As an ardent evangelist for Ontario wines, I am always searching for new producers and bottles to rave about — partly from genuine conviction and partly because nothing delights me more than hearing skeptics concede that Niagara can compete with the best of them.
My latest discovery is a Riesling from winemaker Charles Baker. Also associated with Stratus Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Baker has been crafting high-quality Riesling since 2005. The 2021 vintage from his beloved Picone Vineyard in Vinemount Ridge, perched along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment and further inland from Lake Ontario in West Niagara, is no exception.
Pale lemon in colour, the wine bursts from the glass with such aromatic intensity that even a modest swirl can feel like pressing your ear against a loudspeaker to hear a record — it is unmistakably loud. Before you even raise the glass to your nose, there is already a bouquet of classic petrol, citrus fruit, lemon, lime, nectarine, and orange peel presenting itself with great poise. There is also a delicate stone-fruit quality — underripe white peach, and even a hint of tropical, pineapple — giving the wine an impressive range of fruit character across the spectrum.
Beneath all that exuberant fruit lies a bright mineral component, something like wet stones or cool pebbles beneath a mountain stream, along with a delicate floral embellishment redolent of elderflower. This is not a shy wine.
On the palate, the wine is dry, with the slightest hint of residual sugar. The flavour profile largely mirrors the nose: citrus, stone fruit, minerality, and that floral lift. Most importantly, the wine’s generous gamut of complexity is braced by mouth-puckering acidity, ensuring fine balance across its structural components.
For a 2021 vintage, it still feels remarkably alive and youthful, with enough acidity and concentration to age comfortably for another decade. It could sit quite happily in your cellar, developing deeper petrol, honeyed citrus, and more savoury complexity with time — assuming, of course, you can muster the monastic discipline required not to drink it immediately. This is no easy feat.
Finally, the wine has outstanding flavour intensity, evidenced by how easy it is to write and rave about it. The best wines really are the ones that make the wine writer’s job the easiest. In this case, the aromas are so pronounced and sharp that even a lifelong cocaine addict’s benighted nose would have little difficulty identifying them.
All of these delightful flavours linger long on the palate. Though I have long since finished the bottle, I can still taste its quality — and can feel the irritation of not having another one close at hand. This is Ontario Riesling at its most persuasive. It is highly aromatic, precise, minerally expressive, and more than capable of making Niagara skeptics look foolish.
by Harry1T6