Strange Laws

Written by Matthew Sullivan | 26 July 2009

Canada has some strange laws. Being a witch isn’t illegal, but pretending to be a witch can land you two years in jail. Loonies are not legal tender if you purchase an item costing more than $25. It’s an offence to depict crimes in a comic book, even if they are fictitious. Forget marijuana; it’s time to decriminalize Spiderman.

If you are a wine lover, the oddest law of all is the prohibition on bringing alcohol across provincial boundaries. Under the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act, transporting just one bottle of wine from province to province is outlawed and carries a minimum six month jail sentence for your third offence. I’ve never heard of anyone being convicted for bringing a couple of bottles home after a business trip, but this archaic law nicely illustrates a real problem in our glorious federation: it’s absurdly difficult to find Ontario wines in west coast liquor stores or BC wines in stores east of the Rockies.

I like buying Canadian, and so I need British Columbian wine. As a resident of Toronto, I can find crisp whites from Niagara, as well as some elegant Pinot Noir and Syrah. But one thing that my home turf can’t produce dependably is a rich, full-bodied and fruity blend of the noble grapes of Bordeaux — a style called meritage in the New World. Our short growing season means that Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, or Malbec rarely ripen properly, often leaving the resulting wine with an unappealing whiff of green pepper.

Normal 0 0 1 424 2422 20 4 2974 11.1282 0 0 0 Normal 0 0 1 424 2422 20 4 2974 11.1282 There are exceptions, of course, and they are worth mentioning. Hidden Bench’s 2005 Terroir Caché is one outstanding example. But Hidden Bench’s success has made it a cult wine and the Terroir Caché is not easy to track down. A more low-key treasure comes from Marynissen, perhaps the most underestimated winery in Niagara. The Marynissen 2002 Merlot blew my tiny little mind when I opened it last summer. Although under 20 bucks, it was stuffed with ripe berries and an array of mellow, earthy notes that age beautifully. Marynissen has a leg up on most Niagara wineries because its Merlot vines are over 25 years old, giving them great roots to suck much more flavour out of the soil.

The grit of Ontario wineries like Hidden Bench is admirable, but the Okanagan Valley’s geography gives it a dominating advantage in terms of making meritage. The steep slopes, hot days and low rainfall could squeeze a tear of joy from the eye of even the most jaded winemaker. Such a lovely climate comes with one big problem: British Columbians are happy to buy as much wine as the Okanagan can pump out, which leaves no incentive for the wineries to organize an effective export market for the rest of Canada.

Although it’s difficult finding the best Okanagans across the country, one winery that’s pushing to establish a Canada-wide reputation for itself is Osoyoos Larose. The superb 2005 Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin recently hit shelves all over the country. This winery is new on the scene; the vines were planted in 1999 and the first vintage to see public release was 2004. It's located in Osoyoos, the hottest, driest and southernmost Okanagan sub-appellation. Osoyoos Larose has one mission: producing world-class meritage. They don’t even bother with white wines.

What intrigues me about Osoyoos Larose is that it is the west coast doppelganger of one of Ontario’s star wineries, Le Clos Jordanne. Both Osoyoos Larose and Le Clos are owned by the wine conglomerate Vincor (which itself is owned by Constellation). Both estates have been groomed by Vincor as standard-bearers for their respective regions in order to create new markets nationally and internationally. In both wineries, Vincor has partnered with French winemakers; the Boisset family in the case of Le Clos, and the Groupe Taillan for Osoyoos Larose.

Le Groupe Taillan owns the established Bordeaux estate Chateau Gruaud-Larose (whose wines Oz Clarke memorably described as having "an unnerving animal quality"). The expertise of Le Groupe Taillan, plus Osoyoos’s French winemaker, Pascal Madevon, brings traditional Bordeaux winemaking techniques to Canadian soil. The winery doesn’t just rely on the fruit-driven Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot popular in North America: they also use Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cab Franc to add sonority and overlapping body. The emphasis is on structure and balance. Vincor is reimagining Canada's New World wine in an Old World mould.