Happy holidays... and why I love Canadian wine

The Holidays (Christmas and New Years for my family) makes me very sentimental for the great loves of my life: family, friends, food, hockey and, of course, wine. This time of year, my mind wonders to thousands of nostalgic thoughts from the past 12 months. Mostly warm and fuzzy memories of my daughter and wife, Gold-medal winning goals, and many, many great bottles of wine shared with family and friends. Each bottle containing a story that unfolds in the glass – some mere pamphlets and others fully engaging prose. Happily, I tend to forget the disappointing corked bottles that I had to return and the silly mistakes like smashing a $60 bottle of Bordeaux on the kitchen floor.

As I look back at my notes from 2010 I’m flooded with the many stories behind the wines; how it was produced, where it was produced and by whom. In my reviews I always try and tell a bit of this story as I believe it broadens the experience of what’s in the glass. Not to state that the story itself makes the wine, but rather that it can enhance ones appreciation and understanding of that wine.

None of the stories from these bottles of wine are more vivid to me than the ones produced right in my backyard. For many of these wines I have met their creators, I have walked in their vineyards and I have even tasted the soil that nourishes the vines. I’m privileged to live In BC where the Okanagan and Vancouver Island wine regions are available to me whenever I want. Plus, my yearly visit to the Niagara Peninsula allows me to connect properly with its producers and products.

I really can’t recommend this type of trip more adamantly. Wherever you live, visit your local wine region and producers. You may prefer the wines of another country or region, but nevertheless I guarantee you will find it rewarding and allow you to appreciate your favourites wines that much more.

Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season. May your heart be open and your glass full.

Liam Carrier

Top 25 Value Wines of 2010

We've selected the top 25 value wines for 2010. This list features the wines we reviewed in 2010 that we feel represent the best value to the consumer. No price limit was applied to the list, nor was a simple price-to-points equation used. With this list we allowed ourselves to be subjective as to what "value" represents.

#1

Rollingdale Winery 2007 Reserve Pinot Noir - $24
If you're a Pinot Noir fanatic who finds too-many New World attempts far too fruity then you'll love this Reserve Pinot from Rollingdale. It's a steal at under $25!
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#2

Viñas Centenarias 2006 Sabor Real - $16
This 100% Tempranillo wine may turn out to be the best valued bargain of the year with a rustic bouquet of dark cherry, minerality, dried fruits and loads of toasted oak and earthy notes.
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#3

Chateau Des Charmes 2008 Riesling - $12.50
This pale-straw coloured Riesling is a cool customer with great mouth feel, crisp acidity, a lingering finish and is very easy drinking.
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#4

St. Hallett 2007 Shiraz - Grenache Gamekeepers Reserve - $15
Great value Australian blend. The nose offers notes of coffee, raspberry, and black licorice. The palate is jammy with raspberry, tar, and expresso. The finish is long and peppery.
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#5

Lake Breeze Vineyards 2009 Pinot Blanc - $18
The soils of the Naramata Bench are well represented here giving this estate-grown wine a sense of place that lesser Pinot Blanc fail to deliver. Well-balanced with a long finish and vivacious mouth feel.
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#6

Haras de Pirque 2008 Equus Carmenere - $16
Good acidity and tannins will keep this wine improving in your cellar for another 1-2 years and will be enjoyable through 2014.
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#7

Generation Seven Wines 2009 White - $14
A bit off-dry to balance the acidity, this blend of Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewurztraminer offers fantastic value for money with a lively palate displaying elements of each of the three varietals.
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#8

JL Giguiere 2006 Matchbook Syrah - $17
This wine offers excellent value and would make a great anyday pairing with BBQ meats or good company. Icon Score

#9

La Frenz Winery 2008 Montage - $22
A perennial favourite of IconWines.ca due to its value for money. Yes, the price went from $20 to $22 for the 2008 vintage, but you get a lot of wine for that $22. If I were forced to buy one case of red wine each year (luckily I'm not) this would be the wine.
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#10

Bodega Renacer 2008 Punta Final Malbec - $16
Easy-drinking and friendly with a velvety, soothing texture. A slightly shortened finish is very smooth and does leave your mouth with a lingering and tongue-tingling spice.
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#11

Fairview Cellars 2008 Two Hoots - $25
This is the Fairview Cellars wine to buy a case of each year as it follows a similar script to the big Bear, solid extraction, built to last and develop, but minus the complexity and price tag of the flagship Bordeaux-styled blend.
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#12

Stoneboat Vineyards 2009 Chorus - $18
This is an excellent, aromatic and juicy summer sipper. This wine is a must for next year's sunny patio-parties.
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#13

Road 13 Winery and Vineyards 2009 Honest John's White - $17
dry palate has just a touch of residual sugar which contrasts nicely with the high acidity making this an excellent wine to refresh you (and your guests) on a hot summer day. Offers great value.
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#14

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2007 Oldfield Series 2Bench Red - $30
Getting expensive for a "value" list, but this $30 Meritage blend over delivers for the price.
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#15

Undurraga 2008 Sibaris Pinot Noir - $14
A pleasant Pinot Noir from Chilean producer Undurraga that is easy to drink and easy on the pocket book. Perfect for a night when you want a laid-back, fruity Pinot with a splash of oak and don't want to spend a bunch for something more complex and challenging.
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#16

Tantalus Vineyards 2008 Riesling - $22
Overall this is an extremely fine medium plus bodied wine with near perfect balance. Works well with food.

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#17

Château des Charmes 2008 Gamay Droit - $17
The dry, medium-bodied palate follows with good continuity of flavours with added mineral and earthy notes. This is a quality, easy-drinking wine that will be a great match for roasted turkey dinners.
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#18

Cono Sur 2009 Viognier - $10
Not overly complex with a slightly sharp, short finish, but a very easy-drinking white wine, perfect for the anything-but-Chardonnay crowd and well worth the money.
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#19

Van Westen Vineyards 2008 Vino Grigio - $19
You can taste the Naramata Bench soils in this fully estate-grown wine. When drinking it you can easily imagine a beautiful, hot Okanagan summer day sitting on a sunny deck overlooking the lake.
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#20

La Frenz Winery 2009 Chardonnay - $20
Year-in-year-out the La Frenz "Peaches and Cream" Chardonnay offers astonishing value for what's uncorked, but the 2009 vintage pushes that value just a bit further.
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#21

Stag's Hollow Winery 2008 Simply Noir -$20
An excellent Pinot Noir driven food wine that would pair nicely with tomato-based pasta sauces or stews.
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#22

Herder Winery and Vineyards 2008 Meritage - $20
Aged in French and American oak for 16 months this is a great wine for those looking for a food-matching, BC Meritage around the $20 mark - one of the best at this price range.
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#23

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2009 Chardonnay - $17
Winemaker Sandra Oldfield has created a fun, moderately complex and most importantly, delectable and quenching Chardonnay.
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#24

Thirty Bench Estate Winery 2008 Red - $24
The Thirty Bench "Red", a blend of Merlot (38%), Cabernet Sauvignon (31%) and Cabernet Franc (31%), may not be the powerhouse Meritage blend that fellow Niagara Peninsula producers like Tawse and Hidden Bench produce but at half the price, you get a solid sipper that over-delivers.
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#25

Seven Stones Winery 2007 Standing Rock Meritage - $32
The fruit for the Standing Rock Meritage is completely estate grown in a beautiful 20 acre bench above the valley floor with a soil profile of sandy loam, limestone and clay. Very well priced at under $35.
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 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2010

Also see:
Top 10 Value Wines of 2009

2010 Icon Wine of the Year

The Icon Wine of the Year is presented to "the best" wine, released in the calendar year of 2010, that combines price, quality, pedigree, collectability, longevity and availability to the wine consuming public in Canada. The winner for 2010 is:

Stratus Vineyards 2007 Red
$44 - Niagara-on-the-Lake VQA

A unique blend of 7 red varietals, the five Bordeaux grapes with Syrah and Gamay, this dark ruby coloured wine offers concentrated aromas and a vibrant, juicy texture on the palate. Built to last, the wine has an excellent tannin structure which will afford a long life adorning the shelves of collectors' cellars. However, at $44 it need not play the role of a never-to-be-opened collectable. This is a wine that you can actually afford to drink (well, once in a while). For the cost of only one bottle of Chateau Palmer (in a great vintage) you can get a whole case of Stratus Red and enjoy one per year over the next 12.

The 2007 vintage is the best Stratus Red yet and shows the potential for future great vintages when the weather and viticulture practices align like the stars. Sustainable and Biodynamic practices are employed at Stratus Vineyards which gives the wine some Green "street cred" but really the proof is in the pudding (and the pudding is yummy).

The uniqueness of the blend must be vaunted one more time as it is key to the wine's success. With the popularity of Bordeaux-styled blends, or "Meritage" wines, nearly every red wine producing winery takes a stab at creating their own and many fabulous examples exist (see Top 25 Wines of 2010). The blend at Stratus, with the addition of Syrah and Gamay, however minute, adds a proprietary character to the wine that others can't duplicate. A watermark, if you will, that makes it "Stratus Red" and not just another Meritage blend.

The simple, yet stunning label/bottle presentation creates the sense that you're dealing with a modern winery that not only understands, but is routed in the classics. Ultra modern, but never flashy. Subtle, classic. And so is the wine.

 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2010 IconWines.ca

Also see:
2009 Icon Wine of the Year

BC Wine Deal: December 1st, 2010

The following wines have been reduced in price at participating VQA wine shops like The Wine Emporium in Langley. Some reductions are due to new vintages being released and others simply to move stock.

Gray Monk Pinot Blanc was $16.99 now $14.99
Prospect Merlot/Cabernet was $14.99 now $13.99
Prospect Shiraz was $16.99 now $15.99
Prospect Chardonnay was $12.99 now $11.99
Prospect Pinot Blanc was $12.99 now $11.99
Nk'Mip Pinot Blanc was $16.99 now $15.99
Summerhill Ehrenfelser was $19.97 now $17.95
Tinhorn Creek Merlot was $17.99 now $16.99
Township 7 Chardonnay was $19.99 now $18.49
Township 7 Merlot was $24.99 now $22.99

Wine Awards

2010

Icon Wine of the Year
Top 25 Wines of the Year

Top 25 Value Wines of the Year

2009

Icon Wine of the Year

Top Ten Wines of the Year

Top Ten Value Wines of the Year

• The "Wine of the Year" award is subjectively awarded to the wine that we feel was simply "the best" wine released to the public within the calendar year. Our top award.
• The "Top X Wines of the Year" lists feature the highest scoring wines that we reviewed in that calendar year.
• The "Top X Value Wines of the Year" lists feature the wines we reviewed in that calendar year which we feel represent the best value to the consumer.

 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2010

Top 25 Wines of 2010

The following wines received the twenty-five highest scores when reviewed by Icon Wines reviewer Liam Carrier (and contributors) in the calendar year of 2010. Omissions from the list include wines "from the cellar" and winery library releases. Ties were broken by taking into account availability, collectability and cellar worthiness.

#1

Blackwood Lane 2006 The Referènce - 95+pts
This attention to detail and use of elite components is all done to add complexity to the wine. Time must be taken with this wine to fully appreciate the complexity as it changes in the glass revealing hidden layers and clues to its secrets.
Full Review

 #2

Rollingdale Winery 2007 Pinot Noir Ice Wine - 93-94pts
Massive concentration of fruit aromas and flavours (apricot jam, strawberry, fuzzy peaches candy and raspberry cremesicle) are nicely contrasted with impressively high acidity. This leads to a very long, balanced and satisfying finish.
Full Review

#3

D'Arenberg 2006 The Dead Arm Shiraz - 93+pts
The Dead Arm name comes from a vine disease that randomly effects vineyards all over the world. This infection causes one arm of the vine to slowly deteriorate into dead wood. While one arm is dead, the other arm produces low yields with amazing intensity.
Full Review

#4

Stratus Vineyards 2007 Ice Wine Red - 93pts
A highly concentrated and flavourful ice wine that delivers strawberry, rhubarb and vanilla aromas and flavours. The finish goes on and on and changes in your mouth.
Full Review

#5 

Meyer Family Vineyards 2009 Micro Cuvée Chardonnay - 92-93pts
Meyer's top-of-the-line Micro Cuvée exudes character and pushes the quality benchmark for BC Chardonnay. In short, it's an "experience".
Full Review

#6

Hidden Bench Estate Winery 2008 Estate Chardonnay - 92-93pts
Brilliant in every way. Concentration, crispness and character. A simply divine Chardonnay from the Beamsville Bench producer.
Full Review

#7

La Frenz Winery 2007 Grand Total Reserve - 92-93pts
Year-in-year-out this is one of the top Meritage blends in the Province and remains fairly unheralded. Drinking beautifully now, but the fine, ripe tannins and good acidity will allow this wine to age comfortably for some time.
Full Review

#8

Fairview Cellars 2008 The Bear - 91-93pts
Highly collectable, age worthy and very well priced. Fairview's top blend, The Bear, always delivers.
Full Review

#9

Painted Rock Estate Winery 2007 Merlot - 91-92pts
This inky-ruby charmer from the winner of the Okanagan Valley's "Best New Winery" award for 2009 is a fantastic, cellar-worthy wine.
Full Review

#10

Rollingdale Winery 2007 Reserve Pinot Noir - 91-92pts
If you're a Pinot Noir fanatic who finds too-many New World attempts far too fruity then you'll love this Reserve Pinot from Rollingdale.
Full Review

#11

Blackwood Lane 2007 Merlot - 90-92pts
Big, fruity aromas of dark cherries, toasted oak, milk chocolate, maple syrup, a hint of slate and notes of Cabernet Franc funk await you on the nose.
Full Review

#12

Stratus Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Franc - 90-92pts
This Cabernet Franc from Niagara-On-The-Lake producer Stratus Vineyards is as smoky and seductive as a cabaret burlesque review. Age worthy and collectable.
Full Review

#13

La Frenz Winery 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - 90-92pts
We strongly recommend cellaring this beauty for two years before opening it to truly get the most out of it - let it be one of the better wines you drink in 2012.
Full Review

#14

JoieFarm 2008 PTG - 90-92pts
Combining the classic barnyard funk of a Burgundian-style Pinot Noir with the bright fruitiness of a Beaujolais - all-the-while staying true to its Okanagan roots.
Full Review

#15

Tawse Winery 2008 Laundry Vineyard Cabernet Franc - 91+pts
Balanced and complex with a long finish, this dark ruby coloured wine is drinking beautifully now and has the potential for further development in the bottle.
Full Review

#16

Le Clos Jordanne Estate Wines 2007 Talon Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir - 91+pts
This is a high quality Pinot Noir that has been built to age. We recommend squirreling this beauty away for another year or two for further development.
Full Review

#17

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2007 Oldfield Series 2Bench Red - 91+pts
Sadly this excellent Meritage blend, which is also making the Top 20 Value Wines list, is now sold-out at the winery. Seak it out at private stores and restaurants.
Full Review

#18

Edge Wines 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon - 91+pts
You'll find youthful aromas of raspberry, cassis and plum with toasty oak notes on the nose of this American and French oaked wine (16 months).
Full Review

#19

Thirty Bench Estate Winery 2007 Small Lot Chardonnay - 91pts
A superb example of a restrained, complex and very tasty Beamsville Bench Chardonnay.
Full Review

#20

Poplar Grove Winery 2006 The Legacy - 91pts
The aging of this delicious Meritage blend has been done for you at the winery and thus the wine is approachable upon release.
Full Review

#21

Black Hills Estate Winery 2008 Nota Bene - 91pts
This wine may be based on a classic Bordeaux-style blend but it reminded us more of a quality Super-Tuscan with great vegetal notes on the nose and earthiness on the palate.
Full Review

#22

Road 13 Winery and Vineyards 2009 Jackpot Riesling - 91pts
This bone-dry Riesling with strong, citrus acidity, never feels harsh on the palate due to the presence of lush tropical fruit flavours complimenting the stone fruit character. Supremely well balanced.
Full Review

#23 

Seven Stones Winery 2007 Standing Rock Meritage - 91pts
This is a beautiful and elegant wine with good concentration and complexity. Very well priced at under $35.
Full Review

#24

Nichol Vineyard and Estate Winery 2008 Syrah - 90-91pts
One of the best Syrah in BC from one of the best terroir in BC, Naramata Bench.Yummy!
Full Review

#25

La Crema 2008 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay - 90-91pts
Gorgeous Chardonnay from Sonoma Valley with a silky-smooth palate and intense fruit and mineral rich nose. Very well balanced.
Full Review


 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2010

Also see:

Top 10 Wines of 2009