2012 Heritage Reserve – Winery Only – $30.15 – ****+ – I have made no secret of my disdain for the term Meritage so I had to chuckle a bit opening this bottle from Konzelmann to see it called “Heritage”. The Meritage does rhyme with Heritage if you are saying it correctly and the name of this wine gets rid of the ambiguity in pronunciation that drives me insane. But the name is obviously not the most important thing about this wine. This wine is simply stunning and has hit the sweet spot between ageability and wanting to drink this right now. If you have no patience it will need about 30 minutes in a decanter to help take the edge off of the tannin. Aromas on this wine are raspberry, black currant with smoke and leather. The wine took a little bit of coaxing to completely open up, but once the tannin had relaxed flavours of raspberry and currant really opened up. In 24 months this wine will be ready to enjoy straight away but it should age well in a cellar for the next 5-8 years. We are catching the tail end of wines being released from the stellar 2012 vintage so make sure you snap this up while you can.
2011 Vidal Icewine – Winery Only – $26.15 (200 ml) – ****1/2 – With so much great Icewine in the province I hesitate to use words like “favorite” in anything I write. That being said when people ask me about Icewine the Vidal from Konzelmann is always on the tip of my tongue with good reason. This Vidal has everything you would normally expect from Icewine. The nose is slightly floral with honey. But the flavours on this wine are something to be savoured. The floral and honey from the nose carry through to the mouth but if you let this sit on your tongue for just a moment you will find tangerine and just a hint of baking spice poking through. Be mindful of food pairing and put this on the table next to blue cheese and charcuterie.
