WTN: Riesling from Niagara peninsular

It was quite surprising to find this Canadian Riesling at a caviste in small rural town Falaise, known principally for being the birthplace of William the Conqueror and for the "pocket" in which Axis forces were surrounded after the Normandy landings in WW2. The caviste's enthusiasm and the quality of the rest of his stock meant that I didn't hesitate for long about buying a bottle.

2015 Cave Spring Riesling Estate - Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Beamsville Bench VQA (12/22/2018)
IIRC this is my first Canadian wine and it encourages me to look for more. Lovely fragrant nose of white fruit, minerals with the usual petrol tinge and gentle spice. The palate is dry, if not quite bone dry, with the soft fragrance of the entry, like with a lot of dry Riesling, giving a subjective impression of mild sweetness. Medium+ bodied with some underlying gras it follows through on the nose aromatically and in flavour with the initial impression of softness being corrected by a quite long finish which is stiffened by a saline backbone. Better than many Alsace GCs and a very good complement to sole and mussels in a creamy sauce, also good with goat cheese but less so with a ripe Reblochon. Very good wine.

Posted from CellarTracker

Wow!

I am also surprised to hear of such an item being stocked. Bravo.

Cave Spring is an excellent winery. I've been there a few times. Most notably in 2008, when we went there as part of NiagaraCOOL weekend in 2008. http://forums.wineloverspage.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16448
While the region is most famous for making ice wines (mostly Vidal, but also Riesling and Cabernet Franc), they also make some very good Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc. Little of this gets out of Canada, except the ice wine, which has a fairly large export market.

Great find Tim.

Gosh, Tim, what a find.

I wonder if the wine shop owner imported Cave Spring himself or whether it has a French distributor.

As Howie says, Cave Spring is an excellent winery, yet I've never seen their wines outside Ontario.

Most recent time I visited them was October last year..

http://petes-pix.blogspot.com/2017/10/c ... wenty.html

Interesting question, Peter, about the importer. The guy in Falaise is too small to be doing it himself. Wine Searcher shows four other retail sellers in France but there are almost certainly more because not many cavistes bother with Searcher. The Cave Spring website, however, shows an importer in Bordeaux called Gustoworld which seems to have a large portfolio and doesn't sell directly to the public or even to the hospitality trade.

That is a surprise to see that wine in France - they don't export a lot. They are a riesling specialist, with four or five different bottles, including their ice wine. The CSV bottling is their top wine, with 40 year old vines and a little more concentration than the estate wine, but the latter wine is very good also and a better value. I was just at the winery a couple of days ago and enjoyed their wines again - I drank 3 bottles of their CSV riesling over the last few days, and brought two home. There are other very good rieslings in the region (e.g., Tawse) - the limestone bedrock really provides a wonderful minerality and the vines are getting older. The sparkling wines in the region are also improving. I was particularly impressed by the 13 Street Winery Premier Cuvee 2012.

The Inn on the Twenty is a very good restaurant located right beside the Cave Spring Winery too.

Just pulled the 2015 Estate from the cellar! Look forward to comparing notes with Tim .