Category Archives: Wine

RKS 2024 Wine: Featherstone 2023 Rosé from Niagara Peninsula

Always excellent. Drinkable all year round straight up or with food. Time to try their 2023 vintage. A blend of Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir. Aroma: Fully ripe raspberry, strawberry and Thames River Farms sugar babe watermelon. This rosé is what you might call fruit expressive! Palate: Smooth with some raspiness on the backContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Featherstone 2023 Rosé from Niagara Peninsula”

RKS 2024 Wine: German Pinot Noir: Attractive Price But Quality?

At $21 the 2021 Ruppertsberger Imperial Pinot Noir Trocken is at an attractive price but its quality? Aroma: No doubt this is a Pinot Noir or as they say in Germany Spätburgunder! Raspberry, cherry and a tad of strawberry jam. Palate: A jolt of kirsch mixes it up with raspberry. The fruit is a bitContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: German Pinot Noir: Attractive Price But Quality?”

RKS 2024 Wine:  Jean-Maurice Raffault Chinon from the Loire  

Ontario is a province in Canada producing excellent Cabernet Franc in Niagara, Lake Erie North Shore and Prince Edward County so theoretically there is no need to look to Chinon in the Loire for good Cabernet Franc but to escape being labelled as unadventurous one may wish to try a French version of Cabernet FrancContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine:  Jean-Maurice Raffault Chinon from the Loire  “

RKS 2024 Wine: Caught in the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Groove (or trap?)

Many wine drinkers hear “Sauvignon Blanc” and their mind races to New Zealand. Whether the Sauvignon Blanc fad has faded is not apparent but what is apparent New Zealand is enjoying the ride on its tail and why not! Of course, or maybe not of course, you are aware Bordeaux produces some Sauvignon Blanc ofContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Caught in the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Groove (or trap?)”

RKS 2024 Wine:  A Ritzy Montreal Pinot Noir from Westmount from the Tête Carrée!

We try a Westmount Willamette Valley Pinot Noir from Oregon. Westmount is a ritzy suburb of Montreal perched along Mont Royal. The home of the wealthy English sometimes referred to as Tête Carrée by the plebeians down below. So seeing a Pinot Noir from Westmount Vineyard and having travelled through Westmount countless times when livingContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine:  A Ritzy Montreal Pinot Noir from Westmount from the Tête Carrée!”

RKS 2024 Wine: Does a Boggled Mind Benefit from a Bogle Family Vineyards Pinot Noir?

At the Hot Docs film festival winds down I have saved the most depressing films for last and as a film reviewer of documentary films when I say depressing I mean it. On my bitter end list is the story of a 16-year-old Kurdish refugee girl, whose mother has died frozen to death in someContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Does a Boggled Mind Benefit from a Bogle Family Vineyards Pinot Noir?”

RKS 2024 Wine: Château Terre Blanque 2020

A blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from Blaye. Aroma: It shouts out Merlot not lush and plush but clean and sharp. Full of cheerful cherry with lesser notes of blackberry and blueberry very high toned and alert and not sullied by an excess of oak. Palate: Broad based tannins. Clean and sharp cherry withContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Château Terre Blanque 2020”

RKS 2024 Wine: A Field Blend from Russian River: Groggy and Sluggish?

My experience with field blend is a Portuguese one. Once upon a time grapes were grapes and wine was wine. Different grapes could be planted willy nilly in the vineyard. Harvest them and you got a bit of this and that grape. Another type of field blend is where two or more different grape varietiesContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: A Field Blend from Russian River: Groggy and Sluggish?”

RKS 2024 Wine: Can Christopher Michael Save Face with Its Chardonnay

The Christopher Michael 2022 Pinot Noir I recently sampled limped in, as vacant faced as it was, with a 73/100. My retail contacts agreed and suggested their Chardonnay and Pinot Gris would fare better. Is that correct? So why not try the Christopher Michael 2021 Chardonnay? Aroma: Apple, pear, cantaloupe with some scant butterscotch andContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Can Christopher Michael Save Face with Its Chardonnay”

RKS 2024 Wine: Morgon: Classy Name: Good Beaujolais?

I have always thought Morgon was a classy name. When I was a wee tadpole in Montreal there once was a classy department store called Morgon’s. Morgon’s stores were eventually purchased by the Hudson’s Bay. Enough reminiscing. We try a Domaine Laurent Gauthier Morgon. Aroma:  Cheerful and light black cherry. That’s all folks and itContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Morgon: Classy Name: Good Beaujolais?”