Hester Creek The Judge 2014, Golden Mile Bench, VQA British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦 ⁣

🍇 Merlot, Cabernet Franc & Cabernet Sauvignon ⁣
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🧐 Alcohol 14.2%⁣
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🍁 My Score 92 Points ⁣
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🧩 12 months in barrels, 75% French oak and 25% American oak⁣
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🔹 What a sensuous nose with aromas of field berries, plums, cassis, leather, charcuterie, toasted oak, vanilla and savoury herb. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied, elegant and flavourful with silky smooth tannins and refreshing acidity. The finish is medium length with flavours of soft seductive fruit and savoury herbs.⁣
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🔸 I believe that I have enjoyed every vintage of The Judge since 2009. For me, the last two vintage have been the best. On this vintage they nailed all elements of this blend. The nose is rather intoxicating, the mouthfeel is quite seductive and the finish is very flavourful. Nice bricking colour on the rim, drinking really well now. Looking forward to my 2015 & 2016 vintage. I declare “this is one sexy wine your Honour”. Cheers my wine friends 🍷⁣
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Township 7 Reserve 7 2016, VQA British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

🍇 Merlot 56%

🍇 Cabernet Franc 29%

🍇 Cabernet Sauvignon 14%

🍇 Malbec & Petit Verdot 1%

🧐 Alcohol 14.5%

🍁 My Score 92 Points 

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Beautiful bouquet with aromas of cherries, plums, soft leather, light cedar, savoury spices and vanilla notes. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied, elegant structure, flavourful with fine silky tannins and refreshing acidity. The finish is medium-long with flavours of soft seductive fruit, toband silky waves of oak spices. 

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Tasted at the winery last September, there was no doubt that this is my kind of wine. Definitely love at first sip where every element of the winemaking process was well executed. Beautiful aromatics, seductive mouthfeel with a nice purity of fruit and terrific oak integration. If you have only one bottle, a few more years in bottle should give it a more savoury character but it’s almost impossible to resist right now. I just wish that I had purchased more than this one bottle. Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Painted Rock Red Icon 2014, VQA Skaha Bench, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

🍇 Merlot 33%
🍇 Cabernet Franc 21%
🍇 Malbec 19%
🍇 Petit Verdot 16%
🍇 Cabernet Sauvignon 11%

🧐 Alcohol 14.3%

🍁 My Score 93 Points

🧩 100% Estate grown fruit, aged 18 months in 30% new French oak and unfiltered.

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 A rather intoxicating nose, with aromas of black fruit, black currants, leather, pencil shavings, smoky cedar, savoury spices and peppery notes. On the mouthfeel, full bodied, broad textured with great flavours, fine silky tannins and refreshing acidity. The finish is long with flavours of dark fruit, chocolate, vanilla and savoury spices.

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After a two hour decant this beast was ready to roar. Oh my god! So delicious with a BBQ steak. There was so much going on, starting with it’s great aromatics, seductive mouthfeel with fantastic richness and weight and flavourful finish that begged for another sip. If you are lucky enough to have one of these in your cellar, the good news is, the best is yet to come. What a treat 👌😋 Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Orofino Beleza 2016, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

🍇 Merlot
🍇 Cabernet Sauvignon
🍇 Cabernet Franc
🍇 Petit Verdot

🧐 14.5%

🍁 My Score 92%

🧩 Aged for 20 months in premium French and American barrels. Unfined and unfiltered

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A beautiful and inviting nose with aromas of ripe berry fruit, cherries, vanilla, tobacco and oak spices. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied, luscious mid palate, silky tannins and refreshing acidity. The finish is long, flavourful with great depth of flavours.

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I just can’t believe that this is my first experience with this local Meritage blend, talk about a hidden gem. I have discovered some beautiful red blends from the Similkameen Valley over the last few years. As I discovered from my visit to the Okanagan Valley last September and during various trade tastings over the last year, was that the 2016 vintage was excellent for red wines. A gorgeous wine and highly recommended. Cheers my wine friends🍷 🙂

Touring Ontario Wine Country

Getting my feet wet last Friday with these two wineries in Niagara-on-The-Lake

First stop at Stratus Vineyards. It’s great to finally visit this winery, I have read so many great reviews about their wines. I tasted through an extensive selection of their wines from white, reds and sweeter wines, all led by the very knowledgeable Ben. My favorites,

🍇 Stratus Red 2016 a blend of all five Bordeaux varietals plus Petit Verdot and Tannat
🍇 Botrytis Affected Sémillon 2017
🍇 Riesling Ice Wine 2017

It’s obvious there is a lot of attention to details in everything they do at Stratus. The entire tasting was a real treat, specifically their Botrytis Affected Sémillon 😋

Second stop at Two Sisters Vineyards. I have rarely been a fan of Canadian Sauvignon, well let me tell you how stunning this 2018 Sauvignon Blanc was; I usually prefer my SB to be stainless steel only, with no oak to preserve this varietals crisp acidity. First year that they made their SB without oak and it’s a winner. The best Canadian SB I have ever had. It is very aromatic, with a flavourful, crisp and refreshing acidity. Overall a very pleasant tasting led by Melissa, very knowledgeable. My favourites;

🍇 Sauvignon Blanc 2018
🍇 Cabernet Franc 2015

More wineries to come. Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Mission Hill Compendium 2009, VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada

This wine is a blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. All fruit is from the warmer region of Oliver and Osoyoos in the Okanagan Valley, with maturation taking place in French oak for 14 months and alcohol comes in at 14%.

A very Bordeaux nose on this blend with aromas of blackberry/black cherry fruit, cedar, savoury herbs, tobacco, mocha and peppery notes. On the mouthfeel, full bodied with a rich and concentrated textured, layered dark spicy fruit, balance acidity and firm grainy tannins. This finish is long, muscular with tannins gaining traction on the finish. This is a solid, beautifully made wine which should blossom in the cellar, give this another 2-3 years and you should be rewarded. Score 91 points.

Purchased January 10, 2013 at the Artisan Wine Shop in Victoria, BC at $50.00

Fraser Gallop Cabernet/Merlot 2010, Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia

 

 

This wine is a blend of all five Bordeaux grapes; 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and in a supporting role Malbec 2%, Cabernet Franc 2% and Petit Verdot 1%, with maturation taking place in French oak for 10 months. This wine is unfined, but filtered, listed as dry, and alcohol comes in at 13%.

 

This wine is a textbook Aussie Cabernet Sauvignon with aromas of black currants, blackberry, damp earth, mint, savoury spices, black pepper, espresso and toasty notes. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied, robust, firm textured but not overbearing, low acidity and fine drying tannins. Very good length on the finish, very masculine with layered dark fruit, savoury and earthy notes with a fine tannic grip lingering. Definitely more Bordeaux than Australia in style with a lot of life left here, best enjoyed in 2-3 years. Well made, enjoyable, score 89 points. 

     

Purchased October October 13, 2012 LCBO Vintages New Release (283077) at $29.95

Erasmo 2006, Maule Valley, Chile

This wine is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, dry farmed and all hand harvested, with ageing taking place in French oak for 18 months. This wine was bottled, unfiltered, in February 2008 and alcohol comes in at 14.5%.

This wine opened up with a lovely bouquet of ripe berry fruit, stewed plums, fresh herbs, tobacco leaf, vanilla and toasty cedar notes. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied with rich and concentrated flavours, fresh acidity and firm, dusty tannins. This wine's finish is long, robust with great depth of flavours. I love the intensity and texture of this Bordeaux blend. The oak is well integrated at this stage and the flavours are maturing nicely. Ready to go with any red meat off the BBQ, a very good value and strongly recommended, score 90 points.

Purchased March 30, 2013 LCBO Vintages New Release (311837) at $21.95

Château La Croix des Moines 2009, Lalande-de-Pomerol, Bordeaux, France

 

 

This wine is from the very good 2009 Bordeaux vintages and is a blend of 80% Merlot with the remaining 20% equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, the grapes are hand-harvested and the wines are matured in oak barrels for 14 months, alcohol comes in at 13.5%.

A deep ruby in color, this wine opened up with aromas of blackberry, blueberry, plum, dried violets, damp heart and prunes. On the mouthfeel, a medium-full bodied wine with spicy fruit flavours, mild acidity and firm tannins. Robust with good weight and texture on the finish, rich flavours and persistent tannins lingering. Nice and enjoyable plummy Merlot, made to be enjoyed at the table. Score 88 points.

Purchased April 9, 2012 at the SAQ (973057) at $24.85

Mulderbosch Faithful Hound 2009, Wo Stellenbosch, South Africa

Bordeaux meets South Africa in this red blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 8% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec. Maturation taking place in 225L French oak (60% new and 40% 2^nd fill) for 18 months, a variety of cultured yeasts were used, a light fining and filtration was applied just before bottling and alcohol comes in at 13.5%.

An interesting bouquet to be sure, with aromas of blackberry, dark plum, blackcurrant, dried mushroom, tobacco leaf, vanilla, toast, gamey and a hint of barnyard. On the mouthfeel, medium bodied with a silky smooth texture, balanced acidity and soft tannins. Medium length on the finish with soft seductive fruit, farmy/leathery character lingering.

These wine descriptors are not usually associated with this kind of blend, the earthy funk and the soft maturing character of this wine leads me to believe that Brettanomyces or Bret (a wine fault) is at play here. In moderation, Bret can add complexity and give the wine a more mature feel in a young wine but when out of control the wine would be clearly undrinkable. For me, the level of Bret gives me quite an oral experience which I find charming. So is the finish, very smooth and soft, almost too easy to drink. In the end the bottle was empty way to fast and I quite enjoyed it. Score 88 points.

Purchased December 28, 2012 at the SAQ (10678384) at $22.95

Poderre Sapaio Volpolo 2009, Doc Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy

 

This wine is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 15% Petit Verdot with maturation taking place in French oak for 14 months and a further 6 months in the bottle before being released, finally the alcohol comes in at a generous 14.5%.

This wine opened up with aromas of black cherry, blackcurrant, prune, exotic spices and toasty oak. On the mouthfeel, it is full bodied and dry, robust, well structured by firm tannins, low acidity with rich and concentrated flavours. This Italian Bordeaux blends finish is long, masculine with flavours of dark fruit, smoky notes and fine dusty tannins lingering. Right now this wine is drinking much better than when I first opened a bottle last December (2011), the wine then was very tannic but it’s definitely heading in the right direction. Additional time in bottle should give this wine a more elegant texture and softening the tannins even more. I would give this wine an additional 2-3 years in your cellar and pairing it with a rack of lamb or BBQ steak. Strongly recommended to those of you who like them big, score 90 points.

Purchased at the SAQ December 27, 2011 (11002941) at $28.05

Nk’Mip Cellars Mer’r’iym 2008, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada

 

Nk’Mip Cellars (pronounced in-ka-meep) is North America’s first aboriginal owned and operated winery. This wine name, Mer’r’iym, pronounced mur-eem, it is a word from the dialect spoken by the Osoyoos Indian Band. This word represents marriage, in this case, the marriage of all five Bordeaux varietals; 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 7% Malbec, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot with maturation taking place in French and American oak barrels for 18 months and alcohol coming in at 14.5%.

I have fond memories of tasting this inaugural vintage of Nk’Mpi Meritage at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival in March of 2011 where I was able to purchase a bottle. I remember thinking that this wine had a lot of potential but needed time to allow the tannins to soften up. I easily fell for the aromatics. Now a little more than 1 1/2 year later, this wine opened up with exquisite aromas of cherry, blackberry, plum, cassis, black pepper, smoky and cedar notes. On the mouthfeel, full bodied, layered dark fruit and gentle wood spices flavours, well structured by balanced acidity and slightly chewy tannins. This blends finish is long with fine textured, excellent depth of flavours and fine tannins lingering. This wine managed to achieve both power and elegance and was absolutely delicious. Nk’Mpi Cellars Mer’r’iym is a great addition to their portfolio of wines and strongly recommended, score 92 points.

Purchased at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival on March 31, 2011 at $50.00

 

 

View of part of Nk'Mip vineyards and the Osoyoos Lake

Rust en Vrede Estate 2007, Wo Stellenbosh, Stellenbosh, South Africa

Since 1981, Rust en Vrede has been making red wine only and there Estate wine is a blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Shiraz and 9% Merlot. Maturation took place in 50% French and 50% American oak for 23 months, blending took place 3 weeks before bottling. A further 18 months in bottle before release with alcohol coming in at 15%.

 

The strong Cabernet component comes through on the nose with lovely aromas of black cherry, plum, cassis, pine needles, wood spices, smoke and vanilla notes. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied with great flavours of black fruit, coffee and savoury spices, light acidity, rounded tannins but hot from the alcohol. Decent length on the finish, great flavours initially but then again, the hot alcohol quitly kills the flavours.  There is no doubt that there is a lot of effort that went into making this wine; I just wish the alcohol wasn’t over the top. It makes this wine a little un-balance.  I strongly recommend decanting for at least one hour before serving. I was left a bit disappointed, was expecting much better. Score 89 points.

Purchased September 3, 2011 LCBO New Release (997742) at $37.95    

Henry of Pelham Reserve Cabernet/Merlot 2007, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada

From the very good 2007 vintage in Ontario, this wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot; aging took place in French and American oak barrels (40% new) for 18 months.

This wine opened up with aromas of blackberry, cherry, plum, leather, tobacco, cracked pepper, vanilla, savoury and herbal notes. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied, dried herb flavours, spicy with fine texture, fresh acidity and silky tannins. Medium length on the finish, dry with savoury notes and tobacco flavours. I truly enjoyed the moderate alcohol at 13.5%, very well balance and enjoyable, savoury style red blend. Score 90 points.

Purchased September 3, 2011 LCBO New Release (395855) at $24.95

Mission Hill Oculus 2006, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada

Oculus is Mission Hill Family Estate’s flagship wine, a Bordeaux inspired blend of 51% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot. The grapes are from South Okanagan (Oliver and Osoyoos), hand harvested and hand sorted, fermentation & extended maceration in small French oak fermenters than each component is aged separately in 100% French oak barrels for 14.5 months with alcohol coming in at 14%.

This wine opens up with aromas of black cherry/blackberry fruit, black olive, bitter chocolate, clove, cedar, smoky and a strong nose of tobacco leaf/cigar box. On the mouthfeel, full bodied with layers of rich flavours, well structured, fresh acidity and fine chewy tannins. This blend's finish is very long with flavours of black fruit, tobacco, black pepper and smoky cedar wrap in fine tannins. I am delighted in knowing that I have one bottle remaining in my cellar; Oculus 2006 is enjoyable now but still needs to shed some of its oak and in the process acquiring some further elegance. My plan is for patience, until the winter of 2014, then open my remaining bottle. There is no doubt that a great amount of detail and attention went into crafting this wine, very enjoyable. My only negative, the heft and weight of the bottle, strong and masculine, but not very good for the environment, not to mention that it will only fit on the top or bottom row of my wine cellar. Score 93 points.

Purchased at the Artisan Wine Shop in Victoria, BC. September 25, 2009 at $60.00

Beaulieu Vineyard Tapestry Reserve 2008, Napa Valley, California, USA

This wine is a blend of all five Bordeaux grapes; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot with maturation taking place in both French and American oak (50% new) and alcohol coming in at 14.6%.

The benefit of blending and great winemaking is in full display here, starting with great aromatics, this wine opened up with aromas of plumy-black cherry fruit, cassis, cedar, pepper and light liquorice. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied, rich ripe California fruit flavours with gentle oak spices, vanilla, fine acidity and silky smooth tannins. Great length, energy and flavours on the finish. What you get from Beaulieu Vineyard Tapestry Reserve 2008 is a very elegant wine, finely textured and very fragrant. Drinking well right now or hold 2-3 years, gorgeous wine. Score 91 points.  

Purchased August 4, 2012 LCBO New Release (050393) at $34.95

De Toren Z 2008, Wo Stellenbosch, South Africa

 

This wine is a blend of all five Bordeaux grapes; 45% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Malbec, 7% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot, maturation took place in 225L French and American oak for 12 months (only American oak is use for the Malbec), alcohol comes in at 14.5%.

This wine opened up with aromas of plum, black cherry, blackberry, dark chocolate, violets, herbs and pepper. On the mouthfeel, full bodied, dark and concentrated flavours, firm texture, slightly rustic with good acidity and grainy tannins.  This blends finish is long with lots of oak spices and smoky characteristics. De Toren Z is not as memorable has there Fusion V which is more elegant and complex, I would have liked a little less toasty oak but Z is still quite pleasant, score 89 points.

Purchased September 3, 2011 LCBO New Release (178194) at $32.95

Te Mata Coleraine 2007, Hawkes Bay, North Island, New Zealand

 

 

Sometimes it is a challenge to take a photo of your wine when you are having guests join you for dinner and you are busy putting that last minute details together. My friend and fellow Sommelier, Sebastian suggested to me it would be a shame to omit a review for this wine.  His request was well supported. Here is a photo of the empty bottle and the cork (more on that later).

 

This wine is a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc, maturation took place predominantly in new French oak for 20 months with alcohol coming in at 14%. When we opened this wine, I thought that it might be oxidized, the foil was covered with dry wine, half of the top of the cork was covered with dry wine and two separated lines of wine were running the length of the cork, through to the top. The quality of the cork appeared very good and the length was good, but it might not have been as tight as it could have been. This wine opened up with aromas of black cherry, blackberry, blackcurrants, roasted coffee beans, damp earth, smoky, exotic spices, cedar and mineral notes. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied, bone dry with great structure and energy, balanced acidity and fine grainy tannins. A very good length on a long finish, with a rich combination of smoky dark fruit, minerals and mild tannins.  A gorgeous Bordeaux blend (think Graves here), robust, yet approachable, this wine just keeps getting better the longer it breathes. This bottle was definitely not oxidized, who knows if I would have keep it for another year or two, but today, this wine was much enjoyed by all. Score 93 points.

Purchased September 17, 2011 LCBO New Release (640656) at $59.95