Sandbanks (non-vintage) "Sleeping Giant" Foch - Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

The Sandbanks blend of Baco and Foch is a unique red that I enjoy trying every now and then. It is typically well made, dry, and elegant.

Unlike in previous years, this one is non-vintage; I wonder what is up with the non-vintage status of Sandbanks wines of late. I recently found it on sale for $16 as opposed to the usual $19.95.

This comes with a composite natural cork closure, unlike the screw top used on the winery's Marquette. Beautiful dark garnet colour. Nose of dark cherries and a leafy, herbal note. Wonderfully dry and cleansing on the palate with good warmth from the 13% alc./vol. Very clean and well defined, from the palate right into the finish. Great with any meal that calls for a dry red—anything from pasta with tomato sauce to steak.

Non-vintage "Brunch" Red Field Blend (Ontario VQA)

In these days of rising wine prices, it was interesting to find this blend. Apparently a non-vintage wine, it retails for only $9.95. The LCBO entry for this product identifies it as a blend of Baco Noir, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Gamay...but the rear label of the bottle I have simply states Baco Noir and Cabernet Franc. Maybe it differs from batch to batch.

13% alc./vol. The colour is a nice, deep, dark-scarlet colour with that typical Baco colouration and magenta meniscus. The nose is all Baco—tart raspberries and a savoury hickory note, with a hint of wood chips wafting out of the glass.

Tart on the entry, again displaying the Baco front and centre. Cleansing and dry with an acid-driven structure and a zippy acidity on the mid-palate. Not much tannin here at all, so I'm guessing that the proportion of Cab Franc isn't that much.

The price is right and the quality is fine—though I'm wondering why the producer chose to release this as a non-vintage blend.

2019 Henry of Pelham Old Vines Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

Henry of Pelham has been called the "King of Baco", and rightly so: they planted their first Baco vines in 1984 and have been putting out quality iterations of this varietal wine for decades. Henry of Pelham isn't just another producer of Baco Noir in Ontario: they're really dedicated to this grape variety.

I enjoy the regular bottling, finding it to be well made, well balanced, and stylistically elegant. The Old Vines version is sold in a tall, heavier bottle, and is closed with a natural (albeit particle) cork enclosure. The regular bottling, by contrast, has been closed with a screw cap for the past few years—a sensible, functional choice.

The 2019 Old Vines Baco is 13.5% alc./vol. and sells for about $20 at the LCBO. It pours with a gorgeous, saturated, deep-beet-red/purple colour that turns into a neon magenta at the meniscus—a common feature of the V. riparia hybrid reds. The nose is very oaky right off the bat, showing plummy/blackcurrant fruit and juicy acidity that is eager to carry that same fruit along the palate. On the palate, it is invigoratingly tart, zingy, and refreshing—with good mid-palate heft coming from both the tart berries and the oak overlay. Excellent quality. Following this fruit-and-oak crescendo, the aft-palate character of the wine accentuates the oak, which leaves a pleasant spicy finish.

2018 Sandbanks Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

This wine can be picked up for $15.95 in the Ontario VQA section of the LCBO.

Sandbanks is a winery in Prince Edward County, along the northeastern shore of Lake Ontario. I seldom buy the varietal Baco from Sandbanks—the last time I did, it tasted far too sweet for my taste. That said, I made an exception earlier today and it was a good decision.

Medium-dark, clear garnet in the glass. The wine initially pours with some very fine effervescence along the meniscus; this dissipates with time in the open bottle. Strong aromas of brackish wild black cherry; a typical hint of leafiness and plums, so very characteristic of Ontario Baco. Zippy, clean and lean acidity on the entry, balanced by appropriate residual sugar. Warm and fruity on the mid-palate. A clean and cleansing finish, as one is wont to expect from this varietal wine. Just a hint of smoky, toasted buckwheat and oak on the finish. Thumbs up.

2016 Henry of Pelham Old Vines Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

After trying this version of Henry of Pelham's Baco last year, I resolved to repeat the experience and to purchase it once again for a detailed tasting.

Henry of Pelham could be called Ontario's "Baco King". Maybe they already have been?

The tall bottle is closed with a high-quality natural cork. The wine pours with a dark, saturated black-cherry/magenta colour. Raspberry and plummy fruit, along with signature riparia notes waft about on the nose. The entry is tart, lively and brisk, as befits Baco—and balanced, firm warmth is noted as the wine travels across the mid-palate. A good structure is also evident here.

This is available as a general-list item at the LCBO, for about $20.

I preferred this Old Vines version to the family reserve.

2016 Inniskillin Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

This wine initially caught my eye last summer when I spotted it at a Wine Rack store. Baco from Inniskillin? That's a new one. Up to the turn of the millennium, Inniskillin had produced an Old Vines Foch (the very wine that turned me onto red hybrid wines twenty years ago); sadly, production of that wine was discontinued in the early 2000s—a mistake!

This Baco pours with a dense black-cherry colour that fades to medium-deep magenta at the meniscus. The initial aromas are of blue plums with a slight overlay of peppercorns—classic Baco. The entry is very supple with balanced acidity (the mildest of any Baco I've tasted) and a broad warmth from the 13% alc./vol. On the palate, the acidity remains mild but cleansing, as it works its way to the back of the palate. The finish is short and clean.

It's a good Baco that retails on general list at the LCBO now as well (limited availability), for $15.95 CAD.

I still would like to see Inniskillin bring back their Foch!

2015 Henry of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Baco Noir

Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery is Niagara's Baco Noir specialist. Not only are they a consistent producer of quality varietal Baco in the region—they actually produce three distinct releases of the varietal wine, all with slightly different oak aging regimens and fruit sourced from vines of different ages.

In reserve for today's New Year tasting is the Speck Family Reserve. It's the only one that I hadn't tasted up to now. It retails for $25 at Vintages and is available at select stores only.

This wine hails from the winery's original planting of Baco, dating back to 1984. That's interesting, because it means that the vines predate the whole VQA system under which the wine bears a "VQA Ontario" designation. Even though the wine technically hails from the Short Hills Bench appellation, VQA does not deem hybrids worthy of appellation-specific nomenclature—an absurdity, as wine writer David Lawrason rightly pointed out in his write-up on the wine.

The bottle is closed with an elegant, solid, top quality natural cork. The cork showed deep purple-black staining once pulled out, though only where it had been in contact with the wine, indicating a good seal.

The wine poured with a gorgeous, saturated black, cherry-mahogany hue which, in the glass, morphs into a weathered-sumac hue at the meniscus. At 13.5% alc./vol., good tear development can be seen along the inside of the glass (and is even visible in the picture at right).

The nose is deeply oaky, with big, bold, black-cherry fruit and prominent wood vanillins from the American oak. There is lengthy integration of bold oak and fruit. On the palate, lithe, bright acidity leads the way; the texture is dry and cleansing along the mid-palate and energetically lively into the finish. The flavours finish out with beets, red currants, a hint of dried tomatoes and just a tap of oak at the end.

Very well done, but bold and oaky in style. If you prefer less oak, try the winery's Old Vines release.

Happy New Year!

2012 Leelanau Cellars Baco Noir (Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan)

While in Michigan I picked up this varietal Baco Noir which hails from the Leelanau Peninsula. On the label it says, "A Taste of Northern Michigan"—very nice.

I had previously never tried Baco from such a northerly location, being instead more accustomed to those produced in Southern Ontario.

The wine is of a medium-ruby hue; quite translucent in the bottle. In the glass, it shows typical Baco saturation, and seems a darker shade of garnet.

Aromatically, it is unlike most Ontario Bacos, showing a bright red-berry fruitiness that reminds me of a few Bardolinos that I've tried over the years. On the entry, the wine is tart and lively in a rounded way (a Baco trait for sure), and has good warmth as well, clocking in at 12.55% alc./vol. The finish is fresh and palate-invigorating.

A good wine. I got it for USD $15 and would buy it again.

2012 Vieni Estates Briganti (Ontario VQA)

I was delighted to recently find this wine on general list in the LCBO. Vieni Estates' Briganti is a three-way blend of Foch, Baco and De Chaunac—at one time, three of the most common red hybrid grapes in Ontario.

You just don't see much innovation in this category of wine anymore. Up to the turn of the millennium, there were quite a few very good varietal Fochs, and even a few varietal De Chaunacs. This release seems to represent something of a rebirth for the genre, and I couldn't be happier. Having tried Vieni's excellent Foch Vintage Reserve last month, I was excited to see this release from the same winery.

The wine is bottled in a smart, screw-top bottle. It pours with a saturated, deep garnet colour that fades to a cherry-garnet hue at the meniscus. Baco Noir seems to lead on the nose, with briny, plummy fruit and some complex rootsy notes that are typical of many wines with V. riparia lineage. On the palate, there is brisk, clean acidity and very good texture; the wine is dry and cleansing. On the mid-palate, I seem to get more of the Foch notes, but in general, no single grape dominates. The finish is dry and clean—this is a wine made for the dinner table. It is well balanced at 12.0% alc./vol.

For stylistic comparison to other wines—think of a brisk northern Italian red like Barbera.

My food pairings would be lasagna, ribs, and pizza. The wine has the acidity and heft to invigorate and refresh the palate.

My only suggestion would be to give this wine some time in oak: even just 6-8 months in American (or Canadian!) oak would be sufficient. Aged this way, it would be very reminiscent of the excellent Harrow Estates Baco that Carlo Negri used to make in the late 1990s.

This Vieni Estates Briganti is a very welcome addition to Ontario's winescape. It is $12.95 on general list in the Ontario VQA section of the LCBO.

2014 Peller Estates Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

This is one of the best Bacos in Ontario: it is always fairly priced and done well.

Deep ruby-black with a ruby-magenta meniscus. Aromas of sweet plummy fruit and wild V. riparia grapiness. Mouth-filling, with bright, tense acidity and great structure. 2014 wasn't a great vintage for reds in Ontario, but Baco and its other V. riparia-derived brethren typically manage to shine, despite such obstacles.

Invigorating, palate-enlivening mouth feel, coupled with a dash of balancing residual sweetness and typical diminutive tannins.

The finish is clean and lean, and it leaves your palate refreshed.

12% alc./vol. Screw cap closure. $11.95 on general list at the LCBO.

2014 No. 99 Wayne Gretzky Estates Baco Noir (VQA Ontario)

The Great One knows a great grape.

12.5% alc./vol. The wine pours with a deep scarlet-ruby hue and dense but translucent saturation. Superb, briny, plummy / V. riparia varietal Baco nose, with lively, tart red currant fruit.

Bright, refreshing tartness on the entry. Zingy, tight entry, with good focus and a firm backbone. The wine is, much like Barbera, a great palate cleanser. It would go superbly well with ribs, steak, pizza and any pasta-and-tomato-sauce combination. A natural match with any of these.

$15.95. Limited distribution at the LCBO.

2013 Peller Estates Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

The 2013 Peller Estates Baco Noir pours with a deep, dark garnet core that turns bright ruby at the meniscus.

The bouquet shows fantastic aromas of plums, prunes and brackish, wild, Vitis riparia. The texture has a bright, clean, crisp, invigorating and tart entry with tart blue plum flavours that fan across the palate. There's excellent fruitiness.

The texture is warm, balanced, clean and cleansing, with acidity leading and tannin playing back-up.

The finish is crisp all the way across the palate, with a clean and bright personality. There's prune jam and tartness on the finish.

This Baco has 12.5% alc./vol. It costs $10.95 and can be found on regular list at the LCBO. It's bottled with a screwcap closure.

An excellent, clean Baco...at an exemplary price!!

2010 Sue Ann Staff Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

This is a relatively new Baco in Ontario's wine scene. It hails from the Jordan area in the Niagara Peninsula.

Screwcap closure; a light, 10.8% alc./vol.

The Baco pours with a clear, dark ruby colour and a black-cherry hue; it is translucent at the core and pinkish-ruby at the meniscus, with decent tears.

Swirling brings out pleasantly brackish, funky V. riparia aromas that waft about on the nose (and that are interestingly reminiscent of Cynthiana).

There's the lithe, tart acidity, that is so very typical of Baco; but even with that and the low alcohol, there is good balance. The mouth feel is invigorating and zingy.

Sour-cherry fruit wraps up the finish, with additional brackish replays.

$14.95 on general list at the LCBO - the same price as Henry of Pelham's Baco.

2012 Konzelmann Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

Konzelmann's 2012 Baco Noir pours with a black-garnet colour that fades to magenta near the rim of the glass. There's great colour in this Baco, as in virtually all Bacos. As with most reds, this wine needs some decanting to come into its own - and it actually integrated really well within a day of being opened.

On the nose are aromas of plum, and a briny, bacon-like note that makes me think of Syrah; there are also hints of fine brackish scents from the grape's Vitis riparia lineage.

On the entry there is light acidity that is quite mellow for a Baco. It's a good thing, as the wine shows exemplary balance. A nice overlay of fine-grained tannin covers the palate and is followed by moderate warmth (12% alc./vol.), leading to a pleasant finish.

The wine is said to be slightly oaked, but I think that more overt oak would do the wine very well. Baco handles oak very well, and the oak adds not only wood tannins but additional olfactory and gustatory layers.

Konzelmann's Baco is bottled in a one-litre size and is available at the winery only, for $11.95.

2010 Sandbanks Estate Baco Noir Reserve (Ontario VQA)

I had been wanting to try Sandbanks' Baco for quite some time. Having seen the Reserve recently, I bought it for Victoria Day weekend ($19.95 on general list at the LCBO; Product ID: 225920).

This Baco Reserve pours to reveal a dark garnet colour with a ruby tint that appears nearer the meniscus. Strong barrel aromas emerge over Baco's sour hickory and brackish bouquet. Brisk, strong acidity signals the entry. Plenty of oak character mingles with the tart, lithe and laser-like focus of the acid-driven structure. There's an invigorating, Barbera-like tartness, with plum and hickory replays; a bit of warmth (13% alc./vol.), and a mouth-cleansing finale, with more oak replays drawing the proverbial curtains.

While the wine initially seemed a bit tart for a 2010 reserve, it did settle down and integrate with some decanting (2+ hrs).

2011 20 Bees Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

The wine pours with a beautiful dark garnet core and a magenta meniscus. The aromas are very Baco - but more in a fruity rather than funky way: bright raspberries cloaked in cherries; crispy bacon aromas round it all out. Tart, juicy, invigoratingly brisk entry; mouth-filling, cleansing acidity dominates the texture. Light bodied and tartish, but balanced. Diminutive tannins carry through on the mid-palate, and are followed by a wave of warmth across the aft-palate. The flavours all but peter out at this point; there is no strong or dominant flavour on the finish. I cannot pick up any oak in this wine.

This light Baco was purchased for less than ten bucks on general list at the LCBO. It is 12.5% alc./vol. and has been bottled with a screwcap closure. This would make a very decent pizza wine. As with all Bacos, it has that palate-cleansing quality that is particularly good if you're having cuts of meat that have some fat on them.

2011 Pelee Island Eco Trail Red (Ontario VQA)

A blend of 33% Baco Noir , 17% Chambourcin, 50% Cabernet Franc (according to the winery's website), this red comes with a natural, high-quality cork closure. It is 13% alc./vol.

Deep, yet clear, dark garnet with a good ruby tint. Some spice enters on the nose and is soon followed by Baco's brackish rootsy aromas, and a bit of cherry in the background. You can pretty much pick up each of the varieties and their contributions to the blend. Tart entry, with rootsy celeriac flavours, wrapped in a touch of oak spice. Brisk tartness, but good balance; a touch of warmth on the mid-palate, with more oak spice (very balanced) and that familiar Chambourcin cherry fruit, all rounding it out. Very invigorating.

A three-way red blend using a vinifera component, together with a hybrid component (or, as in this case, two hybrids), is a good formula. Years ago, Henry of Pelham made a Cabernet-Baco blend that showcased the best of each grape variety, and was a good blend.

This was a very good wine, and the price is right.

(Note: it was decanted for a bit over two hours.)

2011 Henry of Pelham Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

Henry of Pelham's Baco Noir is a long-standing go-to example of varietal Baco in Ontario. The 2011 version is particularly elegant and from a good red-wine vintage.

The wine shows a saturated dark garnet-purple colour and a brilliant, deep-scarlet hue at the meniscus. It has complex and pleasant, brackish / Vitis riparia aromas on the nose, which are framed by gentle American oak vanillins. The zingy (but not sour) acidity creates a nice balance. A fine streak of tannin holds it all together.

I'm not sure if vine age is starting to do its magic, but this is one of the most balanced and structurally integrated examples of this wine that I've had. It's very good.

The finish is warm clean and flavourful on the mid-palate, with a rounded, cleansing acidity leading into the warm (13% alc./vol.), oak-accented finish. It's a very pleasant wine, and quite moreish.

LCBO Product ID: 270926

2010 Pelee Island Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

$10.95 on general list at the LCBO. 12.5% alc./vol. Compressed-particle, natural-cork closure (I think a screw cap would be better).

This opens with a very typical leafy / peppercorn / brackish / raisiny Baco aroma. With a couple of hours of aeration, the raisiny quality becomes more pronounced and the wine now shows some bright raspberry character. Suprisingly tart on the entry (2010 was a hot vintage in Ontario). Sour redcurrant fruit, with a rounded sourness to the mid-palate and a soft core. A bit odd, and not in line with what I expected from the vintage.

Given this, I tried an old trick that worked really well in the past: I refrigerated the rest of the wine overnight. On the following day I poured a glass cold, and let it slowly warm up. Now, some torrefied character came through on the nose. The palate, however, was much improved from the previous day: although the wine was still zingy, there was a certain density to it when sipped cold, that seemed to round it out a bit more. Some diminutive fuzzy tannin and a bit of warmth rounded out the finish.

I always used to say that Foch was more funky than Baco, but that Foch had better acid / tannin balance.

I still believe this to be true.

Baco can surprise you with acidity that's aggressive and unbalanced. What's really strange about it is that more often than not, you'll find this to be the case in hot, rather than cool, vintages...

2007 Colio Estate Baco Noir (Ontario VQA)

12.8% alc./vol.; $9.35 at the Colio retail outlet. 2,200 cases made. Synthetic cork closure.

Beautiful, deep dark garnet colour throughout; fully transparent with a magenta-garnet tinge at the meniscus. Fantastic, complex Baco nose of brine and peppercorns, with secondary plum and cherry fruit. Properly rustic with tell-tale hickory notes chiming in. Tart entry balanced by 2 g/l residual sugar (they could have left it at 0 and I'd have been happy); overall, a substantial texture. I expect the wine to open up and integrate to a much greater degree on day two - it always does. Very balanced on the mid-palate, where diminutive tannins - proper to the variety - mingle alongside flavour replays that are consistent with the nose. Warm, balanced, pleasant finish. A tiny hint of something brett-like remains in the empty glass.

This wine, labeled under "Colio Estate", is essentially the evolution of Carlo Negri's former Harrow Estates label. The new winemaker is Tim Reilly.

As with the Harrow Estates line, which no longer exists, this Baco shows tremendous value for the money and solid winemaking. This has always been one of the best Ontario Bacos for the money. It's a restrained, balanced wine that works extremely well at the table: pork roast, ribs, pizza and lasagna are but a few favourites with which I enjoy matching it.

There is just one thing that I wish the new line had included: oak ageing! When Carlo Negri was in charge of these wines, they always featured a dash of American oak - something that I thought made them all the better. Now, the wines are simply finished in stainless steel and bottled. I have written to the winery and hope that they will reconsider this new policy of omitting the oak nuance.