Thursday, December 31, 2009

Stonechurch 2006 Dry Riesling

Found December 2009

In my New Year's write up I mentioned three wines that we had that were very good and a number (without names) that were not up to snuff or, most likely, not what most people wanted to drink ... but this one took the cake. I know I said I would protect the names of the innocent but this is not an innocent wine, this was just plain and simple sloppy wine making, a bad marketing decision, or both. This Dry Riesling from Stonechurch was a "pre-release" wine, in fact the label had been handwritten on with a silver Sharpie marker. Over time I had noticed a little sediment in the bottle, odd for a Riesling, when I asked at the winery about it they said that was because it was a pre-release and they may not have filtered it as finely as they normally would. This should have tipped me off that something was wrong with this wine, but I wanted to believe, and I know I liked the wine when I tasted it at the winery. Tonight, I opened it and the cork made a bigger pop than the Champagne I opened later in the evening. The wine, when poured into the glass, fizzed and bubbled more than a can of warm coke and the taste, ick. The wine had re-fermented in the bottle and had transformed into an undrinkable sparkling wine, where once a still wine should have been ... no wonder the next few wines didn't go over well, most were still remembering this Riesling disaster. Turns out I still have a bottle left, this will be good for clearing clogged drains and cleaning the toilet. Lost & Found Rating: Trash

Southbrook Winery 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon - Lailey Vineyard

Found December 2009

New Year's Eve 2009 ... as we move from 2009 to 2010 I decided to open quite a few wines (well actually 3), the others can be found here ... as for the Ontario component of my evening it was this well aged Cabernet Sauvignon from Southbrook. Those who read my entries to this blog know that Southbrook used to be my local winery and I seem to have quite a few bottles of theirs that go back a few years. This wine would have been made from fruit sourced at Lailey Vineyard down in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Southbrook at this time, did not own their own vines. I drank this one after a much younger, more alcoholly, richer fruited Malbec from Argentina, but it still held it's own. The smells were that of an older wine with cranberry, dried raspberries and blackberries with the mildest whiff of green pepper (an Ontario signature smell around this time period). The palate was smooth (though a tad gritty from the unfiltered floaties - but it is this element that has allowed the wine to age so gracefully so no use complaining), there was also a touch of white pepper and a bit of woodsiness to mix with the dried fruit base. Paired well with the New Year's Eve pizza. Lost & Found Rating: Treasure