Earlier this month, my good friends Carl and Mira Boucher of Carl’s Wine Club invited me over to taste an extensive flight of Cabernet Franc wines from Ontario and BC. I am a huge fan of Cabernet Franc and BC has many impressive examples, but I was completely unfamiliar with Ontario’s examples so I was thrilled with the invitation.
Carl tasted through all of them earlier and sent me a list of the wines and his ratings so I arrived armed with a list of wines to try first. Top of the list were all his high-scoring Ontario examples.
After sampling many of those I moved on to the ones from BC and what immediately struck me was there was no signature regional style that would indicate that a wine was made in BC or Ontario. The differences were more the result of the vintage and the winemaking styles. Two wines stood out in particular – one was from BC and the other from Ontario. Both had been whole-bunch pressed and treated to carbonic maceration. These two were very fresh and fruity and rather delightful.
In total, there were 54 wines that ranged in price from $15.95 to $80.00 with an average cost of $42.67. The vintages spanned seven years, 2015 – 2022. Twenty of the wines were from BC. Alcohol levels ran the gamut of 12.8% ABV to 14.9% ABV.
Here, in no particular order, are the wines I sampled. Due to the time constraint, I did not take extensive notes. I did, however, include Car’s scores as we are usually pretty much on the same page.
Vineland 2020 Bo-tech Clone 327
Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario
$35 14.5% ABV
92 points
Big, concentrated, approachable
Cave Spring 2020
Beamsville Bench, Ontario
$39.95 14.5% ABV
92 points
This is a big wine that will be better with time to age.
2027 Cellars 2020 King Street Vineyard
Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario
$40 12.8% ABV
91+ points
Fruity, very tasty, and ready to drink now.
2027 Cellars 2020 Wismer Foxcroft Block
Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario
$50 14.7% ABV
90 points
Needs time.
Moraine 2021
Naramata Bench, BC
$42.65 13.3% ABV
90-92 Points
Needs time, a little herbaceous right now should show much better with some aging.
Organized Crime 2020 Sacred Series
Beamsville Bench, Ontario
$43.00 14% ABV
91 points
Very nice and approachable now.
Bella Terra 2020
Four Mile Creek, Ontario
$44.95 14.9% ABV
94 points
Very nice, good varietal character.
The Good Earth 2020
Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario
$34.00 13.5% ABV
90 points
Light, but good, fruity.
Leaning Post
Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario
$45.00 13.5% ABV
NA points
Good varietal character with some green pepper notes.
Big Head 2018
Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
$45.00 14.5% ABV
93 points
Good cabernet franc character
Big Head 2020
Lincoln Lakeshore, Ontario
$70.00 13.5% ABV
92+ points
Carbonic maceration. Fermented and aged 20 months in concrete. Very good, juicy, violets, raspberry, red fruit.
Fort Berens 2020 Reserve
Lillooet, BC
$51.84 13.6% ABV
92 points
Very good example of this grape and very approachable right now though it will continue to improve for years to come.
Hillside 2018
Naramata Bench, BC
$40.00 13% ABV
91+ points
Lovely, a bit lighter in style than others.
Rust 2022
Oliver, BC
$34.60 13.0% ABV
91 points
The fruit for this wine came from Okanagan Falls. Another one made with carbonic maceration. Lively, fresh, and fruity.
Hester Creek 2021 Old Vines Cab Franc
Golden Mile Bench, BC
$34.60 13.9% ABV
91 points
Very good, spicy, long lingering finish.
Mythology 2019
Okanagan Valley, BC
$32.30 14.9% ABV
90+ points
Very good but young. Needs time to develop.
Desert Hills 2021
Black Sage Bench, BC
$39.20 13.4% ABV
90 points
Another good one that will benefit greatly from time to age.
Heaven’s Gate 2019
Okanagan Valley, BC
$34.99 13.9% ABV
90+ points
Needs time to show its best. Will improve with 3-5 years aging.
Stonebridge 2019
Creekshores, Ontario
$48.00 13.5% ABV
92+ points
Light, medium body, good, bramble, blackberry, cherry.
(No photo available)
Stonebridge 2019 Reserve
Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario
$78.00 13.7% ABV
NA points
Very good, powerful nose, toasty, with lots of fruit. Impressive.
Painted Rock 2021
Skaha Bench, BC
$63.34 14.8% ABV
NA points
Approachable now, but still a young pup. It should wow with a few years of aging.
Drea’s 2020
Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
$40.00 13.5% ABV
90 points
Earthy, leather, smooth, approachable now.
Burrowing Owl 2021
Okanagan Valley, BC
$41.50 13.5% ABV
NA points
Very good, good varietal character, approachable now.
Summerhill Pyramid 2020 Organic
Okanagan Valley, BC
$41.50 13.5% ABV
90+ points
An inviting fruity nose, smooth on the palate, good now.
If you are fortunate enough to travel to Ontario wine country, take this list along. By no means are these the only Ontario wineries worth visiting, but they clearly make serious wines that you should try.
Conclusions
Both provinces make top-quality cabernet franc wines and prices seemed relatively consistent for wines of similar quality. There seemed to be some correlation with the higher alcohol wines scoring better, though none seemed ‘hot’. The wines were as low as 12.8% ABV and up to 14.9% ABV. BC best buys? The Fort Berens 2020 Reserve at $44.99, closely followed by Da Silva 2020 at $55.30, River Stone 2017 at $59.89, and Painted Rock 2021 at $63.34. If you can find any of these wines let them age a while or decant and give them lots of time to breathe so they can shine.
Carl’s wine club is a rather unique club in that he offers wines from Ontario and BC and switches the offerings on a regular basis. Another benefit is that he tastes all the wines and includes notes on them as well as offering rare and hard-to-get vintages. I once ordered an impressive vertical of Ontario Rieslings for a tasting I was going to present. They were very impressive and everyone enjoyed being able to taste these wines without having to travel east. You can join for free and there are no minimum orders required.
You can check out his blog on all these wines including his top ten list and his live tasting video here:
(All photos, except as noted – Sam Hauck)
