Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler wine thread

Wine tour part deux.

My daughter was in town again the last week of April, so we decided to check out a few more wineries. We could not have picked a better day. It was sunny and 24 C with a light breeze coming off the lake. The cherry trees were in full blossom.

Since my father and step mother joined us this time, we revisited several of the wineries from the last trip. The wines at Hidden Bench, Malviore and Rosewood Estates were just as tasty as last time. I picked up a very nice, just released, red at Rosewood that had a wonderful nose and very smooth finish.

Calamus estates wins for the best building: a renovated barn. From the road it looks like you are pulling into farmer Joe's barn yard. I picked up a very nice Pinot Noir.

There's a nice picture on their homepage: http://www.calamuswines.com/

We stopped for lunch at the Lake House restaurant. It sits right on Lake Ontario. Though the patio was not open, we still had a table with a good view of the lake.

When a woman in a black evening gown opens the door to the winery for you, you know it's going to be 'spensive. How to describe Straus: big building, big nose, big prices! The entrance is a 16' tall black double door. The sales/display area is two stories tall with wine shelves that go up 15'. My dad took one look at the prices and walked out.

It seems that blended wines are in. Straus has a number of blended reds and whites. I tried three and they were all very good. I picked up the Straus white, a blend of 38% Chardonnay, 29% Semillon, 22% Sauvignon Blanc, 6% Gewurztraminer and 5% Viognier. This wine has a HUGE nose (Habsburg huge if you are wondering Mark): floral and very fruity. I could have spend the rest of the day inhaling its aroma.

Just down the road, Lailey is just the opposite with a small unassuming sales/tasting area, but equally good, if not better, wines. I tried a couple of very good Chardonnays, but the outstanding wine here was a very unusual Riesling. It had a very floral nose that reminded me of lilacs. That nose carried through to the taste. It was also quite dry for a Riesling. Normally I find dry Rieslings to be too acidic, but this one was not. I'm really looking forward to this bottle.

The last stop of the day was Coyotes Run. These guys have two different soils on their property and grow several varieties on both soils effectively producing two different wines from one grape. You can read about the soils and their effect on flavour here.

I tried the Pinot Noir from both vineyards. One was more fruit forward and bright. The other was what I would consider a more traditional French red: full bodied and dry with a hint of earthiness (cassis and mushrooms intheir description). Both were very good.

The exceptional wine here was a bubbly I can't remember the flavour notes, but it was dry, but not extremely so. I remember it having a long smooth finish.

Many thanks bluJays1 for the excellent list of wineries to visit!