This is the vineyard that I try so very hard to like, but that always seems to be a bit of a disappointment. They have an estate home style building, a beautifully inviting dark wood interior and tasting bar, and a water feature out front that brings back memories of our search for the Mannequin de Pis in Brussels. How really, with a peeing boy, can you go wrong?

It’s certainly not a problem with the staff, as every time we’ve been, the employees there have been as attentive, helpful, and friendly as some of our favourite places. And it’s certainly not the selection for tasting, as they offer up a good chunk of their available wines to try before you buy. It’s the wine. Not that the wine is horrendous, it’s just not overly spectacular either. Decent, but not mind-blowing. Drinkable, but not something I’d recommend to a friend.

All of this despite the fact that the Peninsula Ridge Estates winemaker, Jean-Pierre Colas, won 2006 Winemaker of the Year honours from the Ontario Wine Awards. It just goes to show you how much tastes can differ, and how an average collection of wines in one person’s eye is liquid gold in another’s.

Michelle was on a search for the perfect Chardonnay at this particular time (this was actually before she fell in love with the Southbrook) and so we did a flight of three of Peninsula Ridge’s five different styles*. I also sampled one of their big red blends.

• Their straight-forward 2003 Chardonnay was an unoaked and crisp little biddy, with a decent combination of dryness and acidity keeping the pear and apple notes fresh.
• The 2005 INOX was also stainless steel fermented, and its name is actually the abbreviation of the French word for stainless steel: ‘inoxidable‘. This Chardonnay was quite different than the first, with a much more floral nose, and flavours of tropical fruits such as pineapple on the palate, and a smoother feel. When pressed, Michelle named this her favourite of the styles.
• The 2003 Vintner’s Private Reserve was again a change of pace, presenting the languid, creamy face of an oaked Chardonnay. Both the aromas and flavours were given weight thanks to smoky hazelnut in the background. Interesting was the sweet orange/tangerine notes that rose above the oaken butter to inject a bit of character. Michelle maintains that it was overpowering, overdone, and somewhat flabby, but out of the Chardonnays we tried at this vineyard, it was closest to the style that I like, and so I made it my choice.
• Lastly, I gave their 2001 Arcanum a whirl. Their take on a Bordeaux blend, consisting of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and bit of Syrah was one of the beefier reds we found in our wanderings. Packed with oodles of spicy, smoky wood and a smack of leather, it was a nice break (for me, Michelle didn’t care for it) from the fruit forward offerings we kept coming across. We had the misfortune of trying a freshly opened bottle, but I do think that with proper decanting, it would have been a good wine, and one with the potential to lay low in the cellar for a couple of years.

Of all their wines, I’m partial to the Arcanum, and Michelle, well she wasn’t overly fond of any of them. Not that they were horrendous, but there were no gripping must-haves either. We walked out empty handed, but acknowledged the fact that the tasting experience itself (wines aside) was a good one.

Just a note, and suggestion to Peninsula Ridge from a tech end of things, while I don’t expect sites to be optimal at all resolutions and all browser types (heck, I know Grape Juice can get a little funky at low resolutions), it would be nice if I could browse your wines and read about all the exciting things at the vineyard in Firefox.

[*I should mention that all of these tasting notes were hastily taken on the run and while they give the general feel of the wine, shouldn’t be taken as word of law. We did our best under pressure, when usually at home we take a great deal of time.]