By Shari Darling, Peterborough Examiner
October 19, 2005
This past Saturday I participated in a blind wine tasting entitled Dawn of a New Millennium.The event took place at Vendange Institute in Ottawa and consisted of 70 tasters. The participants included wine writers like David Lawrason from Wine Access Magazine and myself, along with professional sommeliers and wine judges from across Canada.
The tasting comprised 18 Bordeaux style blends from Canada and second growth reds from Bordeaux, France.
My task, as a panelist, was to blind taste and identify the French wines from those produced in British Columbia and Ontario. This blind tasting was based on the premise that our young wine regions are producing quality, big, flavourful red wines that meet and even surpass quality Bordeaux wines.
Canada's wine regions lay at approximately the same latitude as Bordeaux, France. Niagara is only one degree south, while Okanagan Valley is about five degrees north of Bordeaux.
Our wine regions experience hotter days during the growing season yet have colder winters. Okanagan Valley actually experiences more sunshine hours during the growing season, as well, beginning at 4:00 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Since these regions experience similar latitudes and climate, grow the same grape varieties and use comparable winemaking techniques, it's no surprise that our Canadian wines are believed to share similar quality and characteristics. As Canadian wine lovers we tend to be humble and uninformed about the true nature and quality of our premium red wines.
Colio Wines, located within the Lake Erie North Shore wine region, took second place overall for their 2000 CEV reserve merlot. This delicious red scored 87.88 out of 100. It was complex and flavourful with ripe berry character and excellent tannin.
The good news is that the 2002 CEV reserve merlot (CSPC 500447), $25., is now available at Vintages in the LCBO and at the Colio Wines located at Sobey's on Lansdowne Street West.
This particular vintage offers medium weight, lots of ripe cherry flavour with notes of leather and smoke -- an excellent wine to give as a gift to your red wine loving friends and family over the holidays. CEV reserve merlot also works well with beef, game meats and dishes highlighting black olives or walnuts.
Stoney Ridge Cellars 1998 cabernet sauvignon reserve (Wismer Vineyard) placed seventh and scored 86.3.
This wine is still available through the Stoney Ridge Cellars on-line shopping website (www.stoney ridge.com).
Shari Darling is a food-and-wine author living in Lakefield. She can be reached at www.sophisticatedwino.com.