Two Niagara Wines

Tasted August 2011: Coyote’s Run Cab Merlot 2008 $16.95 – I had this wine tonight at my parent’s house. There were notes of oak and black cherry. It was a pleasant wine, but I didn’t fall in love with it. JC85

Tasted August 2011: Straight Up White 2010 $12.95 – This wine originally caught my attention at the Summerhill LCBO due to its label. There is a bunch of writing on the bottle basically saying how it’s not trying to be something fancy or confusing, but essentially something “straight up” that can be drunk whenever you feel like drinking white wine. I bought it a short while later and hope to try the Straight Up Red in the not too distant future. This is a new release and I still don’t think it has been distributed to that many locations yet. I enjoyed this wine. It tasted fresh and didn’t have any distinguishing odours or tastes that my novice palate could detect. It doesn’t say what grapes are in it. It’s not too sweet and goes down nicely. JC88



3 Wines on the Weekend

Over the weekend I was in Ottawa visiting family. I was able to taste a few new wines that my relatives had purchased.

Equifera Pinot Noir $14.95 – I’m not too familiar with Pinot’s, it seems like people either love them or can’t stand them. I tend to be in the latter category. It tasted a little better after the first few sips, but still not a nice full-bodied red wine that I tend to enjoy. Hints of red cherry and plum. JC84

Whitecliff Sauvignon Blanc $14.95 – This New Zealand wine had a black pepper scent and finish to it. It was a nice smooth sipping wine that wasn’t too sweet. It had a nice long crisp finish. JC87

Henry of Pelham Cab Merlot $14.95 – This wine had a strong oaky taste to it. I had it with chicken and then cookies for desert. I think it would have been better with red meat. JC85

Carmenere – Chile’s Grape

Carmenere is to Chile what Malbec is to Argentina. It was originally brought over from France and is often mistaken for Merlot due to the similarities of the grapes. In fact, according to the Wine Bible, sometimes a wine from Chile labelled as Merlot is in fact carmenere.

Santa Rita Reserva Carmenere $13.95 – I had never tried wine made from the carmenere grape before. I had heard that often carmenere can taste too “green” as in green peppers. This wine from Santa Rita was one of the top rated value wines on winealign.com. I was eager to try and decided to enjoy it with a nice steak and baked potato. It went well with the meal. It reminded me somewhat of a Cab Sauv, however with less scent. In fact I couldn’t distinguish any scent from this wine. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this wine. It had fresh vegetable and black pepper tastes and a nice smooth finish. JC 90

Loving Port

I recently (this year) started getting into port. It is often drunk after dinner, with desert or with some cheese or nuts. I like it in the evening. I’ve tried a few different ports so far, including Taylor Fladgate 10 year and 20 year tawny, which are both excellent.

Tasted August 2011: Graham’s Late Bottled Vintage 2005 $16.95 – This is a very nice tasting port. I saw the good score on Wine Align, and thought the price was right. Wine Align gives this port a 90, I would have to agree. The nice thing with this style of port is that you can enjoy it over a number of weeks after opening and it will still taste good. JC90

Montalto Nero D’avola Cabernet Sauvignon

Montalto Nero D’avola Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $8.95 – I was excited to try this wine because it’s the only wine at the LCBO, to my knowledge, that has a combination of nero d’avola and cabernet sauvignon grapes. I found this wine to be very rough when I first tried it right from the bottle. I decanted it for about 30 minutes and it opened up somewhat, however it still finished rough. There were notes of black cherry and raspberry. I was hoping for better things from this wine because I like both grapes in it. JC82

2 More Italian House Wines and the 2nd Best LCBO

So after Summerhill, the next best liquor store in Ontario is the one on Avenue north of Lawrence. There is a tasting bar, however not as extensive as Summerhill. It’s also the first LCBO I’ve seen that is on two floors.

Beringer Alluvium 2007 $39.95 – I sampled this wine at the LCBO on Sunday. It had a smooth oaky taste with a hint of vanilla. It reminded me somewhat of Trius Grand Red. I thought Alluvium was a type of grape at first, but this wine is actually made up of 5 different grapes. Then I thought that the name was a take on “all of them”, but it turns out it is a Latin word meaning sand by a river or something along those line. Whatever it means, I enjoyed it. JC87

Sterling Vintners Chardonnay 2010 $14.95 – A free sample at the LCBO. There were notes of apple and pear. I liked this wine and could see it going well with a light fish or chicken dish, or perhaps appetisers. JC86

I “sampled” two wines at a wedding on Saturday:

Cavallina Pinot Grigio 2010 $7.35 – I thought this wine was nice, but a little too sweet. JC85

Cavallina Nero D’avola Syrah 2009 $7.45 – This wine took a while to open up. At first I didn’t like it too much, but as the night rolled on it went down easier. JC84