Wayne Gretzky probably gets too many dinner invitations to count, but with his new line of wines, everyone can enjoy the magic of #99 without feeling any remorse because he once scored the game-winner against your favorite team. Anyone who creates wine usually has some help, some wine experts, and this enterprise is no exception. As with everything he does, #99 strives to be the best.

“Janet and I have, for many years, wanted to fulfill a dream of launching a winery that makes world-class wines,” he said. “We are fortunate to have found talented wine-makers who have already won numerous international and domestic wine awards.”

Here are the reviews of the two wines that I tried.

WGE Unoaked Chardonnay 2006

This white wine is a nice table wine that has a fruity aroma. I could especially smell the lemon zest. If you give it about an hour to breathe, and serve some complimentary food with it, it has a very pleasing taste and aroma. I had it with a nice codfish. I enjoyed it at room temperature and I am not an advocate of chilling wine out of habit, but it would taste good that way as well. Having uncorked this prematurely, consumers can expect this one to get better with age. If hockey fans age this one from three to four years, it’s possible they could uncork it at their Stanley Cup party depending on who their favorite team is.

This wine is a Canadian product and Canada has been producing terrific wines for so many years. This is affordably priced and you might want to get two bottles, one to drink, and one to collect. This elegant looking bottle has a facsimile autograph of “The Great One” on the label, and on the wrap, so it’s possible this could be a nice collectible down the road.

“Our products are very high quality and will be reasonably priced because we want more and more people to appreciate the craftsmanship of the Canadian wine industry,” Gretzky stated.

WGE 2006 Merlot

This red wine is a nice Merlot that is already smooth, and not too dry, after just a year (this can be kept up to three to four years). This went well with pizza (Chicago pan) and I always like red wine and some kind of cheddar cheese, and that was flavorful combination too. The red definitely benefited from the aging and there was a velvety texture.

Both wines were corked with a synthetic cork and I have no problem with that for a few reasons. The first reason is there won’t be any floating pieces of cork in the bottle, you don’t have to worry about oxidation, and that means you won’t have to store it in a perfect manner during the aging process. Have you ever had to turn your wine every few months?

After you open the wine, you will want to put a stopper on it because the downside of a synthetic cork is it expands and you can’t reuse it. Honestly, I never do try to put any cork back in but some folks like to do that.

A portion of the wines net proceeds go to The Wayne Gretzky Foundation to benefit less-fortunate kids. It’s a terrific hockey charity. His wines are not yet available in the United States (only Canada) but they will be in the future.

For updates and ordering information log on to gretzkyestatewines.com.

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