I hadn’t planned on making any stops for Cuvée En Route. But next year when you’re in town for Cuvée make sure you plan on a few for yourself. I did however get a chance to stop by Stratus to see what was going on. Stratus was pouring their 2012 White the previous night at the grand tasting and it was easily one of the highlights of the night. So when I saw the tweet from @Stratuswines saying that they were pouring 06, 07, 08, and 12 vintages of the white, I knew I had to drop in.
2012 – 43% Chardonnay/42% Sauvignon Blanc/15% Semillon – This is a very exciting wine and hasn’t been released yet … but I will be lining up for my bottle the day it’s released. Vanilla on the nose comes from the time in oak. The nose is so powerful it almost feels like it’s reaching out of the glass and into your nose. Fruit is all over the place in this wine … Peach, Pear, Apple, Citrus. To pair this wine with food would almost be a damned crime this is meant to be enjoyed on it’s own.
2008 – 37% Chardonnay/28% Semillon/23% Sauvignon Blanc/6% Gewurztraminer/6% Viognier – This wine was served very cold (close to fridge temperature) and it’s remarkable at the cold temperature how the small amount of Gewurztraminer really shone through with aromas of rose wafting up. As the wine warmed the flavours came into focus with a wine that is significantly more crisp in spite of the wider use of new oak than the 2012.
2007 – 46% Sauvignon Blanc/29% Chardonnay/ 14% Semillon/10% Gewurztraminer/1% Riesling – 2007 was a very warm summer for Ontario and this wine reflects that. Fruit flavours of ripe peach and roasted pineapple dominate this wine. The oak flavours in this wine are very muted over the dominant fruit and the finish is long.
2006 – Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Riesling, Viognier (% not listed) – The first note I wrote on this wine is that it is essentially a pineapple bomb! Pineapple and Orange are what you will find in this bottle. The acidity is holding on and the finish is a little more crisp.
If you’re not familiar with Stratus wines, their winemaker (J-L Groux) is very talented at blending wines. All four of these wines are excellent expressions of the vintage in which they were made. This is why the blends vary wildly from year to year. Comparing 2007 and 2012, which were both very hot summers, you might expect the “recipe” of the wines to be similar but that’s not the case. The only thing that ties these two wines together are the intense ripeness from the additional heat of the summer that comes through in the wines. This is the first opportunity I have had to taste this many back vintages of the Stratus White but I already can’t wait to dig back in to the 2012 when it comes out for sale.
