WTN: Creekside Estate Shiraz Reserve 2004

St. David's Bench (Ontario).

This wine received rave reviews so I was very much looking forward to trying it. It turned out to be a very odd and challenging wine.

It started out with loads of chocolate, very round and plummy, but quickly (after the first glass), "fell apart" turning very bitter, charred (almost burnt), herbal and tangy. Yuck.

Not sure why I did, but I persisted and, toward the end of the bottle, the wine went through a magical transformation.

Sweet, cherry and spicy nose.

Red licorice, spicy, tangy cherry fruit, chocolate, somewhat sweet, very intense flavours on a fairly lean and firm structure.

A spicy finish, with fleshy, but tangy, cherries.

A very enjoyable wine and hard to believe that this was the same wine that I forced myself to drink earlier.

I believe I will decant the next bottle in hopes of bypassing the falling apart stage.

Purchased at $28.95 (Canadian).

Interesting experience there Bruce!! New wine to me, from Ont??

Yup. Started in 1998 and one of the owners is from the McCain family (of french fry fame).

Thanks Bruce. It sounds a bit pricy and for that level I would probably have dissed it somewhat, expecting better cohesion - integration - overall.

That said, I will note that I have pretty much enjoyed all the Ontario Syrahs that I've tried (I stubbornly refuse to call them "Shiraz" even if that's what the respective wineries call them - I just don't think Ontario can do the typical "Shiraz" style from this grape; our examples are much closer to the French paradigm overall). It's just that the grape is an odd fit in Ontario's climate, not being sufficiently winter-hardy - though again, I stress, it usually produces very interesting wines full of char and game aromas.

I haven't splurged to try the Creekside example, but I have immensely enjoyed the Syrah made by winemaker Jean-Pierre Colas at Peninsula Ridge Estate. This one had the most incredible blast of roadkill and buckwheat you could imagine. The winemaker, standing in the tasting room in rubber boots, certainly got my praise when I tried the wine on my last visit. I immediately bought some.

"road kill and buckwheat"? Wow. That is something I would have to try.

This brings out one of the disadvantages of living in a major wine producing area. It's not that difficult to find European, Australian, or even South American wines, but wines from other parts of North America are not real visible in the marketplace. Or, maybe I've just not looked very closely.

You know, Brian, it really is a very gamey, dark and wild combination. I think of it as the wild American counterpart to horse saddle and garrigue ...

Recent posts about Ont. reds has been an eyeopener and I will have to look around here in town. There are some here, wish me luck!