Nyarai Cellars, Veritas, 2007, Niagara Peninsula VQA

Conventional wisdom states that Niagara is home to serious emerging wines - Rieslings, Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Noirs, sparkling and ice wines. Mainly those varietals that thrive in Northern France. Canada has many good things. Its weather is not one of them. Following this logic, if you swear by California Cabernet Sauvignon or Australian Shiraz you should probably veer away from Ontario Bordeaux blends or, god help you, shiraz or cab franc blends. Green and tannic come to mind. But what do you expect? There isn't enough sunshine or a long enough growing season to produce big lush wines in the new-world style. You can't squeeze deep, full-bodied reds from five month snow-drifts. Well, that's not necessarily true. An exceptional wine maker in an exceptionally warm year can shatter conventional wisdom with well placed rabbit-punches.

Le Clos Jordanne, Claystone Terrace, 2006, VQA Ontario

I'm from Ontario, so we'll start with a wine from Le Clos Jordanne, a winery making international noise for its French-style Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. If you're not from Ontario and want to know what the wine scene here is like, think Northern France and choose varietals that grow there. Pinot Noir. Chardonnay. Cabernet Franc. Riesling. Sauvingnon Blanc. Sparkling wines do well. Le Clos Jordanne has won some blind-tastings, going head to head with major Burgundy houses. It's a pretty big deal. The wine I had in my closet was from the Claystone Terrace vineyard. It isn't their top wine, but it isn't their basic Village either. Single estate level, I guess. It ran me about $40 a couple of years ago. [...]