Reviews & Accolades

Cave Spring 2009 Riesling Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench – Rated 90
Richer in profile than Cave Spring’s standard label Riesling, the Estate Bottled balances densely concentrated apple and honey flavours with layers of chalk dust and petrol. Zippy acidity cuts down on the finish, leaving just a whisper of lime skin and green florals on the palate. Best Buy.
– Anna Lee C. Iijima (04/12)

Cave Spring 2009 Riesling CSV Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench – Rated 90
Thoroughly dry, yet strikingly concentrated, Cave Springs’s CSV marries rich apricot nectar and apple flavours with layers of lime zest, blossom and steel. Whiffs of struck flint and stones reverberate from start to finish, lingering exceptionally long on the palate.
– Anna Lee C. Iijima (04/12)

Cave Spring 2009 Riesling, Niagara Peninsula – Rated 89
While initially quite dry, almost bony on the palate, this bang for your buck Riesling intensifies on the midpalate with rich tones of white peach, fresh apple and white pepper spice. Nervy and fresh with lime inflected acidity, it calls out for soft, creamy, cow’s milk cheese. Best Buy.
– Anna Lee C. Iijima (04/12)

Angelo Pavan and Len Pennacchetti, the founders of what is arguably Canada’s best winery, have been friends since the age of five. The two have blazed a path of quality winemaking and sound business moves, such as their decision to work with nothing but vinifera varieties at a time when most Niagara wineries were still leaning heavily in the direction of hybrids, which everyone at the time felt were better suited to Niagara’s frigid winters. Founded in 1986, Cave Spring is one of Canada’s premium riesling producers, but it has also been very successful with varieties such as pinot noir and cabernet franc. The vineyards are mainly located in the high-quality Beamsville Bench VQA, but Cave Spring also makes pinot noirs from grapes grown in the Twenty Mile Bench VQA, another top-quality Niagara sub-appellation. The estate is also home to the restaurant On the Twenty, one of the best food destinations in Ontario’s wine country.

• NV Blanc de Blanc Brut, Niagara Escarpment 87
• 2006 Blanc de Noirs Brut Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 89
• 2004 Blanc de Blancs CSV Brut Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 90
• 2009 Riesling, Niagara Peninsula 88
• 2009 Riesling Dolomite, Niagara Escarpment 90
• 2009 Riesling Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 89(+?)
• 2009 Riesling CSV Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 92
• 2008 Riesling CSV Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 90
• 2009 Chardonnay, Niagara Peninsula 88
• 2008 Chardonnay Estate Bottled, Beamsville Beach 88(+?)
• 2007 Chardonnay CSV Estate Bottled, Beamsville Beach 90
• 2009 Pinot Noir Dolomite, Niagara Escarpment 88
• 2009 Pinot Noir Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 88
• 2007 Pinot Noir Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 89(+?)
• 2007 Cabernet Franc Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 90
• 2007 La Penna Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench 89

2009 Riesling Estate – Rated 88 – Best Buy
This is soft and lively, a bit of sweetness rounding off the grapefruit flavors. It’s lightly mineral in a petrol mode, and ends clean. – Tara Q. Thomas (08/11)

2009 Riesling CSV, Beamsville Bench – Rated 91
On the austere side, yet the steely structure is balanced by concentration and extract. Peach, grapefruit, saline and mineral flavors resonate on the finish thanks to the driving acidity. A white pepper accent completes this. Best from 2013 through 2020. 560 cases made.
– Bruce Sanderson (10/15/11)

2009 Riesling Indian Summer, Select Late Harvest, Niagara Peninsula – Rated 89
Loaded up with pear, apricot, paraffin and floral aromas and flavors, this has depth on the palate and bright acidity to match its moderate sweetness. Finishes with an echo of pear and a chalky sensation. Drink now through 2018. 287 cases made. – Bruce Sanderson (10/15/11)

2009 Riesling, Niagara Peninsula – Rated 87
Round and just off-dry, this white offers grapefruit and orange notes. The firm acidity cleanses as this finishes drier, with a hint of passion fruit. Drink now through 2013. 14,665 cases made. – Bruce Sanderson (10/15/11)

2008 Riesling Icewine, Niagara Peninsula – Rated 93
Intense, concentrated aromas of peach and lychee show a touch of petrol. Clean on the palate, where the unctuous texture envelops dried apricot and rose petal elements. The finish is the best part, with great length and persistence. Best from 2012 through 2024. 60 cases made. – Bruce Sanderson (10/15/11)

2008 Riesling CSV, Beamsville Bench – Rated 90
Nicely balanced between the peach, apricot and grapefruit aromas and flavours and the bracing structure, in a dry style. It all comes together with lingering fruit and freshness on the long finish. Drink now through 2014. From Canada. – Bruce Sanderson (10/15/10)

2008 Riesling Estate – Rated 90, Savvy Shopper selection Verging on full-bodied, this wine delivers plenty of extract, which buffers the submerged acidity. Peach, lime, and quinine notes hold the center, and finish is long and generous. Drink now through 2015. From Canada. – Bruce Sanderson (10/15/10)

2008 Riesling Niagara Peninsula – Rated 88, Top 125 Global Value selection
Plump, with peach, lime and grapefruit flavours backed by a vibrant structure. Develops well, staying focused and crisp right through the mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2014. – Bruce Sanderson (10/15/10)

2009 Riesling Niagara Peninsula
Cave Spring stays on a roll with its 2009 Riesling. This sports a ripe, rich sweet nose of peaches and honey with some waxy and petrol notes. It’s medium weight, fairly zesty and richly flavoured with a lemony, slightly bitter finish. Very good to excellent length.” – David Lawrason (04/11)

 2009 Riesling Niagara Peninsula
“Wow. This is like Rheingau Riesling. What a nose. It’s slightly off-dry with lots of lemon, mineral and flower character. Full and flavourful, with plenty of mineral and dried lemon at the finish. Clearly styling.”
– James Suckling (02/11)

2008 Riesling CSV
The CSV has always been, for me, the pinnacle of Niagara Riesling production. Notably tight upon release this bottling takes a few years to develop to its full potential. Saying that, this vintage is already expressive with the trademark white grapefruit of the Beamsville Bench. Texturally the palate is quite generous and rich. – Valerie Howes (03/11)

2008 Riesling CSV – Rated 92
The 2008 CSV, produced from 30 plus-year-old vines, is a supremely classy wine. The nose exudes depth and concentration, with a highly distinctive mineral note. This tastes like a first-growth Rheinhessen riesling, with layers and layers of limestone, lime, lemon and pine resin. Excellent length and flavour intensity. This is unquestionably ageworthy, so drink now through 2018 and beyond.
– John Szabo (Oct./Nov. 2010)

2008 Riesling CSV Estate
One of the great Canadian wines that almost always delivers on that score is CSV Riesling from Niagara estate Cave Spring Cellars. The latest release of that wine comes up for sale today through Vintages stores in Ontario along with a selection of other premium Ontario offerings.

Cave Spring Riesling 2008 Riesling CSV Estate. Light- to medium-bodied, this is a great example from a Niagara vintage that delivered many excellent whites. Slightly sweet, it shows tropical fruit and citrus flavours and a quarry-full of minerals. Produced from the concentrated fruit of relatively old vines, it should age nicely for up to 15 years. A good match for smoked fish or Thanksgiving turkey with trimmings. – Beppi Crosariol (09/18/10)

Most of their Cave Spring Cellars wines are propagated on the Beamsville Bench, including icewines among the best values in their class. Cave Spring's Riesling (accounting for 60% of its production), along with its Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Chenin Blanc, were the most precise and complex I have tasted. – David Furer (12/09)

2007 Pinot Noir Estate – Rated 91.5
I am sure that readers are familiar with my passion for Pinot Noir. So let me say how pleased I was to find what I consider to be the best buy Pinot Noir in Ontario. The remarkably delicious Cave Spring Pinot Noir is a wonderfully fruity, wellstructured, harmonious, plummy-cheery flavoured effort that deserves to be on every discerning wine list in Ontario... – Michael Vaughn (09/09)

Another pioneer winery of the region is Cave Spring. Owned by the Pennachetti family, Cave Spring was the first Canadian winery to emphasize gastronomy by opening a fine-dining restaurant, the Inn on the Twenty, at the winery. We enjoy its entire range of wines, especially when accompanied by food.
– Steven Kolpan, Brian H. Smith, and Michael A. Weiss (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2008)

TOP PERFORMANCES FROM NEW REGIONS
Pioneers in both the New World and Old have pushed the boundaries of viticulture to identify the next grand cru. Here are the new regions already growing great wines.

Niagara Peninsula
Other wineries are building on the success of riesling, a variety pioneered by brothers Leonard and Tom Pennachetti, who planted a German clone at Cave Spring Cellars in the late 1970s. (Fall 08)

2004 Riesling CSV – Rated 90
2003 Riesling CSV – Rated 90

Canada’s cool climate and melding of the best of Old World and New World techniques produce some of the very best Rieslings in North America. One of the most consistently excellent is Cave Spring, and the 2006 Cave Spring Riesling Niagara Peninsula is no exception. It wins Karen's nod as her pick of the week. Its ripe white-peach and pink-grapefruit flavors end in a mineral finish that lends it to pairing with pork, white fish and shellfish.

This food-friendly Canadian Riesling is worth seeking out for its pairing prowess and for the pleasure of sipping it on its own. – Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg (04/30/08)

And now I’m sitting here, some days later, sipping the late summer and fall of 2005 in a glorious creation called La Penna, a wine made by Angelo Pavan of Cave Spring Cellars using Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes with an amarone-like twist: some of the clusters are air-dried to near-raisinhood and then pressed, the sticky juice blended into the final oeuvre. It’s beautifully balanced, rich, ripe and really delicious (not a word I use lightly). And only available down at the winery, as far as I know. Incidentally, Cave Spring’s (2006) Gewurztraminer is also very impressive, made in an aromatic Alsatian style with a lovely body–well worth seeking out. – James Chatto (04/8/08)

Walk through the front doors of Cave Spring Cellars and you’ll forget about the small town setting behind you... elegance and sophistication greet the eye... Here they are masters of the Riesling grape (one of the first wineries to realize the potential of that varietal here in Ontario), and by extension they own some of the oldest Riesling vines in Canada. If you’re any kind of a Riesling fan, Cave Spring is the place you must put on your touring schedule.
– Michael Pinkus (02/28/08)

One of the finest producers of riesling in Niagara is Cave Spring Cellars, owned and operated by the Pennachetti family. This prestigious winery makes superb rieslings from estate vineyards on the Twenty Mile and Beamsville Bench. The Pennachettis (Tom and his brother Leonard) and winemaker and co-founder Angelo Pavan all agree on the style of riesling that is best in Niagara.
– Rick VanSickle (02/16/08)