Whenever I travel I usually stop in to the duty free to pick up a bottle of something to bring home. In a foreign country I am always curious to see how Canada is represented in the world of wine and spirits. Canada seems to be best known for two types of booze: Canadian whiskey, and ice wine. Canadian whiskey is often referred to as "rye" whiskey due to rye comprising a primary ingredient. However, Canadian whiskey is not always purely made from rye. Lower rye content prevents Canadian whiskey from being labeled as "rye whiskey" in the United States. When it comes to brands, the two that I often find in any duty free store are Canadian Club and Crown Royal. The other type of liquor I often find is ice wine. Canadian ice wine wins many international awards and is popular domestically and internationally. Whenever ice wine is available at a duty free store I will often find the brand Inniskillin. Often credited with producing the world's first ice wine, Inniskillin has built an international reputation. The harsh, cold winters of Niagara-on-the-Lake provide the right conditions for producing high quality ice wine.
Inniskillin also produces table wine, both red and white. Julia and I were given a bottle of Inniskillin Chardonnay 2006 at a recent party we threw. Last night we opened it to accompany a chicken curry and a few games of Wii. The nose and taste was dominated by one single note: strawberry! It was all I could think of. Julia was able to detect some cranberry, however I found that there was very little else I could get from this wine. Overall the lack of depth and complexity was very disappointing. I think Inniskillin should focus on what it does best and stick to ice wine.
