2013 Kabang Gewurztraminer – Vintages 442012 – $17.95 – **** – Gewurztraminer from Niagara is something to get excited about, because I’m not sure how much more of it we’re going to see. The winters in 2013 and 2014 were not kind to the varietal and many wineries that made delicious Gew have already replanted other varietals. So let’s enjoy this wine while we can. The nose is bright tropical fruit and rose petal. This isn’t quite as heavy on the palate as an Alsatian Gewursztraminer, and it’s not off-dry like a Germany Gewurztraminer… this is distinctly Ontario. This wine is quite dry with just a hint of sweetness on the finish, and it is balanced with perfect acidity. This will make a great match to spicy food.
2015 Featherstone Rosé – Vintages 117861 – $15.95 – ****+ – I call Rosé a swiss army knife for food pairings because it does pair with virtually anything you can put on the table. This adage is doubly true for the pink wines from Ontario. These wines from Ontario strike a great balance between Red fruit flavours and usually have a subtle savory edge. This makes the Rosé from Featherstone a textbook example of what good Rosé should taste like. The nose is bright Strawberry and Raspberry to the point where it smells like fruit roll-ups. The flavours on this wine match the nose with this wonderful, fully-ripe red candied fruit flavours but then on the finish there are hints of red pepper to round out the wine. The best part of these candied flavours is that this wine is dry! So you can reminisce about the raspberry jolly rancher in your glass without worrying about getting the delicious candied flavour stuck in our teeth. Enjoy this with virtually any food you can put on your barbeque.
