News

Pick of the week

Cave Spring Riesling Niagara Peninsula 2006 ($14.05 [$18.99 in B.C.], product No. 234583). This vintage is a lesson in how, with the right amount of acidity, even a wine with some sugar can finish cleanly.

***

After a soggy Southern Ontario summer, local winemakers are praying for a break in the clouds. A good harvest depends on dry weather, which, in 2007, perhaps the best year ever, came in spades, so to speak.

But the sun has been shining proverbially in another area that counts: sales. Ontario retail sales of VQA wines - premium wines made entirely from local grapes - shot up 12 per cent in the five months ending Aug. 30 over the same period last year, according to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

I'll bet the early-release white wines from the great 2007 vintage, now on shelves, had a part to play in those sizzling summer statistics.

But one gets the feeling that there is something else in the air, that quality Ontario wine may be reaching a critical mass of sorts and people are noticing. Great wines are no longer few and far between, unless you count the sold-out trophy wines at such overachieving estates as Hidden Bench, Cave Spring, Tawse, Stratus and Southbrook.

Perhaps more impressively and importantly, excellent quality at the under-$20 level appears to be growing. Making great wine at high prices is, most honest winemakers will tell you, easy compared with making lots of very good wine for the average Yaris or Echo driver. That's especially true of places such as Ontario, which don't have the natural conditions for churning out megatonnes of ripe fruit per acre.

Then there's the locavore movement - or, in this case, the locapour movement, as one might call it. Environmentally sensitive people are starting to see the virtue of drinking domestic product rather than transoceanic cargo, just as Europeans have done since the dawn of fermented fruit.

The LCBO will attempt to hit all those thematic notes starting this weekend with its biggest Ontario-wine promotion ever, aptly dubbed "Go Local." It runs until Oct. 11 at all 605 LCBO stores, with almost 150 products from 38 wineries highlighted in advertising and in-store displays. About 80 larger stores with event kitchens will present Ontario-themed tastings. Even the retailer's freebie magazine, Food & Drink, is devoting itself to the cause with recipes based on local bounty.

Starting today, you can get the following wines in Ontario through Vintages stores and boutiques or on the LCBO's general-list aisles. Some, such as the first wine here, are located in other provinces, notably British Columbia.

Cave Spring Riesling Niagara Peninsula 2006 ($14.05, product No. 234583; $18.99 in B.C., same product number) is a lesson in how, with the right amount of acidity, even a wine with some sugar can finish cleanly. The flagship wine of what is arguably the country's leading riesling producer, this wine used to be labelled "off-dry." There indeed is discernible sugar here, but it's modest and balanced out by crisp acidity, so it should appeal to all but the most extreme dry-wine die-hards. You'll find an uncanny hint of peach here, complemented by citrus, pear and stone. Expert winemaking by Angelo Pavan and a great, widely available value.

Another noteworthy riesling included in the LCBO promotion is Featherstone Black Sheep Riesling 2007 ($17.15, No. 080234). The name is a play on Featherstone's use of sheep during summer to graze on low-hanging vine leaves, a form of natural pruning pioneered in New Zealand. Medium-bodied and dry, it shows good concentration and lemonade-like fruitiness.

On the decidedly toasty side is Inniskillin Montague Vineyard Chardonnay 2006 ($17.95, No. 586347), a full-bodied white with considerable oak influence over a honeyed-melon core, silky frame and notes of apple, caramel, pine and spice. Some of us might like to see a little less oak influence in this wine, but the style clearly appeals to others.

In these days of so many big, jammy, super-ripe reds, a wine like Château des Charmes Cabernet Merlot 2004 ($19.95, No. 222372) should probably come with a warning: It's not that kind of wine. But it has much to recommend it. I love the savoury, Bordeaux-like quality that comes to the fore, supported by pure cassis- and cherry-like fruit and nuances of tobacco, smoke and earth. Lots of complexity for the money.

Pelee Island Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 ($24.95, No. 530576) is another red that could be called Bordeaux-like. Full-bodied, with sweet plum-like fruit and notes of tobacco, leather and subtle minerality. There are also silt-like tannins here that could probably use another year or two to soften.

For a taste of something a little older, you could try Peninsula Ridge Reserve Cabernet Franc 2002 ($25.15, No. 086876). Still with a good core of fresh fruit, this six-year-old is showing some of the attractive secondary flavours such as dried fruit and tobacco.

And for the sake of readers in the West, let me in this context mention two Okanagan wines that should be widely available in B.C. and Alberta. Jackson-Triggs Proprietors' Reserve Okanagan Estate Dry Riesling 2007 ($13.99). This is the JT riesling with the black label, light-to-medium-bodied, silky and round, with plum, peach and tangerine fruit, a hint of minerals and a crisp finish.

Similarly plump and ripe, Inniskillin Okanagan Pinot Blanc 2006 ($17.99) is medium-bodied and almost off-dry, with sweet peach and red apple notes supporting delicate minerality and crisp acidity. Very versatile white wine.

I'll cover highlights from the rest of this week's Ontario fine-wine release next week, but in the meantime here's a lead on a terrific value from Mexico, available in Ontario Vintages stores: L.A. Cetto Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 ($10.95, No. 405597), light-coloured for a cab and medium full-bodied with rich cherry flavour, soft texture and a dry, subtly bitter finish.