For more than 20 years (since September 20, 2004), I have been writing this weekly wine diary, and for more than 20 years my friend and technical director, James Harbeck, has been editing and posting it.
So I’m dedicating this column to you, James. Take a bow.
And this is the wine I’m celebrating with: a new release from Big Head – a sparkling rosé, a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend. A beautiful balance dry with flavours of raspberry and red apple. (91)
Big Head sparkling rosé
Tuesday, December 9th: Tasted the following Hester Creek wines:
Hester Creek Meritage 2024 (Columbia Valley Collection)
62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 8% Malbec, 7% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. Deep purple in colour; spicy, cedary, jammy nose of black fruits with a vanilla oak top note; full-bodied, dry, savoury , earthy flavours of black fruits; somewhat over-extracted but firmly structured with evident tannins. Will reward cellaring 1–2 years. (88–89)
Hester Creek The Judge 2022 (Okanagan Valley)
47% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Petit Verdot, 1% Malbec. Deep ruby in colour; cedary, spicy plum and blackberry nose with notes of leather; full-bodied, dry, black plum and dark chocolate flavours, richly extracted, with evident but ripe tannins. Needs cellaring 2–3 years. (91–93)
Hester Creek Garland 2022 (Okanagan Valley, Golden Mile Bench)
77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 9% Petit Verdot, 4% Malbec. Dense purple in colour; cedary, blackcurrant and vanilla bouquet; full-bodied, dry, richly extracted savoury, black fruit flavours; firmly structured, well-balanced, well-integrated oak, finishing on a note of dark chocolate. (90)
Wednesday, December 10th: Our chorus, A Cappella Niagara, performed for residents at two Welland retirement residences, Grand Retirement Community and Seasons Retirement Home; and then we shuffled off to Domenic’s on 20 in Pelham for Pizza, wings and beer.
Our chorus performing
Saturday, December 13th: Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling invited over to dinner. They are very generous when it comes to sharing their cellar so I dug deep in mine for a bottle of Remoisonnet Chassagne-Montrachet 2008. Peter served a bottle of Marty Werner’s York Vineyard Rosé after decanting a Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2008. For dessert (peach tart), CedarCreek Late Harvest Optima 1992 that Ann had made when she was winemaker at CedarCreek.
A golden oldie
Peter Gamble decanting the 2008 Châteauneuf-du-Pape
The dessert wine
Sunday, December 14th: Dinner at our friends Sherri and Stephen’s. They served a delicious turkey breast with stuffing so I brought along a bottle of Bauer Chardonnay 2024 that I had brought back from Romania. On the table were Creekside Gamay 2024 and One Pound Per Acre Shiraz 2024.
Other wines tasted this week: Masi Riserva Costasera 2018, On Seven Devotion Chardonnay 2020, Five Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2023, Torres Milmanda Chardonnay 2021.
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