Michael Pinkus Wine Review - On the Road with the Grape Guy

Report from - New Zealand Wine Fair ... May 12, 2011

26 Jul 2011

Details: Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

In the land of Sauvignon Blanc, the one who make it different is King ... I am paraphrasing an old saying here but what I'm trying to get you to understand is that everybody knows that New Zealand make great Sauvignon Blanc, of that there is no doubt, but the question on everybody's lips should be, when confronted by the New Zealand section at your local liquor store: what else can they do?

As it turns out plenty. This year with close to 40 wineries in attendance I tried to avoid New Zealand's signature grape and instead focused my attention on "anything else". At one point I started asking producers what wine they were most proud to pour for me, and 90% picked something other than Sauvignon Blanc - seems the Kiwis are getting the message loud and clear: If you are going to have a sustainable wine industry you can't focus solely on one grape - the world wants to see what else you can do.

The Wine Fair was broken down into two parts - the self pour media seminar and the trade portion. This year's seminar wanted us to focus on 'The Amazing Aromatics from New Zealand', other than Sauvignon Blanc, and the "Various Faces of Syrah" from different parts of this dual island nation.

Seminar (aromatics) ...
I thought all the Rieslings (3 in total) were quite nice, the best of which was a Mt. Beautiful 2008 Cheviot Hills Riesling from Canterbury; at $18 it delivered fresh fruit, petrol, peach, apple and pear ... beautiful is a good name for it. (****+)

I was less impressed with the Pinot Gris selection, the best of this mediocre lot was an Akarua 2009 Pinot Gris from the Central Otago. (***+)

My palate fared better with the Gewurztraminers, the Spy Valley 2010 Gewurztraminer ($21.95) had just what you'd want from this grape - nice floral and rose petal nuances with a dash of spice. (****)

Seminar (syrah) ...
Seven Syrahs were on the table for sample, four from the Hawkes Bay region, two from the Gimblett Gravels (a sub-region of Hawke's Bay) and one from Waiheke Island. My favourite was the Sacred Hill 2007 Deerstalkers Syrah ($39.99) from Hawke's Bay proper; it was deep, rich and dark fruited with some sour black raspberry notes on the nose; the palate proved just as deep and rich with flavours of raspberry, smokiness and earthiness leading to a firm mouthfeel and good tannins; the finish proved to be very Syrah-like with lots of peppery notes (****+). Rounding out my top three were two from Gimblett Gravels: Mission Estate 2009 Reserve Syrah ($26.95) with its slightly plum-pepper finish (****) and Villa Maria Cellar Selection 2008 Syrah ($37.95) with meaty-earthy and chalkiness in the mouth ... with time this should develop into something wonderful, say 3-5 years (****).

The Rest of the Show (alphabetically, four-stars and above) ... (to see the best of the rest, click here)

To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.

Report from - 52 Wines from 1 Fantastic Place ... May 18, 2011

21 Jul 2011

Details: Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

I think Kim Mitchell put it best when he said, "I am a Yellow Party", that was right after he attended an iYellow event. It was also the same event where Bran Van 3000 said, "There ain't no party like an iYellow party, cause and iYellow party don't stop."

Alright, ya caught me, I'm making this whole thing up, except for the party, that the iYellow Wine Club did sponsor and held the event for the 2nd year in a row at the Toronto Board of Trade in downtown Toronto. They invited the 26 winery members of the Niagara-on-the-Lake group to each pour two wines ... they called the event "52 wines - 1 Fantastic place" (or was that just the tag line?).

There really ain't much else to say except give you a run down on some of the wines that were at the event; but before I do that I should take a moment to thank Miss Angie Aiello herself (no relation to Danny) for inviting me to sit in with her during one of her little wine talks to a small group of wine lovers - and of course for inviting me to the event itself. As for my top 5 wines of the evening, you can find them below, along with a link to the full review on my website: www.ontariowinereview.com ...

1) Pondview 2009 Bella Terra Cabernet Franc (**** 1/2+) a fabulous France form a rather tough year, proves this grape really does belong in Ontario - you just have to know how to handle it in the vineyard.

2) Coyote's Run 2009 Red Paw Pinot Noir (**** 1/2) - the Coyote runs in a different pack when it comes to showing off their grapes in different soil types.

3) Colaneri 2009 Corposo (**** 1/2) - this ripasso style offering really brings out the inner-Italian in this new NOTL winery, not only does it feel that way but it tastes that way too.

4) Chateau des Charmes 2007 Old Vines Cabernet Merlot (****+) - shows that it's not just the newer wineries showing the way, this old guard still puts excellent wines into bottle year-in and year-out.

5) Cattail Creek 2009 Riesling (****+) - this Riesling really shows what the grape can do in the right hands, they've been growing it in NOTL since 1974, so you just know they're doing it right.