My best friend was in the Province for a month to look after her dad who had successful hip replacement surgery. My friends Lynn and Jon hosted and our friend Erika also was able to attend. Not too frilly, we had my peach amaretto fruit soup, yellow bean salad, burgers and peach pie (one goes with what is in season, yes?)
Vilmart Grand Cellier I was a bit surprised that Lynn and Jon had not had this yet, and Deb is starting to pick up a liking for champagne, so I brought this. It was bang-on. Lean, racy, lemon-grapefruit and yet with a certain sleekness too, just can’t beat the value in this champagne. Long finish and did well enough with the burger too. Glad I have more.
2018 Five Rows SB
Super-hard to get this Ontario wine, this is the last of Lynn and Jon’s stash. There’s definite florality about the nose, and hints of guava and kiwi, but only hints around the freshness. In the mouth, it rolls around quite pleasantly with good vibrancy and all of us get some peach/nectarine here. A nice example
2010 Sojourn Georges III Cab
Deb likes her full-bodied reds so I thought I might try this one (IIRC a library release I picked up). Damn, this was fine. First sniff promises much enjoyment, with liqueured plum, a nick of licorice and nice spices in the background. Palate shows red berry, currant and plum fruit, but this is power and silk married absolutely wonderfully. An archtypal example of Georges III, which is probably my favourite Napa vineyard, it is simply a joy to drink and holds up fine over the next day. Showing the velvet and richness of Erich Bradley’s style, this is one of his great triumphs, at least for me.
1999 Kracher #2 Traminer NV
Lovely treat from Lynn and Jon, at least it should have been. Jon and I are not completely sure whether it’s lightly corked (I think I settled on that at the end) or tired and past its prime (could still be the case), but, while it had some kumquat and quince notes to taste, it didn’t have the special lifted quality that one associates with Kracher’s wines. I really do think we had a flawed bottle, though I much prefer 98s and 01s from that period of time.
I should also report on the 2018 Westcott Block 76 Chard . This is a single-clone (76 of course) bottling that is dreamy. Very firm binned apple and pear fruit on nose and tongue. I haven’t taken to their Chards before (love their PN and sparkling), finding one iteration too heavy-handed with the oak and the other (stainless) to be too unprepossessing. This finds the perfect middle ground and might be the best Ontario Chard I’ve had since the 05 and 06 Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos iterations. This is a wineclub-only release, but we were at the winery and I was able to secure 4 of them. Could use a touch of cellar time.
Haere Ra,
Mike