Reported by Jay Hunt

The fourth in our series of 15th Anniversary tasting was an evening to remember. It has been a long time since Rod Phillips had joined us for a tasting. Even he was surprised when looking at the attendance sheet how few names he recognized. Everyone waited in great anticipation to see what wines he would have to offer. We were not disappointed. Every wine was selected from Rod’s personal cellar and all were five or more years old.

Rod began by describing a little of his personal history. He developed an interest in wine as a teenager in his native New Zealand. He maintained an interest in wine over the years while studying and teaching history both abroad and in Canada. In the late 1990s, he combined his passions for history and wine and wrote A Short History of Wine launching him into the wine writing phase of his long and varied career.

While the first of four flights of wines was being served, Rod described his current method of describing and rating wines. Contrary to how most of us were trained, as a writer, Rod does not describe wine aromas in terms of fruit, berries, spices or herbs. He believes that anyone knows what wine smells and tastes like, and has a good idea of the range of intensity, weight, sweetness, and tannins in wine. He considers efforts to identify a wine by its smell or taste a pointless parlour game. Instead, his reviews focus on the stylistic qualities of the wine: its weight, the fruit-acid-tannins balance, the intensity and complexity of the flavours, the degree of dryness or sweetness, and sometimes the aromas and the finish. He tries to give a sense of the style of the wine and to suggest an appropriate food pairing that complements the wine.

As if to reinforce his message the first three wines all had quite distinctive aromas that were difficult to categorize using any of the usual descriptors. He explained that each flight had a certain common characteristic and challenged us to find it. It turned out that this flight consisted of all well aged Niagara reds. Everyone immediately noted that the first wine was flawed, almost totally lacking in fruit character and quite oxidized. It turned out to be 1984 Pinot Noir from Chateau des Charmes that was well past its prime. Rod observed that every wine has a discrete life cycle from youth to maturity to old age and that the trick was to enjoy it on the upside of the curve rather than during its decline. The next wine was also Pinot Noir, a 1999 from 13th Street Winery. It was complex, medium bodied with plenty of fruit left and good balance. Wine 3 was a surprise 2001 Zinfandel from Reif Estates, the only vintage of this wine they produced as the vines were destroyed by frost in 2003. It showed well with good fruit, complexity and balance for its age, quite unlike any Zin I had tasted previously.

Flight two was three more reds, this time all Bordeaux blends of distinctly different character. The first a 1998 Vinelands Estates ‘Rosomel Vineyard Reserve’ Meritage won a silver medal at VinExpo. Previously it had been selling at the winery for a typical low local market price. Upon discovering the Gold medal winner was commanding $180 a bottle and the Bronze $80 the wine maker quickly adjusted its price to $125. It was smooth, medium-bodied, well balanced with firm tannins. The 1998 Chateau Léoville-Barton showed more oak, a touch of green bitterness and more grippy tannins. Rounding out the flight was a 1996 Lindemans ‘Pyrus’ from Coonawarra, Australia. It had good fruit, medium acid, seemed higher in alcohol with medium tannins.

Flight three was three more reds from warm climate regions. Sadly the 1998 Mas de Daumas Gassac was slightly corked and didn’t show as well as it could, although one person observed that even being slightly off, he thought it was the best of the flight. It consisted of 80% Cabernet Franc with a plethora of other varieties blended in for good measure. A 2003 St. Supery Petit Verdot from the Napa Valley was very dry in the mouth with an unusual coconutty aroma that was off-putting to some people. A very unusual wine was the 2003 Palm Cellars Zinfandel from Paso Robles, California. It was produced for only one year in limited quantity and sold directly from the winery, With an astounding 16.9% alcohol and some residual sweetness, it was characterized as an unfortified port.

The final flight was a treat, all dessert wines. Once again, the unusual was the rule. Wine one was a non vintage (Rod said it purchased around 1999 or 2000) Thomas & Vaughan ‘Old Gold’ late harvest, The only white wine of the evening, One taster immediately picked up on the Concord grape juice character in the aroma. It was indeed made from the Vitis Labrusca Catawba grape which used to grow wild in the Niagara region and was the source of much of the Ontario plonk that I used to drink in the ‘60s. That said, it was a very pleasant dessert wine, somewhat reminiscent of a Barsac. The sweetness neatly masked the ‘foxiness’ often apparent in the labrusca grape. Next came another strange Ontario sticky, from Henry of Pelham. A 1998 ‘Fronto’ made in Port style from the Cabernet Franc grape, ‘Fronto’ is a play on the name of Henry of Pelham’s very popular Baco Noir wine. This wine had a strong smoky coffee aroma and was pleasantly balanced in the mouth. The final wine was a mouth-filler, a syrupy thick sweet 20 year old Pedro Ximenez Sherry from Williams and Humbert. Lots of molasses, prunes and rich raisin pie in this wine.

It is seldom that we are privileged to taste so many 10 year plus old wines at a sitting. We thank Rod for a fine evening and for generously donating all these wines from his personal collection. The revenue from this evening will make a substantial contribution to the Guild’s scholarship fund.