Canadian Wines From Pelee Island In The Middle Of Lake Erie

Canadian Wines From Pelee Island In The Middle Of Lake Erie – Episode #429

March 24, 2008

Gary Vaynerchuk still thinks that Canada is one of the hot up and coming areas in the world and puts a few wines to the test from a pretty cool area!

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Comments on this episode(264) Leave a comment ›

“Pelee makes some incredible wines – their Merlot and Pinot Noir are bo…” by Robert
“Funny enough, my wife just started a wine blog about Canadian Wines an…” by Ray Slakinski
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2006 Pelee Island Gewurztraminer Reserve
2005 Pelee Island Shiraz
2006 Pelee Island Cabernet Franc

Links mentioned in todays episode.

264 Responses

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March 25, 2008

pawncop
There has not been a new wine that really changed what I thought about a region as I am so new that I have no preconceived notions. I guess the only wine recently that I was very very disapponinted with was a “Frog’s Leap” Sauvingnon Blanc. After talking with a individual I respect, after hearing where the grape was grown (Paso Robles, Calif) said “Way too warm.” I am learning every day, thank you for your passion for teaching.
March 25, 2008

DaveA
QOTD – Riesling, I was in Germany recently. Realized Kabinett and QmP means greatness. Don’t do Q it needs QmP quality. Kabinett means least sweet of the Rieslings. wow.
OK, this was a great show – proved you are not just hyping any old wine. I will try Canada wines! thanks. I got your secret packs 1 and 2 and have 4 friends coming over to try on April 1st. Don’t you fool me!

DAve
March 25, 2008

Erik Klumpp
This is a big request, and I don’t expect you to fill it. But you really need to do a sake show. Sake is great. And so many people drink poor sake. If your into expanding your pallet sake is the way to go. Come on now. Do a sake episode.
March 25, 2008

RJ
QOTD: I had VERGE D’OR from Intermiel in Quebec which is a mead. Knowing it was the drink of Vikings I figured… well i don’t actually know what I figured but I was imaging it as something you would drink out of the skulls of your enemies. Turns out it is really quite delicate (not that you can’t drink it out of the sculls of your enemies if you want).
March 25, 2008

Fred
QOTD:2006, Penfolds, Private Release, Shiraz Cabernet. That was a hazard to me. We ordered this in a restaurant by chance…The awkward SO2 turned me off totally…Although it is the cheapest wine by the BIG name, it hurts its image in my heart. There is a careless attitude on wine making. I don’t accept it.
March 25, 2008

Grapedigger
Man, next time you wanna put Canada on the wine map get something more than 15$ that is a bit more polished. I have not had much Canadian wines myself (because they’re even difficult to find in Quebec) but Inniskillin (Ontario) came as one of the best. I heard that Dirty Laundary (BC) make some rad wines.
QOTD: I always thought that Box wines were crap, but last time my wife got a 4 x 187.5ml pack (~ 8$) of Bistro Mundo non-vintage Spanish varietal wine that she was intending to use for cooking. I went ahead and tried it with a pizza and to my surprise it was pleasant coming across as 87 pts wine.
March 25, 2008

4fthawaiian
Can’t say I’ve ever sampled any CA wines, but anywhere that still produces a drinkable Gewurtz is automatically OK with me.. Very few aussie wineries still produce them, thus they’re almost unknown to the public at large (in aus, anyway). A lovely wine, that needs more press. Onya Gary
March 25, 2008

xtrmtrk
Gotta say, I’ve had a hard time with Canadian wines. I spent a couple days tasting around the Niagara region last summer and the only winery which I thought had some pretty good (non-dessert) wines was Jackson-Triggs. A lot of what I tasted bordered on down-right nasty. I’m anxious to track down some Ontario wines GV likes. I want to like Canadian wine and I’ll keep on trying.

Also…. What’s with Pelee Island calling it SHIRAZ? Isn’t that supposed to be just an Aussie name? Hmmm.

QOTD: Two Hands Aerope Granache. I didn’t think I liked Granache all that much before trying this, i thought of it as two candy-ish. Maybe it was the pairing with the unbelievably good house make cotto, but this bottle showed me Granache can have character and depth. Since then I tried a Ridge Granache that was pretty nice too. I still think good ones are hard to find, but I’m open about trying more of this varietal now.
March 25, 2008

carbon60
QOTD: One of my neighbors received a couple bottles of wine for this past Christmas, but she doesn’t drink. She gave them to me, yay! One was a (seemingly) inexpensive wine from Argentina and I loved it. I couldn’t find it in the liquor store at the time and now I forgotten the name of it. It may even have been Chilean now that I think about it. Too bad. It was a good surprise.
March 25, 2008

Barrelmonkey
QOTD: All I can tell you is that it’s a cab franc. I’ve had CF wines twice before, and I didn’t appreciate the greenness. This was another league…. but you’re gonna have to wait for Wednesday to hear about it!
March 25, 2008

Eric
QOTD: A Marlborough Pinot Noir. Can’t remember the vineyard but it was an eye-opener on the quality of winemaking there.

Thanks for the show.
March 25, 2008

Glenn
Thanks for the show, have never had a Canadian wine though I have been saying I want to try one of their ice wines, just haven’t yet.
QOTD: Found a Chateauneuf du Pape that blew my socks off and is trying to get me to convert from Burgandy to Rhone. It was the 2005 Domaine du Grand Tinel Aleacis Establet. Way to young and needed 24 hours decanting but then it was WOW!
March 25, 2008

agentorange
Gary,

“I pretty much clowned his face off”?! Ouch. How much does that hurt?

QOTD: Cusumano Insolia. Aromatic white from Sicily. QPR. Dee-licious.
March 25, 2008

Dave Canada
Damn……..that was harsh!!! But totally justified….Really, Pelee Island is not one of the top 40 or even 50 producers in Ontario….they make very aveage wine….they are the Kendal Jackson of ontario……..no lie…
I am going to bring down some wine this weekend for you to do a show on from ssome of the better producers IMO.
When are you getting up here???? Let’s get something set up!!!!
QOTD – Tough question……got to be the 1996 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru I had a few weeks ago…I really did not know white wine could be that complex, powerful, layered and so damn tasty!!!1
March 25, 2008

Kirk (AKA: slave2thevine)
Wow! Am I glad that I waited one day to answer this question….I was at a trade show yesterday in Portland and had some S. African wines that racked my socks off for the affordable price point. I had the Amira Cab Franc imported from S. Africa by Rich Weiss and “The Wild Grape”. On the nose it was all vegital, asperigus, and a hint of carrot greens, a funktified nose with nice plum accents…and this bottle should roll in around $10. Certainly a wine I will be searching out for those nights when I need something with a little of a rustic drawl…
March 25, 2008

Pat Mc
Last wine that changed my mind about a region was Tablas Creek in Paso Robles. They were pouring old school rhone blends – very French in nature and not over the top at all. I bought a white which I rarely do. They had one that smelled of violets.
March 25, 2008

Stefan T
Holger,

Slight addendum to your phrase:

If a vino is not okay, then it’s not okay; for you.
March 25, 2008

Oregon Jim
I love how Gary goes out on a limb with new wines from new areas! Hey, sometimes Tiger gets a double bogey, but he still is shaping and experimenting on the next hole.

Gary just FYI the southern most point on Peelee Island is 41.42.57 degress N Lattitude. That puts it somewhere between Mt Shasta and the California/Oregon(e) border, which is significantly north of the northern border of Mendocino County.

However, I don’t think that latitude is their problem. The problem is cold and humidity. It is very difficult to make transcendent wine from standard fine wine grape varietals with the winter cold and summer humidity of most of the US, never mind the right soil.

You are a rockin’ wine dude!
March 25, 2008

Holger A
Good show. If the vino is not o.k., it’s not ok. Point.

My main problem (being in Germany) is getting the wines you’re tasting. I would really like tasting Canadian wine, but it’s more or less impossible to purchase them here. Probably not your problem, but it sucks big time!

Oh, and while were on the subject of finding the wines you’re tasting, please, be a little more precise about the information you give about each wine (e.g. in the links to each wine below each episode.) Sometimes a missing “la” (on some French wines) means a lot of research (on the internets) to find someone who sells the wines. And, please, check your spelling!

Besides that, I truly love your show! Bring the thunder!!
March 25, 2008

Barrelmonkey
WOHOOOOO I TOTALLY recommended that book to the P-town wine club a month ago! Scooped you, GV!

haha awesome recc. Now I’m going to finish the show.
March 25, 2008

Deeve
Good show Gary.

I live in the Niagara Region. I personally wish VQA would go away forever. If they won’t, then at least, for the love of all that is holy, STOP TRYING TO MAKE RED WINE! I have had ONE single good red from Niagara, Henry of Pelham Meritage 2002. All the rest have been very poor. We are forced to buy canadian wine or overpay for imported. Damn the LCBO.

I’d like to take the owners of the vineyards and shake them while yelling in their faces “Red won’t ripen here”.

That said, the Icewine’s and late harvest wines are awesome. Many of the whites are very good too. Rieslings, Gewurztraminers and chardonnay’s are quite good from Niagara. Shiraz should not even have entered the growers minds.

QOTD – Bottega Prosecco. Had a bottle of this a couple of weeks ago and it changed everything I thought I knew about sparkling wines. Definitely going to be drinking more sparklers.
March 25, 2008

GottaGoDrink
Gary- Thanks for tasting so we don’t have to!

QOTD- I had a Lagrein (red wine grape) from the Alto Adige in Italy, which I had always thought of as a white wine region, and the Lagrein was very interesting and complex and different from any other red wine that my palate can remember ever having. Good stuff.
March 25, 2008

Chris
QOTD:

2003 Taja Reserva. Will definitely be picking up a few more vintages from Spain.
March 25, 2008

GermanDuffy
QOTD: Gruener Veltliner from Austria, 2005 Gruener Veltliner Smaragd, Duernsteiner Kellerberg from F.X.Pichler in the Wachau Region! Love it!

Went to ProWein (biggest winefare in Germany) and wanted to spread some thunder with my wristband, but you have forgotten to send me one!Please remember me over here!

Havn’t have any wine from Canada except for a Riesling Icewine.
Looking forward to tomorrows show!
March 25, 2008

Orion Slayer
Wow, Canadian wines. I’m going to have to work at keeping an open mind.

QOTD: Being such a wine newbie, I recently had a Kim Crawford New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. This wine changed my mind about what a Sauvignon Blanc can be.