After arriving late at the hotel located in the heart of the Niagara Peninsula, I selected this bottle from the wine list to take to my room. I was hopeful that being in the heart of Ontario’s wine region, I might get lucky and this bottle may be commendable.
Yeh… no. As I poured a taste and settled in to take a peek at their website, which is difficult to navigate and bereft of actual information about their wines, I grew increasingly disappointed.
Full of what appear to be purchased images of wildly free, liberally tattooed, cool looking millennials, the website’s message is “Be open, free your mind.”
Well, I’ve had far superior wines that truly challenge my wine sensibilities and taste buds. This is not one of them.
There is nothing revolutionary or unique about this sweetened, lemony-lime tasting wine. Pale lemon green on the eyes, it has typical Sauvignon Blanc aromas – lemon drop and grass with gooseberry.
The palate has 8g of residual sugar and is definitely off dry with just average acidity. Flavours include more lemon drop and dried grass with dried herb and bitter almond. There’s more gooseberry alongside Granny Smith and lime cordial.
This is a very basic Sauvignon Blanc – watery, manipulated and sweet, it’s essentially adult koolaid.
WSET Acceptable. Save your money and be bold and open to something else.
winellama 
Open is also sold in Wine Rack kiosks as “Strut”. Great wine for first-timers and a handy step up from Bodacious. Really terrific in Sangria.
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That would probably be about the only use I could think of for it – sangria 😀
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Nailed that one. I commented on your blog.
Mark Burgess Sales and Marketing Hillside Winery and Bistro 1350 Naramata Road, Penticton, BC, V2A 8T6 (250) 493 6274 Cell: (250) 486 2577 *Join our Wine Club! Great member benefits!* http://www.hillsidewinery.ca/wine-club
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Thanks, Mark – it was so bad I actually poured it down the sink. Not flawed, but sickly sweet and watery. Blech.
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why on earth would anyone sugar up a sauvignon blanc? why? the apothic white of Ontario? where have the standards gone? I mean, those rules of production if you want to claim appellation (as vague as they are). you can’t even legitimately call this wine. it is a wine drink.
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Right? A cheap white being marketed to new drinkers who yearn for coolers. Blech…
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