New Vintage Festival (Megalomaniac)

Look right in the center of the photo
and you'll see the stone arch rising
into view.  We were 1/3 of the way
from the road when this was taken.

Our stop at Megalomaniac Wines (John Howard Cellars of Distinction) was another nice surprise in our day, beginning with our approach up the property's rather steep drive, from the bottom of which you can hardly see the production facility, carved as it is into the side of the hill so that only the stone arch above the door is visible.  Although the entrance and large oak doors have a medieval flare to them, Chris's overall impression was  bomb shelter, having decided that Megalomaniac is where he will head in the event of a natural disaster or enemy attack!  Indoors, the air is kept cool and most by the surrounding hillside, which was a refreshing escape from the summer's heat.

The winery had advertised a sparkling with a strawberry and white chocolate ganache tart.  First, though, we were offered its Pink Slip Rose, a pinot noir, which tasted mostly of sour strawberry skin and brought out the sweetness in the dessert without sacrificing its own taste.  Although I don't drink a lot of pink wine, I have noticed that all of my favourites are made from pinot noir.  At $17.95 per bottle, it is comparable in price and quality to other better roses in the region.

Next, we tried the winery's first ever sparkling release, also made from pinot noir, which matched beautifully with the strawberries in the dessert but also cleansed our palates from the heavy ganache.  Interestingly, the wine taste didn't change at all with the food.  It is sweet for a sparkling, with very little yeast on the nose, and it is not at all dry.  Although the wine is not yet listed on the winery's website, it is available on site for $28, which is again comparable to other sparklings in the area, and a safe bet to serve at special events for people who don't generally 

drink a lot of wine.

New Vintage Festival (Ridgepoint Wines)

After a disappointing start to the day, the people at Ridgepoint Wines really turned things around for us.  It had set up an area for passport holders and staffed it with a very knowledgeable and friendly host. I loved the little tidbits of information I picked up during this visit.  For example, the cabernet sauvignon grape is actually a cross-breed (most likely accidental) of sauvignon blanc and cabernet franc.  We also learned that a wine's eventual % alcohol can be approximated by its brix level divided by 2.  Sometime during our lesson, we managed to taste 2 red wines accompanied by venison sliders.  Carrie and Chris were a little hesitant to try venison, but were later glad that they did.  

The first wine, the 2009 Monticello Rosso (translation = "little hill") is an odd blend of some lighter reds and even a white.  (Sorry - I didn't record the exact blend but then couldn't find it on the winery's website later.)  It is served chilled, is very drinkable, and not at all dry.  Its fruity / berry flavor has an obvious Italian influence, like many of Ridgepoint's wines.  At $15 per bottle, this wine is good value.  It doesn't require food, but would go well with lots of antipasto dishes.  Although the venison was too big of a flavor for it, the wine picked up both the taste and the smell of the burger's tomato. 

The second wine, the 2007 Meritage, sells for $25.25, low for an aged Ontario red blend.  I enjoyed the musky smell of cigar smoke / wet leather.  Most of the flavor comes early and up front, though, and the finish is both short and weak.  I described the wine as poorly structured, because I experienced the whole taste at once and mostly in one part of the mouth.  Chris described it as too tannic.  Our host agreed with Chris on that note, suggesting that it would benefit from 2-3 more years of aging. (Apparently I can only detect tannin when it's either really young and chalky or really old and silky, recognizing nothing in between!)  This wine went very well with the venison, holding it's own against both the strong flavour and the fat content.  It was one of those mutually beneficial pairings where the combined flavour of the food and the wine is somehow better than either flavour on its own.

We will definitely return to Ridgepoint, probably for lunch, and to try their more unique wines.  As I mentioned, there is a strong Italian influence, and the winery actually grows and bottles its own sangiovese and nebbiolo, which I didn't think was possible in Ontario.  It also offers a white Cab Franc / Cab Sauv blend for $18, $4 cheaper than Hinterbrook's Franc Blanc. 

Good Earth = Bad Business

I've really been procrastinating on this blog post as our visit to the Good Earth Food and Wine Co. left such a sour taste in my mouth - and it wasn't even from the wine!  I considered just skipping this post but that would prevent me from accomplishing my goal of reviewing all 80+ Niagara region wineries, since it's pretty unlikely that I'll visit this one for a second time. 

Chris, Carrie and I visited Good Earth for our first stop of the Niagara New Vintage Festival on the festival's last day.  For this particular festival, tourists buy a passport for $40+HST which contains 8 coupons, each for one wine and food tasting at any of the participating wineries.  I chose Good Earth that day because of it's impressive offering of 3 different wine and food combinations per coupon: a mini 3 course tasting menu of sorts. 

Our initial impressions were quite good.  The atmosphere is cottage like, with lots of pine and a kitschy but cute set of giant utensils in the vineyard.  There are at least 4 different seating areas, 1 indoors and 3 outdoors, providing an intimate feel while still allowing for a sizeable number of guests.  The well manicured garden area bridges the patio to the vineyards, creating the sensation of a sprawling property much larger than its actual size.  Taking in all of these sights, we were rather eager to dive in so we headed into the wine boutique, where our visit began to fall apart.

The boutique, which is also the restaurant's waiting area and a pass-through to the kitchen for the staff, is no more than 200 square feet, was jammed with confused patrons.  After a brief wait, the hostess materialized and explained that the passport tastings would be held at the tasting bar in the garden.  That cleared out about 1/3 of the room and we headed out past the patio, through the garden and found seats at the adobe style bar.  The server asked for our passports.  We explained that we needed to buy them.  She told us we were to have bought them inside but that they were sold out.  We asked what we should do.  She told us to go inside and talk to the hostess who could do something for us.  Chris went inside but the hostess simply confirmed that they had, in fact, sold out of passports, and we would have to go to a different winery to get them.  End of discussion.

Put another way, we showed up to the business of a small player in a large, highly competitive industry, saying "please let us try your product" and were told "get in your car, go to our competitors, and then come back and try our product."  No alternatives were offered or suggested and an overwhelming attitude of "not my problem" oozed from the staff.  Needless to say, we left, bought our passports at the next stop on our tour, and didn't go back.

Now, on the off chance that the owners of Good Earth ever read this, I have some advice.  You cannot afford to be so apathetic or complacent.  I'm sure your wine is palatable, but you are a 10 minute drive from Tawse, Canada's best winery, 3 years running.  Yes, the food we saw on the patio looked and smelled delicious, but only 12 minutes away is Vineland Estate's world renowned restaurant.  You also have a beautiful location with lovely views, but so do Angel's Gate, Thirty Bench and a whole slew of others.  Either I'm missing something and Good Earth is so fabulously successful and profitable that it doesn't need to consider these things when it sends a customer out the door without having tasted its product, or Good Earth is simply out of its league.