Our Canada Day Wine Picks
Happy Canada Day!
It seems so obvious to put up a blog outlining our favourite home-grown vinos, but with all the stuff happening in the Canadian wine world, it’s certainly appropriate. That, and we love Canadian wine so what better way to celebrate that on-going affair or introduce you to your new love, if you haven’t yet discovered what kick ass wines we have here?
Our most popular tasting — whether for corporate companies or private parties — is our “Oh, Canada!” tasting. (Yes, we know the “OH” is different from the “O” in the anthem, but we like the play on words).
Even though most of this country will mark its 145th birthday in 30+ degree heat, Canada’s wine growing regions are considered cool climate, and the growing seasons are relatively short.
On average Ontario gets roughly 1,500 hours of sunshine during the growing season and BC just over 1,400. While in Ontario, we often compare our soils & climate to that of Burgundy, if you look on the map we have the same latitude as the Languedoc & Chianti regions.
The Okanagan Valley, BC’s largest wine region, is one of the world’s most northernly. It stretches 160 kilometers north from the American border, and the southern part is considered desert. Lake Okanagan helps to mitigate the scorching summer heat & and sandy soiled vineyards are mostly on slopes all of which helps make spectacular wines.
In our view, and in no particular order, here are the grapes that we think really flourish here.
Riesling
Perhaps one of the greatest and most understood varietals. Yes, Rieslings can be sweet — very sweet — but it can also be bone dry, nervy and extraordinarily focused, offering up zippy minerality and a great refreshment. It’s high acidity makes it very adaptable to many foods, and, depending on the quality, can age for years and even decades.
Cave Spring “CSV” Riesling, VQA Beamsville Bench 2009
$29.95 Vintages 566026
A consistently good Riesling vintage after vintage, this was a medal winner at the 2012 Cuvée Awards, in Niagara this year. With a fine balance between ripe peach, minerality and lemon-fresh citrus with the ever-present petrol, this is a great match for goat cheese, piri piri chicken or grilled white fish.
Flat Rock Cellars “Nadja’s Vineyard” Riesling, VQA Twenty Mile Bench 2010
$19.95 Vintages 578625
Classic Riesling flavours of bright lemon/lime citrus, Granny Smith apple, firm minerality, a touch of honey. Perfect for summer sipping or paired with seafood salad, roast pork loin.
Cabernet Franc
One of our favourite red grapes of all time. Leaner and more earthy than Cabernet Sauvignon, it can often be overlooked by wine lovers who prefer the darker, richer, sturdier structure of Cab Sauv. Interestingly, Franc is the original Cabernet grape, with Cabernet Sauvignon being its offspring.
Thriving in cooler soils, it can make lovely, elegant wines filled with raspberries and black currants, with telltale a herbacious-leafy note.
Tawse “Growers Blend” Cabernet Franc, VQA Niagara Peninsula 2009
$26.95 Vintages 284570
Rich with flavours of dark berry fruit, sundried black olives, spice and dried tobacco leaves. Dark chocolate bitterness on the finish. Pair with simple grilled steak, or robust vegetarian dishes with mushrooms & eggplant.
Stratus Cabernet Franc, VQA Niagara on the Lake 2008
$38.20 Vintages
This was part of our recommendations from our blog on Stratus in June, but it’s worth reminding what a great wine it is: smokey, dark fruit flavours of black cherry and blackberry, earth, clay and dried leaves. An elegant wine well suited to a dinner party under the fireworks.
The Foreign Affair “Dream,” VQA Niagara Peninsula 2008
$28.95 foreignaffairwine.com
OK, so this is cheating a bit as “Dream” is really a Bordeaux blend, but the bulk of it is Cab Franc and it is delicious, so we thought we’d throw it in. Made with partially dried grapes, as is the style of A Foreign Affair, it offers red and black berry fruit, dark soil and red bell pepper flavours. Try with grilled lamb chops or barbecued sausages.
Chardonnay
If you haven’t heard by now, Niagara is hosting the second annual International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration July 20-22, showcasing cool climate Chards from around the globe. Canada is right up there among the best, offering streamlined and focused unoaked examples alongside weighty and opulent oaked ones.
Mission Hill “Perpetua,” VQA Okanagan Valley 2009
$40 missionhillwinery.com
A fantastic Chardonnay that should not be missed if you happen to be visiting BC’s beautiful Okanagan. Made from 3 clones of Chard, a portion is feremented in French oak and aged on its lies for 10 months. What results is a gorgeous, rich, full bodied wine with flavours of peach and nectarine stone fruit, uplifting fennel and grapefruit notes with some oak-nuttiness. A perfect wine for Beemster cheese, roast chicken or smoked salmon.
Chateau des Charmes “Barrel Fermented” Chardonnay, VQA Niagara on the Lake
$13.95 LCBO 81653
Full bodied, rich and buttery this is a hedonistic Chard, to be sure. As the name suggests, this wine was barrel fermented and aged in French oak for nine months. That kind of oak influence could result in an oak bomb, but this has been done well with flavours of ripe stone fruit, baked apple, and spice. Try with grilled salmon, pasta carbonara or caesar salad.
Pinot Noir
Ah, the Heartbreak Grape. Notoriously difficult and moody it can be a winemaker’s nightmare — or dream. Made all over the world, Pinot can range from muscular and powerful to light & ethereal to sensual and pretty. The style you prefer is up to you, and luckily, Canada has enough microclimates and terroirs to deliver on just about all profiles.
Five Rows Pinot Noir, VQA St. David’s Bench 2008
$50 fiverows.com
A gorgeous wine from small winemaker Wes Lowrey. Red and black cherry, raspberry, spice and earthy notes fill this wine. Restrained and elegant, its worth a drive to Niagara to buy it; only made in small allotments (106 cases for the ’08) it goes fast.
13th Street Winery “Essence” Pinot Noir VQA Niagara Peninsula 2009
$44.95 Vintages 237222
Essence is only with top performing grapes during exceptional vintages. Only a small amount is ever produced, and this Pinot only made 300 cases. But it is exceptional and a worthy addition to any cellar. You will likely have better luck getting it from the winery, but Vintages does show a small amount of inventory left. In any case, look for flavours for ripe strawberry, rhubarb, barnyard, leather and crushed black pepper spice.