Kacaba Cabernet Franc 2021 (Niagara Escarpment)
Medium ruby in colour with a tawny rim; cedary, spicy, toasty, slightly smoky, plum and sour cherry nose; medium-bodied, dry, savoury cherry and plum flavours carried on lively acidity; finishes firmly with ripe tannins. Lovely mouth-feel. (90)

Kacaba Proprietor’s Block Syrah 2021
Deep ruby in colour; cedary, blackberry nose with white pepper notes; full-bodied, blackberry and herbal flavours; well balanced, well-integrated oak and supple tannins on the finish. Reminiscent of a Cornas from the Northern Rhône. Lovely mouth-feel. (92)

The editor of VineRoutes Magazine, Carmelo Giardina, asked me if I have “any particularly favourite wine regions that you’ve preferred over the course of your career as a writer/taster. Likewise, do you have varieties/styles that you favour over the other when it comes to drinking wine? This would be for our About Us page.”

I replied:

My greatest wine experiences over the years have been with Champagne. I love white and red Burgundy – which are expensive and can, unfortunately, be hit or miss – but I have never been disappointed by the Syrahs of the Northern Rhône – especially Cornas. Although the best Rhône wine I ever tasted – and the best wine memory I have – was from the Southern Rhône: Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1961, which I drank in Toronto in the presence of the late Gérard Jaboulet in 1995. I am also partial to the white wines of the Loire (Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc) and to Rheingau Rieslings. I’m a push-over for Yquem and I never refuse a great Soave, Barolo, Barbaresco – or any wine from Maremma in Tuscany. Especially Vermentino.

As I live in Port Dalhousie now, in the heart of Niagara wine country, I drink an inordinate amount of local wine. My current house white is Henry of Pelham’s Speck Brothers Family Tree “The Goat Lady” Chardonnay 2023.

I guess that covers the waterfront.

Other wines tasted this week: Beringer Founders’ Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 from California – which suggests there is no Napa fruit here, although Beringer is located in St. Helena. LCBO notes say fruit grown in “Lodi and the California Delta.” I picked up a bottle at Costco – and will be going back for more. (Just read that Doug Ford has ordered the LCBO to clear American wines from their shelves if President Trump imposes tariffs. Does that apply to Costco too, I wonder?); Small Gully The Formula Shiraz 2019 (South Australia). Good thing the Aussies aren’t slapping tariffs on us. I really liked this wine.

Other highlight of the week: Deborah and I finally finished this fiendishly difficult jigsaw puzzle!