2004 Joel Gott Cabernet Sauvignon
Finally available in Michigan, this small production
Cabernet was one wine that I would always find room
for in my luggage to bring back home from my trips to
Napa Valley. Loaded with cola, blackberry and ripe
cherry, with smoke and toast notes that make it big
and ripe yet soft and seductive. The best thing I love
about this wine is it price. It is heads and tails above
many wines that cost double or triple. At $14.99, this
Cab is a no brainer. Don't be left out, get it while it
lasts.
2004 Torbreck Woodcutters Red
This wine is like finding a gold nugget after everyone
else has panned through the same stream before
you. This unheralded gem is packed with bright
jammy fruit and a powerful mouthful of flavors with a
racy spiciness to boot. It makes one wonder how
they can package so much pleasure into a value
bottle of wine. Year after year this wine never fails to
disappoint but a few years in the cellar with reward
the patient with enhanced extra
quality.
2004 Rosenblum Syrah Vintners Cuvee
Dark fruit, vanilla, smoke, and a whole lot of
concentrated flavors go into this stellar effort by
winemaker Jeff Cohn. The blended grapes that go
into this wine are the same ones used in their single
vineyard designated Syrah's, arguably some of the
best on the planet. Rich and velvety, this wine will
enhance any dining experience, from steaks, lamb or
veal to burgers, hot dogs or pizza. At around $10,
this is one of the best quality to value wines on the
market.
2004 Fair Valley Pinotage
Ripe cherry, plum, chocolate, tobacco, and silky
tannins dominate this wonderful effort from South
Africa. Nice balanced, polished, and lush with vibrant
extracted spice, this effort is just right for those who
have yet to savor the wonders of Pinotage. This wine
is made from vines given to vineyard workers in co-
operation with its parent company, Fairview Winery,
where its appreciative employees produce wines of
great quality along side their owners more noted
portfolio. A great companion for hearty
foods.
MUSCEDERE
VINEYARDS.............
If you live in the Detroit metropolitan area, you need
not travel to the West Coast or to the northern part
of Michigan to sample some of the finest examples of
new world wines. Just hop over the pond, the Detroit
River, that is, to experience wine country that is
relatively unexplored and uncommonly authentic. The
wine area south of Windsor, Ontario between
Amherstburg and Point Pelee features more than a
dozen wineries, vineyards, and tasting rooms that are
more than happy to show off and share with you
their award winning products.
Heralded in song, praised in poetry, and proclaimed
by many to have been the finest vintage of Lafite of
all time, I was graciously treated to a bottle over a
fabulous Italian lunch. Although the bottle was
pristine, to my palate, the flavors did not quite live
up to its glory and fame. Not to say it wasn't good,
which indeed it was. The class and elegance was
there but it reminded me of an aging starlet. The fruit
leaned towards the earthy side, it lacked refined
character, its color now an off brown but nary any
sediment to be found. It tasted better with food
rather than on its own. In its day, it had little
competition. Today, there are more fabulous wines to
get excited about. (Tasted
5/18/05)
One such winery is MuscedereVineyards, a family
owned 163 acre property less than an hours ride from
downtown Detroit, where brothers Rob and Fabio
Muscedere are enthusiastically passionate about their
wines made entirely from estate grown grapes.
Though their wines are not yet available in the U.S., I
highly recommend a visit to their property where
these two personable brothers work very hard year
round to find just the right balance between grape,
yeast and hands on enthusiasm to bring to the wine
loving public some of Canada's Lake Erie district's
finest bottling’s.
Their current portfolio consists of 5 wines, which I
was fortunate enough to have recently sampled.
Below are my tasting notes from that session. If you
would like further information about their wines,
location, or tasting possibilities, contact the winery
at www.muscederevineyards.com and tell them the
fine folks at Champane's Wine Cellars sent
you.
2004 Muscedere Riesling
Made in an off-
dry style, this light bodied wine exhibits green apple,
lemon, lime, tart grapefruit, and mineral
characteristics with herbal to grassy flavors. This
unfiltered wine will pair well with Thai and spicier
cuisine but will benefit from a little time in a decanter
to fully expose its refreshing
attributes.
2004 Muscedere Unoaked
Chardonnay
Crisp and creamy with tropical
fruit, melon, and fig flavors with a huge butterscotch
nose. Well balanced and multi-layered, it exudes lots
of body with hints of vanilla and a pleasant nuttiness.
Quite tight on first taste, the next day this wine
opened up like a breath of a fresh sea
breeze.
