A Niagara Riesling that made it into one of the top private cellars in Canada

By Rick VanSickle

Fifteen years ago, a mysterious visit by one of Canada’s most prolific wine collectors flew into Niagara-on-the-Lake on his private jet and left with nearly 100 cases of Niagara wine.

It was a typical warm Saturday in June when I got an unusual phone call from Niagara-on-the-Lake’s historic Charles Inn (now called Charles Hotel). The woman at the other end of the call was in a panic, and desperate to help facilitate a wine collector’s quest to acquire the best wines from the Niagara peninsula.

The caller explained what she needed help and needed it quickly to accommodate here important guest. It was a tasting of the best wines Niagara has to offer, the challenge being that it was a Saturday, and I would need to get all the wines to the hotel in four hours, along with myself to conduct the tasting. Challenge accepted.

I contacted as many wine folks as I could, thought I had a stellar selection of wines considering the tight timeline and the fact that it was a Saturday on a busy late spring day at wineries. But it was go-time, so I quickly changed from my lawn mowing clothes to something slightly more appropriate. This is not something I am accustomed to doing, so I insisted that the Charles Inn provide their top sommelier to help with the opening and pouring of the bottles.

As I raced to the historic inn, a table was already set up on one of NOTL’s most beautiful patios. It was a gorgeous day, and the veranda was the perfect place for an impromptu tasting. Dozens and dozens of Niagara wines had arrived in time, and I felt the selection was representative of what Niagara does best and what this collector would likely be proud to have in his cellar alongside some of the world’s most sought-after wines.

As I waited at the table that was nicely set up, it wasn’t long before Paul Guy Desmarais Jr. (above), a Canadian businessman (former chairman and CEO of Power Corp.), philanthropist and owner of one of Canada’s largest and most spectacular private wine cellars, arrived. He had flown in from the Laurentians for the very purpose of populating at least a portion of his cellar with the first Canadian wines he had ever purchased (or tasted). He felt it was necessary to bang the drum for Canadian wines, and this was an opportunity.

Desmarais knew very little about Niagara wines. His impeccable palate leans primarily to top European wines. First Growth Bordeaux, top cru Burgundies, both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the very best of Rhone reds, a knew-found love of Condrieu and, well, basically the best of what the world has to offer if money were not an impediment to buying it (which it isn’t for him).

His experienced palate was strictly Old World. He has no time for even Napa Valley (he only has one Napa Cabernet in his cellar, Silver Oak), or Australia but felt it was time to show his European friends what his native country can do.

Because his visit was on short notice, we only had time to, for the most part, round up the best of what the wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake had to offer plus whatever was on the Charles Inn wine list where he was staying. It was a stellar lineup of Niagara wines from what we do best — Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and red blends from the hot 2007 vintage.

The two of us spent a couple of hours tasting through wines one after another, discussing each wine, and narrowing it down to a few wines he would take back with him on his private jet.

Right off the bat, he told me he didn’t like Riesling. But we were there to taste wine and Niagara Riesling was first, so we tasted them. Which was a good thing because he loved the ones presented to him. The racy acidity and balancing fruit were appealing to his palate, and he saw it as a great companion for oysters.

He chose the Thirty Bench Small Lot Triangle Vineyard Riesling 2008 as his favourite.

Next came the Chardonnays. His palate craved the great Grand Cru Burgundies from Corton-Charlemagne and Puligny Montrachet, so I knew this would be a challenge, as our Chards can be very different than Burgundy. His general feeling was that the Chardonnays he was shown were a touch too oaky (his opinion) on the nose and not built for aging, even though I introduced him to some of the best Chardonnays made in Niagara, including older vintages, that are noted for their longevity.

He ultimately found (and purchased) one he liked very much, Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Chardonnay 2007.

Next were the reds. Our Pinots, for his palate and in his opinion, were generally a little too earthy and overwhelming for his taste, which leaned to a style with more finesse and silky texture in the mouth. I had lined up a pretty good Cabernet Franc lineup, but none appealed to him, which surprised me. He admitted that his wine loving friends wouldn’t understand a single-variety Bdx red wine, especially Cabernet Franc, when it’s usually the third grape in their beloved Bordeaux blended wines.

So, it was now up to the red blends arranged for the tasting. We had a winner with the Stratus Red 2007, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Gamay from a warm vintage. This was the wine that made Desmarais a believer in Niagara wines. One sniff and he looked up and said, “yes, this is the one.” He was hooked.

In my original review of the Stratus Red 2007 I described it as having a decadent nose of persistent red and black fruits, cinnamon and cloves. It shows juicy acidity in the mouth with an emerging array of fruits and spice yet maintains its youthful restraint.

Desmarais left Niagara with a jet-load of three different wines, nearly 100 cases, and a greater appreciation for the great world-class wines we make in Niagara. They now sit alongside some of the greatest wines in the world (if he has any left).

I offered to help the Charles Inn with this tasting because I believe Niagara wines can stand up to the best in the world. To show a wine collector as important as Desmarais, to convince him to populate his cellar with his first Canadian wines, that challenge was all I needed to drop everything and facilitate his needs. It was not part of the deal (I did not ask for or expect anything from either the businessman or the Charles Inn) when Desmarais gifted me several cases of the wines he purchased, which he left at the hotel for me to pick up after he departed for home. But I certainly enjoyed all three of the wines mentioned above over the following years, always with fond memories of our tasting.

All those wines were happily consumed over the past decade and a half, but more recently, a bottle of the Thirty Bench Small Lot Triangle Vineyard Riesling 2008 came into my hands. I don’t know where it came from or how it got into my cellar, but it brought back a flood of memories for its rich back story. So, we opened it on this past long weekend, and, wow, just wow!

There is a reason why Thirty Bench (owned by Peller) and its winemaker Emma Garner populated so much space on this website (and the newspapers I wrote for back then) in those heady days when wine critics argued incessantly over which block of Riesling they preferred — Wood Post, Steel Post or the Triangle. For me, it was always Triangle that was the bomb, and drinking this now only cements my intuitions that began even before the near-perfect 2008 vintage was released in 2010.

Now, I will admit that Riesling was in its heydays back then. Critics never missed the release of these wines and always tasted them when released to great fanfare. Those days are gone, the hoopla has disappeared for the once-beloved Riesling grape, and even I have not followed the wines from 30 Bench as closely as I did a decade or more ago.

It saddens me to see such beautiful wines not getting the attention they deserve. No more big releases, no more buzz, no more tastings with the winemaker, no more excitement.

So, what an absolute blast to twist off the screw cap on this bottle only a few days ago. Here is my review (by the way, the current vintage of the single block Rieslings is 2021 and the wines sell for $29 per bottle):

Thirty Bench Small Lot Triangle Vineyard Riesling 2008 (96 points) — Showing a mature and lovely golden colour in the glass, it has an exotic nose of saline, beeswax, citrus preserve, lemon curd, stony minerality, apple skin, a hint of petrol and pine, apricot tart and underlying savoury mushroom notes. It just explodes on the palate in a rich, textured and layered style that reveals lemon candy, stony/saline minerality, wild honey notes, poached pear and quince, ginger and still with freshness, lip-smacking acidity and a lifted, very long and luxurious finish that leaves the impression that this beautiful wine in still evolving. If you are lucky enough to have some of this in your cellar, open one, save one and you will be equally amazed by this historic and special Niagara Riesling.