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.

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!

2013 Magnotta Dry Vidal Equus Series (Ontario VQA)

I remember enjoying this wine tremendously many years ago. I'm happy to say that Magnotta's dry Vidal, while having undergone a name and label change since the early days, is as fine a wine as I remember it.

In fact, I love dry Vidal table wine so much that the background on my blog is a photo of Vidal grapes growing in Niagara wine country. Vidal is one of Ontario's most versatile wine grapes.

12.8% alc./vol. Clear, medium-straw/yellow hue in the glass. Wonderful aromas of lemon candy, pineapple, pine needles and guava. Crisp and focused on the entry, with that lively and lovely varietal acidity; a warm but balanced texture; and a palate-cleansing, fully dry finish that I appreciate.

Magnotta's retail outlet is a fine place to visit and the prices are right. I have long believed that Magnotta makes Ontario's best dry Vidal table wine... I still believe it, having tasted this version.

$7.45 for a 750 ml bottle, and worth every penny.

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.

2010 Frogpond Farm Organic W‌inery Chambourcin (Ontario VQA)

Varietal Chambourcin is rare in Ontario - so when this wine caught my eye recently, I knew that I just had to give it a try. Not only is it one of the few examples of this variety in Ontario, but the wine is also organic - always a good thing.

The wine pours with a beautiful, clear dark ruby colour; it is translucent yet has a dark tone all the same. The nose is very light; just some red currant and possibly some light cherry fruit. I pick up no oak on the nose at all; a pity, as I think that this wine would have benefited immensely from some oak aging.

On the entry, the Chambourcin is light and tart with brisk yet well-apportioned acidity. It's quite palate-cleansing, much like its other hybrid cousins (e.g. Baco and Foch - though Baco tends to be quite a bit more tart). The mid-palate is mildly warm (12.4% alc./vol.), acid-driven and cleansing. The finish is light and short.

If you were to compare this to a vinifera wine, Barbera or Chianti would be fair benchmarks.

I do think that this wine would have benefited from 8-10 months of oak contact - even if it meant using oak chips instead of barrels. The oak vanillins would add a welcome extra dimension to the whole package.

Even so, I am delighted to have discovered this wine. It will be on my "watch for" list from now on.

It retails for $14 at the LCBO.

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.

2011 Konzelmann Vidal Golden Vintage (Ontario VQA)

The 2011 Konzelmann Vidal Golden Vintage pours with a beautiful clear straw colour, showing light yellow highlights in the glass.

Aromas of passion fruit, papaya, ripe pineapple and pine needles on the nose show that alliteration need not take the first letter of the grape's name...(!)

Ripe, sweet pineapple flavours lead on the entry; a touch of residual sugar moderates acidity that is refreshing and in fine balance. A tangerine flavour emerges on the mid-palate and offers some pleasant citrus-rind replays on the finish, which wraps up with just a touch of warmth (12 % alc./vol.).

Konzelmann's Vidal is one of my favourite examples of varietal Ontarian Vidal table wine. It shows how versatile the Vidal grape is in Ontario's winescape. Vidal produces wines across the full spectrum: from dry, crisp table wines, to off-dry ones like this one; and, finally, late-harvest dessert wines and the pinnacle - icewine.

Vidal Golden Vintage is available at the winery only, for $9.75 per bottle.

2011 Aure Giggle Juice Classic (Ontario VQA)

This creatively named red from the Beamsville area of the Niagara Peninsula is a blend comprising 91% Chambourcin (!), 5% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc.

The wine pours with a translucent, deep ruby colour. Aromas of hickory on redcurrant; a light nose. Light and quite tart on the entry, with some tannin coming in on the mid-palate. Cleansing and invigorating all across the palate. A gentle warmth emerges on the aft-palate (12.5% alc./vol.), with more hickory-like replays. A light-bodied red with good verve.

I was quite surprised to see a majority-Chambourcin VQA wine when I visited Aure. The last straight Chambourcin that I remember in Ontario was from Grape Tree Estate around the turn of the century. Although that winery made other wines as well, it was not around for a long time.

If you need a vinifera-oriented benchmark for this wine, I'd once again look to Northern Italy, as is the case with many red hybrids. Baco and Foch are heavier in texture than this Chambourcin-based blend, but as with those two, you wouldn't be wrong to think of this as being broadly akin to a lithe, bright Barbera - one that would go well with pizza or pasta.

This wine is available at the winery only, for $11.50.

2012 Reif Estate Vidal (Ontario VQA)

The 2012 Reif Vidal pours with a very light, pale greenish straw colour. Initially shy on the nose, the wine showed more of a bouquet a day after being opened and kept in the fridge.

After it warmed up and upon being swirled in the glass, the Vidal revealed clean, light pineapple aromas and a hint of pine needles. The entry is clean, crisp and light; some tangerine rind (common to Vidal table wines) shows up on the fore-palate. Very crisp and dry on the finish, with some warmth rounding it out (12% alc./vol.). Apparently, this wine has 10 g/L of residual sugar (as per the LCBO product description), but it tastes drier.

Overall, this is a light-bodied Vidal. It works really well as an aperitif, but also with any main course calling for a light, dry white wine.

Purchased for $9.95 on general list at the LCBO.

I like to think of Vidal being to Ontario what Grüner Veltliner is to Austria: a regionally recognizable grape that may not be one of the "mainstream" varieties, but that can be counted on to produce quality table wine with a defined character. 

Vidal is, in fact, a very versatile grape: it produces everything from icewines to late-harvest wines, off-dry table wines - and dry crisp wines, like this one. It's well worth checking out.

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

2007 Dry Niagara

I try to make a dry varietal Niagara wine whenever circumstances permit, and fortunately, I managed to locate a vineyard last autumn near Stoney Creek, Ontario (western Niagara Peninsula) where I could do the "U-pick" thing and hand-select the best bunches.

Manual de-stemming and selection were followed by a 24-hour pectic enzyme soak, then crush and fermentation with a small portion of reserved skins. Primary completed without problems and soon enough I knew I had a winner on my hands: the flavour and balance of the wine were excellent. Over the first couple of months in cold storage, though, a haze problem manifested itself - one that isinglass, gravity filtration, sparkolloid and plain old time simply failed to clear. Things were looking pretty dismal for what tasted like a promising wine but looked awful...

Finally, I found a packet of chitosan finings - a colloidal shellfish preparation - that had remained from previous years. In desparation, I added the chitosan to the wine and in a few days, I had a brilliantly clear, bright wine.

The must was chaptalized to give a dry-finished wine with just over 12% alc./vol. Rich pale-straw hue with a deep greenish hue in the glass. Swirling brings out gentle, though unmistakable fusel/home-heating-oil/heavy-petrol oily notes coupled with forward acacia flowers, raspy citrus rind (I am convinced that this is Beamsville/western-Niagara-Peninsula terroir speaking - this citrusy aroma is well represented in the area's Sauvignon Blancs and Rieslings) and just the faintest musky-lemon-candy aroma framing it all. Light and crisp on the entry, with much crispness but moderate acidity overall; dry and light. Raspy citrus-rind replays on the mid-palate with some alcoholic warmth and malic tartness toward the finish. Clean finish; plenty of floral acacia/jasmine flavour and just a bit of musk on the finish, which is quite long.

Overall, I am quite happy with this dry Niagara. I feel that it is the equal of my 2003 effort, which was superior to both my original (2001) and 2005 vintages.

2005 Chaddsford Niagara (Pennsylvania)

Niagara is one of my all-time favourite white grapes, and it's a grape that I have experience working with at home each year. Niagara makes a white wine that certainly looks like any other white table wine in the bottle or glass, but just give it a swirl and sniff – whoa! You will get some seriously hardcore flowers, fruit, petroleum and candied labrusca musk. This varietal Niagara from Chaddsford (which I might add makes a darn fine varietal Chambourcin that I've tried and enjoyed), brought to the 2006 NiagaraCool picnic by fellow wine enthusiast Paulo Faustini, is, bar none, the best commercially produced example of varietal Niagara that I have ever tried. The nose is so utterly pure and true to the grape that I kept sniffing the glass long after I emptied my pour. The aroma lingered beautifully – and it reminded me of what makes me such a hardcore proponent of this grape being recognized as one of the classic wine grapes of the region whose name it bears. Yes, I believe that the Niagara grape variety deserves to be thought of as one of our classic white grapes – the Niagara region's Viognier, if you will. Never mind that its historic use has been more for white grape juice and some jelly; this is a grape that, when treated with respect, rewards the winemaker with an absolutely stunning load of aromatic power that unfolds into a soulful symphony in the glass, pouring out its unabashedly American heritage and making itself noticed and appreciated. Had it been dry, I would have loved it even more – but even off-dry, this wine is still on the sane side of the sugar scale and really, really exemplary.