Wine Tour: Thomas & Vaughan

I won't have time to do all of the entries today, so I'll just break it down by winery. Thomas & Vaughan was purchased earlier this year by neighbouring EastDell Estates, so the staff has completely changed over from our last visit. The new owners are running T&V as a separate operation, so the name and brand will continue to be used.

Visiting the winery was rather sad, however, because during the time we were there, a local artist came in and took down all of the art that he'd had hanging on the walls of the tasting room. I didn't get the details, but it sure left the place looking half-abandoned.

Matt, the staff member on duty in the tasting room, was very helpful and provided us with plenty of background information on the wines we were tasting. Here are my rough notes:

• 2001 Merlot VQA ($18.95): Raspberry jam on the nose, with very fruity raspberry and cedar notes on the palate. Long finish.
• 2000 Meritage Estate Reserve VQA ($29.95): Smoke and jammy fruit on the nose. Cedar shavings and burnt ash on the palate: needs at least a year or two in the cellar before it'll approach its peak.
• 2000 Cabernet Franc Reserve VQA ($26.95): Stable straw, green pepper, and violet flowers on the nose. Cherries and cedar on the palate, with a long finish. Favourite wine.
• 2001 Cabernets VQA ($12.95): This has been my "house red" for the past few months, but I was surprised at how much different it tasted at the winery than the bottles I had in my own cellar. I found the sample at the winery to have a weedy, thin body quite unlike what I was used to. I'm hoping that it will settle down after a few weeks in the cellar (if not, I have a dozen bottles to take to parties!).