Chateau Montelena

The iconic castle, (je m'excuse, "chateau,") is a modern
production facility inside.  It appears on all Montelena
labels.

Have you seen the movie Bottle Shock?  It's about Chateau Montelena when, in 1976, its chardonnay beat the world's best French white wines in a blind taste test now referred to as 'The Judgment of Paris."  Because of both the story and the movie, (starring Alan Rickman, Chris Pine and Bill Pullman,) I expected this winery to be both very touristy and very crowded; fortunately it was neither.

The inscription reads, "The Judgement of Paris 1976."

The grounds have been extensively landscaped, including a small network of bridges and pagoda-like gazebos over a lake housing two black swans.  The gazebos are for hosting private picnic lunches, which must be booked well in advance.  Tastings, however, are available without an appointment.  For $20 per person, you can taste 4 of its 5 current release wines.  However, there's a two-for-one coupon available HERE and the winery waives one fee for every $100 spent on wine, so the four of us didn't end up paying any tasting fees at all.  When we arrived at the tasting room there were four servers behind the bar each assisting other groups, but we only had maybe a 10 minute wait before trying the following four wines.

2012 Riesling - I was prepared to not like this wine, being quite stuck on Beamsville Bench riesling for the time being.  Earlier in the trip, I had actually told Kim not to bother buying any rieslings in California.  It seems though, that Montelena makes this wine with grapes it purchases from Potter Valley, further North than Napa, with better growing conditions for riesling.  Brilliantly bright with acidity, this wine really tickles your tongue.  The dominant smell and taste we noted was honey, but the winemaker's notes list peach, apple, lichee (agree), rose, apricot, wet stone (agree) and pear.  Since this wine is not available outside of California, Kim did buy a bottle after all.

2010 Chardonnay - Montelena chardonnay is too light for me.  There.  I said it.  Interestingly though, when I compare my notes to the winemaker's, it's like we're talking about two different wines.  The only thing we agree on is that there's a subtle green apple flavour.  What I call thin, he calls creamy.  What I call vanilla, he calls marzipan.  Given that this was the wine that literally won the west, it's fair to say that the problem is probably with me.  I'm assuming that my palate is just not refined enough to taste the complexity, so I'd rather spend $20 for an Ontario chard than $60 for one I don't appreciate.  (Chris really likes this wine, but I suspect it's because he thinks he's supposed to!)

Despite its fame and wealth, Montelena's tasting bar is
humble, approachable and enjoyable.

2010 Cabernet Sauvignon - According to the winemaker's notes, "the beauty of our style is that you get all the wonderful ripe flavors that California is known for, but with much more expression of place, and without all the noise and distraction of high alcohols and overwhelming new oak flavors."  I completely agree, as I've had issues with more typical California Cabs tasting like chewing tobacco, but this one is very drinkable even in its youth while still maintaining a complexity of taste.  It's probably partially due to the 9% merlot + cab franc that are taking off its edge.

When searching for Montelena wines at the LCBO, I always
spell it wrong: Montalina, Montaleena, etc.  When we arrived
I saw it underneath Mount Helena.  It all makes sense now!

2009 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - I can't believe I spent this much on one bottle, but it is the single best California cab I've ever tried.  Antonio Galloni from the Wine Advocate rated it 93, as did Stephen Tanzer from the International Wine Cellar.  Like its non-estate cab cousin, this wine can be drunk now or aged, but its approachability seems to come from superior wine-making techniques instead of blending.  Both the nose and the taste come in layers of fruit, smoke and spice.  Perhaps its best feature though is its structure; the wine just flows back away from the tongue like silk.  I'm not sure how long it will last in the cellar.

Robert Mondavi (the wines)

The tour concluded with wine tasting.  The tasting room was preset for our group when we arrived, and the décor struck an appropriate balance between casual and elegant.  We were informed about the various wine club options, and given literature, but the sales pitch was not overdone or pushy.  Peter, the guide, knew the wine would sell itself, be it through bottle sales or club memberships.  To that end, although the tour price only promised three wines to taste, he threw in a fourth, "just 'cause he felt like it!"

The first wine, the 2011 Carneros Chardonnay, is only available at the winery: not in stores or restaurants. Carneros, the southernmost region of Napa Valley, has very Burgundian growing conditions.  (I learned the word "Burgundian," meaning Burgundy-like, on the tour!)  This, combined with the 14 months of oak aging, has resulted in a creamy but bright chardonnay smelling of passion fruit.  (Chris says bubblegum.)  Peter introduced the second wine, the 2012 Napa Valley Rose, with the statement, "I bet you think all pink wines are ..."  I was tempted to say "crap," but apparently he was going for "sweet."  This particular rose is not sickeningly sweet, but rather tangy, tasting of watermelon.  Interestingly, it's made from a very Bordeaux-like blend that I don't think I've had as a rose before.  The smell is quite yeasty, and the body thin, but both of these characteristics dissipated by pairing the wine with a caprese salad.

The third wine just might be my new favourite, which could prove problematic as it too is only available at the winery.  This 2010 red, labelled "Momentum" is made entirely from Merlot grapes.  It's leather nose is followed by a tangy mid-palate taste of raspberry and silky tannins that made the side of my tongue drool for more!  For my liking, there was a little too much chalk left in my mouth afterwards, but a few years in the cellar should fix that, assuming I can wait that long!  Finally, our bonus wine was the 2012 Moscato.  Peter joked that us Ontarians would probably not like California's feeble attempt at dessert wine, but we certainly did.  With a nose of champagne and honey and an acidity that almost reaches a point of carbonation, this is very versatile for a dessert wine.  Chris suggested it would pair well with Curry.  Brad bought two bottles, neither of which made it back to Canada!

If I haven't said it already, Robert Mondavi Winery was a fantastic introduction to Napa Valley both for novice and experienced wine enthusiasts.  I would go to far as to say that if you are staying in the San Francisco Bay Area and can only get away for a few hours, this should be your one stop in wine country.  Also, at a price per bottle of $36, $24, $50, and $25, respectively as above, these high quality wines also represent very good value.  We will definitely stop by the boutique on our next visit to the area!

Robert Mondavi (the winery)

Before even departing for California, I'd already noticed some big differences between touring Napa Valley wineries versus those in Niagara.  For example:

• very few (if any?) Napa Valley wineries have restaurants in them;
• many wineries (especially the big names) require an appointment for tours;
• some wineries even require an appointment for tastings;
• tours and tastings are much more expensive in Napa Valley than in Niagara;
• tasting fees generally aren't per glass, covering 3-6 wines per visit depending on the winery;
• each visit takes more than 1 hour;
• lots of police officers patrol the wine route, especially at night.
  
  

Mondavi's To Kalon vineyard

Keeping all this in mind, we spread out or visits over three days to allow for time and safe driving. Our first stop, before even checking into our hotel, was Robert Mondavi Winery, which comes highly recommended by nearly every tourist guide I can find, mostly for its dedication to wine education.  On the tour we learned that this evolved from the founder's belief that growing his company meant growing the industry by educating both its consumers and even its competitors.  I've often commented that I wish more Niagara producers would adopt this mentality.

Wine Education Coordinator
Peter Alig

We were only 10 minutes into our 75 minute tour (at a cost of $30 each) when I already concluded it was the most thorough, informative and professional  tour I've been on, while maintaining an intimate and fun atmosphere.  Our guide, Mr. Peter Alig, is an excellent public speaker and was able to answer some pretty specific questions.  Afterwards, I realized why; he's the author of The Everything Guide to Wine: From tasting tips to vineyard tours and everything in between, and he's Mondavi's Wine Education Coordinator.  (We should have that position in Niagara wineries;  Tawse should hire me!)

much appreciated
shaded seating area

Throughout the tour, we would stop periodically to listen to Peter and ask questions in the shaded pergolas overlooking the vineyard - the same vineyard that produces Zippy Sauce's favourite Fume Blanc.  (Actually, we learned we've been pronouncing To Kalon incorrectly; it's "toe-kalone.")  Moving on, a video presentation was made showing the parts of the production process we couldn't see that day - another professional and educational touch.  The tour focused on the best of the best, so we visited the oak fermentation tanks (unique to Mondavi) and the barrel aging cellar, both of which are used only for the winery's best, hand-picked red grapes.

French oak
fermentation tanks

Finally, after a rather luxurious stop in one of the tasting rooms, (see next post), we ended in the exceptionally well merchandised wine boutique / gift shop, where I had a revelation; every winery I've visited, every tour I've taken and every wine boutique I've shopped in are all, in one way or another, imitations of this one (or its prominent Napa Valley peers).  Mondavi's stamp on the new-world wine industry extends beyond the winemakers it has trained or the customer's it has served; wineries founded 40 years later and 2600 miles away have built themselves in its image.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

barrel aging cellar with wine library at far end;
reminds me of Vineland Estate!

gift shop display appropriate for
Featherstone Estate!

Napa Valley Winery Exchange

Last week Chris and I, with friends Brad & Kim, visited San Francisco and Napa Valley.  As such, the next few blog entries will shift the focus off of my usual Ontario winery reviews to recount our exploration of the region that made new-world wine famous across the globe.  Since Canadian customs only allows each adult traveler to bring two 750 ml bottles back into Canada, we planned this trip carefully, intending to only buy wines that are not available (or rarely available or available but really expensive) in Ontario.  One tool that helped us accomplish this was the LCBO app for iPhone, which we used to check inventory levels of different wines across the province.  (Note: the search engine in this app isn't very "smart" so check your spelling carefully before concluding that a wine isn't sold in Ontario.)

For some perspective, consider that there are just over 80 wineries in the Niagara region and that it's taken me a year and a half to blog approximately half of them.  As such, what proportion of Napa's 450+ wineries could the four of us realistically visit in just 3 days?  Solution: the Napa Valley Winery Exchange has shopped most of the region's boutique wineries (and some of the larger ones too) to bring together a collection of wines that generally are not sold outside of California.  It's a small storefront near the not-so-desirable Tenderloin district of San Francisco with limited  hours (10-6 most days), but for wine tourists it is an absolute must-shop while you're in town.  It's well organized inside, with shelves divided by varietal and with professional reviews, tasting notes and ratings beneath most wines.  Perhaps the best feature of the NVWE, though, is its staff.  On one hand, they really know their stuff; you can give a fairly detailed description such as "cocoa and eucalyptus with no tobacco" and they know which bottle to recommend.  On the other hand, if you're not as wine-literate, they will coach you through easy questions, beginning with "red or white?"  Below is a look at the 3 bottles we purchased from this store.  Each photo links to more information about the wine.  However, just like in Ontario, the smaller wineries don't seem to spend much time maintaining their websites! 

Anderson's
 Conn Valley Vineyards
2010 Right Bank

Limerick Lane
2009 Zinfandel
Block 1910

John Robert Eppler Wines
2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
Howell Mountain

Cuvee en Route

Every year during the first weekend of March, Niagara's wineries show off their best wines during a three day event that starts with a Friday evening gala and turns into what is probably the region's best wine tour of the year.  For a passport price of $30, each guest can visit every participating winery over the thee days.  Each winery then offers three tastings.  The wines on offer are of a much higher quality than those typically exhibited for festival weekends, and are not always available for tasting or even for purchase.  One hostess we visited called Cuvee, "the Oscars of the Niagara Wine Region."

Left to right: Chris, Jan, Erin, Jeff, Brendan, Francesca, and Wesley.

In my opinion  the event is not well publicized.  Last year, we missed it altogether.  Not to make the same mistake again, we began planning our route back in January!  Three more couples, two house guests and one limousine later, and we were well situated to best take advantage of the high value and rare tasting opportunities.  Our route (Thirty Bench, Henry of Pelham, Stratus, Strewn & Inniskillin) covered 5 different sub-appellations, and a selection of reds, whites and dessert wines, ranging from 2-15 years old.

Wesley's wife, Megan, had to work.

 After the tour I had each taster rank the 5 wineries we visited on 3 criteria: wine quality, staff and atmosphere.  There are, however, a few problems with reporting the results, possibly because by the time we were writing things down, we'd each tasted 16 different wines.  For starters, Brendan seems to have thought we'd visited a 6th winery.  Next, Wesley's ranking system requires its own cipher.  Perhaps most importantly, though, the wines were all different types, varietals and ages, and all of a very high quality, and thus no clear pattern emerges from the data.  So instead, as I blog about each visit over the next week or so, I'll do my best to incorporate everyone else's thoughts.

He got over it.

Emily's 30th Birthday

After spending the weekend in a Niagara-on-the-Lake cottage, my contribution to the festivities was to plan a wine route on the way back to Hamilton for myself and three other girls.  Our first stop was Reif Estate Winery, where tours are offered daily at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm for $5 per person.  The guided tour lasted about 30 minutes, taking us through Reif's sensory garden, antique barrel storage, vineyards, production facilities and bottling line.  In hindsight, leading such a tour for a group including a chemist and an engineer seems like a daunting task, but our guide, Jenn, did a fantastic job; by the end it basically felt like she was part of our group!  The tour ended in a private tasting room for the four of us where we sampled the following three wines.

Riesling - The 2009 Riesling, a 1 on the sugar scale (which I think translates to an 'M' for medium under Ontario's new sugar code system,) smells very green; think fresh cut grass, tomato stems or a rainy forest.  It's predominant flavour is lemon and its mild flavour fades away quickly and cleanly.  Although I didn't dislike it, it didn't stack up to the other two rieslings we had this weekend: a 2009 Angels Gate Susreserve and, my favourite, the 2009 Tawse Echos.

Cabernet-Merlot - In this 2009 blend, the cabernet franc really comes through on the nose with strawberry and leather.  Unfortunately, the strawberry was too prominent on the palate, tasting almost candied.  This is not a wine I would purchase and I think the girls agreed with me.

Vidal Icewine - The colour, the scent and the flavours of the 2009 Vidal Icewine were as close to perfect as they might be while still maintaining a unique expression of the winemaker.  I am so confident about this one that I plan on serving it to the folks over at Zippy Sauce the next time we visit.  On the server's advice, we swirled this wine quite vigorously, then swooshed it in our mouths like mouthwash.  Although it looked and felt ridiculous, it allowed us to experience all of the flavours - peach, apricot, honey, vanilla, caramel, mango - simultaneously and with a giggly smile!  At $47.05 per 375ml, this one's a "strong buy" in stock market terms, and we were able to use our tour tickets to get a $5 discount in the boutique.                

Days of Wine & Chocolate

This event is slightly different from the icewine festival, which allowed passport holders to visit any 6 wineries from Beamsville to Niagara over three weekends in January.  This touring pass only includes the 28 Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries, but you can visit each of them once and have all 4 weekends in February to do so.  According to the festival's website, touring passes are available only at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce, but en route we discovered you can purchase them at any of the participating wineries.

 We're starting to learn some things about participating in these festivals.

• Dress for what will be comfortable inside the boutiques; I've taken to leaving my coat and other winter-wear in the car. I'd rather be uncomfortably cold for the 30 second jolt across the parking lot than uncomfortably hot for the rest of the visit.
• Bring some water bottles for the car. It's easy to forget that you're consuming 1-2 oz of alcohol at each stop and I've ended a few of these tour days with a wicked headache. I might add Advil and maybe bread or crackers to the packing list too.
• Drive vigilantly. We met a couple today who had toured all 28 wineries in two days without hiring a car service. (Note that we have yet to see a RIDE program and assume that the OPP looks the other way on Niagara's biggest - read "only" - industry.)

We visited 4 wineries today: Inniskillin, Pondview Estate, Ravine Vineyard, and Chateau des Charmes.  Our purpose was to learn more about Ontario's Cabernet Franc, constantly comparing them to the 2009 Tawse Grower's Blend that absolutely wowed us.  Before reviewing any one of these visits, I thought I'd summarize our day, so the table below ranks our experiences at each winery across 5 different dimensions with 1 being the best rank.

	The Wine		The Winery		The Event
	price*	rank	staff	feel***	chocolate	passport value
Inniskillin	$22.95	3	4	4	1	1
Pondview	$15.20	n/a**	3	2	2	2
Ravine	$18.95	2	2	1	3	3
Chateau des Charmes	$13.95	1	1	3	4	4

*By comparison, the Tawse 2009 Grower's Blend Cab Franc was $25.70 per bottle.
**Pondview served a rose; comparing to the other 3 wouldn't be meaningful.
***Overall atmosphere