Kacaba Vineyards - Duck, Cab, Goose

Prior to this visit, Kacaba Vineyards and Winery had flown under my radar.  Its two darling grapes, cabernet sauvignon and syrah, require a longer growing season than Ontario typically allows in order for the skin to thicken sufficiently to imbue the wine with tannins, structure, and aging potential.  Kacaba is thus one of only a handful of Niagara wineries to specialize in such 'big reds'.  There are two ways you can look at that; either they must be really good at it, or they just haven't given up yet like everyone else.  Until now, I must have been assuming the latter - that any Ontario riesling will be better than any Ontario cabernet sauvignon, so I might as well not waste my passport coupons somewhere that insists on only featuring its reds during festivals.  Man was I wrong. 

The bridge is near the property's entrance off King Street.  The red roof in the top-left
is both the production facility and the boutique.  Read the sign; it's funny.

In hindsight, I'm glad that Kacaba had a strategy to attract people like me; it advertised such an over-the-top indulgent food pairing that it didn't matter whether or not I would like the wine!  And so, Chris and I headed to Kacaba not for its cabernet sauvignon, but for Chef Ryan Shapiro's Duck Confit Poutine.  This may be one of the best things I have ever eaten.  The hand cut crispy fries were topped with 'pulled duck', aged white cheddar, and a foie gras gravy-like sauce.  That made for four very strong, distinct tastes that complemented each other beautifully.

Enter the wine.  The 2011 cabernet sauvignon not only stood up to each of these tastes, but also tied them together nicely.  It has a very sharp, focused flavor, almost like a malbec.  Although there is definitely dark fruit at play (blackberry? black cherry?), it is under-ripe fruit, and not very prominent.  The taste softened slightly with the food.  Although this wine was not to my particular taste, it was, without a doubt, good wine.  It got me thinking that if Kacaba could produce this quality of cabernet sauvignon against the odds, what could it do in a good year to a grape that grows well here?  With that in mind, I purchased a bottle of its 2010 Reserve Cabernet Franc for $44.95 without even tasting it first.

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. 

2010 Vidal Icewines

Neither Vineland Estates Winery nor Fielding Estates Winery are new to us, but we've never tried their icewines before.  Since I tend to prefer icewines from the Niagara River sub-appellation I wasn't quite sure to expect.

Vineland Estates was our first stop.  They started by serving their 2007 Vidal Select Late Harvest, featuring an easy to find nose of apple and honeysuckle, and the flavours of really good apple cider: apple, cinnamon, orange, honey and spices.  The wine's brilliant acidity offsets the sweetness for a very clean finish.  This wine is an easy 90, impressive for its price of $18.95 / 375 ml.  Although it certainly doesn't need food, Vineland set up a creative station of apple slices on sticks which we then dipped in warm maple syrup and ground hazlenuts.  Aside from the hazlenuts, though, none of the food and wine flavours really interacted at all.

The main event at Vineland, though, was the 2010 vidal icewine.  In all respects, the icewine was a concentrated version of the late harvest.  It reminded me very much of unpasteurized Greek honey, which probably isn't a helpful reference for many people.  Since I agree completely with Vineland's tasting notes on this one, I'll reproduce them here; "Possessing all the pure, raw power you would expect, this wine also surprises as it is expertly wrapped within package of elegance and refinement. Heady essences of orange blossom, crème caramel, apricot and honey are all in abundance. On the palate the sumptuous, sweet extract is made lacy by the bright balancing acid."  Given the slight toastiness, and golden colour, I'm surprised this wine is not oaked. We rated it 89, also a good value at $40 / 375 ml.

Vineland paired this delectable wine with prosciutto wrapped smoked gouda-style cheese topped with apricot-jalapeno jelly.  This daring combination successfully captured all the right opposites: acidic, fruity and sweet against creamy, salty and spicy.  This suggests to me that either of these dessert wines could actually be served during an appetizer course instead of at the end of a meal.

Our last stop of the day, Fielding Estate, also featured its 2010 vidal icewine, but paired it rather unconventionally with a chocolate brownie topped with cayenne spiced chocolate icing. Altogether, this was a terrible idea. Theoretically, the sweetness of the wine should counter the heat of the pepper, but in this case, the latter was just too much. Also, the rich chocolate of the brownie completely obliterated the taste of the wine; a cab franc icewine would have better held its ground.

To be perfectly fair, this icewine did win a silver medal at InterVin 2011, but so did Angels Gate's 2009 pinot noir, and I've poured some of that down my sink. It also won silver at the 2011 Canadian Wine Awards, which is hard to discredit.  It is also entirely possible that I am allowing the terrible pairing to unfairly skew my judgement. With all that in mind, though, I would have a hard time rating this wine any higher than 84.  Although it is advertised as well balanced, it's actually quite cloying.  It is light coloured and light tasting, featuring apricot, honey, and possibly lemon.  Chris also wants me to mention that the brownies weren't great either!

New Vintage Festival (Vineland Estates)

The New Vintage Festival is a similar structure to the Icewine Festival in January; for $30, you get 6 tastings at any of the participating wineries.  Because June was a hectic month, Chris and I split a passport, and spent one Sunday afternoon touring  Vineland Estates, returning to Hillebrand Estates and shopping once again at Tawse Winery.  Although Chris and I had never toured Vineland, we knew it was our friend Carrie's favourite stop on the wine route and now we can see why.

The winery entrance takes you through the combined wine boutique / gift shop which is definitely on the higher end, not to mention eclectic end, of those we've visited.  It's a fun one to just wander around, and when you're done, head up to the market area in the loft.  There you'll find an impressive assortment of fresh local cheeses and meats, including bresaola.  That's a big deal, as this is the only store in Ontario I've found that regularly keeps it on hand, and I've been looking for 3 years!  The market's shelves also offer an array of high quality oils and vinegars.

The festival tasting was set up in the production facility.  We tasted two chardonnays, the 2011 Unoaked Chardonnay and the 2008 Chardonnay Musque, which is also unoaked.  I previously didn't know that chardonnay musque is actually a different kind of grape; I thought it had something to do with the wine making process.  A toasted pita crisp with warmed strawberry-rhubarb compote and Guernsey Girl cheese accompanied the wines.  We both liked the musque better than the regular chardonnay, but we're unsure if this is due to the grape or the age.  Either way, Chris found it fruitier, and I found is bigger bodied.  Although these were not our favourite two Ontario wines, (or even Ontario chards,) we will be back to shop at the market and to dine at its world class restaurant, so I'm sure we'll sample many more of Vineland's wines.

As an unexpected bonus, the server took us through the winery's barrel cellar, giving us a lesson about the kinds of oak used for aging wine.  He explained that Vineland prefers French over American Oak.  Apparently, oak trees in more northern climates grow slower, resulting in a tighter wood grain, and ultimately having a smoother influence on the wine, often imparting a vanilla like flavour.  He suggested that we should look for that flavour in Vineland's reds.  He also explained that the odd shaped structure surrounding the barrel cellar is actually a sewer casing; apparently the family that owns the winery is in that line of business, so knew it would provide the optimal temperature and humidity for both the barrels, and for the other treasures stored there.  Once you walk to the back of the cellar, past all of the barrels, you can see Vineland's wine library, a selection of its wines dating back at least to the early 1990s.  There may have been older ones but we were asked not to pick up any of the bottles as both vibration and body heat can damage the wine.  As you can see from the dust on the bottles, it looks like guests have been respecting that rule for a long time!

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.

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.

Tawse Encore

Our actual purpose for visiting Tawse during the icewine festival was to taste, buy, and lay down its 2009 pinot noir after reading some very favourable reviews. I must admit I know very little about this grape; my experience with reds centres on cabernet sauvignon. Unfortunately after drinking a bottle of 2006 Liberty School not too long ago, all I can taste in these anymore is tobacco. So, after hearing that Ontario's 2009 pinot noir harvest was exceptional, I've been stocking up to learn about a new red. (Currently we're sitting on 2 bottles of Angels Gate, 2 from Flat Rock and 1 from Tawse.)

My initial impressions of pinot noir included a flowery smell and some berry flavours, but not overly sweet berries. (I know that's not very descriptive but I already told you I'm new at this)! Chris and I both laughed when we realized how well this wine would have paired with last night's dinner; under the mistaken impression that all rieslings go with all salads, I served a less-than-perfect combination that you can read about on our guest's blog, Zippy Sauce.  Because the salad had peppery flavours like arugula and radicchio, it needed a red to stand up to them, but a lighter red so as not to overpower the goat's cheese.  Being used to bigger, heavier reds, I noticed what at first I thought was a watery or thin body, but then realized that's what makes this wine much more drinkable on its own as opposed to with a meal.  I asked the server if it would get fuller with age and she said no, but that I could expect the flavours to blend more, bringing out the earthy undertones.

Based on my comments, we were also offered a taste of the winery's not-yet-released 2009 Grower's Blend Cabernet Franc.  Right away the difference in colour was apparent, the pinot noir being a ruby red but the cab franc more of a purple.  (I foolishly thought this explained the label colours!)  Although the flavours were similar to the pinot, the flavour was both fuller and smokier.  My wine encyclopedia tells me that cab francs are "slightly softer and less rich in tannin" than their cousin, the cab sauvignon.  I loved this wine right away, bought 2 bottles and now have a different "new red" to get to know.  Apparently it goes well with chocolate because this months Days of Wine and Chocolate tour in Niagara features 4 different wineries offering this pair.  We'll be visiting them next weekend and are looking forward to seeing the variety of tastes this grape has to offer.

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (5 of 6)

Stop #5: Tawse Winery

We hadn't intended to visit Tawse on our icewine tour, but since we were in the neighbourhood having already stopped at Angels Gate and Greenlane, and since we were out of our favourite riesling, we thought we'd stop in and stock up.  Ironically, we left thirty minutes later with five other bottles, completely forgetting about the riesling until we got home.  I'll focus here on the icewines, and save our two new reds for a later post.

Tawse didn't use its regular tasting bar for the icewine festival; instead, we were escorted by a server into one of the underground barrel cellars for a private tasting of two icewines: the 2008 chardonnay and the 2010 cabernet franc.  I didn't even know you could make icewine out of chardonnay.  The server explained that it's not common because of the large investment and risk involved.  Chardonnay is a low yielding grape to begin with, and icewine only yields 15% of a regular harvest.  Combine that with the risk of a mild winter and an additional 15 months of barrel aging and most producers just aren't interested. 

Neither of these wines have been released to the LCBO, so after the tastings we bought one of each.  The chardonnay has a beautiful, mild, floral nose that I didn't expect.  The flavours of vanilla and honey came out nicely with a creamy, mild, brick cheese from the Upper Canada Cheese Company.  I'm starting to understand that icewine doesn't really need a food course to go with it, but only a little taste of something to unlock its flavours.  I will probably serve this bottle within the year, possibly with scones and creme Anglaise.  As an aside, in a prior post I had previously attributed the burnt flavour of Cattail Creek's vidal to the oak barrels, but I must have been wrong because this oaked icewine had no harsh flavours whatsoever.

The cab franc was also very good: richer, sweeter and less spicy than the one we tasted earlier in the day at Angels Gate.  You could definitely taste rhubarb and sour cherry.  The wine was served with Lindt's dark chocolate with sea salt which broke through the sweetness and seemed to ground the flavours.  Chris commented that he's having trouble distinguishing cab franc icewines from each other but I think this was because it was our 8th tasting of the day.  Either way, I'll review it more fully when we open the bottle.  The server suggested pairing this wine with a flourless chocolate cake so maybe we'll share it with some of our gluten free friends!