Muskoka Lakes Winery - Wine Tasting

Over the Civic Holiday long weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting the Muskoka Lakes Winery and Johnston's Cranberry Farm located in Bala, Ontario (just over 2 hours North of Toronto). I wasn't really sure what to expect as I had not tasted fruit wine in many years, but was pleasantly surprised by the quality of these wines.

If you're in the Muskoka region, I highly recommend that you visit the winery as many of these wines are not found at the LCBO. Also do the wine tour as you will learn about the winemaking process, which is slightly different than producing grape-based wines. After the tour, you can taste their full line-up of 8 cranberry, blueberry and raspberry-based wines, plus their wine spritzer. They have even started up a turkey farm on-site to go with their cranberry marshes... get it? ;)

Hope you enjoy my wine reviews!

Tasting Notes:
Muskoka Red Oak Aged Wild Blueberry 2010 - QC (Quality Certified) (XD) - $19.95
Lots of dark fruits, licorice and oak aromas, with licorice flowing onto the palate and joined by inky iodine, Christmas spice, and oak flavours. Medium-bodied with a long finish. (85 pts)

Wild Blueberry Wine 2008 - QC (D) - $18.95
Concentrated blueberry aromas with a zippy, crisp, light-bodied with a sweet-edged blueberry flavour profile along with some minty notes. (87 pts)

Georgian Bay Rosé 2010 - QC (#234880) (XD) - $16.95
Made with apples and cranberries. Earthy, musky aromas with hints of peach. On the palate, there are crisp, fruit forward red fruits and with good acidity. Finishes slightly spicy and dry. (88 pts)

Cranberry Wine 2010 - QC (#609701) (D) - $14.95
Candied cranberry aromas and flavours, crisp, chalky tannins lead to a very dry finish. Needs a couple of years in the bottle for tannins to settle. (85 pts)

Cranberry Blueberry Wine 2010 - QC (#609719) (D) - $16.95
Equal parts cranberry and blueberry. Aromas of candied blueberries and menthol with replays of both on the palate. Light bodied, off-dry with sweetness balanced by fine acidity. Relatively light in alcohol at 10.5%. (88+ pts)

White Cranberry Wine 2011 - QC (#621938) (M) - $18.95
Elegant aromas of candied cranberries. Fruit forward, tannic and lots of acidity on the spicy finish. Quite different. (86 pts)

Red Maple Dessert Wine 2009 - QC (#050039) (S) - $23.95
Made with cranberries and maple syrup. Closed nose, but flavours of cranberry, caramel and maple syrup come through on the lively palate. Sweetness cut by acidity from cranberries. Very nice! (90 pts)

Framberge Dessert Wine - QC (S) - $22.95
Made using raspberries and cranberries. Lots of rasp-cran aromas. On the palate, it leads with flavours of raspberries, and finishes with cranberry notes. At 15% alcohol, this is a hefty wine that should be chilled well prior to serving to suppress the alcohol flavours. (88 pts)

'Muskoka Moment' Cranberry Wine Spritzer - QC, Bala, Ontario, Canada - $17.95 / 6 per box
A very nice cranberry wine spritzer that smells and tastes like strawberries. Yum.