When I had a chance to speak with Kevin O’Leary about his wines I was dying to ask him the question: “Why Ontario?”… He is a businessman and literally has the world at his disposal for creating a world class wine, surely California, Argentina, Australia or anywhere else could offer what he was looking for. But as he said to me, he is a proud Canadian and Ontario is not a backwater for growing grapes. We offer World Class Wines here. Both the Red and the White (but especially the Red) are excellent value and something he should be proud to have his name on.
O’Leary Cabernet Merlot 2010 – LCBO 307744 – $14.95 – This Cab-Merlot recognized as a Best Value at the InterVin International Awards is certainly interesting. I am always curious when a Celebrity lends endorsement to a wine, whether they actually get their hands dirty in producing the product in the bottle. I had a chance to speak with Kevin (check my podcast) and he was very involved in with the process of deciding what was going to go in the bottle. What I love about this wine is hints of Cocoa and rich velvety flavour and texture to the wine that I have only found in Cabernet Franc from Ontario at a higher price point. With the weather cooling off this would pair perfect with hearty Stews or Roasted meats from the oven. However this is one that doesn’t need to be paired with food.
O’Leary Unoaked Chardonnay 2011 – LCBO 307751 – $14.95 – I did a double take after tasting this wine. I couldn’t believe that this was an Unoaked Chardonnay, I thought for certain some of this had touched a barrel somewhere. This is a complex wine that has a touch of sweetness on the finish. Many Unoaked Chardonnay’s are crisp with a laser beam focused acidity this has a softer flavour that let’s the flavours linger on the palette a little longer. Kevin talked about sitting at the cottage sipping this wine, or getting into a bottle right after work. This wine will pair well with Chicken of all sorts.
