Quotulatiousness: Tuesday's Beamsville Winery Tour

August 11, 2005

Tuesday's Beamsville Winery Tour

Tuesday's wine tour was all in the Beamsville area, including Fielding Estates, Crown Bench, De Sousa, Birchwood, and Flat Rock Cellars.

We got off to a later start than we'd planned, so we only managed to get a visit in to Fielding Estates before lunch, but the visit was very worthwhile. Jake, our host, was very enthusiastic and happy to share his knowledge with us. We sampled several wines and then toured the facility, which is very impressive. As you drive in from the road, the building is very reminiscent of the huge Jackson-Triggs facility in Niagara-on-the-Lake — Fielding used the same architects.

Tasting notes for Fielding Estates wines:

Wine	Price	Comments	Tasting Notes	Rating
2002 Cabernet Merlot Reserve VQA	$35.00	50/50 blend of Cab. Sauv. and Merlot. 18 months in French oak. 420 cases produced. Gold medal at 2005 All-Canadian Wine Championships, Silver at 2005 Ontario Wine Awards.	Heavy mushroom aroma on the nose. Green pepper and rubber on the palate. A bit bitter on the finish. Overall, very good indeed.	8
2004 Chardonnay Musque Wismer Vineyards VQA	$13.45	350 cases produced. Gold medal winner at 2005 Ontario wine awards.	Clove and peach aromas on the nose. Sweet honey on the tongue with a long finish. Very pleasant sipping wine.	8
2004 Gewürztraminer VQA	$13.45	Rose petals and ripe melons on the nose. 270 cases produced.	Lighter and less powerful nose than the semi-dry Riesling. Some lychee on the palate, but a fairly short finish.	6
2004 Riesling Reserve Rosomel Vineyards VQA	$19.95	27 year old vines. 270 cases produced.	Candied rose petal on the nose. Body very sweet with a very long finish. Another white wine that tasted far sweeter than its nominal (2) rating.	7
2004 Riesling Semi-dry VQA	$12.95	Recommended by Michael Pinkus.	Rose petals on the nose. Medium-sweet flowers and orange on the palate. Long finish. Tastes much sweeter than a (2)!	8

From Fielding, we drove in to Jordan to have lunch at Zooma-Zooma Café. They were quite busy, so we didn't make up much time, especially as we then had to backtrack to get to our next planned winery: Crown Bench Estates.

Crown Bench is just far enough off the main wine route that they don't appear to have to cope with mass crowding in their tasting room (we've been driven out of some rooms as busloads of tourists arrived). Their speciality is flavoured icewines, although you can only taste one complimentary icewine sample (if you buy an icewine glass, you get two more free icewine samples). Unfortunately, Brendan and one of the staff members at Crown Bench didn't hit it off well at all, and Victor was made to feel very unwelcome so we left under less than ideal conditions.

Tasting notes for Crown Bench wines:

Wine	Price	Comments	Tasting Notes	Rating
2001 Cabernet Franc VQA	$29.95		Rubber and stable straw on the nose. Slightly bitter body with primarily fig flavours. Long finish.	7
2000 Meritage VQA	$29.95	60 Cabernet Franc/25 Merlot/15 Cabernet Sauvignon.	Strong green pepper on the nose, but the flavours on the palate are more raisiny than green vegetal. Medium-length finish.	7
2001 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay	$29.95	Aged 24 months in oak barrels.	Has an interesting vanilla nose, with good acid balance on the palate. Buttery, in spite of the long oak aging. Medium-long finish.	8
2000 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay	$29.95	Barrel aged for 18 months.	Green asparagus on the nose. Buttery body with a medium length finish.	7
Wild Ginger Root Ice	$29.95	Made with barrel fermented and aged Vidal Icewine and organic wild ginger root.	Not as powerfully ginger-flavoured as I expected, but very pleasant sipping. Very long finish, and relatively low alcohol (10%).	8

Leaving Crown Bench, we stopped at De Sousa Wine Cellars, who distinguish themselves from other area wineries by emphasizing their Portuguese heritage. One of the ways they do this is by serving some of their wine in clay cups (although on our visit, they were using disposable plastic wineglasses).

Tasting notes for De Sousa wines:

Wine	Price	Tasting Notes	Rating
2002 Cabernet-Merlot VQA	$14.70	Stable straw on the nose. Good mouthfeel, with just enough tannins to show some aging potential. Will probably improve over the next year or two.	7
2002 Chardonnay Reserve VQA	$11.00	Just a bit of oakiness to take the edge off the grapes. Nice acid balance and medium long finish.	7
2002 Merlot VQA	$14.70	Floral notes on the nose(!) Red fruit and spice on the palate with a medium finish.	7
2002 Sauvignon Blanc VQA	$11.00	Gooseberry on the nose. Body shows good acidity and a bit of residual sweetness. Medium-length finish.	7

From De Sousa, the next planned winery was Ridgepoint, but they (and nearby Tawse) are not open on Tuesdays, so we carried on to Birchwood. Birchwood's facility is visible to traffic hurtling by on the Q.E.W., but this was the first time we'd been able to stop. It turned out to be a great visit, as the wines were interesting and the server at the tasting bar (who is also the winery assistant manager) did a wonderful job of informing and entertaining us (and other visitors).

Tasting notes for Birchwood wines:

Wine	Price	Comments	Tasting Notes	Rating
2003 Cabernet Franc Icewine VQA	$69.95	One of the few red grape icewines available in Ontario.	Floral nose with strawberry most prominent on the palate. Very long finish.	8
2002 Cabernet Franc VQA	$14.95		Violets and red fruit on the nose. Good mouth-filling tannins and a medium-long finish.	8
2002 Cabernet Sauvignon VQA	$14.95		Toasted bread and figs on the nose. Bite of alcohol on the tongue, but a very fast fade. Very short finish.	6
2001 Crescendo	$19.95	Oak-aged Cabernet Sauvignon, fortified with grape spirits.	Black pepper on the nose. Lots of raisins and other dried fruit on the palate and a long finish.	8
2004 Gewürztraminer/Riesling	$10.95		Floral nose with typical Gewürztraminer aromas. Medium long finish.	7
2002 Riesling VQA	$9.95		Petrol on the nose. A bit sweeter than I expected, but a good acid balance and medium finish.	7
2004 Salmon River Riesling VQA	$11.95		Not as acidic as the Birchwood Riesling, but quite refreshing. A good summer wine.	7

The wine-tasting day was rapidly drawing to a close (most wineries close by 5, a few by 6), so we were fortunate that Flat Rock Cellars was our final planned stop in the Beamsville area. Flat Rock has a wonderful site, overlooking part of their vineyard and looking north towards Lake Ontario. The winery is one of only three gravity-flow wineries in Ontario (that I'm aware of, anyway), so the grapes enter the winery at the top level and are processed at each level before flowing naturally down to the next level (minimizing or eliminating pumping).

Tasting notes for Flat Rock wines:

Wine	Price	Comments	Tasting Notes	Rating
2004 Chardonnay VQA	$16.95	Blended from half oaked and half unoaked batches.	Very faint vanilla and oatmeal on the nose. Good balance on the palate and a medium-long finish.	8
2004 Nadja's Vineyard Riesling VQA	$19.95		Highly perfumed nose. Mineral notes on the palate and lemon on the finish.	8
2004 Pinot Noir Rosé VQA	$14.95		Delightful onionskin colour. Lovely fruit and balanced acids. Medium length finish.	7
2003 Pinot Noir VQA	$23.95		India Ink and cedar shavings on the nose. Violets and more cedar on the body. Long finish.	9
2004 Riesling VQA	$14.95		Not as complex as the Nadja's Vineyard Riesling. Perhaps a bit more minerals in the body and a slight bitterness on the finish.	6

At the end of the tour, Brendan and I had each accumulated over a dozen bottles from the various wineries and could easily have brought home many, many more. Aside from our experiences at Crown Bench, we could declare the tour a resounding success.

Posted by Nicholas at August 11, 2005 02:33 PM

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