Wonders of Wine and Food

Wines we seldom Buy

Pictured above is one of my favourite grapes when turned into wine Ortega! I love the smooth rich refreshing taste of this cold climate wine. Sea Star Vineyards on Pender Island makes a very good Ortega as does Larch Hills and 49 Knots. Among the best is Beaufort Vineyard & Estate Winery on Vancouver Island. The WineAlign National awards clump Ortega under single white varietals. These include such varietals as Semillion, Gruner Veltliner and Petite Milo.

On the opposite end of the scale is Riesling. Perhaps Ontario's most popular grape.  Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines.  Very popular when producing icewine.

Another good wine producing grape we seldom hear about is Zweigelt.  Gary Oaks on Salt Spring island won Gold at the Nationals Arrowleaf Cellars also makes a good one.

Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia. Sémillon is one of the few white varieties (Riesling is the other) with a spectacular ability to age. La Frenz produces a very good Semillion.

Carmenere is a rare one indeed in Canada. A variety originally planted in the Médoc region of Bordeaux, France, where it was used to produce deep red wines and occasionally used for blending purposes in the same manner as Petit Verdot. Moon Curser in Osoyoos produces this wine and says "We're kind of known for swimming upstream and thinking outside of the box.  This grape is just another example of our steadfast refusal to play by the rules."

Perhaps my all time favourite seldom seen wine around the dinner table is Bacchus. The signature wine of Domaine De Chaberton Estate Winery in Langley British Columbia. In BC Bacchus grape production is less than 1 % of all grapes grown in the province. Arrowleaf is another BC producer of Bacchus. Blue Grouse on Vancouver Island as well.