Château des Charmes St. David's Bench Vineyard Chardonnay 2001
VQA Niagara Peninsula $19.95 (430991)
A well-structured Chardonnay with complex flavours of peach, melon, pear, apple and citrus. The texture is full but quite lean, the balance is fine, and the finish long. It's drinking well now (with rich, buttery or creamy seafood or fish dishes) and over the next four or five years. (RP)


Norman Hardie Pinot Noir 2004
VQA Ontario $39.00
Winemaker Norman Hardie has made Pinot Noir all over the world and has now set up shop in Prince Edward County, where he has a new, gravity-fed winery with one of the most intriguing barrel rooms I've seen anywhere. This Pinot Noir is made from Niagara Peninsula fruit (a 2005 is made from his own vines) and it's a real cracker. The fruit, dominated by black cherry, is solid throughout, and is lifted by fine-grained herbal notes and accents of cola, coffee and chocolate. It's still quite tightly wound and will repay some cellaring, and if you want to drink it in the next year or so, you should decant it. Given the quality, this is a well-priced Pinot. Order from Norman Hardie Winery at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it (RP)


Norman Hardie Chardonnay 2004
VQA Ontario $29.00
Norman Hardie says that experience has led him to believe that the best Chardonnay grows at the base of slopes, not up the slopes themselves. He sourced the grapes for this wine from a vineyard at the bottom of the Beamsville Bench in Niagara and made the wine at his Prince Edward County winery. It seems to back up his theory about vineyard site. It's elegant, with a smooth taut texture and excellent balance. The well-focused and complex fruit flavours (peach-tropical zones) show mineral notes and a slight nuttiness on the finish. Half the wine was aged in new French oak, the other half in stainless steel, and half went through malolactic. Order from Norman Hardie Winery at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it (RP)