Community Review

Kin Vineyards Kindling Sparkling Vidal 2018

Canada

Price: $22.95

Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 12%

Drink: 2020-2022

Bottle size: 750 ml
Winery: Kin Vineyards

Molly Amoli Shinhat reviewed this wine as follows:

I love the name. Yes, let's kindle something, start a fire to make something good with family or relations - or people we feel like that about.

Made with 100% Vidal VQA, it's a hybrid grape developed in France to make Cognac. It was brought to Canada by Jean-Louis Vidal (1880-1976) in the 1930s and became a star in winemaking because it can survive Canadian winters. As well as staying alive (!), it can maintain its acidity and continue to ripen.

Here it makes a refreshing, sparkling wine, made using the charmat method where the second fermentation takes place in tanks. It shows very pale lemon with a sustained, feisty mousse in the glass. On the pronounced nose, it gives acacia, brioche, lemon, rosemary, with a musky note, like a fine perfume. On the palate it gives brioche, apricot, lemon, with a smattering of lemon rind notes. It comes together in a medium-bodied wine with high acidity. At 12.0% a.b.v., the 14 g/l residual sugar makes it an off dry sparkler.

Sparkling wines go with almost any foods. On a cool fall evening, this one makes an especially bewitching pairing with food for the soul.

How about a book of Michael Ondaatje's poems? The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems (McClelland & Stewart).

A thread in the title poem is smell, the act of smelling, something central to wine tasting - wine tasting and love, of course.

Read Natalie's Full Review

WANT TO LEARN HOW TO

PAIR WINE
& FOOD?

Join me in a free online video class to learn the secrets to perfect pairings.

SAVE MY SEAT!

Wine of the Week

As featured on

Boya White Wine
Sauvignon Blanc 2024,
Leyda Valley D.O. ...

Natalie MacLean

Natalie MacLean offers North America's most popular online wine and food pairing classes. She was named the World's Best Drinks Writer at the World Food Media Awards in Australia.

Natalie has published two books with Random House, both selected as one of Amazon's Best Books of the Year.

Join 333,888 thirsty wine lovers who get access to all of her wine reviews by becoming a member of her site. Take a free online pairing class with her here.

FEEL LOST IN THE

LCBO?

Know the wines you want before you even get to the store with my wine reviews. Join now. It's free.

Red, White & Drunk All Over

Best Books of the Year

Natalie MacLean writes about wine with a sensuous obsession... and often laugh-out-loud funny... Terrific.

Rex Pickett, Sideways

Ms. MacLean is the disarming Everywoman. She loves wine, loves drinking ... ultimately, it's a winning formula.

Eric Asimov, The New York Times

GOT A SMARTPHONE?

Access my reviews on mobile with the bar code scanner.

GET NAT'S APP

Unquenchable: A Tipsy Search

Best Books of the Year

Natalie MacLean is a new force in the wine writing world ‐ a feisty North American answer to Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. She can write beautifully about wine.

The Financial Times of London

There are very few people in the wine world who "get it" and Natalie is one of those who brings more fun to a buttoned-up and stodgy game.

Gary Vaynerchuck, Wine Library TV

Starting a Wine Cellar?

Expert advice for all budgets

From wine racks to underground caves, insider tips on size and space, number of bottles, ideal conditions and reputable resources. learn more

Welcome Back!Sign in here:

Not Registered?Become one of our thirsty clan 333,888 strong:

Community Review