| Shane's Wine Opinion's |
| The Wines of Canada |
I just recently returned from a vacation in Whistler, Canada. It is a
ski resort a couple hours from Vancouver in British Columbia. I know
what you're thinking...what idiot goes to a ski resort in July. Well
suffice it to say that Leslie and I did not pick the date and time and our
airfare and hotel were paid for by Sysco Dallas. So we will go when
they tell us to go!
Now I could go on and on about the beauty of Whistler, the grandness
of our stay at the Four Seasons Resort and how remarkably clean
Canada is, but this is a website about wine. I figure that if you were
interested in Whistler, you would be reading Conde' Nest magazine
and not our website. Instead, I wanted to share some of my opinions
with you about Canadian wines.
There are several restaurants in town that feature a wide selection of
wines from around the world. In fact, you should have seen the one at
The Bearfoot Bistro, if was as thick as the Bible. I'm not kidding!
However, all the restaurant wine lists in Canada did have one thing in
common, they all had plenty of Canadian wines to choose from. Some
restaurants really pushed them on you as their wine lists were
dominated by selections from Canada, both east coast, (Quebec &
Ontario) and west coast (British Columbia). I do like to try new things
and my exposure to Canadian wines in the States has been quite
limited, besides, when in Whistler, do what the Whistlers do! Sorry, I
couldn't resist!
Now when I think of Canadian wines, the first type that comes to mind
for me is Icewine. Let's face it, we all know that this is something that
they do really well. Did you know that they make Icewines in the
western part of the country as well as the eastern portion? I thought
that they all came from the Niagara region. I tried examples from
both ends of the country and thought that they were both excellent. I
will say that the ones from eastern Canada had a little more
concentration of flavors and depth to them. That might also be a
result of the winemakers having a bit more experience with the
Icewines. My favorite Icewine I tried was the Gehringer Brothers
2003 Riesling Icewine. Talk about smooth and silky! I was able to
buy a bottle to bring back home with me. I also bought some
Inniskillin Vidal Icewine for $50.00 CAD. That is usually $90.00 USD
back in the states, so I was really excited about that.
Okay, so all of the Icewines that I tried were very good, as expected,
but how would Canada's other wines stack up? My experience tells
me that Canada would be better suited for white wine production as
opposed to red wines because of the cold climate. My intuition proved
correct on this account. Leslie and I spent a few hours in a wine bar
called Apres owned by a French Canadian who was a lot of fun. I let
him be our guide and I sampled several Canadian wines. I had at first
a Semillon that was very dry and nutty. I really liked it. It would have
made an excellent pairing with a trout almondine. Then I tried a
Chardonnay and I applauded their subtle use of oak. It had nice
acidity and fresh, clean fruity flavors. Leslie prefers reds so she
ordered a Bordeaux blend that she thought was tasty. I did not share
her opinion on it however.
As a whole, I found that most of the Canadian red wines that I tried on
our vacation were a bit green as a result of unripened grapes. They
lacked a depth of fruit and had those strong herbal accents that I find
annoying. I could tell that in most cases, the winemakers were skilled
and knew what they were doing, but they just didn't have great grapes
to work with. This was the case in all red wine styles except one, Pinot
Noir. The Pinot Noir wines I tasted showed promise. I think that
Canada could become a big player in the Pinot Noir market, much like
the New Zealanders are doing now, if they focus a bit more on planting
in the right places and studying the grape a little more.
All in all I enjoyed most of the Canadian wines, especially those
Icewines. Yummy! I even brought back with us an Ice Cider made
from apples. I'll let you know how it tastes when I drink it twenty
years from now. I'll leave you with a bunch of pictures that I took
while we were there. I know that most of them have nothing to do with
wine, but I can't let Conde' Nest Magazine have all the fun!
ski resort a couple hours from Vancouver in British Columbia. I know
what you're thinking...what idiot goes to a ski resort in July. Well
suffice it to say that Leslie and I did not pick the date and time and our
airfare and hotel were paid for by Sysco Dallas. So we will go when
they tell us to go!
Now I could go on and on about the beauty of Whistler, the grandness
of our stay at the Four Seasons Resort and how remarkably clean
Canada is, but this is a website about wine. I figure that if you were
interested in Whistler, you would be reading Conde' Nest magazine
and not our website. Instead, I wanted to share some of my opinions
with you about Canadian wines.
There are several restaurants in town that feature a wide selection of
wines from around the world. In fact, you should have seen the one at
The Bearfoot Bistro, if was as thick as the Bible. I'm not kidding!
However, all the restaurant wine lists in Canada did have one thing in
common, they all had plenty of Canadian wines to choose from. Some
restaurants really pushed them on you as their wine lists were
dominated by selections from Canada, both east coast, (Quebec &
Ontario) and west coast (British Columbia). I do like to try new things
and my exposure to Canadian wines in the States has been quite
limited, besides, when in Whistler, do what the Whistlers do! Sorry, I
couldn't resist!
Now when I think of Canadian wines, the first type that comes to mind
for me is Icewine. Let's face it, we all know that this is something that
they do really well. Did you know that they make Icewines in the
western part of the country as well as the eastern portion? I thought
that they all came from the Niagara region. I tried examples from
both ends of the country and thought that they were both excellent. I
will say that the ones from eastern Canada had a little more
concentration of flavors and depth to them. That might also be a
result of the winemakers having a bit more experience with the
Icewines. My favorite Icewine I tried was the Gehringer Brothers
2003 Riesling Icewine. Talk about smooth and silky! I was able to
buy a bottle to bring back home with me. I also bought some
Inniskillin Vidal Icewine for $50.00 CAD. That is usually $90.00 USD
back in the states, so I was really excited about that.
Okay, so all of the Icewines that I tried were very good, as expected,
but how would Canada's other wines stack up? My experience tells
me that Canada would be better suited for white wine production as
opposed to red wines because of the cold climate. My intuition proved
correct on this account. Leslie and I spent a few hours in a wine bar
called Apres owned by a French Canadian who was a lot of fun. I let
him be our guide and I sampled several Canadian wines. I had at first
a Semillon that was very dry and nutty. I really liked it. It would have
made an excellent pairing with a trout almondine. Then I tried a
Chardonnay and I applauded their subtle use of oak. It had nice
acidity and fresh, clean fruity flavors. Leslie prefers reds so she
ordered a Bordeaux blend that she thought was tasty. I did not share
her opinion on it however.
As a whole, I found that most of the Canadian red wines that I tried on
our vacation were a bit green as a result of unripened grapes. They
lacked a depth of fruit and had those strong herbal accents that I find
annoying. I could tell that in most cases, the winemakers were skilled
and knew what they were doing, but they just didn't have great grapes
to work with. This was the case in all red wine styles except one, Pinot
Noir. The Pinot Noir wines I tasted showed promise. I think that
Canada could become a big player in the Pinot Noir market, much like
the New Zealanders are doing now, if they focus a bit more on planting
in the right places and studying the grape a little more.
All in all I enjoyed most of the Canadian wines, especially those
Icewines. Yummy! I even brought back with us an Ice Cider made
from apples. I'll let you know how it tastes when I drink it twenty
years from now. I'll leave you with a bunch of pictures that I took
while we were there. I know that most of them have nothing to do with
wine, but I can't let Conde' Nest Magazine have all the fun!
| Standing on top of a mountain, drinking fine wine and smoking a cuban cigar. Could life be any better? I submit to you that it cannot! |
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