Welcome to the Ontario’s Niagara region – a thin isthmus between two great lakes about an hour and a half south of Toronto, extending down below the falls on both sides of the border. It’s kinda like the Florida of Canada, although the closest big city to these vineyards is the famously inclimate American city of Buffalo, New York – which is due south, just to put things into perspective. In wine circles, this region is best know for being home to Inniskillen, which is world renown for it’s ice wines. But word of the Pinot Noir grown here, particularly on the US side in the AVA called “Niagara Escarpment” is starting to leak. The truth is that Lake Ontario provides a semi-maritime effect and creates favorable growing conditions for the problem child, Pinot Noir. Some would say Burgundian conditions, but wine marketers have been known to spin those sorts of comparisons to death so hard to say how true that is. One thing we know for sure is that they don’t get the Lake Erie effect – which is responsible for the piles of snow whipping off the lake that have kept Buffalo from being a viticultural hotspot. It’s not clear where DA wines are sourcing their fruit – the website is pretty clear that things are inspired by “Dan’s Travels” – but apparently it’s in Ontario somewhere.

To say that Dan Ackroyd Wines is all over the place in terms of it’s product offering is no understatement. Umm.. have you seen the Crystal Head vodka he’s merchandising? Complete with a pirate mythology and mystical powers ascribed to the macabre packaging. This seems a strange counterpart to his award winning liquid gold, the Vidal Ice Wine. Then there’s Dan’s whole Sonoma County line, which is actually made by DeLoach. Is this whole effort a cynical attempt to license one man’s dopey comic aura and milk it for all it is worth? or is it really about the wine? That we’re not sure of, but it’s peaked our interest in Niagara pinot and now we can’t wait to get our hands on some of the bottles we’ve heard about such as those from Warm Lake Estate, in Lockport NY.

The color is the first thing you’ll notice –  ruby colored, but with more of a brownish tint than you’re used to seeing in a pinot noir. Then the nose hits you – tart, red cherries and currants with a deeper, warmer scent underlying it all of figs and brandy. Like a lot of German pinots,  it’s pale and smooth and the flavors are subtle – but there is a rangy, smoky, gamy quality that makes this a unique and expressive wine. Paired with something fatty and smoky, like speck or a cured sausage, it is truly magic. In fact, this is one great charcuterie wine, and holds it’s own with any French pinot noir we’ve had in the price range (about $22).  German reds deserve a lot more attention.  The Rheingau is still growing about 80% reisling, but plantings of pinot noir (called Spatburgunder in Germany)has tripled since the 1980’s, and the country overall is now growing almost 40% red wines – including huge increases in vineyard acreage devoted not only to spatburgunder, but to unique regional varieties such as dornfelder, portugeiser, and lemberger (also known as blaufrankish).   We’re looking forward to drinking a lot more of these wines in the year to come.  If you like old world pinot noir but want to try something different, give this a go.  100% Pinot Noir aged 12 months in French barriques.