The event was the brainchild of Larry Patterson, the Johnny Appleseed of Canadian grape growers, who rejoices in the sobriquet of "Little Fat Wino" (see his website, www.littlefatwino.com).

Larry first put on this tag-team blind tasting at Brock University's CCOVI in February 2005, then again in Ottawa last October. In December, he held a session in his own basement in Peterborough and, finally, one for 140 members and guests of the Ontario Wine Society at the august Ontario Club in Toronto's financial district on January 16, 2006.

Pitting New world wines against their French counterparts is not news. The practice began in 1976 when the English wine merchant Stephen Spurrier held a blind tasting in Paris at which a California Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon bested quality white Burgundies and red Bordeaux as judged by eight French wine professionals. (Sacré blanc et rouge!)

For the Toronto tasting the local office of SOPEXA (the marketing company for French food and wine) was invited to supply three clarets. The home team put up four Ontario reds, two from BC and threw in a ringer from New Zealand. When the dust settled the consensus in the room was:

  1^st Newton Forrest Vineyard Cornerstone 2002, New Zealand ($42.75)
  2^nd Stoney Ridge Cellars Signature Collection Meritage 2002, Ontario ($34.95)
  3^rd Sumac Ridge Pinnacle 2001, BC ($50)
  4^th Colio Estates CEV Merlot Reserve 2002, Ontario ($24.95)
  5^th Southbrook Winery Triomphe 1999, Ontario ($39.95)
  6^th Mission Hill Family Estate Oculus 2001, BC ($50)
  7^th Château l'Hospital Veyret Latour 2002, Bordeaux ($27.95)
  8^th Château Segonzac 2000, Bordeaux ($32.95)
  9^th Lakeview Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 1998, Ontario ($25)
10^th Château Puyfromage 2003, Bordeaux ($13.65)

On my ranking I put Newton Forrest first, followed by Mission Hill and then Colio. The three Bordeaux, I found, did not show very well at all. The most claret-like of the Canadian wines were the Southbrook and the Lakeview. The Château Segonzac, a Premieres Cotes de Blaye, was so New World in style, it could have been BC -- which led me to the conclustion that there must be some sort of continental drift going on when it comes to winemaking styles on both sides of the Atlantic.

At all four of the Larry Patterson tastings Canadian wines dominated. At the Brock tasting the first five wines were from Ontario. In Ottawa, Ontario wines took the first four places; in Larry's basement, Ontario was first and second. At the Toronto tasting five Canadian wines came above the first Bordeaux.

This kind of exercise is fun but should not be taken too seriously. We all have a preference for what we know (Australians thrive on Vegemite for breakfast, for heaven's sake). We taste through a cultural cipher and are more accustomed to the flavours of local products. The New Zealand wine, a Cabernet / Merlot / Malbec blend, took first place on aggregate because it was rich, mouth-filling with sweet fruit and spicy oak. It seduced the palate, much as the California Chardonnay and Cabernet must have won over the French panel in 1976.

The three Bordeaux wines selected by SOPEXA were not exactly representative of what that region can produce; but what the tasting did show was that Ontario and British Columbia could produce Bordeaux-style blends that were appreciated on a par with red Bordeaux. Had this kind of a tasting been held five years ago, I think the results would have been very different -- which augurs well for the future of Canadian red wines.