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Molly Amoli Shinhat

Molly Amoli Shinhat

Venture Series Pinot2

Magnotta Venture Series Pinot2 Rosé 2018

Niagara Peninsula, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada
1509 days ago

Molly Amoli reviewed this wine:

I love the name, incorporating science, namely mathematics in the squaring, and art, with the blending, like paint! An unusual combination of varietals, Pinot² Rosé blends Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio from the Niagara Peninsula VQA. An unabashadley elegant, medium salmony rose-gold colour, the nose presents ripe peach, rosemary, and strawberry with an orange peel and lemon note. Through its medium body, on the palate, it gives ripe strawberry, peach, and apricot with a lemon note. It's a high acidity wine that's well balanced, with a medium finish. Made to dry (5 g/l), at 12.5% alcohol it's a great sipper for any time of year but especially in the transition from summer to fall. Part of the Magnotta's Venture Series, tagged "Ready for Anything," these wines are Canada's largest collection of philanthropic wines. Fifty cents from the sale of every bottle in the series goes to the G. Magnotta Lyme Disease Research Lab at the University of Guelph. The winery also sells Canada's first tick removal kit through its website. A food-friendly affordable wine, this is a really elegant find.

Speck Family Reserve

Henry of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Riesling 2018

Short Hills Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada
1502 days ago

Molly Amoli reviewed this wine:

This is an intricate, delicious VQA off-dry Riesling that combines tropical and citrus flavours with crisp acidity in a medium-bodied wine that finishes long. A gorgeous pale-lemon with shades of gold, on the nose it gives acacia, fresh cut yellow apple, pineapple, lemon, and a note of freshly cut tennis balls. On the palate, it translates well as largely pineapple, yellow apple, and ripe pear, joined by lemon peel and lime zest. This wine flaunts a crispy acidity, in a medium body, with low alcohol at 10.5% a.b.v. and 14.9 g/l residual sugar. Altogether, it makes a delicious sipper! It hails from the oldest of Henry of Pelham vineyards on Short Hills Bench in Niagara. Carefully selected by hand, the grapes were bunch-selected, and gently pressed, it was cold fermented in stainless steel tanks. Henry of Pelham is one of 12 wineries Sustainable Winemaking Ontario (SWO) certified. The program now involves third-party ongoing verification. Look for the green leaf and certification notice on the back label. Pairs beautifully with grilled calamari and Asian dishes.

Kin Vineyards Pinot Noir Rosé 2019

Niagara Peninsula, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada
1502 days ago

Molly Amoli reviewed this wine:

On the Carp Ridge, Kin Vineyards is home for some of Ontario's most northerly plantings of champagne grapes and cool climate lovers, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. But the winery's Pinot Noir Rosé hails from somewhere much warmer, the Niagara Peninsula VQA. With hand-harvested grapes, the wine was made with little skin contact to keep the tannin down and show the Provencal-inspired pale salmon pink in the glass. On the nose, it gives ripe peach, apricot, strawberry, and honeysuckle, that translates fresh to the palate, adding lemon on the finish. It has a whisper grapefruit note. A medium bodied, high acidity wine, it finishes long. This wine isn't certified Vegan, but it was lightly fined with bentonite (clay), so it may be. At 12.5% a.b.v., and extra dry with 4.3 g/l residual sugar, this is a delightful sipper for a fall day. Pair it with salmon or late summer salads or a book of your favourite poems.

Grand Cuvée 1531

Aimery Grand Cuvée 1531 Crémant De Limoux

Limoux, Southwest Ac, France
1519 days ago

Molly Amoli reviewed this wine:

A crémant de Limoux (not champagne, but made using the same method), this is a blend of white grapes, dominated by 55% Chardonnay, 35% Chenin, with 10% Mauzac. It's a delicate pale goldish lemon wine. It gives light aromas of peach, brioche, grapefruit, acacia, green apple, and lemon. On the palate, it rises to medium plus acidity, with lemon rind, peach, tart apple, and grapefruit, delivered in a dry, medium body, 12.5% a.b.v. wine with a delicate mousse. That tart apple is the Mauzac, so specific to this sparkler. This Grand Cuvée 1531 has an august history and a "Dom" connection. It was also created by Benedictine monks, but in the Middle Ages in the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire in the Languedoc, several hours' drive south of the abbey where Dom Perignon lived and experimented with wine blending. Over a 150 years before Dom Perignon, sparkling wine was being made in Saint-Hilaire, Limoux, France. "Blanquette" was the first French sparkling wine, not champagne. Crémant de Limoux is Blanquette's cousin. This wine stands in direct descent from that first French sparkling wine. Pairs gloriously with most food.

Cygnus Organic Sador Brut Nature

U Mes U Cygnus Organic Sador Brut Nature Cava

Penedès D.O., Spain
1485 days ago

Molly Amoli reviewed this wine:

A star you can drink? If you peered at the Cygnus Constellation in the night sky through a telescope, you would see a supergiant yellow star called Sador. Astonishingly, it's the star's name that stands as the inspiration for this cava! What a gorgeous idea! Indeed, the constellation map can be found on the label. It's a really outstanding, fresh, bracing (award-winning!) cava, for any times but especially for these times. It shows as pale lemon, with a very pale gold-green glimmer. On the nose, it's a provocative blend of a big grapefruit, lashings of lemon rind and lemon, with toasty notes. This carries through to the palate, with some ripe grapefruit notes added, and a white pepper note with a bracing minerality. It's medium-bodied, with a cream-like consistency cut by high-acidity. At 11.5% a.b.v., it is a Brut with 5 g/l residual sugar. It runs to a long finish. Made by U MES U Winery (formerly known as 1+1=3), it's an utterly delicious fresh cava for aficionados, definitely a cut above most.  Made using the traditional champagne method - with the second fermentation in the bottle - this one blends traditional cava grapes, Xarel·lo 40% , Parellada 40%, and Macabeo 20%. From the Alt Penedès region, the grapes were grown at 350 metres above sea level. Aged for at least 15 months on the lees in the bottle, this wine is sans dosage. It's Certified Organic by the Consell Català de la Producció Agrària Ecològica (CCPAE) and certified Vegan by the European Vegetarian Union (EVU). Both require ongoing third-party audits and post their standards on their respective websites.

Molly Amoli Shinhat

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Memorable Wine

Rockway 9 Sparkling Vidal 2017. I would never have believed that the same grape used to make ice wine in Ontario could taste this refreshing + delicious as a sparkler!

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First Wine

Probably a sip of that dreadful stuff, Sanatogen.

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Unusual Wine Experience

Drinking a Spanish red wine with Punjabi food. Astonishingly, the pairing was truly outstanding. My friend's choice was very inspired.

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Current Fav Wine

I'm trying to taste as many sparklings and rosés as I can before some/most disappear. There's so many, and so many good ones. You could spend months trying different varietals made up in so many different ways.

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Winner World's Best Drink Writer
WFour-Time Winner James Beard Foundation
Five-Time Winner Association of Food Journalists
Six-Time Winner Bert Greene Award
Best Wine Literature Book Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
Online Writer of the Year Louis Roederer International Wine Writing Award