2008 Beamsville Bench Chardonnay
VQA Beamsville Bench

Production: 4211 bottles | 750 ml
Alcohol content: 13.1%
Featured in: Together Again, Vintages Holiday Magic, Nov 2011, p.6-7.

Available  LCBO VINTAGES | Product # 230904

“Canada’s best Chardonnay,” 92/100 pts,  Natalie Maclean

Behind the initial rush of citrus, white fruit and spice and a touch of butter emerge to create a complex, intense chardonnay nose. A fair amount of the wine comes from 30 year‐old vines at Kocsis Vineyard, and it shows in the wine’s depth and length, its combination of velvety texture and refreshing acidity. Citrus and spice lead to a little warmth and a good, open finish. Will be interesting to see how it evolves over the next few years.

“This is another opulent, very smooth and deep effort by chardonnay specialist Deborah Paskus. Most of the fruit was sourced from 30 year old vines from the Koscis Vineyard, supplemented by fruit from the Aberdeen Vineyard. It pours very deep yellow gold. The nose is a massive display of exotic honey, apricot, cantaloupe melon and orange marmalade, with smoky and caramel notes from long ageing in new French oak. It’s full bodied, seamless and creamy – almost oily in feel – yet it never strays out of balance. Flavours are very powerful. With this kind of stuffing and balance it should last several years but flavours are already mature so drink at will. In a world increasingly full of slim, crisp chardonnays, this goes back to its powerful Burgundian roots of yore. ” 91 points
David Lawrason, winealign.com, Feb 2011

“Mature, nutty, earthy and caramelized, with tight acids and moderate depth and length overall. The vestiges of abundant wood treatment show up on the finish. Ready to drink. Tasted October 2011. 89 points“
John Szabo, winealign.com, Nov 2, 2011.