Pelee Island Pinot Noir 2010 (non-VQA)

Pelee Island Pinot Noir 2010 $10.95. Pelee Island Winery makes two different Pinot's: a VQA (all Ontario grapes) and a blend of Ontario and international grapes. This wine, which I tried at a friends' house, is the non-VQA. Although I’ve yet to try a pinot that I really enjoy, I found this to probably be the best one yet. It had notes of raspberry and a smooth taste. However, the finish was too short and dry for my liking. JC85

Two Wines over the Christmas Season

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate and Season's Greetings to all of you who don't. Over the past number of days I have been enjoying the season by eating and drinking more than usual, as tends to be the case during gatherings with family and friends. The two wines below are ones I enjoyed with my family over the holidays.

Valpantena Amarone Della Valpolicella 2008 $34.95. Hint of spicy notes and after getting some air into it, there were some oak notes as well. It was a nicely made wine with a long finish. JC87

White House Riesling Pinot Grigio 2010 $12.95. This wine has nice floral aromas with a somewhat sweet finish. I enjoyed it with my Christmas turkey dinner. JC86

Negrar Amarone

Negrar Amarone Classico 2008 $34.95. I had a free sample of this wine at the LCBO. It was quite alcoholic at 15.5%, and I could taste the alcohol. It’s a powerful wine that would be nice with red meat. Decanting for an hour before serving would probably soften it somewhat. Notes of oak and a smoky flavour. JC84

Greatwall Cabernet Sauvignon

Greatwall Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $15.95. I had some extra peach schnapps, so I thought I’d exchange it for this wine, the first I’ve tasted, let alone seen, from China. It didn’t have much of a scent to it. The taste was fairly one dimensional with a hint of cardboard at the finish. I enjoyed this wine more than my fiancée who did not care for it. It had a fairly smooth taste and was drinkable. I’m glad I tried it, because it’s from a new region, but I won’t be running back to the store to buy more wines from China. JC83

Southbrook Connect Red

Tasted December 2011: Southbrook Connect Red 2009 $14.95. This is an organic wine from Niagara-on-the-Lake. Although it does not say on the bottle, it is a combination of cab sauv (73%), cab franc (20%) and a little bit of Merlot (7%). It had an oaky/murky scent to it and the taste was fairly smooth. It wasn’t a terrible wine, but not really too enjoyable. JC82

Jackson Triggs Cab Sauv

Jackson Triggs Proprietors’ Selection Cabernet Sauvignon $9.95. This wine was given to me as a gift. I normally wouldn’t have bought it because it is a blend of Canadian and international grapes. Although it does not specify where internationally. Also, there is no vintage year on the bottle, another giveaway that it is not a high quality wine. I’ve grown up to think that if an Ontario wine is not VQA, meaning 100% of the grapes used to make the wine came from Ontario, it is a low quality, less than satisfactory tasting product. This wine is sold at Wine Rack locations in Ontario, which the parent company Vincor operates.

Upon opening the bottle, I found the wine in need of some air, which is usual for a cab sauv. It had a nice, fairly smooth taste to it. Notes of black cherry. Overall this was a nice tasting cab sauv that was an alright value. JC85