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.