Canada Day
Robinson, Michael. "Grape Expectations: Canada Day" The Royal Gazette [BDA] 01.07.16 Print
celebrate in their vast country. I believe that it
would be appropriate if we join them by enjoying
a bottle or two of some of the finest wine now
being produced in the Okanagan Valley in
British Columbia.
Mission Hill Winery
Happy Canada Day
st
On July 1 of 1867 three colonies united into a
single country they called Canada, which is the
Huron-Iroquois “Kanata”, a word that means
village. So on this day each year Canadians
We were in Canada to attend the graduation of
one our sons and his earning of a master’s
degree from a fine university, and so with dinner
we had to enjoy the best wines of this northern
country. The sommelier showed us a quite
spectacular looking bottle called Oculus.
Although it seemed a little pricey, the decision
was made to open it and to be honest I was
absolutely floored by the quality. That was a few
years ago and our present vintage is 2010.
Michel Roland, a Frenchman, and quite possibly
our world’s best known “flying winemaker” (helps
in many countries) consults with the staff at the
high tech facility at Mission Hill and one critic
writes “tasted blind it could easily be an elegant
Right Bank (St. Emilion and Pomerol), muscular,
ripe black berries, cassis and dark chocolate”.
We list the Mission Hill Oculus 2010 for
$74.90, but for Canada Day I suspect that our
store managers may be a little more generous.
The grape blend varies from year to year but for
2010 they used 51% Merlot, 26% Cabernet
Sauvignon and 23% Cabernet Franc. I patiently
wait to see what we will drink when said son
finishes the PHD thesis he is about to work on at
one of Canada’s great institutions of learning.
As the poets amongst us know, a quatrain is a
poem composed of four lines and so when
Mission Hill decided to make a four grape blend
they felt that this name would be appropriate for
it. Mission Hill Quatrain 2009 is therefore
composed of 35% Merlot, 30% Syrah, 20%
Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc
all working in harmony.
Mission Hill Quatrain
One would expect that Canada’s best known
wine critic, Natalie Maclean, would speak in a
favourable fashion about such a wine but it has
to deserve it if she is to be credible. Here is
what she wrote “95/100 – Spectacularly rich,
complex and deep. This towering red offers
aromas of dark red fruit, smoke, dried herbs and
cigar box. It’s a multi-layered wine that will
cellar very well. Truly one of Canada’s flagship
wines”. Another reviewer said “Amazing blend,
wish I had more” another just penned
“Yummmmmmmmm”. This should be selling for
$56.00 but we have it in our shops for $31.30. I
would like to convince you that we are only
doing this to make our thrifty, articulate
Canadian friends have a great day, but I am
sure you suspect otherwise. Well o.k. I will fess
up. Folks have not discovered how really
wonderful these Canadian reds can be and we
are now wanting to move them out and update
with the latest vintages. You will, I would
venture, be astonished rather than regretful.
Mission Hill Oculus
There are quite a few hundred wineries in
Canada and so in 2013 it certainly was an
honour for Mission Hill to be selected by the
National Wine Awards of Canada to be winery of
the year.
You may be wondering why I have not
mentioned ice wine as everyone knows that
Canada is famous for this, so let us discuss one.
Firstly let me use an explanation that works for
me. Remember back to when you were small
and were given a strawberry Popsicle and you
sucked all that sweet, concentrated, delicious
juice out of it. Then you held up the remaining
quite colourless stick of ice. Well that kind of
happens when you make ice wine.
The grapes are left on the vine well into winter
and when they are frozen they are meticulously
harvested in the cold of night and immediately
they are pressed. A precious few drops of juice
is extracted and the remaining ice crystals are
discarded. At Mission Hill this wine is not made
every year as Mother Nature has to offer the
perfect weather. It is also technically
challenging, time consuming and very risky.
So I suggest ending your fine dinner with
Mission Hill Reserve Riesling Ice Wine 2011
that will reveal to you gorgeous peach, apricot
and honey aromas. My favourite is to have a
fruit salad that will just meld beautifully with the
sweet, amazing fruit of this nectar. A half bottle
is $67.15, but what a rare treat.
Mission Hill Reserve Riesling Icewine
I was going to move on to Tawse winery in
Niagara, the top Canadian winery for three years
in a row, but space dictates that this will have to
be another time.
Michael Robinson is Director of Wine at Burrows, Lightbourn Ltd. .He can be contacted at [email protected] or on
295-0176. Burrows, Lightbourn have stores in Hamilton (Front Street East, 295-1554), Paget (Harbour Road, 236-0355)
and St George’s (York Street, 297-0409). A selection of their wines, beers and spirits are available on line at