Niagara vs Bordeaux - 2007-02-05 – Beamsville, ON

On Jan 27 at Lakeview Cellars, the Niagara Chapter of the Ontario Wine Society held a Niagara vs Bordeaux taste off.

The blind tasting was led by Eddie Gurinskas, Lakeview founder and Larry Horne and Yvonne Halliday of the OWS.

The sell out gathering was told that the four Niagara wines, three French and one Ringer were all in the $16 –$35 price range and made between 1999-2003. The order was completely random (one thru eight) and the tasters were encouraged to approach them in no particular order.

The wines were to be rated out of 20 points, and by a show of hands were ranked and denoted either Bordeaux or Meritage.

Six out of the eight wines were correctly identified by the majority of tasters as either Bordeaux or Meritage. Every wine got at least one first place vote and the winner got 14. There were 45 tasters voting.

Niagara wines took the top 3 places:

1) 02 Creekside Reserve Meritage -$34 –sold out

2) 02 Jackson Triggs “Delaine” Cab Merlot - $30 –04 is available

3) 02 Lakeview Meritage - $16 – in the LCBO

The Ringer, an 02 Bedell Meritage ($25 US) from Long Island placed 5^th and one participant won a free future tasting by identifying (with some help) its place of origin.

This was another clear victory for Ontario reds in their quest to be held in the same esteem as their European counterparts. This was done on a level playing field as to price and age of the wines. The French wines were all from Vintages and they had been well reviewed.

For all of us who support and enjoy VQA wines, please tell your friends about this tasting, especially those who say that “Ontario wines are overpriced and not good value.”

For more information, contact Larry Horne at horneland@msn.com