Canadian Wine Guy

This will be my first attempt at blogging via my blackberry as the only method (aka write and post from berry). Simply put, I am traveling so much these days that doing reviews has become nearly impossible. So when I have wine I will do my best to blog it, and I will fill in the blanks (pictures, LCBO info) at a later date. As well, I will do my best to check spelling, but if my accuracy stinks from time to time, just be sure to chalk it up to excess wine!

On to the tasting!

The Trius reds have been on my must drink list for awhile. A good blend of the principle Bordeaux grapes, this specialty-winery of the Canadian giant Hillebrand already produces several great wines (Trius Brut (nv) for one). Inky red in colour with an excellent bouquet of cinnamon, cherry and oak this wine from an average vintage started off well. With the solid start, the wine was a nice and chewy but not overly tanniny. For an ’03 this was surprisingly ready to drink now. A nice even finish with a good hint of pepper.

Of the Canadian reds I have had recently, this is up there. I am giving it a well deserved 87
Mrs.CWG says

“I am glad we have a few bottles of this left”

LCBO info to follow.

Ps: you will end up seeing a dspam message, ignore it!

EDIT: LCBO # is: 303800, $19.95 (they do not state a vintage year, which means ’03 may no longer be available, unsure why there is no year attached to their listing)

Yesterday was a day to sit back, sip wine and contemplate life, simply because most of the city was stuck indoors as Mother Nature was doing her best to pretend it was late fall, not early summer. With the winds a blustering and the rain a drizzling the Canadian Wine Guy decided to sit back, relax and sip some wine. I know, I know, a novel idea! When looking into the wine fridge I wanted to drink a red, but with no particular region calling me, I decided to look at the Canadian section and see if there was something ready to at least give the ‘Ol College try. Sitting there, all lined up in their little part of the cellar world were 6 bottles of Henry of Pelham Meritages all of different vintages. I could not resist pulling out a 2003 as I had not actually tried one yet and if my memory served me correctly I was sure to have a nice wine. Mrs.CWG and I had gone with some close friends a few summers ago to Henry of Pelham estates to do a traditional wine tour, while we in fact decided to forgo the only tour that day we did not however leave without tasting and buying wine. Our friends are huge fans of the Estate’s Baco Noir but being the Bordeaux man that I am, I was drawn to the Meritage or “Cabernet-Merlot” as they have dubbed it. Getting away from the actual wine (as I will review it below) and focusing on the Estate I have to recommend a few things. First make the trip, it is a lovely drive and Henry of Pelham Estate has a charm to it that is uniquely Niagara. The tasting and wine boutique are very quaint and well laid out, the staff is typical wine region: friendly and knowledgeable. But mostly, plan on going for lunch in the summer to harvest times. The Coach House Cafe is a great little eatery that is worth spending some time sipping the house wines and nibbling on food. In the good weather months you can sit outside and soak in the surrounding vineyards. Okay, enough of that, on to the tasting!

I was worried that the 2003 really was not going to be ready to drink, well maybe not “ready” but I was at least concerned that I was opening it a good 3 to 5 years too soon. With the knowledge that I had another 2003 in the cellar I choose to take the plunge anyways, wine, after all, is for drinking. When decanting the Meritage gave off a nice solid red with hint of rust on the edges and a distinctive raspberry smell came to my nose. The initial swirls led to an even more in depth raspberry with a hint of blackberry. Initial sips showed an equally balanced wine with amazingly light tannins. After I got into the wine light oak came to the surface as well as a light hint of caramel. The equal balance from the initial sips did not change, how it rolled on to my tongue seemed to finish with the same polish. I was quite surprised that a 3.5 year old Bordeaux style blend would be as ready to drink as this was. As I sit here writing this I still cannot seem to shake the feeling that this wine is actually ready to drink now, though I will hold the final bottle in my stock for 2 to 3 years just to see the changes. While not an overly “complex” wine I found it to be detailed enough and with plenty of room to change. If you have a bottle or can find a 2003 I doubt you will be disappointed with this. This wine can compete with most lower to moderately priced reds and is worth having a “go” for yourself.

After some soul searching, despite enjoying the wine it simply did not wow or amaze, a solid well priced wine gets a solid 84.
Mrs.CWG has nothing to say on this topic as she is off in Eastern Europe for work. She has however promised to bring back some Bulgarian wine which she has been remarking is quite nice. If she brings back wine then she will be forgiven for abandoning me!

EDIT: Mrs.CWG says

“How could you open that without me!”

Is it just me or does the full names of some wines seem to stretch two to three pages in width? Well this long named wine (and we need to include the whole name to properly define it) is one of wines Mrs.CWG brought back for me over a year ago during her worldly travels. Why it may seem strange to an outsider to see the Canadian Wine Guy requiring his better half to retrieve a Canadian wine via traveling as opposed to me just walking down to the local vintages section, it is not strange, it is simply very difficult to get Okanagan wines in Ontario (while it must be said the same is true in British Columbia in respect to Ontario wines). While the Niagara wine route has some geographical recognition, the Okanagan Valley for most is a question mark. Nestled into the interior of the rocky mountains in British Columbia, the wine region extends from the Okanagan Lake in and around Kelowna all the way south to the border of Washington State and the Osoyoos Lake region. The region boasts almost 75 wineries, many of which have had wines win or be recognized on the international scene. Included in this recognition, if not leading the charge has been the Jackson-Triggs Winery. Canada’s largest winery has presence in both the Niagara and Okanagan regions with their Okanagan operation located in the southern portion of the valley near Osoyoos. While they have been in Niagara for just over 23 years, their presence in British Columbia is much less experienced yet their short time in the region has led the winery to some high accolades.

Okanagan Jackson-Triggs has three labels plus one “terroir” brand, starting from the entry level Proprietors’ Selection to the intermediate Proprietors’ Reserve all the way to the more selective small quantity Grand Reserves. The wine we are reviewing today is their Bordeaux style Meritage from the high end Grand Reserve collection. The wine blends what most consider to be the five traditional Bordeaux grape varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Somehow in recent years the Carmenere grape has been banished to the sidelines and ignored from “Bordeaux” clarets! The 2003 is simply not purchasable anywhere in Toronto, and as such Mrs.CWG had to bring it in from BC on one of her many trips in 2006. We can buy the 2004 now in select LCBO’s but not the 2003. While I will be giving the 2004 a shot, if the 2003 is any indication, I expect that it will need to be cellared for 5 to 8 years more before being truly ready to drink. With that…. on to the tasting!

The decanting produced a very simple purple colour which surprised me with it’s extended time in oak (18 or so months), generally I have found this alone tends to soften the colour away from the “grape juice” look. The initial nose on this was strong berries, with oak in the mix. Upon swirling and getting a good sniff the berry smell (raspberry and/or strawberry simply too hard to discern) was firmly entrenched. The initial slurps did nothing to tone down the berry flavours. After several sips the true complexity of the wine began to come through, hints of vanilla and strawberry jam made for an interesting collage. The oak and tannins soon took over. The tannins did not soften over time and were very abrupt even towards the end of the second glass and the oak seemed to get a tad heavier instead of smoother, which I found to be odd. This wine in my viewpoint is simply not ready to drink yet, it is too young. I am very glad that Mrs.Cwg bought two bottles, as I am tagging the second bottle as a drink in 2010+. Odds are good with the effort put into the wine and the quality of the grapes that this wine will soften while not taking away any complexity as it ages. That will surely lead to a fine wine if you have the patience.

For now though, this wine is no more then an 85.
Mrs.CWG says

“Make sure you mark this for later consumption!”