Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 124

Imported
New Releases
CA N A DA : O N TA RIO WHIT E
CHARDONNAY

92 | Henry of Pelham

$30

2019 Short Hills Bench Speck Family
Reserve Chardonnay ^ Fermented in French
oak, including a portion in a 3,000-liter foudre, this has a broad, mouthfilling texture.
The flavors feel bright and fresh with the
snap of a crisp yellow apple and the floralherbal hints you might pick up in farmhouse
butter. Some toasty lees notes add warmth
at the end. The combination is especially
appealing with alpine cheeses, whether sliced
or melted into a potato gratin. § Esber Beverage
Co., Canton, OH
522513

90 | Cloudsley

$30

2017 Twenty Mile Bench Twenty Mile
Bench Chardonnay ^ Adam Lowy left
Toronto to make wine in Niagara in 2014,
releasing his first pinots in 2016, and his
first chardonnays in 2017. This wine is a
blend of fruit from the Foxcroft and Wingfield Vineyards in Twenty Mile Bench, vinified with ambient yeasts and aged in French
oak (one-quarter new). It's toasty, buttery
and rich, with subtle pear flavors and a significant salinity that keeps it mouthwatering.
Impressive now, it has the structure to take
on more complexity with age. §
522539

87 | Henry of Pelham

$22

2019 Short Hills Bench Estate Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^ From a warm, south-facing
pocket of vineyards, this is ripe and toasty,
with ample wood notes to fill out the citrus
flavors. § Esber Beverage Co., Canton, OH

RIESLING
000000 (CK)

93 | Charles Baker

$20

2019 Niagara Peninsula Riesling ^ A new
wine in Charles Baker's lineup, this is a blend
of fruit from sites across the Niagara region.
It excels in its clarity, energy and fresh feel,
with crunchy green-apple flavors whisking
over a firm, stony base. The phenolic texture
gives it a sense of power without weighing it
down and suggests that this could be even
124

WINE & SPIRITS

better with another year or two in the cellar. §
Specialty Cellars, Santa Fe Springs, CA
522503

93 | Henry of Pelham

522540

APRIL 2021

Our blind panels tasted 141 imported
new-release wines for this issue. Our
critics rated 33 as exceptional (90+) and
13 as Best Buys. Tara Q. Thomas reviews
wines from Ontario and Germany; Corey
Warren reviews wines from South Africa.
Find a complete list of wines tasted and all
reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

$28

2019 Short Hills Bench Speck Family
Reserve Riesling ^ This reads like an Ontario
version of a German Spätlese riesling: mineral-driven and lean, with a little sweetness
to round the edges and give succulence to
the salty citrus flavors. It's more powerful
than it initially lets on, with a phenolic grip
that holds the flavors fast. A selection of fruit
from vines planted in 1998 in heavy clay, it's
youthful and energetic, delicious now but
deserving of more time in the cellar. § Esber
Beverage Co., Canton, OH

ON TARIO RED
BLENDS
522536

90 | Stratus

$49

2017 Niagara-on-the-Lake Red ^ A blend of
cabernets franc and sauvignon, with merlot, petit verdot and tannat, this is superripe
(14.6 percent alcohol) and oaky (18 months
in French oak, 30 percent new), yet shows
some cool-climate reserve in its acidity and
balance. Its texture may be its best feature,
velvety and sumptuous. § Specialty Cellars,
Santa Fe Springs, CA

ing pinot noir in the mid-1980s. Thomas
Bachelder purchases fruit from those early
plantings for this pale, bright, burgundyhued pinot. The cherry fruit is juicy but,
in the background, forefronted by notes of
spice, earth and forest-floor duff. The light
weight and the savor make this especially
flexible with anything from fish to duck. § Specialty Cellars, Santa Fe, CA

DESSERT
522529

96 | Peller Estate

$80/375ml

2018 Niagara Peninsula Oak Aged Vidal
Blanc Ice Wine ^ A hearty French hybrid,
vidal was able to weather the heat and rain
of summer 2018 better than many other varieties, hanging on well into November, when
temperatures dropped below -10˚C and the
ice wine harvest commenced. This wine,
picked at 38.9 Brix, packs a luscious mouthful of flavor, rich with notes of roasted pineapple, papaya and peach pie, right down
to the caramelized sugar that bubbles up
around the edges of the pie crust. Four
months in used French and American oak
barrels has allowed the intense sweetness to
meld with the equally vibrant acidity, so that
the wine feels all of a piece, silky and round,
with buoyant, head-filling fragrance. § Terlato
Wines Int'l, White Plains, NY

CABERNET FRANC
522533

88 | Cave Spring

$20

2018 Niagara Escarpment Cabernet Franc
(Best Buy) ^ This is floral, bright and fresh up
front, with sweet raspberry fruit; then the
oak comes up, lending the wine spice as well
as a bit of astringency. Give it time to absorb
the wood influence; then serve with something charry off the grill, like chicken or eggplant. § HB Wine Merchants, Hartly, DE

PINOT NOIR
522543

92 | Bachelder

$48

2016 St. David's Bench Old Vines Lowrey
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ The Lowreys, grapegrowers in Ontario for generations, were one
of the early adopters of vinifera grapes, plant-

522527

94 | Inniskillin

$80/375ml

2018 Niagara Peninsula Gold Vidal Icewine ^ Inniskillin's 2018 gold-label vidal ice
http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com
Wine & Spirits - April 2021

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