You may not realize it, but Canada's wine producing regions
are at the same latitude as the almost too hot region of
Provence, France and the it's almost perfect temperature of
Tuscany, Italy. So perhaps that we may say latitude is not
everything. Don't get me wrong. Canada produces some fine
wines, for example Equuleus from the Paul Bosc Estate
Vineyard for which you'll pay about $33 or more. Canadian
ice wine is said to be the best in the world. You won't
find it reviewed here for obvious reasons.
Most Canadian wine comes from Ontario, Canada's largest and
most populous province. Most Ontario wine comes from the
Niagara region not far from New York State. The wine
reviewed below comes from the other end of southern
Ontario, the Lake Erie North Shore region not far from
Michigan. Parts of this region are south of Detroit. This
is a VQA wine, which means that it meets a series of
Canadian standards. In the words of a great wine writer,
Tom Stevenson, "Whereas most legally imposed systems
indicate mediocrity, the self-regulated VQA seal has driven
Canadian producers to higher and higher standards."
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review
are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed Colio Estate Cabernet Franc VQA, 2007 12.8%
alcohol about $9.50
Let's start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Red
ruby colour; cassis, cherry, mineral with vanilla, spice
and green pepper/herb aromas; dry, medium-body with ripe
black berry, plum and light chocolate flavours; fruit and
cedar on the finish. Serving Suggestion: Veal; beef dishes;
game; herbed chicken; bbq; pasta. And now for my review.
I started by sipping this wine alone. It was strongly but
not unpleasantly acidic and it tasted of tobacco. The first
meal involved purchased barbecued chicken wings, chicken
breast, and potatoes roasted in chicken fat. The tobacco
taste was very dominant. The wine was strongly acidic,
which was good with greasy food. A fresh, but not very
tasty mango, managed to flatten it. Some fruit juice candy
brought out the cedar.
The second meal consisted of commercial barbecued beef
ribs, green beans in tomato sauce, and homemade roasted
eggplant with lots of garlic. With the ribs I tasted black
cherry and plums in the wine. In contrast the eggplant gave
me chocolate. Interestingly enough when I added a
hot-pepper condiment to the meat the chocolate taste became
minty.
The final meal was beef stew and chicken meatballs that
were slow cooked together with soft wheat. Now I tasted
leather, chocolate, and pepper. The wine was more complex
than can usually be expected in this price range. But at
the end it was thin and somewhat sour. I tasted it with a
high-quality, French style, very buttery and lemony lemon
pie right out of the freezer. Get this, the wine tasted of
cherries.
I finished this tasting with two cheeses. The first cheese
was a Provolone. The wine was sour and quite short. Then
with some string, skim milk Mozzarella rendered the wine
essentially tasteless. Before I give my verdict let me tell
you if you don't already know I am rarely a fan of wine and
cheese pairings and won't let these pairings change my
final verdict.
Final verdict. Pretty good. This wine had a lot more in it
than many others in its price range. Without having planned
it, I have just finished reviewing a Bourgueil wine from
the Loire Valley of central France made from the same grape
variety, Cabernet Franc, the signature red grape in those
parts. That French wine cost almost twice the price of this
Canadian. Was it better? Yes. Was it twice as good?
Absolutely not. Draw your own conclusions.
----------------------------------------------------
Levi Reiss is the author or co-author of ten computer and
Internet books, but really would rather just drink fine
German or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He
teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language
community college. Check out his global wine website is
http://www.theworldwidewine.com with a weekly column
reviewing $10 wines and new sections writing about (theory)
and tasting (practice) organic and kosher wines.
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