Wine Region: Ontario

(2023) It's around a decade since I had a big wine touring professional trip to Ontario, but having returned on holiday late in 2023 I discovered just how much the wine industry on the Niagara Peninsula had grown, and how good the wines were. Here's a Niagara Pinot were whole clusters where wild yeast-fermented before 23 months in French oak. And it is a lovely wine: pale and almost translucent, sous-bois and cherry, a gentle smokiness and a sappy touch of something herbal to add interest. In the mouth the coffee character from the barrels gives a really gentle and dark underpinning to the fruit. Tannins are elegant and acidity well-balanced, in a rather lovely Pinot.

(2020) Icewine is a realy Canadian speciality, the grapes harvested in sub-zero night-time temperatures so that much of the water content is dispelled when the fruit is pressed, leaving a super-sweet, thick and unctuous dessert wine. This is a very good example, made from Vidal which always gives a warming, golden, honeyed aroma of ripe apricot, here the engine-oil thickness of the wine on the palate sweet and exotic, like the ripest mango and lychee, a burnished toasty background, then very good lime jelly acidity to balance. A great wine in half-bottles, for very sweet desserts or to sip on its own after dinner.

(2014) Dense, crimson stuff from Ontario with lots of ripe black fruit appeal - cassis and plum with a touch of tobacco. The palate has sweetness and juiciness - this is like a big spoonful of blackcurrant jam, dipped in a pot of espresso, finishing with sweetness and still enough structure.

(2006) This fine wine has a beautiful lemon-meringue-pie nose with a core of honey and lime. Pure and luscious on the palate, it is shot through with tongue-tingling acidity.

(2006) This pale, chestnut-coloured wine has 195g/l of sugar and a nose of delicate rose hip and cherry. Summer fruit compote flavours are married to pepper, nutmeg and good acidity. Fascinating.

(2006) This is loaded with ripe apricot and nut kernel notes, with touches of mandarin orange. On the palate it has fine acidity and a weight of unctuous, limpid fruit.

(2006) This 'mini-icewine' is harvested very late, well into the thick of winter frosts. It has lifted, glacial and sherbetty aromatics, with fine lemon and peachy sweetness on the palate.

(2006) A Bordeaux blend produced only in exceptional vintages, this has minty black fruit and a touch of silage on the nose, with real spice, flesh, grip and structure on the palate.

(2006) This Bordeaux blend has a complex nose with bloody notes, a cedary, meaty quality and a plush depth of cherry and raspberry fruit. Structured yet approachable, with fine balance.

(2006) Aged in American oak and with 15% Cabernet Franc in the blend, this is a big, spicy, crushed velvet style of wine, with masses of raisiny sweetness and a liquoricy, mouth-filling finish.