Joseph Phelps Vineyards

Our final winery visit in Napa Valley was to Joseph Phelps Vineyards, which makes some of the best wines in the world.  The winery, however, does not offer tours and tastings are by appointment only.  The entrance and reception was the most businesslike and least friendly of the wineries we visited (see Mondavi and Montelena) as if they are doing you a favour by letting you visit.  Of the two tasting packages available, we chose to sample 6 wines for $30 dollars each.  Although that may seem very expensive, you would have to spend $450 to buy those 6 bottles so it wasn't unreasonable to pay $30 to taste these wines.

Reception gave us each a glass, then escorted us out to the patio, surrounded by beautiful vistas of vineyards.  The serving staff were much friendlier and clearly very proud of their winery and its wines.  The servers had a very standard pour, though, of about 1.25 oz; no amount of schmoozing would get you extra wine here.  Actually, since any purchases are made back at reception on the way out, the servers aren't that connected to the sales function.  I suppose they expect (rightfully so) that the wine will sell itself.

Below are the highlights of our flight of 6 wines.  Each wine was far more complex than these notes indicate.

2012 Sauvignon Blanc, St. Helena, $35 - chemical nose, flowery palate, fuller bodied than most I've tried.

2011 Chardonnay, Freestone Vineyards, $55 - loved it, better than Montelena, brought 1 bottle home.  

2011 Pinot Noir, Freestone Vineyards, $55 - bright red colour, nose of sweet red cherry / pie filling and orange peel,  fantastic balance of acidity and tannin, spicy and juicy with a strong finish.

2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, $65 - rated 94 by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, but needs another 10 years to soften the tannins.  Beautiful mid-palate flavour.  Brad loved it, Chris didn't, Brad drank Chris' glass!

2009 Insignia, $200 - Phelps' signature wine, this vintage rated 95 by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.  Tar, spice, sweet red apples.  Better than the cabernet sauvignon, but $135 better?

2011 Eisrebe, $50 - California's answer to icewine is to put the late harvest Scheurebe grapes in a freezer.  Honey, apricot, peach, orange blossom, a  hint of caramel and brilliant acidity.  

At checkout, we needed to purchase some extra wine-skins (wine bottle fitted bubble wrap for travelling) to keep the bottles we'd bought safe in our luggage on the plane.  Much to our delight, Joseph Phelps sells resealable wine-skins, which we'd never seen before.  The ones we usually buy are single use, but can usually be pushed to 2 or 3 uses.  We stocked up on these, knowing we'll never have to buy them again, and comforted by the fact that YOU CAN PUT NEW WINE INTO OLD WINE-SKINS AFTER-ALL!  

Cuvee at Inniskillin

I knew I wanted to end the tour with a dessert wine, but since I'm already pretty familiar with Inniskillin icewine, and since I've blogged about the winery twice already, at first I thought I'd take the group somewhere else.  Then I found out Inniskillin would be sampling three different fifteen year old icewines and I couldn't resist.  Because Ontario icewine is so good when its young, not to mention expensive, you don't often hear of aged varietals.  Fortunately, Inniskillin had enough of its three 1997 varietals in its library.  The bottles were old enough that the corks had become rubbery and soft and required a special corkscrew that had metal arms on either side of the screw to help secure the cork on the way out.

The colour of the three wines really surprised me, as all had developed an orange hue.  The vidal, normally gold, appeared brownish-orange.  The riesling, usually a brighter yellow, had turned peachy and the cabernet franc, typically ruby-red, was now terracotta.  I liked that the winery supplied a standard wine tasting glass, so we could experience the difference a proper Riedel icewine glass makes.  That being said, I was very nervous about spilling while pouring from one glass to another. Basically, the shape of the proper glass first releases then contains the smell so that before the wine hits your tongue, your nose is filled with the big aromas.  Conversely, in the standard glass, in order to smell the wine while tasting it, you have to tilt your head so far back that the wine falls over your tongue all at once, effectively drowning the wine's complexity.

Left: 1995, $157.99
Right: 2008, $69.95

Onto the wines, the vidal smelled mostly of golden raisins and Christmas baking.  All of the fruit flavours of a younger vidal were gone, leaving behind the taste of  browned butter.  The cabernet franc featured a musty, leathery smell, and a taste combining strawberry, leather and a little caramel, not to mention absolutely beautiful tannins.  The riesling actually had a typical riesling petrol smell to it, along with the scent of butterscotch.  The taste reminded us of peach cobbler, with a hint of pear still evident.  I had actually tried to buy this wine several months earlier, but was told then that it was no longer available.  I did snag a bottle this time, paying a  price more than doubled by its age.  Since this visit, I have moved a few recent icewine vintages to the aging section of our wine rack, and hope for equally impressive results.  

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!

Cab Franc Icewine Pairing

Last Sunday marked our second icewine festival and the 1 year anniversary of Newlywined. One of these years, we'll take advantage of some of the other festival offerings, such as the gala, or the Twenty Valley street festival, or the wine and cheese seminars. This year, though, we opted once again for the touring pass. At $40 per passport, I first rolled my eyes that the price had gone up by $10 since last year. However, they've added two additional tickets to each pass, for a total of 8 paired tastings, so the overall value has stayed the same.

As we planned our route, we had two objectives. We were eager to try the much anticipated (at least by me) 2010 vintages, and we were also looking for dessert ideas to pair with cab franc icewines. Our baseline for quality cab franc icewine is now the Peller 2010 (or the Jackson Triggs 2008) so with those in mind we set out once again for Hinterbrook Winery and for Niagara College Teaching Winery.

Hinterbrook

Along with its 2010 cab franc icewine, Hinterbrook offered white chocolate pudding in dark chocolate cups. I've tried dark chocolate with this type of wine many times, and had always been worried that the white chocolate would be drowned out by the wine, or that it would make the wine seem sour by comparison. In this case, it was actually the dark chocolate cup that overpowered the wine. Apart from that, the creaminess of the pudding blending quite nicely with the icewine and the flavours were of surprisingly equal intensity. I am no longer going to be afraid of trying my favourite white chocolate raspberry tart with a bottle of that Peller 2010.

I was especially curious to try Hinterbrook's icewine because its summer offerings last year were full of so many interesting fruit flavours. The nose on the wine was different; yeast was definitely detectable, but Chris and I struggled to describe the fruit.  Cherry?  Strawberry?  Some type of citrus holding it all together?  I've got it: fruit punch!  It actually reminded me of a red fruit punch drink I would get as a kid which came in the same small bottles as apple juice and orange juice to make you think it was real juice too.  The cherry-dominated fruit punch carried through to taste, joined by a hint of spice.  The structure of the wine was not quite acidic enough, leaving the wine tasting a little like syrup.  However, the dark chocolate cup did alleviate that.  Finally, the finish was unremarkable.  Chris and I agreed on a rating of 84.

Niagara College

Let's start with the labels.  NCTW's "Dean's List" brand labels have been redesigned to look like report cards, in keeping with the teaching focus of the winery.  Aside from being cute, though, they also contain all of the wine's tasting notes on them, a very useful feature.  Onto the wine, also a 2010 cab franc icewine, which has a lot of distinguishing features.  Chris described the nose as candied apple - both the candy part and the apple part.  I thought of one of my favourite gelato combinations: strawberry-limone.  The predominant flavour is maraschino cherry, also with some spice (nutmeg?), held together by a wonderfully full caramel undertone which carries through on the medium-long finish.  Chris and I rated this wine 90 and 88, respectively.

NCTW also hit a homerun with its dessert pairing.  It can be difficult to find a dessert wine sweet enough to pair with cheesecake, except when you happen to have a culinary school across the road!  The Niagara College chefs solved this problem by increasing the cheese content and reducing the sugar.  Then they slathered it in salted caramel which further offset the sweetness and brought the wine's caramel undertone to the forefront.  Simply a brilliant pairing!

Peller Icewine

It seems I'm getting more particular with icewine.  The last 3 bottles I opened, all bought during last January's icewine festival, didn't quite live up to my memories of them.  Since I'm pretty sure that 6 months isn't sufficient time for icewine to turn, I think my expectations, specifically about an icewine's complexity and structure, are increasing.  Since I was going to be at Peller Estates anyway for The Art of Wine & Food, and since I knew that its 2010 vintages were already winning awards, I tasted all 4 icewines in its current lineup to effectively reset my palate.

Two of these really stood out compared to their respective competition, primarily because, despite their high sugar content, they still resembled the grapes from which they were made.  This is typical for vidal icewines, as their regular harvest counterparts predominantly feature sweet, fruity flavours which intensify as the sugar concentrates while the grapes freeze.  However, there are lots of yummy flavours in a riesling or in a cabernet franc that somehow get lost in icewine production.  Riesling grapes turn into some sort of lemon syrup and cab franc grapes become strawberry sundae topping, and the more distinguishing features of the grapes get lost.

Not true for Peller's 2007 Riesling Icewine, now my standard for the category and earning a preliminary rating of 92-94 using my new wine rating rubric. Don't just trust me though; it also won gold medals in 7 different countries, plus a few silvers elsewhere.  My first impression of the scent was, "It smells like riesling!"  Yes, it has lots of aromas and flavours - lemon, apricot, nectarine and maybe pear - but it's all held together by a background of petrol and minerality that riesling lovers expect.  I'm looking forward to sharing this one sooner rather than later, and will watch out for future vintages. 

Similarly, Peller's 2010 Cabernet Franc Icewine has also started winning awards, despite a relatively recent release date.  Still enthralled with the riesling I'd just tasted, my first words about this one were "It smells like cab franc, [pause to drink] and it tastes like cab franc too!"  So in addition to the usual strawberry and rhubarb characteristics, and even the less-common spiciness, an elegant aroma and flavour of leather adds a complexity that offsets the strawberry, making the whole concoction altogether less like syrup and more like wine.  Like its riesling counterpart, this wine also had a long lingering finish, and will likely also score a 92 or higher.

Extra Stop: Ice House Winery

Carrie and I stopped at the Ice House Winery mid way through our riesling tour for a few reasons; it was on the way, it only makes ice wine and its assigned spice was arugula.  I love arugula, but would tend to pair it with pinot noir, which, of course, if you only produce icewine, you just don't have.  The Ice House used the arugula (apparently) in a pasta salad containing multiple fresh spices but the arugula didn't stand out at all in the recipe.

The wine offering, a generous shot of the 2006 Vidal, certainly brought out the fresh spices, and the wine itself took on a peppery background after the food.  On its own, though, its predominant flavours were peach up front and caramel through the finish all on a backdrop of raisin.  It's body is heavier than most of those I've reviewed here, successfully adding to the toasty or smoky flavour that brings it all together.  I suspect this is the result of oak barrel aging, but I'm not sure. 

Here's the problem; for $70 per bottle, there are better icewines out there, beginning with the vidal I bought at Reif the week before for $47.05, or my standby from Inniskillin for $60.15, also available in a sparkling for $10 more.  To be fair, none of these is oaked or aged.  A new friend recently introduced me to Peller's 2010 oaked vidal, which although still lighter in colour and flavour, and a full four years younger, compares at $60.10.  Inniskilllin has held back some of its 2006 oaked vidal, which it now sells for $79.95 per bottle, so I suppose the Ice House isn't too far off the mark after all.  It seems I have just experienced first hand the market crowding and margin squeezing that has begun to plague the Ontario icewine industry.

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.                

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.

2 cab franc icewines (Day 2 finale)

Stops 1 and 3 for Carrie and I were Southbrook Vineyards and Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery, each of which were serving cab franc icewines.  In hindsight, this is not even a fair comparison.  Simply put, there is a reason why Jackson-Triggs has won dessert-wine medals for its cab franc icewines at the Canadian Wine Awards in each of the last two years and why Southbrook has not. 

 The colour of Southbrook's 2006 Cabernet Franc icewine was on the rusty side of normal, possibly showing its age.  The server told us to expect Christmas spices such as nutmeg to then give way to hints of caramel and vanilla.  Although that was technically correct, there was a pervasive burnt flavour that ruined this wine for us.  Sometimes I enjoy tart dessert wines, but those usually have a refreshing tang to them, not a stale aftertaste of burnt Christmas cookies!  Southbrook offered us a choice of truffles: dark chocolate icewine or caramel filled milk chocolate.  Carrie chose the former and I the latter.  She felt the dark chocolate overpowered the wine, which makes sense because dark chocolate usually helps break though the syrupy sweetness of cab franc icewine but since that wasn't the dominant sensation of this wine, it didn't benefit from the match.  I, on the other hand, found that the caramel in my truffle helped this wine out quite a bit.  On a side note, I asked the server if at 6 years old this bottle wasn't reaching the end of its life and was quite surprised when she told me that it could age for 20 plus years.  I'm assuming she's confusing cab icewine with regular cabs since a quick review of the websites of Henry of Pelham, Inniskillin, and Jackson-Triggs reveals a maximum suggested cellaring of anywhere from 4 to 10 years.  To be fair, though, Southbrook admits that icewine is not its specialty, and the visit was enjoyable enough overall to warrant a return during a different festival showcase.

A few blocks down the road we found a much better example in the Jackson-Triggs 2007 Proprietor's Grand Reserve.  With juicy strawberry on the nose, flavours of cherry and raspberry throughout, and a consistent body and structure, this is the bottle you should use to explain what cab franc icewine is supposed to taste like.  I do question the decision to serve a caramel and pecan topped milk chocolate square though.  Although the caramel and pecan worked nicely, the milk chocolate was the same level of sweetness as the wine so the two effectively had to fight for attention.  Incidentally, the LCBO sells the 200 ml bottle for $24.95 and the 375 ml bottle for $74.95, although you could purchase the 375 ml at the winery during the festival for $44.95.  By comparison, Southbrook charges$26.95 for 200 ml or $49.95 for 375 ml.  Don't bother doing the math; just try the Jackson-Triggs.

Inniskillin (Day 1 of Wine and Chocolate)

Who knew Inniskillin made something other than icewine? This was our first stop of our Cabernet Franc tour, which I summarized earlier; you can read it here. Now I'll explain the somewhat surprising rankings I gave it. Remember that I ranked each winery from 1 (best) to 4 (worst) on 5 different criteria:

THE WINE - Although the 2009 Three Vineyards Cab Franc had a beautiful aroma, it was quite complex, so hard to define. Chris said dried flowers or pot-pourri, I said maybe leather, the server said hint of chocolate and the winery advertises raspberry, currant and hints of tobacco. I wish I'd read that ahead of time because my first gulp of the wine flooded my mouth  with that woody taste that has me fleeing from cabernet sauvignon. Chris disagreed, and thinks I'm just overly sensitive to the flavour of tobacco.

THE CHOCOLATE - The hazelnut biscotti dipped in dark chocolate was yummy, and not as dry as I'd feared.  (I didn't think you should have to dip the biscotti in wine the way you do in coffee!)  More importantly, the dark chocolate overpowered the tobacco and the wine's flavour changed to spicy raspberry. 

THE VALUE - Although this wasn't advertised in the touring pass, Inniskillin also gave each taster a sample of its 2007 Ruby Reserve Cabernet Franc Icewine.  The wine's dominant flavour of maraschino cherry was apparent from the very first taste.  Chris felt this made it thin or simple tasting.  I thought it was a sign of good aging.  Either way, we found it interesting and enjoyable, but not the usual icewine exemplar that Inniskillin tends to provide.

THE ATMOSPHERE - Had I not wanted to try  this cab franc in particular, we would have driven right past the winery when we saw that the parking lot was crowded with vehicles, including a rather large tour bus.  All tastings were being done in the boutique as the building we'd visited last time was booked for a private function.  Despite Inniskillin's extensive facilities, overall I had the feeling of being herded like cattle.

THE STAFF - Noticing that four different wineries had chosen a cab franc to accompany their assigned chocolate pairing, I asked the server why these two things go so well together.  I was expecting an insightful answer about sugar levels, alcohol content or terroir like those we'd received at Tawse or Magnotta, both who use the festivals as opportunities to educate their consumers.  What I got were lines such as "red wine goes with chocolate," "the wine sort of smells like chocolate," and "then there's the whole Valentine's Day thing."  Now, I have a talent for recognizing when someone is making up an answer; you might say I do it for a living, so I don't appreciate it on my weekends.  As best as I can figure, many cab francs have a note of raspberry in them, and raspberry and dark chocolate complement each other quite nicely.

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (6 of 6)

Final stop: Magnotta Winery

We saw Magnotta as a learning opportunity as it offered a 'horizontal' tasting of 3 dessert wines, each made with vidal grapes harvested at different times of the season. (On a side note, we had only recently tried a regular harvest, table wine vidal for the first time, a 2009 Pelee Island Winery Vidal Monarch. We really enjoyed experiencing the vidal flavour without the concentrated sweetness of dessert wine, since its sugar level is only 1.) By comparison, Magnotta's first offering was its 2010 Harvest Moon Vidal, with a sugar level of 7. It's a fun wine, very fruity with an acidity that bites the tongue like limonade, an Italian blend of carbonated water and lemonade. They served it with a creamy brie that cut right through the sweetness and acidity to reveal a pleasant banana flavour. Anyone who likes pink wine would like this one!

Next up, instead of a late harvest, was a vidal passito with a sugar rating of 10. Passito is an Italian dessert wine that concentrates the juice by letting the grapes bake in the sun, instead of waiting for them to freeze as with icewine. That's probably why I found the predominant taste to be of gold, juicy raisins. Chris categorized it as "sherry made from vidal grapes". It was served with fontina cheese, and the salt affected this wine just like the cream did the last one, by breaking through the sweetness and the high alcohol content. Finally, we sampled the 2007 vidal icewine, a 23 on the sugar scale. It opens with a taste of honey which gives way to dramatic peach and apricot flavours; if you have this bottle, drink it now because it wont develop any more than this. Chris even thinks it's reached its cooking years, and suggests using it in a marinade, a salad dressing or over ice cream. (I'm not sure he's ever tried any of those things before, but they all sound like good ideas!)

So we left empty handed.  As for Magnotta's wine store itself, the phrase "lipstick on a pig" comes to mind. The floor space is divided between carefully arranged displays of icewines and utilitarian shelving to store its large stock. They seem to keep bottles of everything they make on hand, and they make a lot; local grape varieties, imported grape blends, aperitifs, iced fruit wines, and port. You can even buy wine making supplies, or stock up on its most popular labels in 4L boxes! The signage and shelf cards are not overly helpful, acting more as an inventory management system than a marketing tool. The tasting bar and cash register area are filled with high margin kitsch, but I admit I was impressed at their selection of Riedel glasses. Even the private tasting room for the festival was awkward, as other customers would inadvertently walk in but then get shooed out by the server.  The next time I taste Magnotta wines will be at the LCBO.

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! 

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (4 of 6)

Stop 4: Greenlane Estate Winery

Confession: we only picked this winery on our festival tour for two rather superficial reasons.  First, it was our day to taste riesling icewine and no other wineries in the Beamsville area were serving any.  Second, they were also serving gourmet grilled cheese, which placated Chris after the Gorilla cheese fight the week before.  We'd never even heard of Greenlane, probably since it only opened in 2010, and were a little skeptical when we drove up because of the small barn like exterior, the unpaved parking and the fact that the public washroom is in a separate building on the other side of the lot!  So, when we walked into the small but stylish tasting bar to be greeted warmly by a hostess despite the crowd of tasters, we were instantly impressed.  The hostess took her time to explain the tastings, took our passports and ordered what turned out to be our lunch.  The sampling included 2 wines and 2 baguette sized gourmet sandwiches.  This really impressed me because the passport itself only costs $30 for six tastings so the winery only gets $5 for each of us, less any fee it has to pay to the industry association for festival advertising, etc.  Greenlane treated this as an opportunity, perhaps a marketing expense, to gain exposure to new consumers whereas some other wineries treat the $5 as cost recovery and some even try to profit from it by keeping their portions extra small.

The first tasting was their 2007 Cabernet Merlot with an aged cheddar and bacon sandwich.  Since we were so impressed with the experience so far, I really wanted to like this wine but in the end agreed with Chris that it was a bit too thin and acidic.  The second was the 2008 riesling icewine with a grilled Gorgonzola and spinach sandwich.  Chris felt the gorgonzola was too strong for the wine but we weren't really there to review the cheese, and I personally don't think a gorgonzola can be too strong. This riesling was entirely different from the one we tasted earlier in the day at Angels Gate.  It was very juicy, like biting into a ripe green apple, and somewhat more syrupy.  It's finish wasn't quite as clean as most icewines, implying not enough acidity, but I actually like this quality.  (The longer it lingers on the tongue, the less likely I am to drink the whole bottle!)  Interestingly, the wine really picked up the grilled butter on the baguette.  Since this is the second time I've noticed this, I'm determined to try serving icewine with Grandma's traditional Scottish shortbread next Christmas season.  For the bottle I did buy, I was thinking maybe grilled pineapple to go with it.  (Please comment if you think that's a terrible idea and a waste of an otherwise good bottle!)

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (3 of 6)

Stop 3:  Angels Gate Winery

Today was our first visit to Angels Gate, although it has become our go-to at the LCBO for its consistent quality and remarkably low prices.  Their riesling is one of our defaults and sells for only $13.95; we've also tried their similarly priced Gewurtztraminer and were equally pleased.

The estate itself feels quite elegant on approach, with a winding stone walkway leading up to a tall oak doorway.  The overall look reminds me of a converted monastery somewhere in the Greek islands.  Its patio boasts a panoramic view of Lake Ontario and a unique menu of tasting platters.  We will definately be back for lunch once the seasonal terrace re-opens  in June.  Inside the building, the staff were friendly, knowledgable and helpful.  They also had some interesting stories about the former EastDell Estates; apparently several of EastDell's jilted brides ended up there in tears.  So did one of its chefs, presumably with fewer tears.

Using our festival passports, we tasted the 2008 "Snow Angel" riesling icewine, served with small blue cheese topped pizza squares.  We knew a riesling wouldn't be nearly as sweet as the vidals we tasted last weekend,  but were still surprised that it wasn't more syrupy.  We simultaneously remarked that it more resembled the late harvests we've tried than the icewines and I'm pretty sure I uttered the word 'tart' at least once.  Chris really liked this one though so we did buy a bottle and will likely put it down for 2-3 years before eventually serving it with a cheese course.  (Apparently the wine should always be sweeter than the dessert but I can't think of any desserts that would be less sweet than this.  Apparently riesling is also the icewine that ages the best.)


The server also offered us a taste of the 2008 "Snow Angel" cab franc icewine.  Compared to the only other cab franc icewine I can clearly remember tasting, the one served at our wedding, this was much lighter in colour: almost a burnt coral.  I know I described its flavour as tangy.  Unfortunately I can't tell you anything else because I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take notes.  However, I did buy a bottle, so will research what to serve it with and review it more fully another time.

Finally, before we left we took a gamble and bought two bottles of their 2009 pinot noir without first tasting them.  My logic is that many of the 2009 Ontario pinots are getting rave reviews attributed to that year's growing conditions.  (Click here for the reviews).  Although Angels Gate isn't mentioned by the reviewer, I'm really starting to trust this brand.  I strongly suspect that while it sells $6-16 cheaper than the competition, there won't be a proportional difference in quality.  My plan is to try 1 bottle in about a year and a second maybe two years after that.

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (2 of 6)

Stop 2 - Inniskillin Wines

Let's face it; it really doesn't matter what I think about Inniskillin's icewine.  It has won enough awards to generally be considered the best in Ontario, so my humble opinion is largely inconsequential for what could be one of the best dessert wines in the world.  (Actually, in 1991, its vidal was declared just that.)  What I can do, though, is to tell you just how thoroughly enjoyable our visit to the winery was.  The tasting, pictured here, consisted of the 2008 vidal icewine (served in the appropriate Riedel glasses) with an apple tart.  The server told us to expect flavours of mango, apricot and lychee throughout.  I'm not sure I could identify what lychee tastes or smells like, but Chris says he found it on the nose.  The taste was clean and fruity, held together by a light buttery flavour.  Perhaps the fact that I wouldn't have thought of pairing such a sweet wine with such a tart dessert just shows my lack of experience, but I was amazed at just how well the tart's buttery crust, icewine marinated spy apples and vanilla infused whipped cream complimented all of the wine's flavours.  If I had realized the wine hadn't been released at the LCBO yet, I would have definately purchased a bottle or two! 

2012 Niagara Icewine Festival (part 1 of 6)

After we'd ordered our passports for the festival, I went on a planning frenzy to decide which 6 wineries to visit, and in what order. I came up with 4 criteria; we would visit 2 wineries per day, in close proximity to each other, each serving the same type of icewine, one serving something savoury to eat and the other something sweet. A couple of hours later, I showed Chris the itinerary. Since he couldn't convince me to work in a trip to Gorilla Cheese, and I wouldn't go along with his idea of wandering haphazardly through wine country and stopping wherever the -17 degree wind might take us, he eventually agreed to my plan.

First Stop: Cattail Creek Estate Winery

Cattail Creek was serving butter chicken with its 2006 Vidal Icewine. Many of the wineries participating in the festival are trying to convince their patrons that icewine isn't only for dessert. Unfortunately after this pairing, I'm not convinced. The butter chicken itself was quite good, although the serving they gave was mostly rice. The flavour didn't overpower, nor was it overpowered by the icewine, but they didn't exactly compliment each other either. We think maybe the idea was that butter chicken is often served with a mango chutney and vidal icewine often has a hint of mango flavour, but this certainly didn't jump out at us while we were tasting.

The wine itself had a very strong aroma before the glass came anywhere close to your mouth. (This might be because they weren't serving using icewine glasses, tapered in at the top to hold the aroma in.) Either way, both the smell and the tast were very rich, almost creamy. Chris thought fruit (apricot & peach), and I agree with the peach but thought more of toffee. Although the taste (like almost all vidal icewine in Ontario) was very good, there was an undertone or a strand in there that I didn't like ... almost a burnt flavour that I can't really describe.  Since this is one of Ontario's few barrel fermented icewines, I wonder if it's the oak I'm tasting but I just don't recognize it.

While we were there I noticed their novelty wines, a late harvest cab franc infused with chocolate and strawberries and a late harvest vidal infused with chocolate and orange. I have to admit I'm annoyed that even though I bought a bottle of the red, they still charged me $2 for the tasting. I wanted to point out that they were offering free tastings of the cab franc icewine, and my tasting was of a much less expensive wine, but I kept my mouth shut. I walked away feeling like the winery had sort of missed the purpose of the icewine festival: demo your products, grow your brand, increase your sales and market share in the long run. The ironic part is that once we got in the car, Chris told me he didn't even like the bottle I'd bought, but didn't want to be rude during the tasting!  Oh well ... at least the winery donates $0.50 from every bottle sold to the Lincoln Humane Society.