Taste It Again: Stoney Ridge 2005 Reserve Wismer Vineyard Cabernet Franc
30 Nov 2014- Details
- Category: Lost & Found / Taste it Again
Click here to read the original review
(Re-Tasted September 19, 2014) ... I'm gonna be more effusive and use more superlative than ever before in one of these reviews ... I am still in Michigan visiting my in-laws and brought a couple bottles to enjoy while there. Sure they sell wine in Michigan, and I have bought quite a few down here, but I will not have the time on this trip to explore my favorite store, so I'll be consuming my own stock. One of those "stock" wines happens to be this Stoney Ridge 2005 Reserve Wismer Vineyard Cabernet Franc ... Simply put this is just purely a brilliant bottle of wine at 9 years of age. The nose lured me right in from first sniff with its chocolate, mocha, coffee bean, and anise. Palate shows a mix of lush dark fruit along with the above aromas which rollover in to the mouth. The finish still shows some tannin structure, but for the most part they have mellowed and smoothed out to a rich luster. As the wine sat in the glass I found other treasures of note. There's some black cherry kirsch and spice with wisps of white and red peppercorns, and then comes along some macerated blackberries. This is quite simply put one of the most gorgeous older Ontario wines I have tried in quite some time: it has so much going on, is so intriguing and so tasty. By the end of a few glasses I had also found, hints of cherry, vanilla, cinnamon and bittersweet chocolate ... And the list goes on. I just hope the new winemaking team at Stoney Ridge can match this kind of longevity in some of their wines and the kind of elegance that this wine still shows.
(September 11, 2014) ... There are wines that I smack my head about losing track of, one of those was this bottle of 13th Street 2002 Erv's Burger Blend ... This was a kitchen sink blend made by the Ontario cult winery back in its hey day, when knowing how to find them and when they were open was a game of epic proportion, and going to their semi-annual open houses/new release launches were legendary. I just so happened to be speaking with one of the back-in-the-day principals, Ken Douglas, and mentioned I had a bottle, he was quick to point out: "That was never meant to age" ... I had a feeling. I was heartbroken to find it was also sealed under plastic. The wine was pure tannic vinegar, and had no redeeming qualities to it whatsoever, sigh - so it was a bottle I lost in the cellar I really wish I hadn't.
The next saddening bottle I opened was from Mastronardi (Lake Erie North Shore) and their 2007 Cabernet Franc. Upon pouring it in to the glass it was the colour of Pinot Noir, which to me seemed odd for a Franc in a hot vintage like 2007, when grapes were ripe and colour should not have been a problem. Acidity has remained high but the flavour is out of whack and there's just something supremely odd about it, it gave me the sensation of sour cherries dipped in cigarette ash ... and what's even worse than that, it continued to get worse the longer it remained open. By the time I dumped it down the drain it was so foul smelling that my sink almost threw it back up at me.
My last bottle of this disappointing trifecta was from Colchester Ridge, a 2007 Merlot (another Lake Erie North Shore winery). Now recently I had a tasting of some older Colchester that was less than impressive, and alas this 2007 did not fair any better. It was odd and funky on the nose and not much better on the palate: think old sweat socks wrapped in rubber bands ... This was a bottle I was not happy to find. Lord knows now I really need a drink ... Maybe this is why people turn to whiskey, it doesn't go bad. All above bottles Lost & Found Rating: 
