A Wine Lover’s Diary, part 792: Flat Rock Wines and Other Delights

Posted on April 19, 2021 by tonyaspler

Flat Rock wines

Flat Rock The Rusty Shed Chardonnay 2019 (Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara, $32.95, LCBO #1552, winery exclusive)
Golden straw in colour; toasty, spicy, frilled peach nose, slightly reductive; medium to full-bodied, dry, richly extracted peach and lemon flavours tinged with oak spice; beautifully balanced; in Burgundian style. (91)

Flat Rock Pink Twisted 2020 (Niagara Peninsula, $17.95, LCBO #339974, to be released June 17th)
33% Gamay, 33% Riesling, 33% Gewurztraminer. Pink with a coppery tone; spicy, lightly floral, strawberry and lychee bouquet; medium-bodied, dry, cherry and lemon flavours with good length. (89)

Flat Rock Gravity Pinot Noir 2019 (Twenty Mile Bench, $39.95, LCBO #1560, winery exclusive, release date June 1st)
Bright ruby in colour; lifted raspberry nose with oak spice and a note of violets; medium-bodied, dry, raspberry and red plum flavours, lively acidity and well-integrated, judiciously used oak; again, Burgundian in style. (90)

Family Wine Merchant wines

Agnes & Didier Dauvissat Petit Chablis 2018 (Burgundy, $44.85, Vintages #909969)
Pale straw in colour; minerally, chalky nose of green apple and lemon; medium-bodied, dry, green apple and green peach flavours; well-balanced and crisply dry finish. (90) Continue reading →

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Bourbon Bliss

Posted on April 16, 2021 by tonyaspler

Image courtesy of Knob Creek

This is a guest article by Tod Stewart, contributing editor, Quench Magazine.

Though there’s nothing like travelling through Kentucky’s rolling hills, sampling bourbon as you go, enjoying great whiskey (and great food) along with some virtual friends in the dead of a frozen February is probably the next best thing.

As luck would have it, I was able to do this on two occasions. The first was in the virtual company of the father and son team of Fred and Freddie Noe (respectively) to celebrate the return of the Knob Creek 9 Year Old bourbon to the Canadian market (sporting a new look). We tasted this whiskey as well as a few others while chatting about bourbon in general and Knob Creek specifically. Continue reading →

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A Wine Lover’s Diary, part 791: Hillside Winery

Posted on April 12, 2021 by tonyaspler

I tasted six wines from Hillside Winery in Penticton, BC. Continue reading →

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A Wine Lover’s Diary, part 790: Bartier Bros. Wines

Posted on April 5, 2021 by tonyaspler

Bartier Bros. wines

The Bartier Brothers, Don and Michael, farm the 5.9 hectare vineyard in Oliver, B.C. Continue reading →

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A Wine Lover’s Diary, part 789: Bachelder Goes Gamay

Posted on March 29, 2021 by tonyaspler

Bachelder Gamays + one Pinot Noir

Friday, March 26th: Thomas Bachelder invited Rick VanSickle and me to taste his range of 2019 Gamay at his “bat cave” tasting room on Locust Lane in Beamsville. The wines are released on April 2nd. Thomas says that it is his intention with these wines “to forge an identity for Niagara Gamay Noir” by calling his single-vineyard Gamays “cru” as they do in Beaujolais. Continue reading →

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