course, I made sausage ravioli using mild Italian sausage from VG Meats and wonton wrappers.  Both courses turned out really well and everyone seemed impressed.

Choosing a wine for those two courses was difficult.  The tart contained both a young, mild goat's cheese and an older goat's gouda, as well as garlic caramelized in balsamic vinegar.  According to my Canadian wine-pairing wheel, the young goat's cheese would favour a sauvignon blanc, the gouda a pinot noir, the balsamic a merlot and the garlic a cab.  In the end we went for the 2009 Tawse Pinot Noir we'd purchased during the icewine festival.  It wasn't as thin as I remembered it, possibly because I originally tasted it right after several syrupy icewines, and in terms of consistency, fell somewhere in between the Lailey and Reif that we recently tried.  I would definitely buy this wine again if I didn't have 6 other similar bottles in storage just now, but as a pair with the tart it was just okay.  The mild goat cheese was the prevalent flabour in the tart so I should have gone with a sauvignon blanc.  The two flavours neither complimented nor detracted from each other, but were nevertheless enjoyable.  The ravioli was another story altogether.  For us, a good pairing is when the combined taste of the wine and food is greater than the sum of its parts, and that was certainly the case here.  The wine really accentuated the fresh ingredients of the ravioli including tomato, black pepper and sage, not to mention the sausage itself. 

For dessert I was determined to use the ice syrup I'd purchased at NC Teaching Winery so I looked up some recipes from the company's web site.  I decided on a blueberry square with a shortbread crust, thinking the crust would open up any dessert wine.  Unfortunately, I was wrong about that, and the combination of the dessert with the 2008 Tawse Chardonnay Icewine was also just okay.  The blueberry flavour was a little overpowering for the wine, and the crust didn't taste nearly as buttery as I'd expected.  Once again, though, both the the dessert and the wine were great on their own.

2 Merlots (end of Wine & Chocolate)

So it's early April and I'm finally finishing my coverage of February's Days of Wine and Chocolate.  It seems my pesky job and MA program are interfering with my drinking and blogging.  Our final two wineries of the festival both featured their merlots: Joseph's Estate Wines and Colaneri Estate Winery.  Chris and I actually agreed on everything about these two stops!

	Wine	Staff	Atmosphere	Chocolate	Passport Value
Chris' Choice	Joseph's	Joseph's	Joseph's	Colaneri	even
Jan's Choice	Joseph's	Joseph's	Joseph's	Colaneri	even

THE WINES AND THE CHOCOLATES

Joseph's offered its 2007 merlot reserve with dark chocolate mint.  Tasting the two flavours separately, we didn't think they would pair well, but they actually complimented each other quite nicely.  We will certainly explore other combinations of merlot and mint in the future; there might be lamb involved too.  As for the taste, the initial fruitiness was followed by a hint of licorice.  Perhaps the most noticeable feature of this wine, though, was its quick, dry, tingly finish, something Chris strongly prefers in any wine.  Joseph's doesn't distribute its wines in the LCBO.  The 2007 Merlot Reserve is available at the winery for $13.95 per bottle.

Colaneri combined its 2009 'pensieri' merlot with a very rich, moist tiramisu.  The wine itself had a big peppery nose but its initial taste was unpleasantly sour.  Once the cream in the tiramisu broke through the rather high alcohol content (13.9% vs Joseph's 12%), the taste changed dramatically, complementing the dessert's coffee flavour.  The overall flavour of the wine was of Christmas pudding: currant, cherry and spice.  It also had a much longer finish than the one we'd tasted earlier.  Although I can't say I disliked this wine, I certainly wouldn't pay the $30 / bottle that Colaneri charges.

THE STAFF AND THE ATMOSPHERE

It's difficult to compare the atmospheres of the two wineries because they're so very different.  Joseph's has the look and feel of a country general store: quaint and friendly with lots of natural sunlight and pine.  In addition to wine, it sells lots of accessories and interior decor but the store is very well organized to avoid feeling junky.  Colaneri, on the other hand, mimics an Italian villa.  Unfortunately, the faux finishes of stucco and brick on the exterior, together with the enormous size of the building, cross the line from glamorous to gaudy.  One nice feature of the interior is that the second story mezzanine overlooks the steel fermenting casks.  However, the mezzanine, which houses the two tasting bars, shares the overdone feeling of the exterior with an excessive amount of dark hardwood and granite counter-top.  A quick scan of its wine shelves revealed consistently high prices, similar to those at Tawse.  I suppose that's a positioning tactic, implying the wines are of similar quality, but I'm not convinced yet that they are.