Southbrook Vineyards Wine Reviews

Tonight's pair of wines are from Canada's first certified organic and biodynamic winery - Southbrook Vineyards. Both are quite easy-drinking and are suitable for gatherings with friends and family.

SOUTHBROOK TRIOMPHE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2012 - VQA Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada (#193573) (XD) - $22.95 $20.45

Tasting Note:
Stelvin screw cap. Medium intensity nose with toasty oak, chocolate, plum, dark cherries and currant aromas. Palate is definitely on the sweeter side with ripe red berries, jammy fruit and chocolate overtones. Medium-level tannins are slightly grippy, while acids are bright and the finish is medium-length. If you like sweeter red wines, this one is for you. Should have wide crowd-appeal. In VINTAGES and currently on promotion ($2.50 off) until February 1. Score: 86 pts

SOUTHBROOK CANADIAN FRAMBOISE - Ontario, Canada (#341024) (375 mL) (S) - $15.95

Tasting Note:
Screw cap. Raspberries and candied red fruit aromas from the glass. It's medium-bodied on the sweet palate with nice aroma replays. Acids are bright, while the finish has very good length. Serve nicely chilled. Would be a nice way to end the night after a fine meal on Valentine's Day. Score: 88 pts

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Southbrook Canadian Framboise (Ontario) - Wine Review

This is the final post (at least for now) in my series of wine reviews from Southbrook Vineyards.

The Canadian Framboise was one of the Southbrook's very first wines - with Mother Nature lending an almost fortuitous hand. It was the summer of 1992, and it rained nearly every weekend. This resulted in customers staying away from the pick-your-own raspberries patch. Bill Redelmeier loved fortified wines, so he decided that with this 3 ton yield of raspberries that were unsold, he would make a dessert wine. This Framboise was born, the awards piled in, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I opened this raspberry wine last night and it continues to drink well today. Should you go out and purchase this wine that is part of the LCBO General List and readily available, then remember to serve this one well-chilled. At $15.95, it offers very good value as a dessert wine.

SOUTHBROOK CANADIAN FRAMBOISE - Ontario, Canada (#341024) (375 mL) (S) - $15.95

Tasting Note:
Made using 100% Royalty Raspberries. Screw cap. Medium+ aromas that shows raspberry and cherry cough drop notes. Pleasing aroma replays on the palate that is medium-bodied. Warmth arrives mid-palate and continues through to the smooth, medium-length finish. It's sweet, but balanced acids keep everything in check. Serve well-chilled. Score: 88 pts

Here are full wine reviews of the other samples I received:
2012 Southbrook Triomphe Chardonnay
2012 Southbrook Triomphe Cabernet Sauvignon
2012 Southbrook Triomphe Cabernet Franc Rosé

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Muskoka Lakes Winery Framberge (Ontario) - Wine Review

Opened this wine on Superbowl Sunday night to match the red on the 49ers uniform - I was cheering for the 49ers because of my affinity to the Bay Area (not sure what I would have done if I had an affinity to the Ravens).

This dessert wine was purchased this last summer when I visited the Muskoka Lakes Winery. It's made using raspberries and cranberries and has a relatively high 15% alcohol/volume. This wine is only available for purchase through the winery.

MUSKOKA LAKES WINERY FRAMBERGE (NV) - QC, Ontario, Canada (S) - $22.95

Tasting Note:
Candied cranberry and raspberry, along with musky herbal aromas. Juicy, sweet raspberry on the palate with cranberry and maraschino cherry undertones. Good tannin and acidity. The finish lingers for a while. It paired well with sponge cakes topped with strawberries and whipped cream as the flavours complemented each other.

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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.

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