Bordeaux, Florence, Niagara

The weather might be nice and mild in Ontario now, but let me break it to you, we still live in Canada and one morning you will wake up to find your car under two feet of snow. Hopefully, that happens on a Saturday morning and you can go back inside, get a good fire going and relax over a heart warming dinner with a bottle of wine. Red wine of course, white would not fit into this fantasy.

Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, also referred to as Bordeaux varietals, are by far the most popular grapes that go into red wines today. Cabernet Franc, also one of the varietals that make up the world renowned Bordeaux wines is less well known, but just as important for the final blend of this epic beverage. In only a few wine regions around the world will you find Cabernet Franc bottled as an unblended wine and I do believe that Niagara is one of the regions that do very well with it vintage after vintage.

We might live in the North, according to our neighbours to the South, but have a look at the globe next time, or Google maps, and draw a straight line from the Niagara Peninsula the East … keep going… a bit more… yep, you will land in Florence, Italy. The sun loves us; the soil, a mix of clay and sand gives the vines a great home and Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment protect them from the worst Canadian winters could throw at them. Now, let’s not forget that because of the cold winters we are considered a cool climate growing region and that’s what makes our wines so different and unique. We are not California, France or Australia, we are Niagara.

Bordeaux varietals grown in Niagara are elegant rather than bold. They are great sipping wines and make food pairing exciting. Not just fruit forward, but with a back bone of integrated tannin and a bit of acidity these wines age very well and are stars on the dinner table. Cabernet Sauvignon with its hint of mint, Merlot with its tell tale nose of plums and Cabernet Franc with some herbal tea notes under all the red fruit make you go back to the glass for another sniff and sip.

I hope you get lots of time this winter to taste, sip and share with the people that are close to you. Email me at sommelier@pillitteri.com if you would like some pointers for your food and wine pairing adventures this holiday season or drop me a line to let me know what pairing worked well for you. If you send me a picture of you and your friends with a Pillitteri Estates bottle of wine, I will be sure to include it in our next issue.

Happy holidays,

Marcel Morgenstern
Estate Sommelier & Sales Manager
 

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Franc

Merlot