I drive from Rochester to Toronto, Waterloo, and Hamilton fairly regular and I find myself astounded by how many wineries there are in the Niagara region. However, I’ve never had a wine from there that I liked that much. The rieslings, sauvignon blancs, chards, and ice wines (usually either vidal or riesling) are fine, but not, in my opinion, as good as their counterparts at the best Finger Lakes wineries.
So I was astounded, at a Rhone Valley varietal wine tasting I went to last week, to taste a syrah from the area that was a dead ringer for Cornas (a famously big rustic wine fro the same area as Cote-Rotie and Hermitage in the northern Rhone area of France): funky, gamey, meaty, perhaps a little less fruit and alcohol than a Cornas but could easily have been a Cornas from a less ripe year.
Here’s the wine: Peninsula Ridge Syrah Reserve 2006, Niagara Peninsula. I don’t think the notes on their web page are all that accurate, but, let’s face it, “elegant mocha” sells a lot better than “gamey funk”. It’s $30, which may seem like a lot for a syrah from Canada, but it’s worth it: I’m going to pick some up next time I drive through. It wasn’t just my uneducated palate that found it so fascinating — I tasted it with winemakers from two of the East Coast’s best wineries (Lamoreaux Landing and Sheldrake), among others.
I thought this would be a fun and crazy way to begin wine blogging.
Update. I just discovered that my localish Air American affiliate has a wine talk show on once a week. Who says liberals aren’t elitist? I detest all talk radio normally, but I may give it a try.
Wine blogging: the Napa Valley of CanadaPost + Comments (81)