Lost & Found on the Move

To make it easier for both you and me we have officially combined two blogs into one ... the new Lost and Found can now be located with it's brother blog Taste it Again:  

http://tasteitagain.blogspot.ca/

Be sure to check out all the Taste it Again and Lost and Fount wines there.

Cheers
Michael Pinkus
The Grape Guy

Del-Gatto 2007 Bella Vigne Leon Millot / Foch

Found February 2014

Talk about an odd find in the cellar ... I had no idea it was down there or how it got there.  I hate to say it, it was probably a wine that was sent to me by the winemaker and by the time it got into the rotation it was sold out; so I lay it down to see what happened.  The last one I have a notes of is the 2006 which made my Weekly Wine Note back in January 2008.  After finding this wine I decided to take it into my wine class to see what they thought of this aged hybrids blend from this Prince Edward County winery.  Here I think they got more than they bargained for as this wine seemed to go against every convention.  First on the nose there's a blood orange aroma which seems to mix with tomato and / or clamato juice, plus there's an herbal sensation.  Moving on to the palate that herbal and orange mixture comes across and adds a spiced rum cola note that is very very interesting ... all told it was a much better sip than expected, some even asked for seconds.  Lost and Found Rating:  Tolerable

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Fielding Estate 2006 Chardonnay Musque

Found February 2014

thanks to K. Selezen for taking the pic

I put little to no faith in un-oaked wines being age-able (except Riesling) - and I've done plenty of tests to come to that conclusion (knowingly and unknowingly).  This year alone I've opened a 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, a 2008 Un-oaked Chardonnay and a 2007 Gamay each with no oak and each had its problems.  So when I found a bottle of Fielding 2006 Chardonnay Musque in a box of "to hold" wines in my cellar I had to question myself: "What was I thinking?"  Now Chardonnay Musque is traditionally an un-oaked, flowery, fruity version of Chardonnay made from a clone of the Chardonnay grape that has musky aromas to it - which is where the "musque" name comes from.  I popped the cork, poured the wine into a glass, and took a deep sniff, totally prepared to be disappointed and walk away ... but wait, it's non-offensive:  honey, melon and floral aromas greet the nose ... it's actually downright pleasant and most importantly it continues to be thus over the next hour.  Surely the palate is where this wine will fall apart (I think to myself) - but no: tropically tinged fruit, mainly pineapple, greet the buds, followed by over-ripe peach backed by wildflower honey aspects ... sweet fruit with an interesting medium length finish that keeps you coming back for more.  Surprisingly drinkable and pleasantly so, if you have some in your cellar I suspect now is the time to drink up and truly enjoy this find.  [I also served this during one of my wine classes and of the 7 wines poured this received top marks and raves from everyone].   Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

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Marynissen Estates 2002 Cabernet Franc

Found December 2013

This is a dichotomy of a wine, and right from the get go I was not sure whether I liked it or not.  The aromas were not pleasant, nor did they really come around, a cross between Buckley's cough syrup, rotting leaves and dried tobacco, by the two hour mark some black licorice materialized and that added a little pleasantness to the smells (a very little pleasantness) - otherwise it was not a wine I liked dipping my nose into.  And what's worse, if you just let it sit in the glass it filled the room with those oddball smells (aerating it created the better aromas of what I mentioned earlier).  But that is only have the story.  The palate more than made up for the nose, and what's even more exciting are the changes that occurred, over the two hours in was in my glass, were in direct opposition of the aromas.  The tastes started out with lots of tobacco; what made it easy to drink was the smooth nature of the wine, but it still had good acidity backing it up and all with a pleasant mouthfeel.  Over the course of the first hour it developed some dried-raspberry, along with hints of cinnamon, a delicate white-smokiness and some anise notes.  By hour two there were a definite pleasant smokiness, dried red berries, tobacco, clove, and burnt cedar.  Considering the age and the aromas eminating from the glass this is some pretty awesome stuff - I found some real pleasure in drinking it ... The wine is definitely past its peak but still mighty drinkable, if you can just get passed the smell.  Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

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Jackson-Triggs 2004 Delaine Vineyard Syrah

Found November 2013

This past Saturday we had a friend over and I decided to pull out some older wines, well two.  One was a bottle of Hillebrand Wild Ferment Chardonnay from 2006, which turned out to be quite a beauty - the other was even older and even more amazing, because if you think of the vintage in Ontario that particular year (2004), and consider the grape variety of this wine, you'll think it pretty amazing indeed that this wine survived as long, and as well, as it did.  Upon opening there was an earthy nuance that came from the wine but it settled down quickly and things started to happen, both on the nose and the palate.  Blueberry and white pepper emerged, then some time later there were elements of smoky dried fruit then it turned into definitive aromas (and the occasion taste) of Montreal smoked meats with just a touch of thyme (there was an herbal quality that took us a while to put our collective fingers on - or should I say our noses around, but this is what we all agreed upon in the end).  An amazing find in the cellar and a wine filled with so much complexity.  If you have this in the cellar I think it's time to pull out this bottle of 9-year-old Syrah and enjoy.  Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

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Inniskillin 2006 Reserve Series Pinot Noir

Found October 2013
Read this review from 6 months ago - it's getting even better

This was a surprise of a wine.  Not that I didn't think it would age, but that it aged so well.  2006 was a year that Pinot Noir would have thrived as it was not an incredible vintage for big heavy reds, but the lighter ones would have done quite well and the acidity would have been good for things like Chardonnay, Riesling, Gamay and, of course, Pinot Noir - wines that really need the acidity to make them sing in the glass and helps them age well.  The Inniskillin 2006 Reserve Series Pinot Noir has a gold label, as you can see from the picture, and it truly deserves the gold status is gave itself.  Dried strawberry, earthy and smooth right from the get go and throughout the time I drank it; it was a delightfully tasty wine with a med long finish and something else that showed was a seam of strawberry that appeared in many facets and stages thru the course of the drinking.  The above noted flavours and smells were always there but there was also a myriad of others that came and went over the course of the couple of hours I sipped on it: things like vanilla, cedar, clove and cinnamon all managed to make and appearance and add to the enjoyment of this wine.  If you have some of this in the cellar it is now time to drink.  Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

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Lailey Vineyard 2008 Zweigelt

Found October 2013

It causes me great pains to write such a review - because I am usually a fan of wines from Lailey - but at Thanksgiving I decided to open a few older bottles with the family.   Now I have to take some responsibility for this bottle, after all I was the one who waited this long to open it; but how else do we learn about older wine unless we store them away and open them on a rainy day.  Now I know Zweigelt isn't known for it's robust and fresh fruit character but this one was pure badness:  leathery, pencil shavings, band-aid along with caraway seed, and even more band-aid.  There was not one person who could find a redeeming feature about it ... chalk this one up to experience - thankfully we had some other excellent bottles that night.  Lost & Found Rating:  Trash

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Maleta Vineyards 2001 Meritage

Found October 2013

Shhh, don't tell my wife, but I kinda enjoy when she leaves town to visit her family for a few days.  I have nothing to hide but if she saw the amount of time I spend in my wine cellar that weekend she would have flipped (why was I not cleaning other parts of the house?)  Now, I did not spend 24 hours or anything silly like that, I just took a few hours to re-arrange and move stuff around and also make some discoveries, like this 2001 Maleta Meritage.  I was really looking forward to this one as it had been a silver medal winner (as the sticker on the bottle proudly proclaimed) and 2001 was a pretty good year for reds in Ontario.  Except for one little spotted creature it would have been a perfect year ... and alas the Asian Lady Beetle had infected this wine as well.  Back when this wine won its award I am sure it was not as pronounced, but today it's all rancid peanut on the nose that just keeps getting stronger the longer it stays open ... sadly, you could make out that lovely fruit that would have been there if not for that off putting nose (especially on the palate) - flavours were muted, but another surprise was that the fruit and acidity still seem to be very much intact ... it's really just the off-putting nose, and the muting of the fruit that stands in its way.  Lost & Found Rating:  Trash

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Magnotta 2002 Cabernet Franc, Limited Edition

Found August 2013

Funny that this should be a Lost and Found bottle, I have three in the cellar, well two now.  Not quite sure why I was lying this down so long, and especially on my, what I call, "Drink Now" rack - I guess the now never came, until ... well ... now.  The original thought for tonight was to have this bottle with chicken Parmesan, but due to a heavier than expected lunch we decided on a lighter scallop and peas meal - but there is no need to miss out on trying a wine just because you've changed the menu, fact is I drank a glass while cooking and another half glass after dinner.  That should mean I found the wine to be delicious, right?  Well I wouldn't go that far.  It was definitely drinkable, the nose was smoke with lots of black raspberry notes; the palate started off smoky and stayed that way ... other elements kept coming in and out but smoky always stayed ... there was also plenty of oak and some dried fruit, but above all it was oaky and smoky with wood tannins taking over near the end (two hours after opening).  Those other two bottles will have to be consumed rather quickly before the wood and smoke fully over-take.  Might be a nice pairing with some burgers on the charcoal grill ... that'll be my next experiment.  Lost & Found Rating:  Tolerable +

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Cave Spring Cellars 2005 La Penna

Found June 2013

It's not that I have never tried this wine before, but this is a wine that upon released was so big it was hard to gauge where it was going to be.  This was one of the first Amarone-style wines that was made in Ontario and it only figures that long-time Cave Spring winemaker Angelo Pavan would give it ago.  Now, with some years under the cork I decided it was time to give this wine another go ... and it was delicious.  A nose of cherry, chocolate and sweet vanilla lured you in for a taste and what a taste it was.  Nice cherry and spice with cocoa and vanilla all lending a part to the long finish.  As it sat in the glass a spiced cocoa sensation took over the finish and the mid-palate had lots of big lush fruit like cherry and blackberry.  This wine felt and tasted fresh in the mouth, was lively and it also had a decent amount of acidity to keep it from being cloying or thick.  With 14% alcohol it was a heavy-weight without the heavy-weight feel.  I do believe this wine still have another 5-7 years with ease.  Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

Found Original Review

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Rockway Glen 2006 RIesling

Found June 2013

Here's a 2006 I found in a box in my cellar from what was once a dodgy producer ... the reason I said "once was" because Rockway Glen now has recently taken on a new name, new identity and new lease-on-life.  Now called Rockway Vineyards the winery is starting to produce a very good small lot line-up of wines under their new winemaker David Stasiuk ... but this wine is from back in the day when the winery was a golf course first and a winery played a very minor second fiddle to that enterprise.  The nose has aromas of lime cordial with a drop of petrol ... the palate is dried apricot and lemon peel, there's also some decent acidity and a bruised apple sweetness to balance it off.  It all ends with a sort of bitter dried lemon peel / pith finish.  It's not the best aged Riesling I've ever tried but it certainly isn't the worst, which is why I am giving it the Lost & Found rating you see at the end of this review, and yes that is a minus sign.  Lost & Found Rating:  Tolerable -

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Niagara College 2009 Sauvignon Blanc - Kevin Watson Vineyard

Found May 2013

Sadly I am going to give this wine a very poor write up and it's really not it's fault; I blame myself completely for this fiasco of a wine.  When we bought this wine a few years back is was lovely and fresh with great citrus quality - unfortunately the review never made it to the website (ontariowinereview.com).  But I found this bottle while looking for something refreshing and fun to drink and with the date of 2009 I thought it just might have survived due to the high acidity that year brought to the wines - alas that was not to be.  I am to blame as I socked this one away instead of putting it in the forefront of my wine cellar.  But here is how it tastes now:  The nose was hay with some freshly mowed lawn thrown in, there was also some grapefruit rind added to the mix. But it wasn't the nose that was the problem, it was the palate, which had lost all elements of Sauvignon Blanc, it tasted rancid and bitter with a real unpleasant after-taste.  This wine was inadvertently lost and sometimes when that happens you can never get them back ... no matter how hard you look and pray that they'll come back.  It's true in life as it is in wine.  In the end the nose was passable but the palate was something you just couldn't get passed.  Lost & Found Rating:  Trash

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Featherstone 2003 Cabernet Franc - Estate Bottled

Found May 2013

I visited Featherstone earlier in the week and made the decision to try my oldest bottle of Featherstone wine, which just happened to be this 2003 Cabernet Franc.  I want to tell you it was lovely.  I want to tell you it held up so well that I was shocked.  I want to tell you that 2003 is a better year than we give it credit for ... but unfortunately I can't say any of that.  The wine isn't horrible - that's the best thing I can say ... in fact it's not bad and tolerable, but it lacks any depth or elegance, it's a one note pony (to steal from a few phrases).  It's leafy and herbaceous with some smoky dried tobacco leaf on the nose.  Palate has some bitter coffee notes from the get go, goes to dry and smoky tobacco leaf and settles into something leafy with a little tannin.  It's not a great wine, it's definitely drinkable but it's not going to be your favourite old wine and by the two hour mark it's very nondescript and not very appealing.  Lost & Found Rating:  Tolerable

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Inniskillin 2006 Pinot Noir - Reserve Series

Found April 2013

Here's another happy but surprising find in my cellar.  Not sure how I missed this one the first time through but am I glad I waited on this one, because I would say it's a perfect Pinot experience - but not for those who like em young and fresh, you're gonna have to like the aged character of wine here.  The nose is earthy and smoky with some balsamic-raspberry notes on both the nose and taste; that's how the palate kicks off before segueing into eathy-strawberry with more balsamic.  As it sits in the glass the balsamic continues to intensify all the while throwing in dried fruits and earthy character ... the finish is dry and slightly oaky with little hits of vanilla that appear here and there.  A lovely seven year old Pinot that's a delicious wine right now.  Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

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Pillitteri Estates 2007 Exclamation Reserve Merlot

Found February 2013

This is a disappointing bottle of wine and for so many reasons.  The year was one of the best Ontario had seen to date and the grapes would have been perfect for making a great bottle of Merlot - but there was just something very off and very funky about this bottle.  The best thing I can say about it is that there is some (stress on the word some) fruit in here and it's sweet and dried ... but other than that look out.  There is volatile acidity running rampant (that's a smell of nail polish remover) and it never seems to let up.  The packaging on this wine is quite striking, with it's metal plate front label and silver back label, but that's the only thing that is striking about this bottle - except maybe the fact that it strikes out ... only 6 years old and the fruit has faded and every seems over oaked, oxidized and, well, not very good.  I expected so much more from this bottle and it let me down.  If you have some let me know your thoughts but my bottle just didn't stand up.  Lost & Found Rating:  Trash

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Tawse 2004 Chardonnay (Beamsville Bench)

Found January 2013

Here's a wine I was glad to have lost in my cellar, but the truth is I didn't really lose it I was waiting on it ... but finally, last night the waiting gave in to "gotta try it".  I was suppose to be joining some fellow writers for dinner, but alas the weather did me no favours and I had to beg off - so I decided to open one of the bottles I had planned to open with them, and it just so happened to be this bottle of 2004 Chardonnay from Tawse.  This is kind of a historical bottle, as it is one of the first Chardonnay's that was made chez Tawse, and if you are lucky enough to have one kicking around your cellar I would tell you that it might be the time to drink it.  The nose started off very oaky and buttery, then turned a little funky with tomato stalk and asparagus notes - there was also the hint of tinned creamed corn.  The palate followed up on some of what was on the nose, like the creamed corn, adding vanilla, butter, oak, hints of the stalky-vegginess (on occasion) - but for the most part the wine was creamy on the palate and well worth drinking.  Lost & Found Rating: Treasure

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13th Street 2004 Riesling

Found December 2012

Not sure how a bottle of 13th Street Riesling got lost in the cellar, let alone a bottle of 2004, but it did and now I find myself popping the cork on a snowy Saturday in late December.  Not exactly the wine you would associate with pizza for dinner - but as it turns out the wine was picked before dinner was fully established ... as it turned out we decided to make a pizza delivery guy work (and drive in the snow) than moving ourselves to the kitchen and doing some work ourselves.  As for the wine:  I have to admit I was a little leery of the bottle because it had a super-saturated cork (at least three-quarters of the way up and was leaking - or at least the foil capsule was tough to pry off the top of the bottle.  We deemed it okay to drink and then the fun started.  There were hints of petrol on the nose and the finish was quite dry - even though the bottle declared it to be a semi-dry wine.  The flavours were the most telling with citrus, in the form of lime, poached pears, honeyed peaches and apricots which all make an appearance on the mid-palate before the sweet and sour sensation of bruised green apple took over the finish.  This was a lovely wine and showed great longevity (8 years) - especially for a wine with a leaky cork.   Lost & Found Rating: Treasure

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Jackson-Triggs 2002 Proprietors' Grand Reserve Meritage

Found November 2012

Every so often I come across a bottle that I am sure I have tasted before, but as I go through my website and notes I find that I have never put pen to paper about a specific bottle and I wonder what I did with the original notes.  Most wines that end up in my wine cellar (especially if they are of Canadian origin) I have tasted before and thought they would be good candidates to lie down for a spell.  But some do slip between the cracks ... This must have been one of those.  But in truth I'm glad I "lost" this one because it made for an interesting tasting.  This Meritage is from the hot 2002 vintage, which was a good one for reds here in Ontario.  The blend, according to the back label is Merlot dominant at 42% - with the Cabernets: Sauvignon and Franc clocking in at 38 and 20 respectively.  I also admit to aiding this one a little by using my VinOair aerator ... the result was a wine that exhibited cedar and earthy tones from the get go, but as one dove deeper into the wine we found that underneath its cedary-earthy exterior lay dried cherry and blackberry.  Now, with some time in glass (about 45 minutes) the fruit that started off as dry had now proven to come alive with some cassis and black cherry notes.  I also found some smoky bits that played on both the nose and palate, and then as more time passed cedar began to reassert itself back into the picture - but there was a certain sweet spot to this wine that came at about the one-hour mark and lasted for about an hour where everything was just right in the world with it ... by the end of the evening the wine showed its slow steady decline to the realm from whence it came: earthy and cedary ... but in the interim it had that period where it really showed its beauty.  Now I can't wait to break int the 2005 version of the same wine, which seems to have reared it's head in the same place as the 2002 - which is why I figure this bottle got lost, it thought it was a 2005 (it can't be my fault after all.    Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

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Chateau des Charmes 2005 St. David’s Bench Cabernet Franc

Found August 2012

Not all of us are lucky enough to try decade old wines ... nor are we all lucky enough to have such a creature in our own cellars (if you have one at all).  I have been collecting wine now for over 15 years, and Ontario wine for just as long (if not longer), so I have some pretty interesting (and I'm sure expired) stuff down there.  Thankfully, this Chateau des Charmes decade old Cabernet Franc was far from the expired list, in fact it showed well from start to finish.  The nose kicked things off with dried cherry, dried blackberry and hints of vanilla-cedar.  The plate proved just as inviting with mocha, dried cherry and some cedary notes.  I was worried the cedar would start to take over but they seemed to be happy to linger in the background ... as the evening wore on things started to happen in the glass and especially on the palate:  a dry smoky finish began to dominate; and there was some dried tobacco leaf notes (like picking bits off your tongue while smoking an unfiltered cigarette) ... the final analysis on my last sip, some 2 hours after opening, was this: tobacco, dried blackberry and black currants with a nice, relatively smooth, finish.  This wine is showing exceptionally well for its age.  Lost & Found Rating:  Treasure

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Lailey Vineyard 2005 Canadian Oak Cabernet Franc

Found August 2012

There aren't many using Canadian oak to age their wines, so seeing it on the label is fairly unique; but winemaker Derek Barnett of Lailey has been using it since his days making wine at Southbrook - when it was located in Richmond Hill - so he has a pretty good handle on it.  This wine, now some 7 years from vintage date, showed a little of its age, but also showed that it had some life left in it too.  The nose started out with dried raspberry, and the palate was oaky, cedary and tomato stem-ish ... not a great start, but as I like to tell people, "you get locked in a bottle for X-number of years and see how you feel the moment you get out" ... so this wine needed a little time to reset itself.  In so doing - about half and hour later - the nose showed signs of black currant and smoky-toasty oak.  The palate also seemed to turn itself around and had dried blackberry, hints of coffee with a woody finish - most remarkably is that it did show quite a bit of fruit on the mid-palate before doling out the mostly woody finish.  If you have some in the cellar, I think now is the time to drink it.  Lost & Found Rating:  Tolerable +

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