Malcolm Jolley: A trio of Dominion-country white wines to drink this holiday weekend

I had the pleasure this week of dining in Toronto with Ken Forrester, whose 2022 Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc I wrote about a few columns ago. He brought some lovely wines with him from South Africa including a bottle of 2013 Old Vines Reserve, which has aged into a beautifully honeyed succulent white wine, proving once more that Chenin Blanc is truly one of the world’s top white grapes suited to aging and that great wines can still be had for $20 Canadian dollars. Buy a bottle, forget about it for a decade, and see what happens. 

Ken’s visit, on the eve of what we now call Canada Day, got me thinking of the old Dominions, the name that Sir John A. MacDonald and company came up with in 1867 for the newly confederated realm of British North America. Necessity being the mother of invention, our Dominion title was settled on the premise that our American cousins wouldn’t put up with the “Kingdom of Canada.” Dominion might not be cool now, but at the time it was catchy amongst some of the other corners of the Empire, like (for a while) South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Not so much these days, which I think is a shame. I am happy to live in the Dominion of Canada and think it’s a moniker that could stick no matter who ends up being our head of state. There enough kingdoms and republics; it seems to me to be absolutely Canadian to find something in between, taking (I hope) the best and leaving the rest. Vive le Canada.

Before my dinner with a favourite South African, I was put in front of three impressive white wines, from three of the remaining dominions (if they still have the courage to call themselves by their real names).

Allow me to momentarily digress and bring up the final scene in the 1987 Richard Attenborough movie Cry Freedom. It stars Denzel Washington and Kevin Kline, and it is about the murdered South African human rights activist Steven Biko and the journalist Donald Woods. Woods told Biko’s story and was persecuted by the then-apartheid police state for it. 

Woods and his family escape from racist tyranny to the free world, by way of Lesotho Airlines, which in a quick aside is revealed to be an airline run by a triumvirate made up of a Canadian, an Australian, and a New Zealander. A trio of dominion decency. We dominionists might have more in common than we care to think of regularly. Here are three wines, that I think prove it, and might offer some refreshment and contemplation on what’s in a name on this July 1st weekend.

Prices are for Ontario, but should more or less correspond nationally, depending on one’s particular provincial liquor tyranny.

Under $40: Stratus White 2021, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada

God bless the man with money who sinks it into a winery. (Or woman, of course, just so far it’s been mostly guys.) I don’t know if David Feldburg has had a return on his investment since he founded Stratus in Niagara at the beginning of this century, but Canadian winos like me certainly have. The 2021 vintage is Stratus’ 19th and the blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and a bit of Sémillon purrs out of the glass like a fine-tuned performance car’s motor. It resonates and brings tropical notes, especially pineapple and guava north of the border. Tension, complexity, and superlative balance mean this is a wine of contemplation. If you live around the great lakes, find some pickerel (walleye). Failing that, whitefish. If you live by an ocean, you know better than me. If you live by neither, it doesn’t matter because your lunch will be eaten quickly just so you can spend less time chewing and more time sipping. This wine will stand on guard for thee well into the afternoon.

Under $30: Wakefield Jaraman Chardonnay, South Australia

The Taylor family make affordable luxurious wines. (They also make a few very expensive ones, but I think that’s more for fun.) Their Jaraman Chardonnay is a blend of grapes sourced from the Adelaide hills and the Clare Valley, where they established their winery more than a half-century ago. The 2021 could be drunk standing up, but that would be a shame because it’s fancy enough to warrant some attention and worth sitting down for study. First the peaches and stone fruit, then citrus held together with a very gentle seasoning of ladies-who-lunch, Montrachet-style oak. This is a grown-up wine on a kid’s budget. Makes for a good day.

Under $20: Rapaura Springs Sauvignon Blanc 2022, Marlborough, New Zealand

Are Kiwis even more prosaic than Canucks? Evidence on the back label of Rapaura Spring’s Sauvignon Blanc suggests they might be. It’s given the adjective “Classic,” and it certainly is. Having spent a good deal of time in the summer in Great Britain, I have first-hand knowledge of what an actual gooseberry tastes like, and it’s in this glass of wine. But over that, in triumphant harmony, is passion fruit. Lots of passion fruit. I like passion fruit; passion fruit is fun and so is this wine. And it isn’t just a really good value bottle, it’s a super one if you live in-between Quebec and Manitoba because it’s two loonies off the regular price at the provincial alcohol cartel. Kia ora, Canada.