Thursday, September 18, 2014

Henry of Pelham 2007 Cabernet-Merlot Meritage, Niagara Peninsula VQA


This wine is an unusual purchase for us. We visited the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario a couple years ago and loved the area. The wineries were fantastic and the wine enchanting.
We were racing along the back roads as the afternoon turned into evening. We had to make it to our hotel in Niagara Falls, but were trying to hit every winery along the way. Henry of Pelham is a highly rated winery we hoped to stop at, but just couldn’t locate.
In the end we gave up and regretted the missed opportunity. However, as we stopped at the duty free store at the border in Windsor on the way home I spied this bottle of Henry of Pelham Meritage. Soon it was crossing the border into a new country.
This wine is medium in body with blackberry and chocolate flavors. As it opened up the flavors of earth and dark fruit were more pronounced.
I was hoping that this wine would indeed be very special, but it fell short of the mark. The flavor profile was nice indeed and the wine had some character to it – but didn’t have the complexity that makes a superior wine. The flavor you got on the front end was pretty much the same until the finish faded away.
In the Niagara Peninsula, Cabernet Franc not Cabernet Sauvignon is king. This blend is an enjoyable armchair sipper, but did not change my opinion.
Rating: 2.5 of 5  Value: 3 of 5 (based on $14US)

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