Unfussy Wine Enthusiasts | Wine Reviews & Articles

So, we were pretty slack about getting this done considering we are over three weeks into 2013.  However, here we are with an overview of the top ten wines of 2012.  These may or may not be the top ten scores in order per se, but they are the top ten best and most memorable tasting experiences of the year.  Not to be morose, but 2012 was yet again another personally horrendous year with the loss of Chris' Mom in September being worst part.  We had lots of ups and downs but the wine did flow through it all and we really did try some great wines last year.  We were able to rate a LOT of wines and give most more than a passing grade.  2012 was the first year that our little blog garnered enough attention to be offered wine samples from some wine brands and we thank them for that.  We hope our opinions on your wines were fair and that you felt like it was worthwhile to have us taste them.  At the end of the year, we also came into possession of a ...

Given the fact that there is a new initiative by our local Government to allow wines from other provinces to be imported for personal consumption, we figured we would give this wine a try.  This Pinot Noir from British Columbia is very unique.  It is closer to California Pinot but that comparison doesn't do this wine justice.  It is definitely a warm climate wine with a dark look and a seriously hot nose. As a Pinot Noir when compared to all the French and Kiwi versions we have tried this is not even on the same planet.  It is dark with a slightly thin look but is much closer to a medium bodied wine.  This is another wine that swirls and sticks to the sides and comes down slow, but at 14.7% no shock.  The colour is a deep red and not even close to reminiscent of "normal" Pinot Noir.  Lighter than Cabernet Sauvignon yes, but not that dark either. This wine has a lot of complexity in the nose with an earthy base full of mushrooms and dirt la...

This is another bottle that came to be in our possession from Tinhorn Creek in British Columbia.  We want to tell you more about how we came to have this wine but we are reluctant to give more details (for Tinhorn Creek's sake really).  Regardless you should check out the Free My Grapes website to learn more about the issues of buying Canadian wines in Canada. Back to the good stuff. This is another 14.8% wine from Sandra Oldfield, the winemaker and owner at Tinhorn Creek.  She does a masterful job at keeping what is a higher alcohol percentage from impeding the flavours in the wine.  This is a big wine, but not a boozy/hot wine.  Don't get us wrong, you can tell that it is more than 13% alcohol but it works well. The wine is very dark with the look of Welch's Grape Juice once in the glass.  It is thick and clings to the glass on the swirl.  Great looking wine. We didn't get the time to decant it as long as we would have liked but it re...

We recently came to be in possession of some wine from this winery ('nuff said).  We have a variety of their wines but this one was most exciting for us to try (as we are Cab Franc fanatics).  We have not had as much Cabernet Franc from British Columbia as we have had from Ontario so we were especially interested to compare and contrast.  We really like the Ontario version so we had high hopes.  To our delight our hopes were confirmed. This is an excellent version of Cabernet Franc.  As we started out in the glass, it is a dark wine of a medium body.  When we swirled it in the glass, it stuck to the sides and meandered down on the legs, but at 14.8% that is no surprise (more on that in a minute).  We would characterize the colour as garnet (which to us is a deep red).  Up to the light, you cannot see through it.  Overall, very nice. We stuck our noses in the glass and there it was....wonder of wonders....the barnyard.  We love t...

Today was just amazing.  I had a great time yesterday but man we were just getting started. The morning started with Bill Redelmeier, owner of Southbrook Vineyards near Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario.  Their LEED Certified winery is an amazing place which we have visited on a couple of occasions when in the Niagara region.  It was a treat to hear him speak about the industry and his experience growing grapes and making wine.  His talk revolved around where the industry is heading.  He wanted us to focus on how everyone in the wine industry in Nova Scotia can work together to advance the entire industry. Nova Scotia Wineries are not as much in competition with each other as competing against Beer and Coca Cola for consumer dollars and attention.  He also told us about his adventures on Dragon's Den with his Bioflavia Grapeskin Powder product which was awesome as we are avid watchers.  Up next was the Commercial Vineyard Techniques with Wes Wien...