(March 25, 2015) … Not 100% sure when I acquired this bottle but I guess I was in a Cali-Pinot kinda mood tonight (yes it happens) and so I opened a bottle of Byron from Santa Barbara County … Wait, it’s coming back to me, I acquired the bottle on my...
Saturday August 8, 2015 – Vintages Release Report
Key to the 5-star rating system: 5 = Outstanding … 4.5 = Excellent … 4 = Very Good … 3.5 = Good Wine colour indicators – Red, Whites, etc. The Foci … Loire Valley (LV) and Wine of the Pacific North West (PNW) The Skinny … The...
McManis 2008 Syrah (California)
(March 28, 2015) … I think it was tasting the current vintage of this wine that made me want to open this older version that has been languishing in my cellar … The nose proved to be a little smokey, a little peppery, but definitely with some red fruit and...
Mt Monster 2007 Shiraz, Limestone Coast (Australia)
(March 29, 2015) … I’m digging a little deeper into the cellar these day and today I went back to the ’07 vintage before settling on this Mt Monster Shiraz, which proved to be a good year for Shiraz. The nose was rich & ripe black fruit: cassis,...
Video: Poliziano 2011 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
Michael Pinkus Wine Review presents,In Association with Fortessa & Schott Zwiesel … The Wine Review Video with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Poliziano 2011 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano To get the latest videos Subscribe to...
Video: Creekside 2012 Syrahs Comparative
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … Ontario Video Wine Reviews with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Creekside Estate Winery2012 Syrahs Comparative To get the latest videos Subscribe to the Michael Pinkus YouTube Channel....
BBQ Reds Week: J. Lohr 2012 Los Osos Merlot
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … BBQ Reds Week Here we are in the “Dog Days of Summer”Time to spark up the BBQ, Bring out the Big Gunsand just enjoy the remaining hot days ahead: Today’s wine: J. Lohr 2012 Los Osos Merlot To get the latest...
BBQ Reds Week: Reif 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … BBQ Reds Week Here we are in the “Dog Days of Summer”Time to spark up the BBQ, Bring out the Big Gunsand just enjoy the remaining hot days ahead: Today’s wine: Reif Estate2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve To get...
BBQ Reds Week: Thirty Bench 2012 Small Lot Cabernet Franc
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … BBQ Reds Week Here we are in the “Dog Days of Summer”Time to spark up the BBQ, Bring out the Big Gunsand just enjoy the remaining hot days ahead: Today’s wine: Thirty Bench Wine Makers2012 Small Lot Cabernet...
BBQ Reds Week: Huff Estates 2012 South Bay Merlot
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … BBQ Reds Week Here we are in the “Dog Days of Summer”Time to spark up the BBQ, Bring out the Big Gunsand just enjoy the remaining hot days ahead: Today’s wine: Huff Estates 2012 South Bay Merlot –...
BBQ Reds Week: Stratus 2012 Tollgate Red
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … BBQ Reds Week Here we are in the “Dog Days of Summer”Time to spark up the BBQ, Bring out the Big Gunsand just enjoy the remaining hot days ahead: Today’s wine: Stratus Vineyards 2012 Tollgate Red To get the...
Report from: La Ferme du Mont Lunch and Tasting
La Ferme du Mont reds (July 21, 2015) … A lunch and tasting at the Novotel Esplanade in Toronto (Cafe Nicole) with winemaker and owner of La Ferme du Mont winery in the Rhone Valley, Stephane Vedeau … eight wines were poured – 6 scheduled and two...
A Passover Miracle (Israel)
(April 3, 2015) … I’m at a Passover dinner and I’ve been charged with picking the wine from a certain section of the wine cellar. Kosher wines aren’t a very exciting category in general but there are usually one or two that surprise. I know the...
Taste it Again: Lailey 2010 Unfiltered Cabernet Franc
(April 4, 2015) … What on God’s green earth made me open this “baby” of a wine I am not sure, curiosity more than anything – this is a wine that a decade of ageing will barely touch – but I just had to see where in its evolution it...
Report from: The Evolution of Argentina
(July 29, 2015) … It seems like it has been awhile since the Argentinian’s have been to town and talked about their wines instead of just letting us taste them … sure there was a tasting afterward, but first they had to inform us that much has...
Report from: Looking Back at Don Melchor
(April 29, 2015) … A lot can be said about Concha y Toro … they were first established in 1883 and the first winery to become public in 1933. They were the first on the New York Stock Exchange (1994), bought Trivento in Argentina in 1996, partnered...
Report from: The Throw Down Pinot Noir vs Cabernet Franc
The wines from Lailey were paired with the Duck Confit (August 1, 2015) … This was the dinner where we pitted Pinot Noir versus Cabernet Franc in the first ever Ontario Wine Challenge Throw Down held at Wellington Court in St. Catharines – below are the...
Report from: Ponciago Bouchard & Fevre Tasting
(April 15, 2015) … The annual Villa Ponciago, Bouchard Pere & Fils and Willian Fevre tasting, put on by Woodman Wines and Spirits, is one of the highlights of the spring tasting season – for many it is the first taste of newly finished vintage of...
Report from: Australia’s First Families of Wine
(May 26, 2015) … Every time I get the invite to the Australian First Families of Wine, I’m always reminded of the Godfather movies and the “Five Families”. But the Australian First Families are a group of 12 families that are making wine...
Taste it Again: Jackson-Triggs 2005 Delaine Vineyard Riesling
(April 12, 2015) … This is the infamous wine I tell many a story about when my then friend, pre-girlfriend/pre-wife, who was a troglodyte about wine actually put ice cubes into glasses of Delaine Riesling pre-tattoo appointment … To this day I hope the...
Three Wine Company 2010 Old Vines Field Blend (California)
(April 15, 2015) … When I was in Portugal my favourite wines were the ones labeled “field blend”. They were wines from vineyards that were planted quickly after the phylloxera epidemic and the Portuguese at the time had to get vines into the...
Le Gravillas 2010 Plan de Dieu (France)
(April 17, 2015) … Very quietly Plan de Dieu wines have been sneaking their way into my cellar – yes I am doing it on purpose. Once you learn that Plan de Dieu, in the Rhone Valley, is a mere stone’s throw away from the famed Chateauneuf-du-Pape, you...
Taste it Again / Lost & Found: Older Ontario Reds with Andre
It all started here (April 18, 2015) … Wow … what a nice day – and we’re sitting on the back deck just wondering when spring will officially arrive, when I get a call from a colleague, Andre Proulx, who happens to be in the area with some...
More Reds with Andre (California / Italy)
A continuation of a previous article – see part 1 here. (April 18, 2015) … The next two bottles were not from Ontario – I found a bottle of Coltibuono 2001 Cetamura Chianti – this came from my wife’s cellar when she moved here, she was...
Ribs and Zin at Joe’s (California)
(April 19, 2015) … It was one of those April weekends that you wish always happened – weather-wise and other-wise. Yesterday I dropped the mic on a gorgeous Ravenswood Zinfandel … today we’re invited over to my neighbour’s place for...
Saturday August 22, 2015 – Vintages Release Report
Key to the 5-star rating system: 5 = Outstanding … 4.5 = Excellent … 4 = Very Good … 3.5 = Good Wine colour indicators – Red, Whites, etc. The Focus … Top Scoring Wines (TSW) The Skinny … There are some really over-rated wines...
Video: Seghesio 2013 Sonoma County Zinfandel
Michael Pinkus Wine Review presents,In Association with Fortessa & Schott Zwiesel … The Wine Review Video with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Seghesio 2013 Sonoma County Zinfandel To get the latest videos Subscribe to the...
Video: Malivoire 2012 Small Lot Gamay
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … Ontario Video Wine Reviews with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Malivoire 2012 Small Lot Gamay To get the latest videos Subscribe to the Michael Pinkus YouTube Channel....
Video: Thirty Bench 2012 Benchmark Red
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … Ontario Video Wine Reviews with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Thirty Bench Wine Makers2012 Benchmark Red To get the latest videos Subscribe to the Michael Pinkus YouTube Channel....
Video: Mission Hill 2010 Quatrain
Michael Pinkus Wine Review presents,In Association with Fortessa & Schott Zwiesel … The Wine Review Video with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Mission Hill 2010 Quatrain To get the latest videos Subscribe to the Michael Pinkus...
Bodegas Volver 2011 Tarima Hill Old Vines (Spain)
(April 24, 2015) … No mention on the front label as to this being ‘old vines’ what, but a little further digging reveals its Monastrell. Spain is just a fabulous place for wine, for old Vines, and for new world flavour with old world charm. This is...
Taste it Again / Lost & Found: Old Stoney Ridge Wines with Jeff & Kim
(April 25, 2015) … Tonight we’re invited to a get together with friends Jeff and Kim, and because they have an affiliation with a certain winery (one works for and the other is married to the guy who works for) I brought along a few bottles of older wines...
Video: Elephant Hill 2013 Syrah
Michael Pinkus Wine Review presents,In Association with Fortessa & Schott Zwiesel … The Wine Review Video with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Elephant Hill 2013 Syrah To get the latest videos Subscribe to the Michael...
Thorn-Clarke 2005 Barossa Cuvee (Australia)
(April 26, 2015) … Lord knows I did not want to go to a game 7, so this game was crucial and as it turned out I opened this bottle at the start of the third period (my buddy, Joe, and I were too on the edge of our seats to be able to deal with a glass...
Concha y Toro 2002 Marques de Casa Concha Merlot (Chile)
(April 29, 2015) … Ever go to a tasting or dinner and the winemaker or winery owner pulls out an older bottle and it tastes amazing? You later get home and wonder if it was all an illusion: were you under the influence of the booze previously poured? The magic...
Taste it Again: Norman Hardie 2005 Riesling
(April 28, 2015) … In the past I have talked about pre-mature petrol notes in hot vintage Ontario Rieslings, and no vintage suffered that as badly as 2005. I have gone back to many and learned that in some rare cases the petrol subsides, but in others it seems...
43 US Wine Reviews from 4 States
Every month I’ll add a number of new International reviews to the website – this month our focus is on the US of A, and in particular wines from 4 states: California, New York, Oregon and Washington … check out the full review by clicking on the...
Saturday September 5, 2015 – Vintages Release Report
Key to the 5-star rating system: 5 = Outstanding … 4.5 = Excellent … 4 = Very Good … 3.5 = Good Wine colour indicators – Red, Whites, etc. The Foci … Uncork Something Great (USG) The Skinny … Might be about “Uncorking...
Taste it Again: Does Rose Age?
My Rose Victims (August 26, 2015) … Not sure what possessed me to do this, it was another one of my strange experiment moments and one that answers that age old question (that nobody was asking) Does Rose age? The simple answer is … apparently not. I...
Las Moras 2005 Black Label Shiraz (Argentina)
(May 5, 2015) … Recently, at an Argentinean tasting, I tried a Las Moras Syrah that was truly one of the best wines at the event. What I found interesting was that even the Argentinean, with their hot climate, are moving away from the Aussie-labeling and joining...
29 Wine Reviews / 16 Wineries: All Ontario
Not all reviews make the newsletter, there’s just so many good wines and not enough space … so every three months or so I have decided to clear out the backlog … here are the reviews that were written but till this time have never seen the light of...
Report from: Finger Lakes Tasting and WBC15
(August 13-18, 2015) … I will talk with many people over the next 3-6 months (or so) about my trip to the Wine Bloggers Conference held in the Finger Lakes, New York – and inevitably I will be asked “How were the wines?” As New York’s...
Video: Burrowing Owl 2011 Syrah
Michael Pinkus Wine Review presents,In Association with Fortessa & Schott Zwiesel … The Wine Review Video with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Burrowing Owl 2011 Syrah To get the latest videos Subscribe to the Michael Pinkus...
Video: Lailey 2013 Barrel Select Syrah
MichaelPinkusWineReview presents … Ontario Video Wine Reviews with the Grape Guy, Michael Pinkus, check it out Today’s wine: Lailey 2013 Barrel Select Syrah To get the latest videos Subscribe to the Michael Pinkus YouTube Channel....
Night of Diminishing Wines (Portugal / California / France)
(May 6, 2015) … While maybe an odd title for a wine column that statement is quite apropos, with each wine I opened I looked more longingly at the last. Starting with a deliciously young and fresh Churchill’s Estate 2011 Douro Red , sure it’s 4 years...
Alianca 2006 Particular (Portugal)
(May 7, 2015) … Now, if memory serves this is one of those special wines that benefited from an off-vintage. In 2006 Portugal the harvest in some parts was not up to par, and so Alianca (producer) didn’t make some of their special single vineyard wines,...