Thomas & Vaughan 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon

Found March 2009

Doomed from the start ... that is the best way to describe this wine. Now don't get me wrong, this wine had such great potential, if not for the ladybugs that spoiled the party. Tonight, I decided to open a bottle of Thomas and Vaughan and see how the wine from this now-troubled winery have aged. At first I was not sure of the smell I was getting, then it became clear: pyrazine. That peanut smell that hit Ontario in 2001 from so many scared ladybugs with no where to go - some got it big time while others were spared. This one was only slightly buggy, but it made a difference both on the nose and on the palate. Let's push through it for a moment and see what else this wine could have been. There were signs of green pepper on the nose; the palate shed the bug and delved into the realm of cedar, cinnamon and blackberries. There was even hints of tannin still there. But in the end the bug took over with a bitter finish and as it opened it gained more of "those smells" - too bad, this wine was definitely going places. Lost & Found: Trash - but barely.

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Southbrook 1998 Lailey Vineyard Cabernet Franc

Found March 2009

I have so many different experiments going on that sometimes I get lost in what I'm doing; I feel like the absent-minded professor. One of my on-going experiments, and what hopefully brings you to the Lost & Found (and Taste it Again) is my ongoing look at the ageability of Ontario wine. For those who have followed my saga of Southbrook I won't bore you with the details again. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, look back at some of the wines previously reviewed in this section. But here's a brief synopsis (just cause I appreciate your eyeballs on the page): Southbrook was the closest winery to my house in Toronto and a buddy and I travelled there often. The owner Bill Redelmeier was always on hand on the weekends and loved to tout the age-worthiness of his wine. Even before I was a wine writer I thought I would put him to the test. And here is yet another example of how Bill was right.

Two days before Cuvee weekend 2009, I pulled out a bottle of this wine so that the sediment sink to the bottom. Upon my return (Monday), and with dreams of aged wine in my head, I popped the cork of this bottle. Sediment flew everywhere, so before any tasting could be done I had to clean up the surrounding area. Next I poured some wine into a Spiegalau glass (Bordeaux red style). The smell was big on green pepper and so were the flavours. But there was something else, blackberries and cassis still hung around along with definite notes of cedar. But with all that sediment floating around I thought it best to decant ... so I did.

There is still the green pepper notes on the nose, but they are not so in your face; the cedar comes out a little more along with graphite and cinnamon. On the palate there are hints of dried black fruits, cedar, cinnamon and fresh green pepper. There's still some tannin structure here too, which suggest it will lie another few years comfortably. Billy R, it seems you were right about your wines. Next up a Cabernet Sauvignon from the same year. Lost & Found rating: Treasure+.

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Fielding Estate 2004 Cabernet Franc

Found February 2009

Hmm ... I think it's time to drink your 2004 wines, or at least look at them with a little more scrutiny. 2004 was not a great vintage here in Ontario, the wines were good but not great, and if you are holding onto anything maybe it's time you thought twice about what you have in your cellar. I have two bottles of this wine and tonight decided it was time to pull one off the rack and give it a go. The initial smell is vegetal (read subtle green pepper) and cedar (these follow thru on the taste) and they continue through for the next hour. Pleasantly, there is also a few other smells and flavours. Smell: you'll pick up a tiny bit of cherry, but it's of the sour variety. On the palate, cinnamon shows up briefly in the mouth; on the finish it's a mix of cranberry and sour cherry - and of course, wood. I'm happy to report that the wood is far from heavy handed, and currently it is something you can easily drink with little to no interference from big-wood tannins ... but drink now, this one doesn't have a lot of life left. Lost & Found: Tolerable

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Thirty Bench 1999 Riesling Icewine

Found February 2009

I guess this is not fair to put this in the Lost & Found section – considering I never really bought this wine and cellared it myself – but I have to admit I am not sure where else to put it. You see Thirty Bench has just released a few older Icewines to show how Icewine ages, and I got a tasting of one of the earliest … so just come along with me for the ride and pretend. At first I thought this wine was a little oxidized, but a little more swirling and I found brandied-peaches on the nose … about 15 minutes later there was a tinny smell in the background. On the tongue, it was a touch syrupy and the taste was canned peaches in a light syrup. There was still a good bit of acidity here and the finish had great length. Does it shine like some of the more recent Riesling Ices I've tried? No, but it is a great piece of history to show where we have come from with this grape, when it comes to Icewine? Sure is … and you just gotta love sipping on history. Lost & Found: Tolerable +

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Creekside 2005 Butler's Grant Vineyard Riesling

Found January 2009

Shock of all shocks, I never once officially reviewed this wine. I’ve looked everywhere: past newsletters, On the Road articles, in the wine review section, you name it I’ve looked there – and not a peep (guess I was trying to keep this one to myself). I liked it though, enough so to buy 6 bottles in June of 2006, and I made notes every time I drank a bottle (5 in total). Here’s a sampling:

June/July 2006 - Spectacular fruit driven wine ... sugar is about a 2 and a crowd pleaser for sure. Nose of lemon and lime with peaches and apple - great taste of sweet white peach. Drinks well right now and will age for a few years to come. My favourite Riesling from the New Vintages festival held in Niagara for May 2006.

January 2008 - The petrol is beginning to develop but still has plenty of crisp acidity, citrus - apple - pear and lemon.

June 2008 - ... Delicious, great acidity and fruit, can’t believe I have gone through 5 bottles of this baby already, so much for really seeing what age can do ... was even better 3 days later.

With my last bottle, I took thorough notes … just 6 months after my previous bottle was opened the wine has developed even more, though it might finally be cresting the age-hill. There’s a light hint of petrol on the nose, mixed with smells of Welsh’s white grape juice and Vaseline. The palate, while still having that touch of petrol on it, has developed to a point where it now has a taste of cherry-tomato juice and a bit of lanolin. The finish still lingers, on the side of lime-juice, which to my taste is better than the tomato taste. The wine has finally seen its day, it’s not horrible by any stretch of the imagination, it’s most definitely still drinkable and enjoyable with enough pleasure in the mouth that a second glass is in order; but not what it used to be, when you easily could have finished the whole bottle and ordered up a second before lunch was even half over. Another point of interest, this one is now much dryer than expected. Lost & Found rating: Tolerable +.

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Inniskillin 2004 Late Autumn Riesling

Found January 2009

A bottle originally slated for a get together on Christmas Eve, it was pushed aside in favour of Miller Lite and Smirnoff’s Ice (much to my dismay) and relegated to a New Year’s bottle with Chinese food. I was impressed with this semi-sweet wine with it’s nose that still had apricots, honeyed pear and mineral notes. The palate also showed interesting notes of apple, unripe peaches, minerally pears, slight tropical fruit with a pleasant refreshing finish - though medium to short in length and lacking zippy acidity. Lost and Found rating: A little Tired but still enough of a Treasure.

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Southbrook Winery 1998 Lailey Vineyard Merlot

Found December 2008

Turns out my old Southbrook wine tasting days aren't over yet. As we learned back in my 92 Riesling review, I have been a long time follower of the Southbrook story - something to do with actually being my local winery (I live in Toronto and it just so happened to be located in Toronto - or at least closer than any other winery). So a weekend excurtion with my buddy Geoff was not out of the question, especially to the winery he had "discovered" with his first wife. He tells the story about going for a drive one Sunday afternoon and coming across this deserted winery where he bumped into the owner (Bill Redelmeier) who took him and his wife through every single one of the wines he had available. Anyone who knows Bill, or has met him, knows that he is one heck of a raconteur, and can talk forever, if you let him. All this did was make Geoff love this winery more and while his wife was not that much of a wine fan, he did have a buddy who was. Enter me, enter trips to the 'Brook. Bill always said that the wines made at Southbrook were meant to age, and I took him up on this - buying and leaving untold numbers of wines from the winery on my shelf. When I started my "box program" I took some of those wines off my rack and put them in a boxes for further aging. And now it is time to open this 1998 Merlot.

I have long been a proponent of ageing Ontario Merlot, I just fine that when they are young they lack finesse, are too green and far to leafy. Now this Merlot isn't a far cry from leafy and green, but it has a smoothness that is very appealing - especially if you realize that it is a decade from its vintage date. At first the nose was all green pepper, with a backing of black fruit and cedar - that was very slight. In the mouth the green pepper continued, yet was more subtle, with black pepper and dried black cherry with a wood tannin finish. I decided to decant and see what happened. Sacre-Bleu we have quite the wine here. The green pepper blows off from the nose; sure it is still there, but now you can pick up more of the black pepper, black fruit and subtler, almost sweet, cedar notes. The decanting also smoothed out the palate, the wood has calmed down and the pepperyness comes through. I am quite happy to drink this wine - and if you have any bottles, you should too. Lost & Found rating: Treasure.

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