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.

Sandbanks (non-vintage) Marquette Reserve (Ontario VQA)

This wine is not available at the LCBO, but is available at the Wine Rack outlets. $19.95.

Deep, clear garnet colour with a ruby tint. Big nose of candied black cherries upon pouring, framed with a nice amount of clove and vanillin in the background, but also framing the fruit. Dry, refreshingly tart acidity and good texture; gentle warmth from the 13% alc./vol. There is some astringency in the background; Marquette is more tannic than the old-school hybrids like Baco and Foch.

Warm, cleansing finish. Very food-friendly. I am having it with leftover lamb roast and potatoes, but really, this wine would go well with so many things.

I'm glad to see Marquette growing in presence in Ontario, and am also glad that the VQA regs seemed to readily embrace the variety rather than keeping it out of the club.

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.

2016 Magnotta Dry Vidal, Equus Series (Ontario VQA)

Magnotta's Dry Vidal is a consistently good example of what the Vidal grape can do when vinified in a dry table-wine style. I've been following this wine for the past 20 years!

12.5% alc./vol. Medium-straw yellow in the glass. Some fine carbonation along the bottom of the glass. Expansive aromas of citrus (lemon skin, mainly), pine/fir buds, a whiff of petroleum (similar to Riesling), and a hint of floral tropical fruit...most often, I get guava on the nose of these Vidal table wines. The empty glass releases a mild but persistent, sweet piney aroma reminiscent of freshly cut pine.

Electrifyingly crisp acidity; clean, lean and cleansing. Excellent zip. Warming and cleansing on the mid-palate, simultaneously.

A great wine for seafood, but certainly good in any situation that calls for a crisp and dry white wine.

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!

2016 Sandbanks Foch - Baco Noir "Sleeping Giant" (Ontario VQA)

This blend of Foch and Baco has been one of my go-to reds for well over a year now. Sandbanks Estate Winery is located south of Belleville (eastern Lake Ontario, north shore—basically across the lake from Rochester).

The wine pours with a beautiful, saturated black-cherry/magenta colour. Sweet and herbaceous Vitis riparia aromas are immediately dominant on the nose and are backed up by lively summer raspberry fruit. There's oak here, but it's well integrated and in the background, offering more structural support than overt aromatics—which is fine by me, as the palate benefits from this oak treatment.

Tart but balanced acidity fans out across the palate, offering a refreshing texture and good warmth from the 12.8% alc./vol. The finish is elegant and a touch spicy from the oak, but in a restrained way.

Excellent wine and well worth the price (it varies between $18 and $20 at the LCBO depending on time of year).

One of the best, and a welcome addition to the modern red hybrid winescape.

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!

2014 Georgian Hills Maréchal Foch (Ontario VQA)

I had wanted to try this Foch for a long time, given that it comes from a "non-traditional" wine growing region in Ontario: the southern shore of Georgian Bay. That, plus the fact that I'm a fan of the Maréchal Foch grape, made this a "must get" wine.

Varietal Foch was easy to find in Ontario up to and just past the turn of the millennium; slowly afterwards, though, it began to disappear from the winescape. For this reason, I am always excited to find new examples of varietal Foch, as this is a grape which deserves more respect for the heft of the red wines that it can produce in climates with short growing seasons and occasionally harsh winters.

The Georgian Hills Foch is closed with a natural cork; upon pulling out the cork, I noted lots of inky-purple saturation on the end of the cork (a signature sign of many red-hybrid wines) and also noted some tartrate crystals intermixed with the pigment.

The wine pours with a deep, saturated, black/cherry hue. In the glass, hue is an intense but translucent black/cherry/garnet when held against a light. Foch is a teinturier grape—one that has pigmented skins and pulp, and therefore, it makes a wine of great visual intensity.

The aromas are of light black cherry; they are simple, and not as layered as the much missed, oak-aged Niagara Peninsula Fochs tended to be (and as the Vieni Reserve from Niagara still is). That said, the cherry fruitiness is inviting.

Bright acidity and light but good tannins arrive on the entry. The wine is dry and pleasant on the mid-palate, and at 12.5%, it is gently warming. Very good structure on the mid-palate, without the zinginess that many a Baco Noir has. I've always thought that Foch was the more interesting of these two grapes (both were common in Ontario, but Baco is still more widely produced today).

$14.95 at the LCBO; available at stores mainly near its area of origin.

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.

Vieni Estates 2012 Foch Vintage Reserve (Ontario VQA)

Vieni 2012 Foch Vintage Reserve (Ontario VQA)

I was impressed to find this fine Ontario Foch at Vintages recently. Truth be told, it sort of flew over my radar, having been released this past summer.

The wine pours with a beautiful, and typical, saturated deep-garnet colour that fades to a "weathered sumac" black-mahogany hue at the meniscus. It opens up in the glass with wonderful, big, quality aromatic oak aromas. Mingling with that, there are tart black currant and blue plum aromas. Aromatically, this reminds me of the many reserve Fochs that graced the Ontario wine scene right up to Y2K.

On the palate, there is tart, lithe acidity and a clean, dry, palate-cleansing texture that carries the fruit and oak aromas right across it — with power, lightness, and elegance, all at the same time. This is classic Ontario Foch.

The finish is dry and elegant, with replays of the same aromatic compounds.

It is a shame that so many excellent examples of varietal Maréchal Foch have disappeared from the Ontario wine scene over the past decade. For this reason, it is a joy to find a winery producing a treat like this, from a grape that deserves much more respect in this part of the world for climatic suitability and innate quality characteristics.

The wine retails for less than $20 and is 14% alc./vol.

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 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.

2011 Coffin Ridge "Back From the Dead Red" (Ontario VQA)

According to the back label, this Foch-based blend consists of 78.5% Foch, 12.3% Merlot and 9.2% Cabernet (type not specified). The bottle is closed with a high-quality natural cork. 

This Foch-based wine pours with a beautiful, inky beet-purple colour that is so typical of the grape. The nose of the wine is representative of Foch, with intense, spicy black-cherry, pinpoint blackcurrant and intriguing brackish aromas that speak to the V. riparia heritage of Foch.

There's zippy acidity on the entry, with expansive cherry and classic herbaceous flavours across the palate. On the mid-palate, a nice streak of tannin is noted, and this is likely provided by the Merlot and Cabernet component. The finish is zippy, but nicely balanced (12.5% alc./vol.). The wine has a superb blackcurrant bouquet, is quite dry, and is both flavourful and cleansing.

The blackcurrant aromas remind me of the Old Vines Foch that Inniskillin used to make in the 1990s: the very wine that turned me on to Ontario red hybrid wines.

A recommended, characterful red wine from Grey County.

The wine is available at Vintages at the time of writing (search for local availability via the LCBO Product ID: 260463). The wine sells for $17.

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.