The Cheap and the Cheerful for Christmas - Ontario Wines

Earlier in the month I recommended a few budget-friendly international wines. Today I'm going to devote an entry to some Ontario wines.

First things first, if you didn't get a chance to read Monique Beech's articles in the St.Catharines' Standard about the 'Cellared in Canada' wines then I have to say check the link. I know Jackson Triggs and Peller  Estates both have cheap wines but unless they're VQA (Vintner's Quality Alliance) they're not a 100% percent Canadian. If you want to support Canada 100%, you have to go the wineries or the VQA section at the LCBO.

But a lot of complaints I hear from friends and contacts is that Ontario wines are expensive. Compared to a cheap Chilean or Spanish wine, yes, they're not typically nine dollars but the thing is these countries have a lot more acreage devoted to vine land.

Ontario and especially British Columbia's wine regions are as far north as you're going to get in North American when it comes to grape growing. In order for the vine to flourish, it needs four seasons. In places like Brazil, there can be numerous harvests but because the vine hasn't experienced a dormancy period, it's very much close to impossible to produce a decent wine (unless you're high up in the mountains).

I am a firm believer in supporting our local economy (even it means spending $12.00 instead of $10.00...so what...?).

SOME OF MY FAVOURITES:

Chateau des Charmes  'Silver Label' 2006 Cabernet VQA

The French-Style chateau on York Rd is hard (extremely hard) to miss. I remember numerous Christmas afternoons passing the stately winery on the way to my aunt's for Christmas dinner. She served the typical fair (yams, buttery mashed potatoes, mouth-watering pork and turkey) along with Ukrainian perogies and cabbage rolls. During dinner, the guys watched sports, beer bottles in hand while the women, swirling their  wine glasses gossiped in the dining area. We kids traditionally got into trouble, usually doing something stupid in the basement (or nearly breaking a window with a bow and arrow - my bad....).

If you're looking for an easy way to support your Ontario wineries, this wine is a must. This wine is medium bodied with notes of seductive, solemn leather, earthy raspberries and black currants with just a zing of green pepper.

Get out of the Cellared in Canada section and buy this red VQA at $9.95!

Pelee Island Gamay/Zweigelt 'Night Glider' VQA

If you bring this wine to a Christmas dinner or party, you might get a few people asking about the crazy bat on the label (it's actually a Southern Flying Squirrel... poor little guy).

Or... the other question: What the *bleep* is Zweigelt?

Well Zweigelt (or Blauer Zweigelt if you're in Central Europe) is one of the most popular Austrian dark-grape varieties. Dr. Zweigelt crossed Blaufräkisch and St-Luarent, combing the bite of the first with earth elegance of the latter.

The grape ripens early and in southwest Ontario, it's not a bad thing. Some experts feel the grape's name is hampered by the originator's difficult to pronounce name (sf-VAI-gelt).

For $10.95 you can get this dark chocolate, black currant and cherry charmer. Ideal with pasta dashes but would be a nice compliment to hearty stew.

Konzelmann 2007 Riesling VQA

I was a networking event earlier in the month (the same one, if you've read my Wine and Food Pairing for the Holidays entry where our MC jokingly said we all needed to check into AA) where myself and several other colleagues shared a bottle Konzelmann's 2007 Riesling.

It's always a bit more expensive in the restaurant (I won't tell you what we paid) but at the LCBO, for $11.95, you can't resist this pearl of a wine. Apricot, apple, hints of honey and light petrol, this wine is a scintillating dance of flavours, structured but sensuous. 

Best of all, the staff at Konzelmann are some of the best I've ever met. Friendly, knowledgeable and the most enthusiastic bunch next to those at Inniskillin. When I first moved back to Ontario after living six years in B.C., I headed over to Konzelmann. I kept coming back.

When the summer season is back in swing, I'll be back there trying the latest.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

I know we had to tighten our spending. It sucks, we're all feeling the pinch. But for those who live in Ontario, it's our home and we make fantastic wines. I'd rather spend $12.00 on a spectacular wine than $9.00 on a passable international. In Ontario, the winemakers here rarely, if ever, make plonk. I think we can be proud of that. 

LINKS

Chateau des Charmes

Pelee Island Winery

Konzelmann Winery

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The Cheap and the Cheerful for Christmas

This time of year you really have to pick your shopping moments at the LCBO. Sometimes you get in and its just perfect, you pick a bottle or two, fly through the cashier and you're out the door, nothing to it.


But then, if you're unlucky, time pressing down on you, you get stuck behind that one customer who has to buy for the party and you might be standing there for awhile. Some of these shoppers look absolutely exhausted, (my father was telling me the other day that our  modern equivalent to battle fatigue is surviving the holidays - another reason why I can't stand Christmas) and some look excited - not a lot, mind you.


It must be difficult to plan a party or be the one on the liquor run. So I’m writing this blog for those that need some decent, cheap wines to please everybody.

SPAIN

‘Candidato’ Cosecheros Y Criadores – Tempranillo/Garnacha 2006

This is one of my favourite value wines available. The wine, a vino de tierra de Castilla has been sourced from grapes grown throughout the region of Castilla-La Mancha, the endlessly flat landscape of windmills and distant mountains made popular by Cervantes' Don Quixote.

Tasting Note: With six months in barrels, this wine is seductive and spicy, red fruit reminiscent of strawberries bathed in vanilla and nutmeg. A great party-pleaser, easy to drink.

Price: It was the Spanish who said Good wine ruins the purse while bad wine, the stomach. This wine does neither at $7.95.

USA

Beringer ‘California Collection’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Beringer is part of the multi-national corporate Foster Group which owns such famous wineries as (to name a few) Wolf Blass, Lindemans, Penfolds, Rosemount Estate in Australia, Chateau St. Jean, Etude and Stag’s Leap Winery in California and Matua Valley in New Zealand.

The Beringer name has gone back generations with Jacob Beringer leaving his home of Mainz, German in 1868. He met up with his brother in New York and by 1876 had set up a winery in California.

Tasting Note: An easy going character: fresh cherries, red currant with a vanilla blackberry backbone.

Price: For those office Christmas parties, Beringer is a nice fit at $9.95.

BULGARIA

Domaine Boyar – Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Eastern Europe is not what many of us typically associate with vineyards and wine but the former Eastern Bloc countries were known for their value wines. Bulgaria is perhaps the most famous when it comes to making cheap alternatives to French Bordeaux and in the 70’s and 80’s supplied British supermarkets not to mention satisfied the Soviet Union’s taste for wine. When Gorbachev came to power, the anti-alcoholism campaign started up (amongst other things) and Bulgaria felt the hit soon after the fall of communism.

Domaine Boyar is huge and if you visit their website you’ll need to know Russian and be able to read Cyrillic (by the way, the Russian alphabet was devised by a Bulgarian monk).

Tasting Note: This wine is all fruit and fun flavor. Candied strawberries and raspberries with ripe acidity and mellow soft tannins. Easy to love, easy to drink

Price: Incredible value at $7.85. Harasho (Xopoшo) as the Russians might say.

CHILE

Chile, like Spain, is another country known for its value-driven wines. There are many to recommend: Cono Sur 1.5 L ‘Tocornal’ Series (my favourite is the Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend at $13.95 – green pepper and blackberries with dashes of light smoky oak), the Mont Gras Sauvignon Blanc at $9.95 (for those that want a cheap alternative to New Zealand’s Kim Crawford or Babich, this wine offers nice grassy notes with lingering pineapple and citrus).

For those in search of a white that will wow, I recommend the Santa Alicia Reserva Chardonnay 2008. The fruit for this wine was sourced from the Maipo, a wine region just south of Santiago, known for its world-famous Cabernets. Santa Alicia won the 2007 Best Wine Producer in the International Wine and Spirit Competition.

Tasting Note: I know there are numerous ABCers out there (the Anything But Chardonnay crew) who just can't stand the oak flavour of chardonnay (a Nova Scotia woman I once met called it the 'barfy taste') but this wine has just a speck of oak. You'll get lush pineapple, white grapefruit and apples. The label says 'buttery texture' - I would argue more of a soft, fruity creaminess.

Price: Just $10.95 for an excellent Chard.

I know there are others out there but these are my favourites. I'm hoping to get a Canadian Cheap and Cheerful out by next week. I'll see what the lineups are like at the LCBO.

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