WTN: 2004 Joseph's Estate Chancellor (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario)

<table align="right" valign="top"><tr><td><img src="http://members.allstream.net/~pabs/wine/04josephschancellor.JPG" border="1" align="left"></td></tr></table>Joseph's Chancellor is the only varietal Chancellor made in Ontario these days, and it's an excellent wine.

Today I happened to stop in at Joseph's on an impromptu visit to Niagara Falls this Canadian Thanksgiving day, and naturally I picked up some of this enigmatic wine. The last vintage I had was the 2000, back in 2002. 2004 was not a particularly strong vintage for reds in Ontario, but I was very impressed with Joseph's Chancellor from that year. To be sure, the '04 Chancellor is a bit lighter in colour and body compared to the 2000, but it's still a truly excellent hybrid red made from a variety that's really rare in Ontario.

12% alc. Typical, deep, saturated black-cherry colour; opaque at the centre, but fading to cherry/purple toward the meniscus. Classic Joseph's-Chancellor nose of leather and strawberries; lithe and reminiscent of Pinotage, with a savoury element in the background. Delightfully reminiscent of Lapsang Souchong tea; smoky and peaty. Tart and dry on the entry with a lithe texture and diminutive but well-proportioned tannins on the mid-palate. Properly clean and dry; unoaked. Lively, bright acidity. Excellent balance, with a leathery/smoky-tea complex finish.

Chancellor is a grape that I first got to know via Joseph's example - though we had a truly fantastic Chancellor vertical at the inaugural NiagaraCool 2005 Picnic; these were of course from Johnson Estate in Western New York and went back as early as 1978.

I poured this wine alongside a non-traditional homemade Thanksgiving meal of curried goat stew with baby potatoes and green beans, served atop whole-wheat pita bread.

Dr. Joseph Pohorly also makes a Chancellor Grand Reserve that sees oak ageing; next time I will have to pick some of that one up as well.

I too popped into Joseph's on my way home. I tasted three of their wines for $1 in the tasting room, including.

Josephs Chancellor 2004 12% $13

Unpleasant horse piss nose, light bright colour, thin bodied with short finish.

I'm afraid the horrible pissy nose put me right off. I think probably that not only had the wine been open for far too long and was too warm, but that they were using those rubber bung air extractor pump devices that do wine no favours.

I got no horse piss on it at all - funny how different people perceive things so differently. I found a very stern leatheriness, almost an ashen kind of Lapsang-Souchong thing on the nose.

Their Chambourcin, by contrast, was horribly oxidized. The lady behind the tasting counter scored no better in my eyes after doling out the classic "that's how it's supposed to taste" line - to the amazement of my wine-loving buddy and me.

As I say, I don't think the wine was in good condition. Your tasting note is -- I thought -- from the bottle you bought and had a home?

Neither did I find the Chambourcin 04 in good condition. My notes exactly as I wrote them are

"offputting leathey nose (opened too long) but good fruit, short finish."

The second of the three wines I tried was the Zweigelt 2001, exactly as I wrote them

again - a leathery stale nose (opened too long orthe airpump) some bright berry tones but seems unclean. Beetroot earthyness and a sourish finish

They were the three worst wines I tasted in Niagara (and I tasted a lot). And don't think I have a down on hybrids -- indeed I pay a premium to buy an Australian Chambourcin here.

The problem is either in the winery or the tasting room.

Yes, the Chancellor I wrote about was indeed tasted at home. Joseph's is a winery I like to visit because of their Chancellor - a very rare variety in Ontario. However, they do occasionally have issues with oxidation - the '99 Chancellor was so badly oxidized a few years back that I had to decide not to buy any. Also, the blended hybrid red they make has never been very good in my opinion. The worst thing to me is being told that an oxidized (open too long) wine is just fine. To have people running a tasting counter who don't know the basics is appalling.