Read what some top wine critics from North America and beyond are saying about the wines of Cave Spring.
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| Cave Spring CSV Blanc de Blancs Brut 2004, Beamsville Bench A world-class Sparkler Produced from mature, 31 year old vines, this bone-dry bubbly demonstrates that Canadian sparkling wines are not just world class but can also, in some cases, age gracefully. Time has added a honeyed, nutty tang to the lemon-curd and candiedfruit core of the chardonnay-based gem, with bread-dough yeastiness adding complexity. – Beppi Crosariol (04/11/12) |
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| Riesling CSV 2008, Cave Spring, Péninsule du Niagara Est-il besoin de présentation? Il en reste peu en tablettes car il est rare. Et bon, très bon. Une grande bouteille issue du terroir local, aussi impérial sur le plan aromatique qui offre une profondeur en bouche digne des seigneurs de la Nahe allemande. Vibrant, dense, lumineux, très long. – Jean Aubry (04/13/12) |
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Cave Spring 2009 Riesling Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench – Rated 90 Cave Spring 2009 Riesling CSV Estate Bottled, Beamsville Bench – Rated 90 Cave Spring 2009 Riesling, Niagara Peninsula – Rated 89 |
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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.
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2009 Riesling Estate – Rated 88 – Best Buy |
| CONGRATS to CAVE SPRING for hitting TWENTY FIVE YEARS and being ROCK SOLID the entire trip. And innovative too! Cave Spring Cellars was thefirst Niagara winery with Riesling Icewine, first to launch Dry Rosé, first to open a restaurant, and first to open a hotel. BRAVO from one of your biggest fans! Cave’s big love has always been Riesling and as part of their birthday celebration they’ve created a small stylish cookbook entitled Riesling Cooks. Top chefs offer recipes for dishes paired with Cave Rieslings. – Billy Munnelly (05/11) |
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2009 Riesling CSV, Beamsville Bench – Rated 91 2009 Riesling Indian Summer, Select Late Harvest, Niagara Peninsula – Rated 89 2009 Riesling, Niagara Peninsula – Rated 87 2008 Riesling Icewine, Niagara Peninsula – Rated 93 2008 Riesling CSV, Beamsville Bench – Rated 90 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 |
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2009 Riesling Niagara Peninsula |
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2009 Riesling Niagara Peninsula |
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2008 Riesling CSV |
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2008 Riesling CSV – Rated 92 |
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2008 Riesling CSV Estate
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) |
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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) |
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2007 Pinot Noir Estate – Rated 91.5 |
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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. |
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TOP PERFORMANCES FROM NEW REGIONS Niagara Peninsula 2004 Riesling CSV – Rated 90 |
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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) |
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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) |
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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. |
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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. |
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...the family-owned Cave Spring (is one) of Ontario's longest-serving trailblazers... – Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson (Mitchell Beazley, London, 2007) |