A couple of weeks ago, I invited readers to taste an Ontario wine and let me know their thoughts on it. The wine was Cave Spring Cabernet-Merlot 2004, a VQA wine from the Niagara Peninsula.
Of the more than 300 reports and ratings I received, about two-thirds of the tasters rated the wine 31/2 or four stars out of a possible five. The average was 31/2, but one the most interesting aspects was the comments.
For one thing, a number of you really didn't like the wine, giving it scores of one or two stars. One reported: "My wife's vote: 11/2 stars. She didn't care too much for it and is surprised you even suggested it." (He himself gave the wine two stars.)
Among those of you who gave it the thumbs up, some really liked it.
"It was an excellent companion to our wonderful Greek dinner of pork souvlaki and Greek salad. As a dinner wine, the Cabernet-Merlot was certainly good value."
"My wife and I both enjoyed the wine and rated it a four," writes one man. "We took a second bottle to a family get-together and it was well received."
And yet another reader: "We had five people try it at dinner, before, during and after the beef. Everyone loved it, especially with the beef."
I think what came out loud and clear from the positive responses was that this is a wine that shows best with food. I'm surprised at some of the matches that worked, including linguini with spicy tomato clam sauce and lamb with an anchovy-almond-mustard-mint sauce. But then, I'm often surprised at wine and food matches, which is great because if they could all be reduced to a reliable formula, pairing them wouldn't be much fun.
What did people not like about the Cab-Merlot? Many of the low scorers thought it was too insubstantial -- too pale in colour and flavour, lacking body and depth. One wrote: "My husband, daughter and I tried the wine. All of us agreed that our rating is two stars since it didn't have the depth of character that we would expect of a $16 red wine."
They, along with a number of other readers, added that it didn't compare well with Australian, Chilean, California, French or even Spanish reds. As one reader wrote: "We both found the colour to be quite pale and found that the taste was as pale. We both usually like the bolder tastes of Chilean Merlots or Australian Shiraz."
That's an honest statement of style preference, and it reflects the popularity of big New World reds. Ontario wine is in a different style altogether, and it appeals to a different consumer, or to consumers who like good variation in their wine diet.
I think Cave Spring ought to be pretty pleased with the results (which, just for the record, they are reading for the first time here). It's a good result to have a cross-section of the wine-buying public rate your wine in the 31/2 to four star range -- that's an 80 per cent approval rating.
Thanks to all the readers who tasted and reported. Many asked for more of these reader-taste testings and we look forward to doing it again.
Today, four decently priced, good-quality wines.