2010 Top Bench White, Penninsula Ridge Estates Winery, VQA

It is wedding season and so I am spending some time with my parents at their house, as that's been where all the action is happening. And let me say, it has been an A+ season all around so far! C and R's wedding was one of the best parties I have been to in a while, and whether it was the love, the awesome wedding, or the bouquet to the face, I will only have fond memories of it (and a wine review of wedding wine to follow)! My parents and I have also taken some time to drink some wine while we cook and relax. Today's special was a white blend from Peninsula Ridge, a tried and true, and big enough to buy at the LCBO, Ontario winery. This wine is available through the LCBO at $13.75 a bottle. It is a blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and Gewurztraminer. Blends are tricky, because most often the bottle will not tell you how much of each grape goes in, and if you like one but not the other, you may be up the creek without a paddle. Luckily, this blend is the perfect summer sipper after a nice long hot walk and a heavy hot day. Here are our opinions as follows!

A- This wine is best drank very cold. Ours had chilled for two days and it made it a different wine than when we first tasted it just a little chilled at the winery. The extra chilling made it very sweet and crisp but also heavy. It was a juicy wine, like the mouth feel of a grape or heavy peach or pear juice, but had a sharp finish.  It had a light tropical or juicy fruit flavour, like peach or mango, but also a bit of a crisper finish. It is crisp but without a bite. It doesn’t linger on the tongue for very long though and is also not a very alcohol forward wine, which I really appreciated. It is a good, well-rounded off-dry blend, great for sipping, but I think it would be overwhelmed by food. I really liked this wine and would definitely recommend it as the perfect summer sipper for a hot day.

D - This wine was nice and crisp and clean and easy drinking. A good wine after a hard days work for drinking on its own. I could drink the whole bottle! I prefer crisper wines, so I was happy to drink it on its own, whereas M likes sweeter wines and doesn't like to drink crisp wines on their own.

M - It was pleasant enough. It was nice and clear and citrusy but I would have preferred it with some food. I find that that is how I generally feel about citrusy wine, that I prefer it with food or dessert rather than on its own.