New wine releases in Niagara are coming out fast and furiously, all created to capture the hearts and palates of the swarm of visitors who brave the clogged QEW each and every day to pick up their favourite new bottles and spend a little time in wine country.
Wines in Niagara has tasted and reviewed new releases from Tawse, GreenLane and Chateau des Charmes recently.
Here’s what we liked.
Tawse Estate Winery — Tawse is a family-owned and operated estate winery situated on the lower slopes of the Niagara Escarpment in Vineland. Fruit is harvested from old-growth, low-yield vines and gently handled using natural gravity flow and geothermic energy. For estate wines, Tawse applies rigorous organic and biodynamic methods to every aspect of the production and Ecocert and Demeter seals now appear on all Tawse vintages made from biodynamic vineyards.
Tawse is riding a high these days. In 2010, it was named Canadian Winery of the Year by Wine Access Magazine and in 2011 winemaker, Paul Pender, was named Winemaker of the Year at the Ontario Wine Awards.
This spring, the winery, which has always practiced a non-interventionist approach to viticulture, achieved official biodynamic certification for the 2010 Quarry Road Riesling and the 2010 Quarry Road Gewurztraminer.
This past week, Tawse also hosted the main event of the Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration where over 100 Chardonnays from around the world were poured and compared to offerings from Niagara.
Here are some new releases from Tawse:
Tawse Estate Gewurztraminer Quarry Road Vineyard 2010 ($25, 89 points) — A lychee, rose petal, pear nose with underlying musk aromas. It’s fresh and lightly spiced with grapefruit and lychee flavours in the mouth. This is a certified organic-biodynamic wine.
Tawse Estate Quarry Road Riesling 2010 ($22, Vintages, 89 points) — This is Canada’s first certified biodynamic/organic Riesling. The nose is intense with pure, fresh citrus, lime, green apple and wet stone minerality. It’s focused and balanced between tart-sweet fruit on the palate, showing apple-citrus fruits, and pronounced minerals. Juicy acidity through the finish.
Tawse Estate Riesling 2010 ($20, winery only, 87 points) — Pure lime-citrus aromas on the nose with a touch of white peach. Quite juicy and flavourful on the palate. A wonderful summer porch-sipper.
Tawse Estate Chardonnay 2009 ($30, winery now, 375 ml bottles at Vintages Nov. 12, 91 points) — This is a blend of grapes from estate vineyards, the first time Tawse has released this wine. It’s aged in 100% French Oak barriques for a year followed by six months aging in stainless steel before bottling. The nose shows notes of fresh-baked apple pie, toast, vanilla, citrus and spice. Love the verve and energy on the palate to go with elegant oak stylings, apples and spice integration. A well-balanced and fresh Chardonnay through the long finish.
Tawse Estate Quarry Road Chardonnay 2008 ($35, winery, Vintages, 92 points) — This beautiful Chard is barrel fermented and barrel aged for 12 months in French oak (20% of it new). It displays purity of fruit on the nose with soft oak-spice-cream notes, apple, zesty citus and subtle minerality. It’s fresh and vibrant in the mouth with juicy, creamy fruit, integrated spice and length through the finish.
Tawse Estate Unoaked Chardonnay 2010 ($20, Vintages Oct. 1, winery now, 89 points) — Bright and forward citrus, apple and a touch of peach fruits on the nose of this clean, crisp Chard. Just a lovely, fresh wine in the mouth for lovers of oak-free Chards.
Tawse Estate Laundry Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2009 ($32, winery, 90 points) — Another delicious Cab Franc from the under-rated 2009 vintage. This spent 16 months in French oak (20% new). It has a gorgeous and pretty nose of cherry fruit, bramble, herbs, tobacco leaf and soft oak-spice. In the mouth, notes of juicy cherry, savoury fruit and spice in a mid-weight, reveal a classic Niagara style.
Tawse Estate Meritage 2008 ($58, winery only, 89 points) — Quite an amazing effort, considering the vintage. It’s highly aromatic on the nose with earth, raspberry-cherry-kirsch, cassis and forest floor notes to go with oak and spice. The palate shows rich cherries and currants with bramble notes, racy acidity, dusty tannins and firm structure. It’s 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Cab Franc and the rest Merlot.
Tawse Sketches of Niagara Cabernet Merlot 2009 ($20, at winery and Vintages in Sept., 87 points) — OK, here’s the thing. I like this wine with its black cherry, cassis, cherry fruits and sweet spice notes, but I really don’t like the synthetic cork closure. To me, this is a perfect candidate for screwcap, or at the very least, real cork. Please?
Tawse Sketches of Niagara Chardonnay 2009 ($20, Vintages Oct. 1, winery now, 87 points) — From Tawse’s second label, the Chard shows pear, vanilla, citrus and butterscotch-spice on the nose. It’s juicy and fresh in the mouth with forward fruit that plays nice with the oak and spice.
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GreenLane Estate Winery — This summer GreenLane, a new winery in Beamsville farming 22 acres of vineyards, released its first estate wines after opening the winery with a collection of wines from its second label, Greetings, which combines estates fruit with purchased Ontario grapes.
It has just released three crisp summer wines from the estate series.
GreenLane Estate Winery Old Vines Riesling 2010 ($30, winery, 89 points) — The Old Vines, from an average vine age of 25 years old, shows gorgeous citrus-tropical fruits with an apple accent to go with minerality and decent acid from a hot vintage. Loved the depth of fruit and texture of this wine.
GreenLane Estate Pinot Gris-Riesling 2010 ($17, winery, 88 points) — A Gris-like nose of melon and apple with hints of fresh citrus and guava fruits. It’s delicious on the palate with citrus-melon-grapefruit notes and just a kiss of honey.
GreenLane Estate Riesling 2010 ($22, winery, 86 points) — A fragrant nose of summer peach, melon and apple. It’s made in an off-dry style, perhaps a touch unbalanced with the hot vintage cutting down the acidity in relation to the residual sugar level, but still shows appealing, fleshy orchard fruits and subtle minerality.
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Chateau des Charmes — A couple of St. David’s Bench wines are being released through the Vintages “Rapid Release” program at Vintages. Both are in limited supplies, so get them while they’re hot.
Chateau des Charmes St. David’s Bench Vineyard Gewurztraminer 2008 ($20, limited release at Vintages now, 91 points) — Chateau des Charmes has a tiny acre of Gewurztraminer at its estate St. David’s Bench. It was planted in 1996 and the winery believes the fruit is just now “coming into their most expressive phase.” It has a sweet, exotic nose of musk, spice, grapefruit, lychee and honeysuckle. It’s fleshy on the palate, yet shows good acidity to lift the exotic fruits and spices in this superb Gewurz.
Chateau des Charmes St. David’s Bench Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2007 ($26, Vintages now, 91 points) — A second chance to snag some excellent wine from the 2007 vintage. This single-vineyard Cab Franc is evolving gracefully with a nose of wild currants, bramble, spice, forest floor, integrated oak, roasted herbs and tobacco leaf. It’s rich and savoury on the palate with smoky nuances in the fruit, Espresso notes, a touch of eucalypt and bathed in tannins.
Enjoy!
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