TORONTO — Canada’s most prominent wine critic, Tony Aspler, has awarded a perfect 100-point score to a Niagara wine for the first time in his more than 50-year career.The honour went to Big Head Winery’s 2023 Lipinski Syrah, produced by Andrzej Lipinski in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It is only the second wine Aspler has ever scored a perfect 100 — the previous one being a French Champagne, the Salon Blanc de Blancs 2005.Aspler described the wine on his blog as “deep purple in colour; blackberry and vanilla nose with a note of white pepper; full-bodied, dry, richly extracted blackberry and mulberry flavours. Firmly structured and beautifully balanced — a seamless wine.” He added that it reminded him of a fine Northern Rhône Syrah and noted the extra aging delivered the result..The 2023 Lipinski Syrah is a blend of 90% Syrah and 10% Viognier, aged for 30 months in a terracotta vessel. All the grapes were grown on Lipinski’s estate vineyard, the first harvest from vines planted in 2020. Like other Big Head wines, it was made using carbonic maceration and natural yeast fermentation.The perfect score was given several months after an initial tasting in April, before the wine was bottled.The achievement marks a significant milestone for Ontario’s wine industry, particularly for a small, artisanal Niagara producer known for bold, distinctive reds and experimental techniques.
