Colio Estate Wines Rock the Deacon's Sox!

Greetings All and Sundry!

I be sittin' here answerin' emails and phonecalls, touchin' base with my homeys and homettes. Everybody lubs the Deacon!

But I gots to bring y'all up to my speed on the winery that's just popped up on the Deacon's extravagant radar. We be talkin' about Colio Estate Wines today, and man, do I got somethin' to rap about!

Yesterday, the weather was reasonably good here in the World's Most Multicultural City, which is pretty frickin' unusual for this time of year. Havin' little else to do, your humble Deacon of the Grape and the lovely Deaconess Fresh hopped into the Candy Apple Caddy and headed West on the Gardiner Expressway, leavin' Scarlem behind and heading to the weird waters of Mississauga. (It's amazin' how fast you can travel if you stick a red flashing light on your dash and keep your hand on the horn!) Well we had a target in mind, namely a 4 PM appointment with Doug Beatty, the marketing wizard for Colio Estate Wines. He kindly invited your humble Deacon to drop in for a drop and teach him how you neck-crank a mofo who wants to take your watch or wallet and give him a life-time membership in the Life-support Lodge. We arrived a little after 4 and headed inside, leaving Adam "The Sadist" Sutherland to handle vehicle security.

Well what a visit this turned out to be. Your humble Deacon was not real familiar with Colio, although in its favour, he couldn't remember a Colio wine he disliked, and had been really happy with their '02 Cab Franc which he served with the Deaconess' amazing veal and mushrooms the week before. Well Dougmeister ushered us into the boardroom and served us olives, Italian bread, figs, cheeses, etc., etc., etc. Then the wines arrived. Nine of them.

We began with the sparkling, and the Deaconess' lovely eyes lit up. Doug served us Colio Estate Vineyards (CEV) Sparkling Lily 2004, chilled just right. This is not methode champagnoise, but was light, fresh, delicious and a perfect starting point. An 85% Chardonnay, 15% Riesling, Methode Cuve Close, it hit the spot and launched the next 3 hours into gear. (If you don't understand any of this arcane terminology, check out one of my other websites, Wine for Dix at:

http://winefordix.blogspot.com/

You heard me.

We went on to sample Colio Estate Vineyards (CEV) Sparkling Lily Blanc de Noirs 2002. This is 100% Pinot Noir and was a very nice sparkling. This would be a great choice at a wedding. And on and on it went...We tried the Pinot Grigio next, which was fresh and light and fairly typical. But hang on...Colio has roots that run deep into the fertile soil of Italy. The white was nice, but as one would expect from an Italian winemaster: The reds were outstanding! Winemaker Carlo Negri is a frickin' genius! The Colio Estate Vineyards (CEV) Carlo Negri Signature Meritage 2002 was as gorgeous a red as I've had in ages. Now my loyal followers in the Legion of Lurch know that the Deacon's a little crazy about Stratus Wines and rightly so...But watch out Stratus! Colio's on the attack! This is the first Ontario wine to blow the Deacon's sox off since the Stratus 2001 Cabernet Franc I been ravin' about for months. This Meritage is (as always) an attempt to duplicate a classic Bordeaux, and man, this is one delicious powerhouse red! It's loaded with fruit with soft tannins and a velvety finish, having spent 22 months in new European oak. Built from essentially equal parts Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and Merlot, this hits the taste-buds like a tactical baton. This is so good that when the Deacon's finally sent to the electric chair, I wanna make sure they drench the head-sponge in this wine first! This is a limited edition of only 2,400 bottles, each individually numbered and is no-doubt the Pride of Lake Erie Northshore.

Doug then poured Colio Estate Vineyards (CEV) Carlo Negri Signature Merlot 2002. Now he warned us up front that this was still very young. He was right, of course. The wine's still green tasting and as tightly wrapped as the electrons in a metallic mollecular bond. I think this needs another 2 years, but there's lots of fruit and when it opens up it's gonna be lurch! I'm gonna decant that muh fuh for 4 hours tonight and run it through the magnetic field and see what happens. This is 100% Merlot, and is going to make the Deacon recant some of his more brash ramblin's bout what's often a bland varietal. Nothin' bland here, cracker! I'm tellin' you mofos: If you buy any red wine with Carlo Negri's signature on it, you're in for a great experience.

Doug moved on to pour Colio Estate Vineyards (CEV) Riesling Icewine 2003. This is 100% Riesling and has the classic petrol aroma of a rampaging Panzer Division drivin' a deep wedge through the continually-surrendering French soil. Good stuff indeed. I didn't realize what a tasty and rich ice-wine can come from the Riesling grape.

And so on and on it went...Colio is no new-comer. Their history on the north shore of Lake Erie goes back to the 1970's and they've definitely proven to the Deacon that Ontario is becoming a force to be reckoned with on the world wine horizon. This is a winery that has a passion for excellence that shows in Doug Beatty as he discusses their products and their future. Thanks Doug for a great introduction to Colio Wines and for makin' the Deacon and Deaconess feel so welcome.

You are one great host, Homeboy!

With Ontario winemakers like Carlo Negri continually raising the bar, we the consumers will continue to find amazing wines on our own doorstep.

The future looks very bright indeed...

You heard me.

Deacon Dr. Fresh

Always supporting VQA wines