We visited this winery on August 1st. The wines:

2000 Reserve Gewurtztraminer, 13% alcohol, $19-
Nice perfumed nose of wild grapes. A little bite. Simple, but not bad. 80

2003 Reserve Chardonnay, 13% alcohol, $25-
Nose of oak and tropical fruit. Nice, but a little sharp. 83

2003 Barrel Select Baco Noir, 13% alcohol, $15-
Dark fruit nose. Unimpressive. 76

2003 Reserve Cabernet Franc, 13% alcohol, $28-
Musty nose of beets. Sharp berry flavor. 76

2002 Founders Series Meritage, 13.1% alcohol, $35- Nose of flowers and wet earth. Young and tannic. Should improve. 82

2003 Charlotte's Chardonnay, 11.5% alcohol, $25-
Unoaked. Light citrus nose. Crisp, but not much flavor. 80

1999 Barrel Fermented Gewurtztraminer Icewine, 10.5% alcohol, $60- Beautiful nose of raisins, apricots, and flowers. Lovely dried fruit flavors. Well-balanced. 92

1999 Vidal Icewine, 11% alcohol, $40-
Muted apricot nose,not overly sweet, but still a little cloying due to lack of acidity. 89

1998 Forte, 19.55 alcohol, $15-
Stewed prune nose. Alcohol obvious. Not balanced. 80

Looks like you missed out on the 2002 Charlotte's Chardonnay... 'twas much better than the '03. From what I've been told, that bottling is partly free-run Chard and partly Chardonnay Musqué. The past vintage was intensely aromatic and surprisingly tropical for the area.

I've found Stoney Ridge to be hit and miss - but then that's to be expected from medium/large producers in Niagara. Did they have their Muscat Ottonel still?

I didn't hear or see anything about a Muscat. Stoney Ridge changes their wines more frequently than budman changes his clothes. They used to make a lot of fruit wines also. I think their Gewurtz icewine is better now than earlier vintages that faded quickly. It's not one of my favorite wineries in the area for their wines, but it's always interesting and close our favorite inn where we usually stay (Inn on the Twenty).

True; I think I recently spotted their Cranberry wine in the provincial liquor stores. Hell, they move everything through the LCBO.
The new winemaker over there's been doing okay, but it seems hard to escape Jim Warren's shadow.

When you stayed at Inn on the Twenty, did you end up trying the 2002 Cave Cpring Chenin Blanc Icewine?

No. When we checked in, I went over to the winery and reacquainted myself with Brian Kelly. He invited me to come in for a private tasting with my wife, but my wife wanted to go get lunch. Brian said to come in anytime, but we didn't get back there til the last day, Wednesday. Unfirtunately, Wednesday is Brain's day off, so we just tasted with the tasting room people. The only sweet wines we tried there were the Select Late Harvest Vidal and the Riesling Icewine. Last time we were there, we tasted with Brian in the cellar.

Ah, that's a shame. Well, hopefully the rest of the stock held up okay. Look forward to hearing about the rest of the trip; I read your Finger Lakes writeups and had some similar results.

Thanks. I looked at yours, but figured I might compare our notes after I get mine posted. Ever visit the Long Island wineries?

No, I've never made it out that way. I've read up a little on them, but since they aren't available for sale here I've not made the area a real focus. Incidentally, I know two optometrists who live in Long Island, but I've not even visited New York City. I live vicariously through the liquor store.

This past trip was my first wine-interested one, outside the usual Ontario haunts. Once school starts up in September, I can assuredly cross out any other ventures until next year.

In fact, the three times I've been to Europe have all been school related with not a single divergence towards wine (except for an overpriced Greek store that conned me into Retsina... I hope never to relive that time outside of mentioning it now).