Hugh Johnstone, Neil Lamont, Tom Marshall (to the left of Jim Warren), and some little fat guy. Let your mouse hover over each picture on this page for a fuller description.
Robert LeRoyer, Lucie St. Pierre, Veronique and Simon Naud, Alain Breault and Mariette Lageuex, Jean Houle, Chris Granstrom, Denis Caron, Gilles Benoit, Mike Marler, Jacques Breault and Ken Rawlings.
Wine #1: Prairie Star 2001, Simon Naud, Vignoble la Bauge. The first wine is always difficult. My initial impression is that the wine is clean, very fresh, but a touch on the neutral side. Pretty lemon/citrus notes, but I'd like to see more middle palate impact. 13/20
I did not score the wines, but found this to be an agreeable drinker, something that would well suit a hot summer day if not a big dinner. I fully agree that blending would strongly improve the wine. I liked it more than Hugh did.
Wine #2: Prairie Star 2000, Simon Naud, Vignoble la Bauge. Wow! Apparently this variety likes wood. The obvious oak flavors are deftly integrated, punching up the wine's complexity, focusing fruit in the center, and balancing the acidity at the finish to produce a lengthy finale. I hope to get back to this wine later; it may be shining by comparison to wine #1. Hope not. I do like it. 17/20
The oak is certainly an improvement to the wine, but when I suggested to the bearded one that it should be blended with other varieties for complexity he said "Don't you change my Prairie Star". Usually he is only afraid of razor blades and electric shavers...
Wine #3: Cayuga / Seyval Blanc, Sammuel Guttknecht Cayuga was developed and promoted by Geneva in my early days with the LCBO. I well may be carrying some negative baggage from those early wines. However, if the wines had been made 35 years ago as well as this one has, I might have been a happier traveler. Flavours that are forward on both the nose and palate seem more reminiscent of Muscat than Labrusca, and these surprisingly delicate notes are lifted by a pleasant seam of acidity. 15/20
A nicely made tour of the past by Sammuel. I have always thought that Seyval was usually taken for granted and not treated properly. Sammuel seems to have shown respect for both grapes.
Wine #4: 75% Louise Swenson / 25% Prairie Star, Tom Plocher, author, Northern Winework I have the feeling that this is a blend that might have worked very well but I had trouble getting through the high alcohol to see. Commercial quality but reflective of the commercial belief that the consumer likes to see high alcohol content on the label. 13/20
Nose is delicately floral, lightly honeyed, vinous, very vinifera.
Chardonnay-ish on the palate, screamed for barrel fermentation and perhaps more Prairie Star to go with the wood. Acidity really perfect, clean food wine, you could really doll this up. Would work well in many styles, could be molded easily. Again, I really liked this better than Hugh did.
Wine #5: 1998 St. Pepin, Robert Leroyer, Vignoble Le Royer St. Pierre After much rooting about in the glass I think that this wine is mildly corked. A pity because underneath the musty top note the wines seems to pack good fruit in the center, the kind of middle fat I'd be looking for to blend for body.
All I can remember is a sense of mustiness, I either did not like the variety, it was over the hill or badly corked. May simply be a variety to drink young.
Wine #6: 2001 Sabrevois Rejean Guertin, Vignoble Les Artisans du Terroir Electric blue/ purple with hints of carbonic maceration on the nose. Very clean. Plummy Zin textures and up front fruit. Reminds me of well-made Dolcetto. Excellent with popular Italian cuisine. 16/20
Great colour, primarily a food wine. Kinda neat to watch the bearded wonder discover something new in the world of wine after making so many of his discoveries at the public trough... Seriously, a very good wine, but I thought I could detect a hint of green stemmy vegetal character that would take 2 years to round out. Good wine, wish it had been harvested later.
Wine #7: 2001 Sabrevois Rejean Guertin, Vignoble Les Artisans du Terroir, fined A repeat of wine #6, but fined. I'm getting some mild H2S here that dissipates with swirling. Perhaps this is the same component I thought was Carbonic Maceration before? The deep colour holds, and this is a tidier more civilized wine than #6. It retains the virtues of the unfined wine with good fruit, structure and balance, but loses some of the exuberance of that wine.
To be honest, I didn't notice the H2S, and didn't notice any strong differences between 6 and 7. Maybe I just had my mouth open and mind closed at the time...
Wine #8: 2001 Sabrevois Alain Belanger This is a very big wine, deep and dark, and colourful. The colour's promise is delivered on the palate. Some youthful hardness is present, but the fruit carries through the greenness well. This wine is very well made and deserves time to develop. 17/20
Agree with Hugh completely, and thought it could have handled more oak well, and would have been even better if blended with another variety to add complexity. But remember this wine is a baby in diapers!
Wine #9: 2001 Sabrevois Alain Belanger The colour seems a touch dull but could be the light here. I can't get much past carbonic maceration artifacts on the nose and the palate lacks fruit, particularly in view of the high alcohol. The wine finishes very hot and short on fruit. 12/20
I also did not like the effects of carbonic maceration here.
Wine #10: 2001 Sabrevois, Simon Naud, Vignoble la Bauge. Lovely black pepper bouquet with a rich, round, vinous heart, and a black pepper finish that rides on a spine of zesty acidity; very nice indeed. 16/20
A hint of the green character I am becoming sensitized to in red hybrids detracts slightly from what is still a very good wine.
Wine #11: 2001 Sabrevois Alain Belanger This wine has a long, fruit packed, if rather hot finish. The nose is clean and fresh. I do wish the wine had more mid-palate fat. Blending with a wine that has more stuffing would be very helpful. 14/20
I liked this one better than Hugh, and I seem to have less objection to higher alcohol (and oak). I would also like to see this blended and aged longer.
Wine #12: 2001 Sabrevois (blended??) Gilles Benoit, Vignoble des Pins. Very exciting wine, with black cherry, white and dark chocolate, and sweet vanilla peppering the nose and the mouth. Good length & balanced. 17/20
Were I scoring, this would be higher. Again, this wine should be more than 5 months from harvest before drinking it. Buy some and hold it at least 2 years if any comes on the market!
Wine #13: 2001 Sabrevois Larry Paterson (lfw)
I wanted to like this wine; after all I've got to ride home with LFW. So here's something positive. This wine is an excellent example of an over-oaken wine.
What can I say? He has to be allowed out once in a while!
At this point, we turned to a tasting of 3 wines made from St. Croix vines, with identical history and winemaking with the exception of yield per vine. The first was cropped at 12 clusters per vine, the next at 9 clusters per vine, and the last at 6 clusters per vine. Between Hugh, myself and Neil Lamont we combined our samples and tasted all three side by side. The results were quite convincing!
Wine #14: 2001 St. Croix Michel-Luc Morneau - 12 clusters per vine Cropped at 12 clusters per vine this is a pleasant, well made wine, but one that is very shy on bouquet. Flavours are vinous but the acid level seems higher than usual, perhaps because the fruit is on the light side. Nevertheless the wine is of sound commercial quality. 13/20
Nice wine, good quality, most people would like this. Think of it in terms of Beaujolais or simple Valpolicella. Harmless, clean, straightforward.
Wine #15: 2001 St. Croix Michel-Luc Morneau - 9 clusters per vine Cropped at 9 clusters per vine the wine seems smoother, with more fruit and substantially better balanced. The acid level has either been reduced or is simply more appropriate to the attractive level of fruit the wine shows. I'm getting some very pleasant cherry/currant notes in the bouquet and the wine finishes smoothly. 15/20
This is the wine that would be most "saleable" to people buying in the $12 to $20 corridor. It has good concentration of flavour, good fruit, a persistent finish and no faults. Think of Beaujolais Villages or good Valpolicella (as opposed to the well-known mass-market entries).
Wine #16: 2001 St. Croix Michel-Luc Morneau - 6 clusters per vine Cropped at 6 clusters per vine has produced a 'vin du garde' with even greater improvements in nose, length and fruit. Body is markedly improved, especially from wine #15, and has the thick, chewy character that signifies a densely structured wine. Tannins are substantial, but well integrated and almost soft. I wish I had made this one. 18/20
This concentration of fruit and flavour makes a mouthfull of wine that is too much for most consumers to enjoy. It is for flavour junkies, and for serious collectors. This wine almost demands 5 years in a good cellar, and a richly flavoured meal to serve it with at that point. Good acid, great finish, has all the potential for greatness. I did not know that St. Croix had this potential. Wines like this could really give red hybrids a good name again! Belongs beside the best Foch and Baco produced in Ontario. Wish it had more oak to mellow in over a period of time, and another variety blended in to add complexity...
Wine #17: 2001 St. Croix, Simon Naud, Vignoble la Bauge. Slightly high SO2 made the aroma difficult for me but past that the wine is very fine, packed with fruit carried on fresh, zesty acidity. Excellent length. 15/20
Didn't notice the sulphur, but if true, the wine has very good fruit because "fruity" is the way I would describe it, and sulphur depresses fruit. I did detect a bit of what I think of as young-wine yeastiness which should dissipate in a few months.
Wine #18: 2001 St. Croix, Robert Leroyer, Vignoble Le Royer St. Pierre I like this wine best of the carbonically macerated group. It shows the same seductive, fleshy roundness that makes Crus Beaujolais such great drinking, and reminds me very much of those lovely wines. 17/20
I have tasted three vintages of this wine ("Papa Grape" calls it Givre Noir), each has been different, and each has been very good wine. This is the other face of St. Croix, a variety that makes a very good light red wine for general consumption. A delight. This is the only wine I tasted this day that I think could stand alone as a varietal. And in honour of it's creator, Elmer Swenson, I think it prudent to point out he pronounces it Saynt Croy! Honor to the breeder and to the winemaker.
Wine #19: 2001 ES 5-17 Simon Naud, Vignoble la Bauge. Deep and exotic nose of plums & Pomegranates (?) lead to full, rich mid palate and a lengthy finish of fruit and soft tannins. Excellent! 17/20
Unusual wine with unusual fruit on the nose. Did not like this very well as a single varietal, but I am excited with its potential for making a light red blended wine with equal portions of 4-7-25, Sabrevois and St. Croix (which is our intended blend for a vineyard trial in Central Ontario starting in the spring of 2002.
Wine #20: 2001 Leon Millot, Dave Boyden, Boyden Valley Wines, Vermont Much lighter in structure than earlier wines but very easy to like and very useful as an all round backyard wine.
Good wine to chill slightly on a summer day, but I am still not a fan of Leon Millot as a variety, other than as a blending tool for complexity with other varieties. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with this wine.
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