Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler wine thread

Missed your post Chess. I haven't gone to Peller for a few years now. I'll have to give it a try next trip.

The weather was exceptional for this time of year: 18C and mostly sunny.

Went back to Calamus estates again as my dad really liked some of their wines. Last trip I thought they were good. This time I'm upgrading them to really good! Picked up a rose that is a blend of Gewürztraminer, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc. It has an awesome nose. I think what I like about a good Rose as that it has body and flavour approaching a red without any of the tanin pucker. Also picked up a 2010 Cab Sovignon that is really good. The nose has strong hints of resberry jam.

The deal of the day was a $9 '09 Merlot from Peninsula Ridge. It had a very full fruity nose and a very long smooth finish. An above average red at an incredible price!

We had an excellent lunch on the patio at Strewn. Their home made bread was amazing: 12 grain flavoured with fennel. I had a thin crust pizza with a tapanade base instead of tomato sauce, topped with goat cheese, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and red pepper. I'm not a big fan of olives but this tapanade made for a really tasty base.

Unfortunately the wines there were not so good. Not really bad, but nothing exceptional either. With so many other wineries in the area (130+ now I'm told) OK is not good enough. I'll give them a pass in the future.

We went back to Lailey again where I picked up a very nice Riesling and an exceptional Chardonay. It was quite full bodied (for a white) with a very long and smooth finish.

We finished the tour at Reif Estate, apparently one of the oldest wineries in the Niagara region. I tried a 2012 Gewurztraminer that did not taste at all like a Gewurz at all. None of that spicy bite. It had a hint of a nutmeg in the finish. Quite unusual, but not something I would buy.

They did, however have an exceptional botrytis Riesling. The nose is the most unusual I have come across. I don't know how to describe it other than that there was no hint of the sweetness of the wine in it and the nose was completely different from the taste of the wine. It will be a hit at the family Christmas get together.

All in all it was a great day.