This wine is from the Naramata bench in BC and was given to us from a friend who brought it back with him. We don’t get a lot of BC wines here in Ontario since a number of them are made in small lots, so I enjoy the opportunity to check them out. BC’s wine [...]

My regular readers know I am hung up on a narrow definition of what I think a Merlot ought to taste like. Sometimes I am able to decouple from that and just enjoy the wine. To enjoy this one you are going to have to do that. The wine bears no resemblance to a Merlot [...]

Another wine from the Sip and Savour wine event this wine is light in color mild on the nose. On the mid pallet are some subtle chard flavors. This is a smooth well balanced middle of the road chard. It won’t overwhelm you and would be very food friendly. It’s on the lighter side of [...]

Another wine from the Sip and Savour event. The grape is a clone of the Gamay Noir. The wine is dark in color (darker than you would expect) with an earty/herb nose. The nose was more like a Pinot Noir. On the mid pallet are some nice dark fruits coming through. More going on than [...]

Ok, I have to admit it, I don’t like celebrity wines. I’ve ranted about this once or twice and will digress again. Having a celebrity put his or her name on a product is a throw back to the past IMHO. That said I gave this one a try. Creekside use to make the wines [...]

I enjoy Sauv blancs. They have a lovely bouquet and are very food friendly. They pair well with fatty, spicy, and asian dishes as well as fish. Very versatile. Previous posts have pointed out a number of inexpensive Chilean sauv blancs This is another wine from the iYellow 44 wine event on May 26th. The [...]

This is another wine from the iYellow 44 wine event on May 26th. As frequent readers know I have issues with finding a Merlot that tastes like I think a Merlot ought to taste. So I approach them with skepticism. The wine is dark in color with a nice Merlot bouquet, some plum and a [...]

Tasted this wine at the iYellow 44 wine event on May 26th. The wine is quite yellow in color with a large nose showing off a well baked Chard … On the mid pallet are some chard flavors coupled with butter, popcorn, vanilla and oak. On the finish the wine is on the heavier side [...]

With a hectic month (who am I kidding, let’s just say year+) of travel behind me, not to mention a weekend day full of errands, high winds, cold temperatures (it’s May, enough already), I slumped into my chair at 17:00 and thought “I need a glass of wine”. Not for any reason do I need [...]

You may be shocked to know, but Niagara is very good at Rieslings. Well, okay, you may have already known that. With the similarities to Alsace in it’s growing conditions (is it more Burgundy or more Alsace?) it is not surprising that one of it’s best wine products is in fact ‘Rhine’ Riesling. Alsace, for [...]

A good spot to start off with for this review is to state that Thirty Bench is a winery that is owned by the same group that owns Hillebrand, Trius and Peller Estates, Andrew Peller Ltd. Despite the fear that a big operation the size of Peller might corrupt or ruin the feel of a [...]

As the 15th of January quickly approaches it is probably a good time to remind everyone of the upcoming 2010 Niagara Icewine festival. From the 15th to the 31st the entire Niagara region and it’s vineyards will be celebrating the gold that is Icewine. If you have time to make the voyage, I recommend spending [...]

Niagara Cab Francs are big wines that take quite a bit of time to be approachable. These bad boys can singe your pallet with teeth coating tannins and long tastes that make these wines a real hard wine to pair with food (sometimes). In France Cab Franc is used as a blending grape, often with [...]

Without any research on this one I grabbed it on curiosity. I like Okanaga wines. It’s good to root for the underdog. The wine is dark in color with some black fruits on the nose. On the mid pallet are some varietal cab flavors, some cherries, some cassis and the like. On the finish the [...]

We picked this one up at the winery in the spring of this year. Hilldebrand along with their Trius brand are making some consistently great wines in Niagara. This one tickled our fancy at the winery and it has held up well in the 9 months since we bought it. The wine is quite pale [...]