When Bacchus was handing out the mellifluous names of grape varieties in French–Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Merlot roll easily of the anglophone tongue–he had apparently run out by the time he got to Carignan. Carignan. In America it is often called carignane when planted, if at all, on domestic soil. The family-run St. MORE >>

The Inniskillin winery itself was created in 1975 by Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser, across the street on 32 acres of Riesling, Chardonnay, and Gamay. In 1982, the Montague Vineyard, 50 acres adjacent to the Niagara District Airport, was acquired and produces Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Pinot Grigio. MORE >>

This bottle comes entirely from 2008 and is a blend of equal parts Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. love Lahaye's wines, I love their clarity and focus, their delicate yet powerful expression of Pinot Noir from Bouzy. He saw a bottle of 2007 Sigalas Barrel Fermented Assyrtiko in my wine fridge and asked that we open it. MORE >>

was able to try many of their wines, with all of them scoring high points and my favorites being the 2007 Syrah, both the Rusack Syrah with incredible smoke, fig, licorice and fig, and the 2007 Syrah Reserve, with more concentration, complexity of flavor, and judicious wood influence. MORE >>

Tissot also makes some lovely examples of Chardonnay. The Cotes du Jura en Barberon, 2007 & 2008, grown on limestone soil, had a lovely richness. With distinctive minerality, the 2007 was quite approachable, and the 2008 a bit more closed, not surprisingly. An academically interesting wine, but I preferred the chardonnays. MORE >>