Cuvee at Stratus

There were two primary reasons that I included Stratus Wines on our tour.  First, Chris and I had never been there.  Also, they were featuring their signature Stratus White blend, which retails for $44 per bottle, and I was skeptically curious as to whether a white blend from Ontario could really be worth that much!  Our initial impressions of the winery were very good; someone greeted us at the door, showed us around and even set us up in our own private tasting room.  I also loved the interior decor, which feels like a very posh library filled with wine!

Stratus calls its white blend, "the white for red lovers."  The blend changes each year, sometimes in the proportion of each varietal and sometimes in the varietals themselves.  All of the individual varietals are oaked though.  The French winemaker explains that he is aiming for consistent quality, not necessarily consistent flavour.  This makes it almost impossible (for me anyway) to infer the effects of age on the 3 vintages we tried.  

2009 - Just released, the chardonnay in the blend really comes through on the nose in vanilla and honey scents, with peach also detectable.  It both smells and tastes a little hot.  The initial tastes are of stone fruits such as peaches and nectarines.  All I recorded about the follow up tastes was that, "it's very complex, but I don't love it."

2008 - Unfortunately, all I recorded was "smells musty.  less sour than '09.  nice."  Keep in mind, this was the 8th wine I'd tasted that day!

2007 - This one must have got my attention because my notes get a lot better at this point!  The nose somehow combined turpentine and caramel with a beautiful result! Jeff called it "Texas-mesquite," which is more flattering than my description I suppose.  The predominant flavour was buttery, but heavier than butter: perhaps olive oil?  I really liked this wine, and would, in fact, consider it at $44.  I also love that Stratus retails multiple vintages of the same wine at the same time, when most other wineries do not.

Only one thing irked me about our visit.  Not liking white wine, Wesley chose to taste reds instead, but they wouldn't substitute his passport offer, instead charging him their standard $10 tasting fee.  Even by their own policy of comping the tasting flight when you buy 6 bottles, this was a tasteless move since our party actually bought 7 bottles.  In fact, Wesley liked the reds so much that he encouraged several of us to taste them, and as it turns out, all 7 of the purchased bottles were red.  I think Stratus owes Wesley a favour.