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Lawrason On Wine

September Archive

My Italian Summer Vacation

Posted on September 5, 2007

Wine of the Week
Donatella Cinelli Colombini 2003 Cenerentola, Orcia, Tuscany ($50, 90 points)
One of the most interesting wines of my summer vacation in Italy was this fragrant blend—65% sangiovese, 35% foglia tonda—an antique, almost extinct Italian variety being revived at Colombini’s Fattoria del Colle estate near Trequenda. Aged one year in two different barrel sizes it shows lovely blueberry and blackberry fruit with fine peppery notes, supple texture and fine-grained tannins. Quite international in style, especially in this hot vintage, and very elegant and nervy as well. It is available by the case at www.lesommelier.com.

Five Great Niagara Moments

Posted on September 12, 2007

Wine of the Week
Hidden Bench 2005 Vieilles Vignes Chardonnay, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula ($40, 93 points, 130 cases produced)
Hidden Bench has been making waves since it opened in June. From 30-year-old vines in the Rosomel Vineyard, this is an outstanding, intense yet refined, chardonnay with complex aromas of cashew, pineapple, peat smoke and custard. Great acidity holds it together; very vibrant yet rich, with flavours powering to outstanding length. It goes on sale September 15 at the winery only, along with first release reds—the elegant Hidden Bench 2005 Pinot Noir (88 points, $35, 240 cases produced) and a very fine cabernet-merlot Bordeaux blend called Terroir Cachet (90 points, $35, 450 cases produced). A new Niagara star is born.

Gretzky, Brazil and New Zealand

Posted on September 18, 2007

Wine of the Week
Wayne Gretzky Estates 2006 No. 99 Unoaked Chardonnay, Ontario ($13.95, 83 points, 63826)
Celebrity, not quality, demands this wine be Wine of the Week, especially as it was just released Monday at the LCBO. I have always admired Wayne Gretzky as a quality hockey player and human being, and I still do, but I don’t admire the wine bearing his name and team sweater number. As always, my job is to assess what’s in the bottle and this is a mediocre, coarse, resinous, dry white. Like others in the growing family of Ontario celebrity wines (Dan Aykroyd, Mike Weir) there is no glaring fault except for a lack of joy (and fruit). The companion merlot released yesterday is just as mediocre—green and lean—definitely not as “lush and rounded” as back label claims. I hope Wayne brings his sense of class to bear when he begins to produce wines from his own winery, which is purportedly on the drawing board. For now, the wine is made at Willow Heights.

Ten Picks from a Busy Week

Posted on September 26, 2007

Wine of the Week
Norman Hardie 2006 County Pinot Noir, Prince Edward County ($35, 89 points)
The rainy harvest of 2006 was difficult for pinot noir in Ontario, causing dilution of flavour and a break down of the fruit. Norman Hardie’s solutions were to greatly thin the clusters and severely sort the grapes, reducing yields drastically. He has only 150 cases remaining of the final result—a light, elegant, focused and appealing pinot noir with typical county florality, cranberry/raspberry fruit and nicely inlaid oak spice and smoke. With a supple structure and fine tannin, it won’t cellar long beyond 2010 but is charming now. Most important is the potential it shows for county pinot noir. It’s available at the winery only, or order via the Web site.

David Lawrason

David Lawrason

David Lawrason has worked full time as one of Canada's leading, independent wine writers and educators for over 20 years. He was the founder of Wine Access magazine and Globe and Mail wine columnist for 13 years before becoming resident wine guy at Toronto Life, where he pens a monthly column and writes an exhaustive review of LCBO general listings for the annual Food and Wine Guide. As a wine educator he has taught sommelier programs at George Brown, Humber and Niagara Colleges, and has run popular public courses in Toronto since 1988. He has visited every major wine major producing country in the world, while focusing recently on the booming Canadian wine scene, as founder of the Canadian Wine Awards program, and Canadian wine columnist for Wine Access.

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