2009 Ahmic Lake Pinot Noir Showdown - Part I

Experimenting With Pinot Noir

Background:

The adjacent Beamsville Bench and Twenty Mile Bench are in close proximity to the town of Beamsville and Vineland Ontario respectively. These appellations exhibit many similarities to the Burgundy and Alsace regions of France. The most celebrated wines coming out of these regions are Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir.

The soils in both benches are deep and rich in limestone and glacial till. The minerality really shows in Rieslings and the Pinot Noirs. The locations on the Niagara escarpment and proximity to Lake Ontario provide these appellations with gradual warming in the spring and gradual cooling in the fall with long growing seasons which allows for full ripeness and good concentration.

After visiting nine wineries in the Niagara peninsula I was able to acquire three Ontario Pinot Noirs that were of approximately equal value ($25-$35). Each of these Pinot Noirs came from either the Twenty Mile Bench or Beamsville Bench from known and established wineries. I had visited 2 of the 3 wineries wines and other came from a well known producer of Pinot Noir in the region.

Both LC and myself are big fans of Pinot Noir and it seemed like an interesting experiment to pit three of the top end Niagara wine producers against each other (if nothing else for something to do). You will see more of this from Icon Wines with different varietals, different regions, and different formats, and to a certain degree this was a trial run.

All of the Pinot Noirs tasted throughout the Niagara Region were quite good, however I thought it would be interesting to see what 5 random and `average`wine drinkers came up with in terms of preference. I decided to do the tasting `blind` just to eliminate any preconceptions of cost or producer bias.

The Wines:

Le Clos Jordanne Village Reserve Pinot Noir 2006 ($25 at the Jackson Triggs Niagara Winery):

Le Clos Jordanne is owned by Vincor in partnership with Boisset France. LCJ specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay which are the grapes grown best in the Twenty Mile Bench. This region is very similar to that of Burgundy France in terms of soil and precipitation. The Village Reserve grapes are an assemblage from four vineyards and this offering is the entry level Pinot Noir for LCJ out of four in this flight. The top end Icon Class Pinot Noir produced by LCJ is Le Grand Clos and sells for approximately $70/bottle.

Tawse Pinot Noir 2007 ($32 at the winery):

Tawse is a Beamsville Bench Winery that is known for great Pinot Noirs. Tawse is a small lot producer and has a flight of 4 Pinot Noirs. The Chardonnay’s produced from this winery are very good (Robin’s Block Chardonnay was a stand out for me). The winery is beautiful and the grounds have an old world feel. There is a serious impact when you approach this winery and Tawse are serious winemakers that have made an impact on winemaking in the Niagara Peninsula.

Thirty Bench Small Lot Pinot Noir 2007 ($35 at the winery):

Thirty Bench is one of the oldest wineries in the Beamsville bench area, and has made a reputation for itself with their flight of four Rieslings. Their reds and red blends are truly outstanding and the private tastings were a fun and informative experience. TB has one Pinot Noir from a small lot vineyard. The red blends were truly a standout for this winery. And this was by far one of the best wine producers I had the pleasure of visiting while in the Niagara Region

The Rules:

The rules for the showdown were quite simple. Each of the five `judges` were given a pad with three sheets of paper. Each sheet of paper was labelled with Wine 1, Wine 2, or Wine 3. For each of the three wines I had the judges (regardless of "winemanship") write notes about 1) The Nose 2) The Palate 3) The Finish, and 4) A rating between 1 and 10.

The tasting was blind (for myself as well) and we were freely able to discuss what people tasted and which wines they liked and disliked and why. Each judge was poured one round of tasting size samples of each wine. Upon completion of the first round the second round was poured in the same order with the glasses being rinsed and dried between tastings. After these two rounds the judges had a choice of wines they wanted to try and again to make their final decisions.

At the end of the official tasting the judges submitted their notes and the ratings were tallied. The wine with the highest accumulated score was the winner of the Pinot Noir showdown 2009.

Beyond that it was a free for all with the remainder of the wine and a good time was had by all.

The Judges:

The judges were not wine snobs as much as they were lovers of wine. It was for this reason that I thought a fair assessment of the wines could be obtained and ultimately the `People`s Choice` could be realized. It was the intent that the average reader could look at this showdown and say this is what 5 random people thought was the preferred Pinot Noir, maybe I`ll go try that out.

The cross section of judges was this. 2 retired females (a former insurance broker and an administrative assistant for a law firm), 2 early 30`s male professionals (an OPP officer and a natural resource consultant), and finally an early thirties female professional (a clinical scientist). While it was not the most diverse group it did give a fairly good distribution of backgrounds and age considering there were only five judges.

One interesting note about the judges was that one of them claimed not to be a `red wine` drinker and it turned out by the end of the showdown we had a convert. I believe that is saying something for the Ontario Pinot Noirs.

Stayed tuned for the results of the Pinot Noir showdown, the winner and some general conclusions.

Go to Part II

Winnipeg Wine Scene? - Part 2

Winnipeg Wine

There is one local wine producer based in Winnipeg: DD Leobard Winery. This winery specializes in fruit wines and are known for a curious little oddity called Tansi (Birch Wine) made from fermenting the sap of the birch trees.

Tasting notes: Semi-sweet wine. On the nose: light bouquet of damp, freshlycut wood. On the palate, mild fruit flavours, low acidity. For a full review of this wine, please visit our sister site: http://www.iconscores.blogspot.com/
DD Leobard have stated that they are working on two new table wines made from outsourced grapes, essentially, blends made from imported juice concentrates. For more information about this winery, visit their site: www.ddleobardwinery.com/

Wine Lists

Many Winnipeg restaurants do have decent wine lists, but few had much more than house wines or one white and one red for by-the-glass sampling. Even a couple of the restaurants using “Wine Bar” as part of their marketing had very few options for by-the-glass. On the plus side, the use of the term “Wine bar” in these restaurants’ marketing material would indicate that they are starting to realize that interest in wine is on the rise, but they must produce the goods or remove the word ‘wine’.
Our favourite night out came in an area of Winnipeg called Osbourne Village. This neighbourhood is home to many of the city’s young and not-so-young hipsters who patronize the many restaurants, bars and funky shops. The area is also home to the city’s two true wine bars: Noir, and Fude. Noir () had an impressive by-the-glass wine list (impressive in length if not in quality). They offer wine flights, which is a fun way to try more wines than you normally might in one visit. Fude (www.fude.ca/) is slightly more of a restaurant but did have a good selection of by-the-glass wines and small plates to nibble on.

Where to Buy

Manitoba’s provincial liquor board authority has outlets all over the city which offer a reasonable selection of wines priced in the $10 - $25 range. Sadly, the name they came up with for these stores was “Liquor Mart” because nothing says “fine vintage wine” like “Liquor Mart”. In fairness, the name appeals to the majority of Winnipeg consumers who aren’t purchasing wine but, rather, are choosing from a large selection of spirits and beer. Many of the Liquor Marts do have small “Vintages” sections where they showcase a few premium import wines, and a few stores also had a premium Canada section with some of the top brands from Vincor and Peller Andrews.
I was able to locate only one private wine store during my stay. Luckily, it was a good one. Fenton’s Wine Merchants is located in tourist area called “The Forks”. This area is a fun place to spend a day or afternoon and offers a public market, restaurants, live entertainment and antique shops. Fenton’s has a great selection of Californian, Spanish, French and Italian wines and was reasonably priced. I picked up a fine Francis Ford Coppola Pinot Noir which I had to consume right away since I could not bring it home due to Canada’s antiquated liquor laws.

In Conclusion

There is no denying that Winnipeg is a beer and spirits city. However, if the younger generation frequents restaurants like Osborne Village’s Noir and Fude more often, and the wine festival continues to increase attendance year after year, there is hope in Winnipeg’s future for a true wine scene to develop.. As I will undoubtedly be revisiting Winnipeg for family obligations in the years to come, here’s hoping. - LC

Winnipeg Wine Scene? - Part 1

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Whenever I travel to a new city I am always curious to investigate the local wine scene and see what, if anything, stands out. Such was my goal for my recent trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba (July 2009). The impetus for the trip was to meet more of my wife’s extended family based in Canada’s central-most provinces. Manitoba, to a west coaster like me, seems more like the centre of the country than a western cousin until you visit the province and recognize the same laid-back approach to life that we are accustomed to in Vancouver.

Manitoba may be the land of 100,000 lakes, but the area around Winnipeg is pure prairie. You can literally see for miles and miles - a unique experience for someone used to mountains in every direction.

The province has a short and (normally) very hot growing season which is not ideal for growing grapes but is ideal for growing fruit. 2009 has been a bad summer for sunlight hours, which will lead to many crops ripening very late. The effect on the province’s fruit wine producers remains to be seen.

Winnipeg is the cultural and economic capital of the Manitoba and is by far, its largest city with over 600,000 residents. A few of them drink wine… but more on that a bit later.

To determine if the city you are exploring has a wine scene, you must first establish your evaluation criteria.. For me, a fair standard would be: a yearly wine festival, the existence of a local wine industry, long and diverse restaurant wine lists and the ability of the city’s residents to purchase a wide variety of wines.. With those being the criteria, Winnipeg scores on all counts. However, to be fair to the fine wine cities of the world, it scores pretty low.

Wine Festival

The yearly Winnipeg wine festival runs in May and is attended by the city’s glitterati and wine enthusiasts. The six-day festival offers many different tasting events to attend. Some are perennially booked and others are one-off specials. This year the festival chose to set as the theme for the festival “The Wines of Chile.” Thirty wineries from Chile were showcased including these Chilean stand-outs: Luis Felipe Edwards, Miguel Torres Chile and Concha y Toro. For more information about the Winnipeg Wine Festival, visit their website: www.winnipegwinefestival.com/

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