Ontario Hits Its Stride

By / Wine + Drinks / December 3rd, 2014 / 1

2012 was a big year for Ontario, the weather was perfect, the grapes grew and ripened and gave the winemakers great building blocks to work with.

Now, if you check your nearest liquor store shelves, in the Ontario section, you’ll see that the 2012s are lining them, the reserve whites the reds – they’re there in full force and offering up some great wine for both drink now consumption and cellar candidates for the next decade.

Hidden Bench 2012 Chardonnay ($28.95)

This wine stops just shy of being a bombastic oaky number, straddling the line deftly between fleshy and delicate: apple, pear fruit mix nicely with butter and wood spice.

Coyote’s Run 2012 The Raven’s Roost Cabernet-Merlot ($19.95)

You know it’s a good year when 85% Cabernet Sauvignon leads your blend, aromas invite with cassis, blackberry, black cherry and mocha, while the flavours remain dark and brooding with dark chocolate, black cherry, anise, mocha, spice and fuzzy tannins.

Henry of Pelham 2012 Cabernet-Merlot ($24.95)

Another mouth-filling ’12 blend of the usual suspects found in Meritage: find black cherry, blackberry, vanilla, pepper and spice backed by some cassis and smoke … really nice complexity here.

For more wine suggestions, see our other #WineWednesday posts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael is an award-winning journalist: Promoting the Promoters Award Cuvée 2010 and Ontario Wine Awards Journalist of the Year 2012.  He is also a national and international wine judge - Ontario Wine Awards, All Canadian Wine Championships; Best of Riesling — Germany; Essencia do Vinho — "Top Wines of Portugal".  He is currently the President of the Wine Writers Circle of Canada and the wine columnist for Ottawa Life and Grand magazine as well as regular contributor to Tidings, and Grapevine ... his reviews have also appeared in the LCBO Vintages magazine. Michael has also added a YouTube channel to his activities where he reviews bottles of great Ontario wine on a weekly basis. In whatever he does, it is Michael’s desire to educate, inspire and encourage others to grow their own love and enthusiasm for wine – and to realize that it is their palate that ultimately makes the decision.

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