There's a World of Great Wine: Thoughts about Lifford's 2011 Grand Tasting

The world of wine is a big one and it's only getting bigger as more unconventional wine countries like China, India and Thailand develop further and increase production. To complicate matters if you look at the terroir, people, winemaking and the grapes each region has something unique and special about it. Which if your a wine lover makes the whole journey of finding that special bottle that much more exciting and rewarding. But even for the dedicated oenophile staying on top of a region let alone a world of wine is a bit of a daunting task. That's why having the opportunity to taste a wide range of wine carefully selected from around the world is the perfect opportunity to get some insight into what's happening in the world of wine. One such event is the Lifford Grand Tasting. This year's tasting featured 51 wineries from Lifford's award winning portfolio of international wineries. The proceeds also go to Delisle Youth Services which works with youth and their families so that that they can learn grow and thrive.

One of the standouts from the tasting was from right here in Canada: Painted Rock. Located on shores overlooking the stunning Skaha Lake this winery is on the former property of the largest apricot orchard in the British Commonwealth. As far as tender fruits go apricots tend to be the most finicky so clearly this is a great piece of land. Despite only purchasing the land in 2004 and planting a year later, the winery has quickly made a name for itself as a top quality producer. The focus is on the five Bordeaux grapes (Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petite Verdot. The flagship 2008 Red Icon is a meritage blend of 20% Merlot, a quarter each Malbec and Cabernet Franc with the remainder being Petite Verdot. That's right none of that other Cabernet grape. This wine had beautiful aromas and flavours of cassis, black plums and blackberries. Joining the fruit were flavours of cocoa, vanilla and oak spice. Underlying that was a savoury cigar box element that balanced nicely and gave it a dimension beyond the ripe fruit. It possessed the strong acidity and tannic structure to suggest it will develop and drink well over the next few years. The wine that really intrigued me was the 2008 Syrah. The Skinner family, which owns the winery, fell in love with wine touring the south of France where Syrah is behind some of the region's best wines. The wine is full of lush black cherry, bramble, white pepper, vanilla and oak spice. But what really drew me me in were the seductive leather and gamey notes. It was lush and juicy without being over the top and had the tannins and acid structure that made me want to revisit it in a few years.

Another outstanding producer was Kiwi producer Craggy Range. If you've ever tried a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and thought 'I like it but I would love it' if it didn't try so hard for attention the this is the one for you. Over the past forty years the Kiwi take on Sauvignon Blanc with vibrant grassy and tropical flavours has become a world benchmark. Sometimes that style can lack a bit of finesse but not with the 2010 Te Muna Road Vineyard from Craggy Range. It has aromas and flavours of gooseberry, passionfruit, citrus and herbal grassiness that cannot be mistaken for anything but New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. But it manages to do so with an elegance and subtlety that you don't often come across in the Kiwi take on this grape. The majority of fruit is de-stemmed rather than whole bunch pressed and fermentation takes place in a combination of French oak barriques and stainless steel. The result is a wine that retains balanced acidity with a slightly rounder and fuller mouthfeel than the average Sauvignon Blanc. Another favourite was the 2009 Gimblett Gravels (Block 14) Syrah. This was more food-friendly cool climate Syrah than inky jammy warmer climate Shiraz. Blueberries, black current, black plum are rounded out with rose petals before the perfumed kick of Tellicherry black peppercorns on the finish. It's a well balanced wine with a medium mouthfeel, acidity and just enough grippy tannins to pair well with heartier meat dishes.

The last outstanding wine was the 2006 Pio Cesare Barolo Ornato. If you've never had a top quality of Barolo this was a wonderful chance. Barolo is the enigma of the wine world and the grape of romance. Barolo is 100% Nebbiolo, the notoriously fickle grape, that's carefully tended to by small family run estates in the fog covered hills of Piedmont, Italy. It has the power and finesse of a thoroughbred horse and only really begins to reveal it's mysteries and true potential after years of careful finishing. It looks relatively innocuous and light with a bricking garnet red colour but make no mistake this is a serious wine. There were aromas and flavours of dried black cherries, berries, tar, earthy truffles and oak spice and they concentrated without being heavy. To open this wine now is a bit of shame because it's simply nowhere close to its peak. Yes, acidity is strong and food friendly and food would help to tame some of the strong tannins that slowly build and take over as you taste. But for those with patience, years of cellaring will help tame those tannins and allow the wine to reveal its secrets and nuisances.

Viopalooza: Vio the Rhône-born Divo Shows What it can do when it Goes to Ontario & BC Finishing School

After the success of the #Tastegris Twitter tasting a group of oenophiles recently came together to taste the best of Ontario Viognier. Yes, the favoured and sometimes only white grape permitted in certain regions of France's Northern Rhône has slowly found some traction in Niagara—enough to provide a solid line-up for #Viopalooza. As is the nature of these Twitter tastings the line-up is announced ahead of time and people are encouraged to taste along and share their thoughts with the tasters and those tasting vicariously on Twitter using the above hash tag. Naturally that makes blind tasting virtually impossible but if you want to build a community the social interaction of allowing everyone to participate is far more important than trying to isolate any bias.

Regardless of Viognier's exact origins it seems to have found a home in the Northern Rhône, in particular Condrieu where south facing slopes on heat retaining granite soils combine with hot summers and cool wet winters to produce world renown wines. But even in the grape's home producing a fine wine is a challenge. The crop sizes are dubious. Yields must be kept low to maintain varietal character. And there is a very tight window after the grapes reach the right sugar level and then develop the flavour & volatile aroma compounds that are intrinsic to good Viognier. So given the relatively short and humid summer growing seasons and cold winters in Niagara it almost seems like madness to try grow this diva/divo of a grape. But when it's done right the combination of that ethereal floral bouquet and rich without being heavy mouth-feel is really unparalleled.

From VIopalooza

Chåteau des Charmes has a long history of experimentation whether it be different trellising systems, planting viniferia in the early years or being one of the first to use wind machines to protect tender spring buds against frost damage. So it should come as no surprise that the winery has allocated a relatively small block (one acre) to Viognier since the early 1990s. According to Michelle Bosc the key to producing good Viognier in Niagara is aggressive thinning (40-60% of the bunches are dropped every year to promote ripening). And on the winemaking side it's all about being as gentle as possible limiting the movement of the wine and keeping it in stainless steel. This opinion was echoed by Jay Johnson and Marlize Beyers winemaker at Hidden Bench. Johnson, who assists with winemaking and can often be seen out in the vineyards tending to the vines, says the winery inherited some when it purchased the Locust Lane Vineyard. Given the naturally low yields of Viognier and the very low yields Hidden Bench commits itself to there are plans to grow more. For Beyers the key to making Viognier is to minimise movement using gravity wherever possible because she believes that any movement even necessary ones like tank to bottle only results in a loss of more of the aromatics that are key to variety's identity. Richie Roberts, the winemaker at Fielding first encountered Viognier when he was working as the assistant winemaker at Stratus. Although he uses stainless steel at Fielding he feels there is a place for neutral oak especially if the goal is to impart some nuttiness or leesy character. Similarly Bosc says some malolactic conversion/fermentation can add to the mouthfeel but given Viognier's naturally low acid and high sugar you need to be careful when using it. So how did the wines taste?

Overall it was was a good showing with the Canadian wines exhibiting the variety's distinctive floral character. The 2008 Chåteau des Charmes was a favourite. It had aromas of peach and rose petal as well as a full mouthfeel—all classic characteristics of Viognier. Another favourite was the 2009 Fielding with aromas and flavours of juicy peach and orange blossom that really shone through. Only 10% of the fruit came from the estate vines which were recently pulled because Roberts felt they weren't performing well in that location. The other 90% comes from a Niagara-on-the-Lake vineyard where Roberts has established a long term relationship and the Fielding crew performs the vineyard work.

From VIopalooza

Given that parts of BC's Okanagan are a virtual desert the climate has the potential to get closer to the Rhône than Niagara. And the wines didn't disappoint with the tasting's most praised wine coming from the Okanagan. Selling between $15-20 the Jackson Triggs' 2008 Silver Series was fresh containing ripe peach and orange blossom flavours. The mouthfeel was full with good weight. It hit all the points you expect from a Viognier and did so at a great price point. It was also interesting to taste the 2008 Sandhill Small Lots Program Viognier one year removed from being awarded white wine of the year at the Canadian Wine Awards. Full of peach aromas with floral blossoms the best feature of the wine was the full rich mouth feel. If there was a criticism it was that the wine which was picked late and fermented dry was really quite hot and tasted as if it had more alcohol than the 14% listed. But the mouth feel alone which was rich without being heavy much like a good soufflé, could make you understand the accolades the wine received. However my favourite Okanagan wine and one that received considerable praise around the table was a 2008 83% Viognier 17% Marsanne blend from Rhône specialist Stag's Hollow. Surprisingly this wine's mouthfeel exceed even the Sandhill in its richness. The nose was full of beautiful aromas like walking through an orchard in bloom just after a late afternoon sun shower. There was also a honeyed note which complemented the the slightly off-dry finish—kept in balance by good acidity. Interestingly it was barrel fermented in new oak and aged for eight months. It was nice to see that the practice added structure to the wine and did nothing to hinder the aromatics.

Another interesting observation that sparked a discussion at the tasting was that Viognier seemed to be wine that you want to drink upon release/purchase or shortly there after (before the next vintage is released). The wine that started this discussion was a 2006 Fielding. The colour had moved from the pale lemons of the fresh Viogniers to a medium-gold honeyed colour. Although there were still some floral elements the dominat aroma was that of burnt sugar which as Del Rollo pointed out is something that is immediately identifiable to someone who has made creme brulée before. Although a touch oxidised and slightly golden the 2006 Hidden Bench was much fresher in comparison with honeyed peach flavours. The acid seemed to be dropping in relation to newer vintages but it still continued to provide a refreshing balance. The 2007 vintage with 13.4% alcohol felt a little hot in comparison. It possessed strong floral aromatics but it had a background of barrel notes. Although all Hidden Bench Viogniers are barrel fermented and aged in neutral oak, the barrel character showed through the most on the 2007. The 2008 showed a little more in the way of floral aromatics with juicy peach and orange blossoms and a slight spicy character. The 2009 was a little less expressive in its aromatics showing a light perfumed note. What made this standout was the high acidity. Much higher than any of the other examples, it was closer to the acid levels of a cold climate Sauvignon blanc than the other Viogniers. Whether you liked the style or not is a separate issue, but it was certainly interesting to taste vintage variation. Hidden Bench uses natural ferments and it barrel fermented these Viogniers in neutral oak through all vintages so with vinification being largely the same you could really taste the differences a growing season can impart on a variety.

From VIopalooza

The last example was a Malleval, Condrieu grown on those famous heat retaining granite slopes from Pierre Gaillard. This wine was a bit of an enigma with many hard to describe flavours and aromas. It was surprisingly far from the most aromatic. However being the last wine poured, it had been open for more than two hours and other tasters had mentioned that the aromatics had dissipated a bit since opening. That said it did possess a wide range of interesting flavours and aromas. Mint, pickles and lactic acid nuances joined floral and burnt sugar flavours and aromas. The mouthfeel had strength and presence while defying heaviness much like a ballerina mid-leap. The vinfication notes on the page write about a controlled barrel fermentation and aging in tightly grained French oak with only 10% being new. Although oak really played no prominent role in the flavour profile it no doubt added something to the wine's feel.

It seems that the richness and complexity of the Condrieu exceeded anything from Niagara or the Okanagan. When the question was asked why this might be happening, Bosc chimed in with a simple but complex answer: vine age. The consensus is that Viognier vines are late bloomers really only showing what they are truly capable of after 20 years. Given that a life span of 30 years is considered quite good in Niagara due to harsher winters it seems that it's an uphill battle to be able to compete on the same level as those Rhône wines. That being said Viognier here shows beautiful aromatics that are a hallmark of the variety but the style is lighter and crispier than those wines. This situation of contrasting styles exists throughout the wine world. I would argue that a Grand Cru Chablis from Domaine Christian Moreau is neither inferior nor superior to Chateau Montelena when it comes to Chardonnay. Sure many will prefer one over the other but if you really analyse a well made old world example versus a new world example a wine lover will probably find them just as appealing but in a different way.

From VIopalooza

The other interesting element which may also help explain the difference between Condrieu and the Niagara and Okanagan Viogniers is clones. It seems that growers in Condrieu say the clone of Viognier used in their vineyards is thought to be different than the one used in the southern Rhône and everywhere else Viognier is grown. The propagation of this clone (642), which came at time when the variety was near extinction, is popular in the new word and it is believed to be a relatively high producer with larger berries but contains less of the distinctive aromatics in comparison to the one used in Condrieu. It's tough to say exactly what clone everyone is growing but Hidden Bench, Chåteau des Charmes and Fielding all use 642. Given Canada's strict importation laws designed to minimise the risk of foreign viruses the clone availability is usually very limited so it's very possible that most if not all of the Viognier found Niagara and BC is 642. Without a direct virtually side-by-side planting it's tough to say whether the clones are as different as the Condrieu growers & producers say. After all in the terroir obsessed world of French wine anything you can do to make your wine as unique as possible is a huge advantage. That said even if you can set aside the climatic and terroir conditions between Condrieu, Niagara and the Okanagan, the clone could be another interesting layer in the differences between the Viogniers. Until and likely even after science definitively sorts it out I'll be more than happy to to give my feedback on the debate through sensory evaluation of what's in the glass.