We were recently invited to an exclusive wine tasting of 3 premier Niagara wineries via Marc Russell, President of the Fine Wine Reserve near King & Spadina in downtown Toronto - a perk of having your own cellar membership at the FWR starting at only $33/month!!!It was a drop-in style tasting at the FWR's amazing tasting room, the same room where we also had our iYellow Social (please see our SLIDEshow).
At this tasting we had the opportunity to taste select wines from Creekside Estate Winery, Mike Weir Estate Winery and Willow Heights Estate Winery alongside the co-winemaker Craig McDonald! (Featured in right side of picture - more pics at www.creeksidewine.com).
Also in the room, but not for tasting, were a couple of the brand new Wayne Gretzky bottles (1 red & 1 white) - made in partnership with Creekside winery (see Grape Press for link to a Gretzky article).
Unfortunately we couldn't taste The Great One's wines this time, since they had just bottled them a few days before the tasting, but we did get to taste the wines of Mike Weir, Canada's best golfer and Masters Champion!
Craig McDonald is the co-winemaker for Creekside Estate Winery along with Rob Power. Craig was a pleasant presence in the room and was certainly helpful and insightful with his wines. Craig is from Victoria, Australia and has lots of international winemaking experience. He told us a little bit about Mike Weir, and that he was meeting Mike the next day at the winery to go over business with him.
Mike comes to the winery about twice a year, Craig said. And Craig also goes down to Utah, Mike Weir's hometown, to discuss wine as well. We tried a few wines at the tasting and we thought we'd share our favourites with you.
Mike Weir Estate Winery 2004 Cabernet-Shiraz $25.20 (Available at select LCBO's, winery & winerytohome.com) A smooth wine with nice cherry, caramel flavours, light spicy oak notes and has a soft tannin-kiss finish.
Mike Weir Estate Winery 2006 Sauvignon Blanc $14.95 - A great value summer wine (get it at LCBO, winerytohome.com & winery )
Willow Heights Estate Winery 2005 Reserve 'Tresette' Red $25.20 Smooth with nice fruit flavours, and notes of licorish, spice and oak. Great cheese wine. (available at winery)
At this tasting we had the opportunity to taste select wines from Creekside Estate Winery, Mike Weir Estate Winery and Willow Heights Estate Winery alongside the co-winemaker Craig McDonald! (Featured in right side of picture - more pics at www.creeksidewine.com).
Also in the room, but not for tasting, were a couple of the brand new Wayne Gretzky bottles (1 red & 1 white) - made in partnership with Creekside winery (see Grape Press for link to a Gretzky article).
Unfortunately we couldn't taste The Great One's wines this time, since they had just bottled them a few days before the tasting, but we did get to taste the wines of Mike Weir, Canada's best golfer and Masters Champion!
Craig McDonald is the co-winemaker for Creekside Estate Winery along with Rob Power. Craig was a pleasant presence in the room and was certainly helpful and insightful with his wines. Craig is from Victoria, Australia and has lots of international winemaking experience. He told us a little bit about Mike Weir, and that he was meeting Mike the next day at the winery to go over business with him.
Mike comes to the winery about twice a year, Craig said. And Craig also goes down to Utah, Mike Weir's hometown, to discuss wine as well. We tried a few wines at the tasting and we thought we'd share our favourites with you.
Mike Weir Estate Winery 2004 Cabernet-Shiraz $25.20 (Available at select LCBO's, winery & winerytohome.com) A smooth wine with nice cherry, caramel flavours, light spicy oak notes and has a soft tannin-kiss finish. Mike Weir Estate Winery 2006 Sauvignon Blanc $14.95 - A great value summer wine (get it at LCBO, winerytohome.com & winery )
Willow Heights Estate Winery 2005 Reserve 'Tresette' Red $25.20 Smooth with nice fruit flavours, and notes of licorish, spice and oak. Great cheese wine. (available at winery)
