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Tony Aspler (left) and Tony Bachelder at the seminar that
preceded the Canadian Chardonnay tasting event. |
Years ago, at the beginning of my wine education, while I was working at Food & Wine magazine, I signed up for the famous---and rather pricey---Kevin Zrally wine course at Windows on The World. (I paid for it myself, and it probably represented two weeks of take home pay).
I quickly discovered Kevin was not a fan of Chardonnay. He didn't simply dislike the heavily oaked versions of Chardonnay that California was famous for producing back then, but he really didn't like that this style of Chardonnay had become not simply the most popular wine to buy but also to order in restaurants and bars in the U. S. In the weeks that followed, this room full of aspiring oenophiles in that iconic restaurant, tasted dozens of wines, while Kevin seemed to make it his personal mission to have his students "get beyond drinking Chardonnay." His dislike for Chardonnay was as strong as his passion for Russian River Pinot Noirs. He was very persuasive and a snobbery about Chardonnay stuck with me.
What I didn't take away from that class, was that not all Chardonnays are made in this buttery, oaky, Jack Daniels flavor kind of way, and that French wines made with Chardonnay grapes from certain regions can produce a very different taste profile. This week, I had an opportunity to taste through a lot of Chardonnays made with the goal of achieving this different taste profile, and the results were very revealing. On Tuesday, March 8th, I attended a tasting of Ontario and British Columbia produced Chardonnays, and came away with an idea of another wine (besides ice wine and sparkling) that Canada may become very well known for. Tony Bachelder was especially articulate about the effect of American oak barrels which "pushes the oak flavor forward" and doesn't allow the wines to really reflect the characther of their particular terroir. He referenced the Cote de Beaune style of winemaking with Chardonnay grapes that emerge with a taste profile that displays a sense of place as being a style Canadian winemakers favor. (The Cote de Beaune is the furthermost southern part of the Cote d'Or and is home to many of the great wines of Burgundy.)
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| Nine different chardonnays to try from Ontario and British Columbia. |
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Natalie Spytkowsky and Renata Roman guiding tasting
of Rosewood Estate Winery's 2007 Reserve and 2008 Reserve. |
Four panelists, Tony Aspler, Thomas Bachelder, John Szabo and Tara Thomas participated in the seminar under moderator Bill Redelmeier of Southbrook Vineyards. Then seminar participants were invited to walk through the grand tasting of 54 producers of Canadian Chardonnay in a sun bathed massive conference room at the end of the hall on the 50th floor of the McGraw-Hill building.
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Maggie Belcastro of The Grange of Prince Edward County, Ontario
poured 2008 Victoria Block Barrel Fermented Chardonnay. |
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| Alex Harber, Retail Manager of Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery, Ontario. |
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Consulting winemaker Peter Gamble for Ravine Vineyard
Estate Winery of Ontario. |
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| Norman Hardie of Norman Hardie Winery & Vineyards in Ontario. |
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Winemaker, Dan Sullivan and winery owner Cam Reston
of Rosehall Run in Prince Edward County, Ontario. |
The selection committee chose the Cuvee County Chardonnay 2008 from Rosehall Run as one of nine wines to explore during the tasting seminar. The wonderful levels of acidity to this wine comes from contact with the almost powdery limestone soil of that terroir. The mild oak flavor on the finish comes from old Hungarian barrels of 500 litre capacity, which allows for less wood contact than smaller barrel fermentation.
--Monica Forrestall
