P A

9.4

Cold Garden TMBT Calgary AB. We are waiting to catch a flight ✈️ to SFO to check out some local breweries. Enjoying this IPA from From a Calgary brewery Big Rock Brewing. This IPA is balanced, smooth and soo good. estimated IBU around 55. Cheers 🍻🇨🇦 — 6 years ago

S Kahovec

9.6

Lacombe, Alberta — 6 years ago

P A

9.0

At the “Crazy Weed” restaurant in Canmore AB with Mrs A enjoying this wonderful Albertan IPA the menu says “Upfront citrus hop character with a subtle kiss of roast”. This is good. To all my Canadian friends and others this one is for you. @Shawn Thompson @Trixie @AgeyFixey @Severn Goodwin @Ron R @Stuart Scheff Cheers 🍻🍻🍻🇺🇸🇨🇦 — 6 years ago

Matt Sterr

9.0

Canadian rye juice from Alberta. This rectified rye is subtle and dry. — 7 years ago

with Kyle

Gillian Kennedy

9.2

Very nice young 2016 Malbec at the Banff Springs Hotel, Banff Alberta. In June 2018. — 7 years ago

P A

8.9

Perro Chico a Spanish Garnacha , Tempranillo Syrah. Intense red ruby colour with tastes of black fruit and spicy balsamic something and meaty ripe sweet tannins. 13.5 % alc/vol. if you see it try it. $19.00 CAD Canmore Alberta. Life is good Cheers 🍷 — 7 years ago

Matt Sterr

9.0

Toffee, walnut, maple syrup. — 7 years ago

Jennifer Griffin Schaeffer

9.5

An Alberta wine that is remarkably different and filled with the honey and spices of southern Alberta. It has 31.5g of polyphenol antioxidants in just 5oz equal to those found in 100 glasses of red wine; practically a health drink! Just lovely. — 8 years ago

Joel Brunk

9.8

Beautiful wine in Alberta at our favorite lake, Steven’s rec on dinner spot. Laura: velvet, sage and fruit on palate. Sweet, elegant, gentle. Joel: raspberry, ripe strawberry. Palate is elegance... acidity, tannins, fruit... all in balance. Reminds me of our favorite qualities in the lovely fruit and acidity of Burgundy. Mashed ripe strawberry, leather, spice. — 6 years ago

P A

9.5

Nemesis IPA by “Zero Issue Brewing” with its intoxicating aroma, intense grapefruit, passionfruit and citrus notes is an absolute stunner. 7.3 alc/vol. But that wasn’t the star of the night out in Calgary with Mrs A. We stumbled into the Charbar Restaurant featuring a culinary blending of Argentine wood-fired grilled entrees, and quiet Spanish and Italian notes. We shared a porterhouse steak from Alberta beef which maybe the best that we have ever had. Mitch the manager, the bartender Andrew, and the wait staff Hillary, Patrick and Shannon are the best. When in Calgary the Charbar is a must! The beer is a 9.0 and the Charbar is a 10.0. Cheers 🍻🇨🇦 — 6 years ago

Kyle Katterjohn

8.9

Fav of JP @ Freight House — 7 years ago

Matt Sterr

8.9

Allspice nose. Brawny body. Rectified rye from Alberta. — 7 years ago

with Kyle

Lou Sab

9.0

Smooth and crisp....not much character but goes down buttery and easy. — 7 years ago

Anton G

9.7

Perfect colorful Chardonnay with strong notes of new oak barrels! Highly recommended — 7 years ago

with Mariya

Matt Sterr

9.0

Candied ginger. — 7 years ago

Matt Sterr

9.0

Nutty and malty. Hints of spice. — 7 years ago

Barb Pedersen

9.9

C & J bought in Sylvan Lake, July long weekend 2019. Fantastic taste — 6 years ago

P A

9.1

Out on the deck just enjoying the Canada Day weekend with Mrs A, perfect weather and an Alberta Steak. Cheers 🍷🇨🇦 — 6 years ago

P A

8.9

My first time trying this “New England-Style” pale ale. The label says “Juicy and Hazy...It May look a bit like a milkshake and taste a bit like juice-but that’s the whole point”. I say that on a cool cloudy day waiting for the snow to come this Alberta beer is just plain good and will return to our house “ 5.5 % alc/vol, 35 IBU Blindman Brewing, Lacombe, Alberta Cheers 🍻🇨🇦 — 6 years ago

with paul and Taylor

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

On the nose; very ruby, floral plum fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, Thompson raisins, fresh dates and prunes. Black licorice, creamy dark fruit cola, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, soft beautiful dark spice, touch of eucalyptus, fresh herbs, limestone, soft presence dry crushed rocks, a whiff of pepper, fresh lavender, violets and dark withering floral bouquet.

The body is full and lush. Fine meaty, tarry, tannins. Very ruby, floral plum fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, Thompson raisins, fresh dates and prunes. Black licorice, creamy dark fruit cola, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, soft beautiful dark spice, touch of eucalyptus, fresh herbs, limestone, soft presence dry crushed rocks, suede leather, dry clay, dry top soil, dry underbrush, a whiff of pepper, fresh lavender, violets and dark withering floral bouquet. The acidity is very nice. There is good structure, tension, length and balance that needs 10 years plus to flush out. The finish is good, well balanced with fine powdery sticky tannins.

Photos of, Cliff Lede tasting facility, wire woven sculptures that decorate the grounds, Owner David Lede and the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard.

Producer history and notes...Cliff Lede Vineyards (pronounced LayDee) was founded in 2002 on what used to be S. Anderson Vineyard, a winery that was founded in 1971 by Stanley and Carol Anderson primarily known for their sparkling wines.

Cliff Lede is from Leduc, Alberta a small town just south of Edmonton. The reason you see a Canadian flag in front of the parking next to the US Flag. David and Cliff helped run their father’s construction company he founded in 1947, Leduc Construction. Later the company was renamed to Ledcor Construction in 1982. They ultimately built the business into one of the world’s largest construction companies. Through Cliff, the company established business in the Napa Valley focusing on wineries, restaurants, premium resorts and private residences. Some of their more notable works include; Morimoto Restaurant, Davis Estate Winery, Lokoya Winery, Marciano Estate and the Riverfront Residences in downtown Napa.

After several decades at Ledcor, Cliff decided to pursue his passion for wine. His first introduction to wine was helping his mother make wine at home. Later he began collecting wines from Bordeaux, and even considered purchasing property there. However, he fell in love with Napa after business took him to Northern California.

Cliff Lede owns 60 acres of vineyards in the Stags Leap District. This includes the Twin Peaks Vineyard surrounding the winery and tasting room. The Poetry Vineyard was acquired a year after Cliff established Cliff Lede Vineyards. It is planted on steep hillsides down to the Silverado Trail. It’s planted with red Bordeaux varietals, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. The soils there are extremely rocky. Despite being so close to the Poetry Vineyard, the soils in the Twin Peaks Vineyard are dramatically different. They are gravelly loam.

From a viticulture aspect, this diversity of terroir is a good representation of what the Stags Leap District has to offer, ranging from its upper most reaches of 400 feet to the valley floor. Even among their two Stags Leap properties, there are micro-climates. The west facing vineyard hillsides become quite warm during the day in the summer but cool off significantly in the evenings. This diurnal temperature swing is important for growing premium grapes including maintaining acidity.

The winery also owns a 20 acre vineyard in Calistoga at the base of Diamond Mountain planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon as well as a small block of Sauvignon Blanc.

Further to the north in Mendocino County is their Savoy Vineyard, which is a 42 acre site in Anderson Valley. It is planted mainly to Pinot Noir along with Chardonnay. It provides fruit for their FEL Wines (a name that Cliff chose to pay homage to his mother, using the first three initials of her full name Florence Elsie Lede.

Cliff’s love for all things “Rock and Roll”, he named all their blocks in their Stags Leap District Vineyards after famous rock and roll songs or albums such as “Dark Side of the Moon”, “Walk on the Wildside”, “Light my Fire” and “American Girl. ”Collectively these are referred to as the “Rock Blocks.”

David Abreu quickly realized the exceptional terroir of the Poetry Vineyard as did Cliff when they initially tried some of the S. Anderson wines from this site. Abreu oversaw its replanting and clonal material sourced from a number of premiere Napa vineyards. While Abreu was the original vineyard architect, he is no longer involved in the management of the their vineyards. They are now controlled by their in-house vineyard team.

The winery, tasting room and the nearby luxury Poetry Inn all opened around 2005. Architect Howard Gillam was hired to design the winery. Cliff’s background in construction and architectural preferences certainly influenced its design. The tasting room has a more contemporary feel rather then some of his more rustic looking designs. It features beautiful views of the Napa Valley. Inspired by the shape of tanks during a visit to Château Latour in Bordeaux, Cliff commissioned Missouri based Paul Mueller Company to create special truncated tanks for fermentation to help submerse more of the cap. Each tank corresponds to a specific vineyard block. During harvest, a specially designed crane gently moves and lowers a hopper full of whole berries into each tank.

Sorting is a big part of their attention to detail before fermentation. After the grapes come into the winery, they are sorted by hand, then run through an optical sorter and then finally put through an additional final hand sorting. Nearby is a 20,000 square foot cave that connects directly to the winery. World famous Michel Rolland was brought on in the early years as a consultant. Philipe Melka also made Cliff Lede wines for several years and today Christopher Tynan is the Winemaker. He was formerly Assistant Winemaker at Colgin.

Total annual production is between 18,000 and 20,000 cases depending on what Mother Nature gives them. The majority of this is comprised of their Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and their Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon. — 7 years ago