WTN: Konzelmann Pinot Noir Reserve 2006

It was only when I got home and looked more closely at the label that I realized this is one of those "Cellared in Canada" wines. Rules in Ontario permit winemakers to use the designation: Cellared in Canada from imported and domestic wines. I try to ensure the wines I purchase are 100 per cent Ontario.

Tangy, sweet cherry fruit, spicy, somewhat round and creamy, a little tart and rough toward the end. With time, the roughness did smooth out.

An acceptable wine, but I don't think I would purchase again.

Purchased at $12.95 (Canadian).

Bruce - I picked up a similarly priced '06 PN from Inniskillen yesterday when I went to NOTL to pick up 50 gallons of grape juice. It has the "VQA" designation and is labeled "Product of Canada". Tasted decent at the winery and I liked the '06 Gamay Noir, which I also picked up. WTNs later when I open them.

If the wine carries the VQA designation, it is from Ontario. I just didn't think to check while I was in the store.

howie, i haven't tried the '06 inniskillin pn; but i have considered them one of the very best pn makers in ontario. one of them - the '02 i think - was very good indeed.

If the wine carries the VQA designation, it is from Ontario. I just didn't think to check while I was in the store.

Yup. Bruce, I've been fooled on two occasions by labels and proximity on the shelf to the real VQA stuff (and frankly, my own lack of attention at the moment) that I too have unwittingly bought those "cellared" wines. Other than supporting the Ontario winery in question by buying it, I wouldn't buy them again on principle since I would rather buy an actual Chilean wine or wherever it may have come from than wine of unknown provenance bearing a Canadian label.

howie, i haven't tried the '06 inniskillin pn; but i have considered them one of the very best pn makers in ontario. one of them - the '02 i think - was very good indeed.

David, I agree. Inniskillin really does make spot-on, precise and technically flawless Pinot.

[Jenise]

So Bruce, the label doesn't include any indication of the origin of the grapes? All they have to put on the label is Cellared in Canada and the rest is their secret?

Jenise - we visited Konzelmann as part of NiagaraCOOL '05. They indicated at that ime that hey owned vineyards in the Rhine, so I wouls assume that is where their out-of country grapes are sourced.

[Jenise]

Might be, Howie, but I was less interested in where the grapes came from than understanding that Ontario wine law doesn't require the label to reveal the wine's origin.

So Bruce, the label doesn't include any indication of the origin of the grapes? All they have to put on the label is Cellared in Canada and the rest is their secret?

This is the only information the label provided: "Cellared in Canada from imported and domestic wines."

I actually bought a bottle of Riesling from Riverside in NOTL a few years ago and reported on it in the following post:
http://www.wineloverspage.com/user_submitted/wine_notes/tn_478061.html

Might be, Howie, but I was less interested in where the grapes came from than understanding that Ontario wine law doesn't require the label to reveal the wine's origin.

Jenise:

I found the following information on a Grape Growers of Ontario Web site.
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VQA

Contents: Made with 100% Ontario-grown grapes.
VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) is a symbol of quality and designation of origin for Ontario wines produced in four Viticultural Areas: Niagara Peninsula, Pelee Island, Lake Erie North Shore and Prince Edward County.

The QC (Quality Certified) symbol on Fruit Wines of Ontario bottles means you are buying wine made with 100% Ontario-grown fruit. QC is modelled on the same quality standards as VQA.

Product of Canada

Contents: Made with a minimum of 75% Canadian-grown grapes.
May contain up to 25% imported wine.*

Cellared by ABC Winery

Contents: Made with a minimum of 30% Ontario-grown grapes.
May contain up to 70% imported wine.*

Grape Growers of Ontario represent 530 proud grape growers who grow the right stuff. 100% Ontario grapes for 100% Ontario VQA wines. Are you buying the right stuff?

* Only Wineries established before 1993 are allowed to blend imported wine