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A TASTING OF WINES AGED IN CANADIAN OAK   by a little fat wino...
Something new in the Canadian Wine world - Canadian Oak Cooperage is  producing barrels from Canadian grown oak. These barrels are now available to commercial and amateur winemakers. One more sign that the Canadian wine industry is forming something unique in the world of wine.

Fall 2003, Wine Spectator , Canadian Oak Gets the Nod From Winemakers, (auth. Konrad Ejbach), "It's distinct from French or American oak," said Ann Sperling, winemaker at Malivoire Wine Co., one of several Ontario estates making trial lots with the  Canadian barrels.

Sept/Oct. 2003, Vines, Made in Canada (auth. Christopher Waters), "Oak barrels from southern Ontario are yielding purely Canadian wine with layers of flavors, depth, and a uniquely homegrown element"

July 17, 2003, The Hamilton Spectator,  Roll out the Canuck barrels (auth. Mark McNeil) Domestic oak for aging wine toast of Niagara.

July 2, 2003, The Toronto Star,  Gord on Grapes (auth. Gordon Stimmel)

My mission in Niagara was to survey new experimental grape plantings,  including very exciting results from syrah vines at several locations. And I wanted to follow up on the revolutionary use of Canadian oak for winemaking at  six wineries.

Derek Barnett of Lailey Vineyard was the first winemaker to commercially release a wine fermented and aged in Canadian oak. The pioneers were cardiac  surgeon Dr. Jim Hedges and biologist-geologist Dr. Mike Risk, who did the first experiments with wine in tiny barrels in 1999.

Barnett now has five wines a chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and vidal icewine aged in Canadian barrels. The oak species is the same as American oak, but tighter grained wood means it tastes more like French  Vosges oak. Barnett says it shows a fennel and licorice root character but is being fine-tuned.

The wood is grown, harvested, air-dried and milled near Ancaster, then shipped to Missouri coopers, and the finished barrels are sent back to Canada.  Marynissen, Malivoire, Thirty Bench, Featherstone and Lenko wineries are now conducting trials.

The 2002 Lailey wines are slated for release in September, with a chardonnay ($29) and a pinot noir ($35). I rated both 90 in barrel tastings at the  winery.

March/April 2003, Vines MagazineReview (auth. Christopher Waters), Lailey Vineyards 2002 Chardonnay Canadian Oak.

A pioneering effort, this is the first commercial wine barrel-aged in Canadian oak, which adds pleasant anise and fennel notes to the coconut milk and tropical fruit flavours commonly found in Lailey Vineyard Chardonnay. The finish turns sweet with a hint of caramel flavour, which other tasters have referred to as being more maple syrup in character. This is an elegant and refined Chardonnay that rivals the the best of Niagara, and would match nicely with poached salmon  4 out of 5 stars.