Taste it Again / Lost & Found

Taste it Again: Older Ontario at U.S. Thanksgiving

18 Jan 2015

Details: Category: Lost & Found / Taste it Again

(November 27, 2014) ... Spent the US Thanksgiving across the border again this year ... Interesting ride home in a blizzard where we stopped at a motel where we were afraid to sit or lie on anything. Spent two hours there before deciding we would rather brave the weather and head home ... Anyway, it's the wine I'm reporting on here NOT the weather, winter driving conditions or the state of motels on America's interstates.

A recent tasting, and release at the LCBO, had me questioning my sanity on a bottle of Pondview 2011 Bella Terra Chardonnay. The one tried during the LCBO pre-tasting did not show well, and for a Chardonnay less than 2 years out of barrel, there is no reason it should be that tired. I tried it amongst my American friends and discovered it to be basic: toffee-peach, oak, butter, spiced apple and seemingly getting a little long in the tooth, it's creamy but lacks acidity? I really hope this wine is just going through a dumb phase ... I'll be revisiting this one in the not to distant future. My original score was 4-plus stars but in its present state this wine wouldn't rate half that.

Speaking of long in the tooth I am sad to report that the Cattail 2008 Gamay Noir is gone: oxidized, off flavoured and sour ... For you Gamay fans out there holding onto this one, you've waited too long. Sigh.

So far I'm not doing so well in what I am pulling out of the case ... I did bring other, more recent stuff, but am only reporting on how the older bottles are doing. And with that I ended my excursion down memory lane with a Chateau des Charmes 2002 Cabernet-Merlot, Estate ... It started off earthy, smoky and dried cranberry-esque on the nose with very woodsy notes along with cranberry, cinnamon and dried leaf character on palate. But somehow this all changed and came together and something everyone gravitated towards ... Was it the 12 years that appealed to them or was it really the wine? With the number of people who ended up with an empty glass I'd say it was the wine itself.