Happy Canada Day !!!

Happy Canada Day everyone !

This is one of my favourite holiday weekends of the year. It's warm, sometimes hot, with daylight that goes well  past dinner which means you can sit out on the deck with your friends enjoying a nice glass of wine without flicking on the lights and attracting the swarms of bugs. Lets celebrate all that is good in the great white north we call Canada. Invite your friends over, fire up the BBQ and turn up the music. It's party time !

In honour of celebrating all that is Canadian, I've compiled an all-star Canadian list of wines paired with food and music that says I am Canadian ..Eh !

2011 Angels Gate Gamay Noir VQA

A nice ruby coloured Gamay Noir from the Niagara region. Raspberry and some spice as well as a little bit of smoke. This wine is well suited for BBQ pork tenderloin with some roasted root vegetables. A layered wine like this requires  some great jazz music in the background from performers like Diana Krall or Oscar Peterson.
Price - under $13 (LCBO -  107714)







2010 East Dell Estates Unoaked Chardonnay VQA

Light, clear and crisp with lots of citrus flavours and some green apple. The perfect wine for a hot Canada Day weekend sitting on a patio in the Byward market enjoying a fresh chicken Ceasar salad while listening to Canadian rock legends like The Stampeders, The Guess Who or Neil Young.
Price - under $14 (LCBO - 609867)





2011 G.Marquis The Red Line Riesling VQA

Lots of aromas in this Riesling like peach, melon and honey. It's off dry with a really nice peach and melon flavour. We're a multicultural country so why not pair this wine with that order of Thai or Chinese that you and your friends are splitting. Plug in the MP3 player and play some Great Big Sea or Tragically Hip hits.
Price - under $12 (LCBO - 274670)






Cheers.... Go Canada Go !!!!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Wines

So you went wine shopping and picked out a wine that you thought you would really like. The ambiance is set (maybe some Steely Dan on the stereo), the bottle is uncorked, a glass is poured, the first taste of the fermented grape juice hits your lips and you think to yourself that this wine is about exciting as zip lining across the prairies...nothing, bland, boring.
 Well it happens. Not every wine out there is going to give you that euphoric "Eureka!!" moment. There are some wines that are exceptional, some are good, some are mediocre and some are just ... blah!
 The good news or silver lining is that you can pick out the good ones from the bad ones. It takes a lot of practice but after tasting a lot of wines, you begin to notice things like how a wine finishes. Is there a long or short finish of fruit after you tasted it or does it disappear once it goes down your gullet? Are the tannins to strong or too weak. Is the acidity level too high and the wine has almost a sour or bitter aftertaste to it.
 Stick with it my friend. Be brave and keep trying different wines to find that exceptional wine. If you do find it, let me know so I can try it.

Here's my picks for this week.

2011 Las Moras Reserve Chardonnay - San Juan, Coyo, Argentina

 Theses grapes are grown in the Zonda valley, a protected area at nearly 3000 feet above sea level with mountains on the east and west side. This means that even though the daytime temperatures may be high, the late sunrise and early sunset keeps the area relatively cool.
A nice golden Chardonnay stored for 12 months in french oak and 6 months in the bottle. Lots of citrus and pear like fruits blended with vanilla flavours and an oaky finish.
Price - under $13 (LCBO - 270025)
Pairs well with salmon or chicken wings




2012 Wolf Blass Red Label Shiraz Cabernet - South Eastern Australia

Lots of fruit like plum and dark berries flavours with some spice in this purplish Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Australia. A full bodied blend with a nice balance between the Shiraz and Cabernet and at 13% ABV it doesn't have a hot finish from too much alcohol.
Price - under $15 (LCB0 - 311795)
Pairs well with most beef dishes like roast beef or stew




Cheers !

Sommelier .. Schommelier

    After a tough week at the office, you rush home, clean yourself up and head out with your favourite gal to a local restaurant to meet friends for dinner. You exchange the usual  pleasantries, asking about their kids, bragging about your own children and picking up the latest gossip about how one of the neighbours down the street had to find an apartment after that embarrassing incident with the babysitter. The waiter finally arrives with the ice water, menus and the wine list. Everyone flips open the menu and starts browsing the selections. I'm engrossed in the menu trying to figure if I can order some sort of low calorie entree that comes with fries so that when the waiter brings the meal, I can exclaim. "Oh ! That comes with fries? I thought it would be a salad"
    One of my friends will pass the wine list to me and mutter something like "OK Mr Sommelier. You pick the wine." (with a definite hint of sarcasm in his voice). Should I say thank you or smack him in the back of the head with the wine list ?

 Later that weekend, your relatives are coming over for dinner. You greet them at the door with a smile and they thrust a bottle of wine in your face like their serving you a subpoena and say something like "I don't know if you'll like this Mr Sommelier but here you go." Should I say thank you for the wine or should I scold him like a grade 2 teacher for not applying himself (got that a lot in grade school) or maybe refuse to serve him dinner until he gets a better wine?

 People seem to think that when a Sommelier is around, there opinion doesn't matter anymore. For me it's exactly the opposite. I would prefer that people have an opinion about wine. I want them to tell me why they like or dislike a wine.  As a Sommelier, my job isn't really about telling you what wine you should buy as much as it is getting you to be as passionate about wine as I am. Try different wines, take risks, talk about wine and most of all.... enjoy it

Here's my picks for this week.

2011 East Dell Black Cab - VQA Ontario

A interesting blend of 42% Baco Noir, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Cabernet Franc with a dark red colour and aromas of blackberry and spice. It's been aged for 12 months in french oak so there's some tannic structure from the grapes and the oak. Lots of dark fruit flavours and a sweet spice on the palate.
Price - under $14 (LCBO 609875)
An easy drinking wine on it's own or paired with grilled pork chops.




2011 J Lohr Riverstone Chardonnay - Monterey California USA

Nice straw yellow chardonnay from California with a lot of fruit like apple, pear and nectarine mixed with butterscotch. 50% of chardonnay under went malolactic fermentation to soften it's acidity. Aged sur lie in a combination of american, french and hungarian oak barrels gives it a toasty oak flavour of biscuits and nuts. A lot going on in this wine
Price - Under $19 (LCBO 258699)
Paired this wine with a vegetarian pizza on multigrain crust which worked quite well.

Cheers !!

The Great Canadian Wine Match

So here's a good idea that's just in time for summer entertaining and BBQ season. Natalie MacLean (www.nataliemaclean.com) is holding a wine matching contest called "The Great Canadian Wine Match". The contest is a challenge to find Canadian wines that pair well with the six categories of food that she has selected (chicken, beef, fish, pizza, cheese and dessert). You can vote for your favorite Canadian wine, vote for my selection (hint) or submit your own suggestion if it's not on the list. I will be submitting wines that I've tasted and matched with food. If you like the wine I suggested, just hit the vote button and your franchise will be counted. The more votes I get, the farther my wine selection goes up the list to the top (hint, hint)

Here's the wines that I selected for the The Great Canadian Wine Match.

Under the Chicken Category
2008 Strewn Barrel Aged Chardonnay
A nice golden yellow chardonnay that pairs nicely with Greek marinated BBQ chicken and a Greek salad with a few dolmades on the side.

Under the Beef Category
2009 Elevation Vineland Estates Cabernet 
A nice blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon with flavours of cherry and dark fruit.

Under the Pizza Category
2009 Bergeron Estates Winery Gamay
A lighter wine with nice aroma and flavours of cherry, spice and pepper. Not overpowering when enjoying it with a pizza









Under the Cheese Category
2008 Pelee Island Winery Pavillion Eco Trail Chardonnay Auxerios
50% Chardonnay and 50% Auxerois, this off dry white has good acidity balanced with some nice fruit that would pair well with a slight salty cheese.

Under the Fish Category
2008 Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery Inox Chardonnay
A nice crisp chardonnay with pear and apple flavours. There's no oak in this wine to mask the flavour of the fish. Just a real mineralty to it which allows it to pair well with any white fish.

Wine Price Levels

I recently got an email from someone who read my blog and was a little frustrated at the price of wines I had posted for tasting. "$34.95 for a bottle of wine!!" he wrote." I can't afford to go out and buy expensive wine all the time. I'll have to cut back on diapers". The wine he was speaking about was a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape which can be a little pricey. Why so expensive?
 Well....the wine market is basically divided into price levels or hierarchies. There is certainly a big inventory of wines in the under $20 price range that will satisfy a good percentage of the wine drinking population. You can also find many varietals like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir that crossover into the $35 to $75 range and are obviously of better quality. However, you'll only  find premium wines like Barolo, Brunello, Amarone, super Tuscans and Chateauneuf-du-Pape in this upper price range because they use special vinification or harvesting techniques to produce a higher quality of wine. A good example of this type of wine is an Amarone. Three different grape varietals are dried on straw mats before they are crushed. This produces a more intense flavour but the wine is produced in smaller quantities. Anything over $75 are premium wines produced in limited lots from high end wineries or dessert wines like icewines or Sauternes.
 Feel free to stay in your price comfort zone but treat yourself every once and a while to a Brunello or Chateaneuf-du-Pape to taste the higher end production value.

Here's this weeks picks

D'OH - Dolcetto, Piemonte Italy DOC

This wine is not for everyone. It's a light to medium bodied ruby red wine with aromas of strawberry, pepper and some spice. It is a little high in acidity which gives it's raspberry fruit a tarty taste but the 12.5% alcohol level and mild tannins would make it a nice red wine to drink on a hot summer night. This wine would pair well with a creamy tomato based sauce or pork tenderloin.
Price - under $13 (LCBO)

  2012 Fairhall Downs Sauvignon Blanc - Marlborough New Zealand

A light yellow Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region with signature  aromas of grapefruit pith, lemon zest, herbs and that hint of New Zealand vegetal bouquet. The wine has good acidity which gives it that long grapefruit finish. This wine would pair well with most seafood like deep fried clams, shrimp or grilled salmon on the BBQ.
Price - Under $19 (LCBO)

Wine with Friends

 It's always nice to get together with friends in the neighbourhood and share a glass of wine in an informal wine tasting format. There's no special glasses, marking sheets or pressure. Just a relaxed atmosphere of friends chatting about life, gossip and humorous tales intermingled with comments about the wine. Everyone brings a wine they want to try. There's no theme, no right or wrong. Just wine to sample and enjoy. So here's what the group of us tasted and enjoyed by the fire listening to each other talk and occasionally laughing out loud. Good times indeed.

 Perrin & Fils Les Sinards Chateauneuf-Du-Pape - Rhone, France
From the epicenter of the Rhone valley comes a big bold Chateauneuf-du-Pape consisting of mostly Grenache (70%) with some Syrah, Mourvedre and Counoise. A full bodied blend with aromas of ripe dark fruit and a long lasting cherry finish with some noticeable tannins.
Price - $34.95 (LCBO) 
Pairs well with beef stew or grilled pepper steak.





Kitchen Sink Red Table Wine - California, USA

Interesting wine. The grapes are sourced from California and not a specific appellation but the result is a nice blend of 38% Zinfandel, 34% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petite Syrah (plus 2% other). Aromas of plum,  dark fruit and pepper with flavours of dark fruit in a medium finish. The ABV is 13.6% so the wine is easy drinking with a medium to full bodied feel. The vintner's notes say that 15% of the wine was aged in oak which is noticeable on the finish. Tannins are relatively mild.
Price - $12.95 (LCBO) 
This wine pairs well with plate of assorted mild to medium cheese

2009 Tenuta Di Ghizzanho Veneroso - Tuscany, Italy
Another nice Tuscan blend of Sangiovese (70%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (30%). There's a lot going on in this wine. When it's first opened an earthy aroma comes out but after sitting for a few minutes the fruit starts to come out. 16 months in 2nd, 3rd and 4th use french oak gives it some depth and the tannins are pronounced but smooth. A full bodied wine with a long sour cherry finish
Visit their website at http://www.tenutadighizzano.com/EN/index.html . Lots of good information on their harvesting and vinification.
Price - $29.95 (LCBO)

Taste Ontario 2013 !

  Once again it was a great display of Ontario wines and vintner expertise at the Taste Ontario! media event held on February 11 2013 at the National Art Gallery on Sussex drive in Ottawa. It may have been freezing rain, ice pellets and snow outside but inside the atrium at the NAG everyone was all smiles while tasting some exceptional Ontario wines.  I managed to sample some wines plus talk with a few of the wine producers which is a real treat for me because they talk so passionately about their craft and they don't mind the constant barrage of questions.
 I tried to find a selection of wines that are not in the general list at the LCBO or wines that I don't always see at the local LCBO / Vintages because they are produced in limited supply, sold only to restaurants or only available through the vineyard. It's encouraging to see some wine producers are experimenting with non-traditional Ontario varietals like Gruner Veltliner, Semillon and Zinfandel. It shows that Ontario wineries are not afraid to think outside the box and try new grape varietals. I look forward to seeing and tasting those wines at future Taste Ontario! events.

So here's a few wines that I thought were exceptional.

2010 Reif Estates Meritage - Niagara River VQA

A nice blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. This Meritage was stored mostly in French oak and some Hungarian oak and reveals flavours of dark fruit and some pepper. The tannins are a little more refined which gives it a nice softness. It's not overpowering but it has a full bodied feel to it.

Price - $24.95 - Vintages

2011 Rosewood Estates Semillon - Beamsville Bench VQA

This isn't a wine you see very much of in Ontario so I was curious to see what it offered. I was pleasantly surprised by it's abundant aroma of grapefruit and lemon. The wine has good acidity which gives a nice crisp mouthfeel but also a slight sweetness to offset the acidity. This wine is only available at the Rosewood Estate vineyard (http://www.rosewoodwine.com/) or in some restaurants. It would pair well with most white fish dishes or a cheese and fruit plate.

Price - $15.00 - Rosewood Estate vineyard

2010 Vineland Elevation Cabernet - Niagara Escarpment VQA

As the name implies, the grapes are sourced from the highest elevation in their vineyard. A nice blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot yields rich flavours of dark berries, cherry and some black pepper. The wine was aged in french oak for 16 months which gives it some tannic structure but it's not harsh. A good match with beef or simply on it's own.

Price - $25 - LCBO  
 

Cheers !!!

Stocking the Wine Cellar

  When it's time to restock the old wine cellar, I try to pick up a variety of wines that will obviously age well but are also a little off the beaten path so that there's some mystery when I open them. The day that you finally pull the cork and draw in that first aroma is like opening a Christmas present. Is it a good smell, a bad odour or no change at all? Has it gotten better with age, is it past due or does it need another year in the cellar? Sometimes you hit that magical sweet spot when a wine reaches it's full potential and you're left with a warm feeling of satisfaction after the first taste.
  There's always a bit of risk when you select the wines to be stored for future consumption as you never know how well they will age. You can certainly perform some do diligence and search the web to find which wines age better than others. Personally, I only age wines for 3 to 5 years because wine in my house is like a bowl full of M&Ms at a kids birthday party. You know it's not going to last very long. Although I do stock some Bordeaux's for long term aging (5+ years) as a kind of wine cellar experiment. I like to enjoy wine with friends and family rather than treating it like an investment. To each his own.
 Some people will cellar a case of wine, some like half cases but I prefer to buy 3 bottles to start and try one before I commit to further purchases. If I'm not particularly fond of the wine then I will store the other 2 for future use and move on. If I do like it, I can always go back and purchase additional bottles at a later date.
  As always you should store your wine in a cellar with the proper temperature and humidity or in a wine refrigerator to prevent the wine from degrading or spoiling.
So here's my latest picks for the ole wine cellar.

2011 Garnacha Centenaria - Coto de Hayas - Rioja Spain
  I tried this wine recently (I told you they don't last long in my cellar) and I am impressed by it's rich dark fruit flavours and hints of clove. This is 100% from the Garnacha grape variety (Grenache) and was stored for 4 months in American oak barrels. I'll try another bottle in 2014 to see if the spiciness is still there.
Price -  $17 - LCBO (Vintages)

2010 Bonterra Zinfandel (Organic) - Mendocino California
Zinfandel's are not known for their aging ability like it's California cousin Cabernet Sauvignon but there are some Zins that age well and I'm willing to invest a few bucks in this organically grown Zinfandel to see how it ages. They've also added some Petite Sirah for added depth in colour and taste
Price - $17 - LCBO (Vintages)

2010 Ring Bolt Cabernet Sauvignon - Margaret River Australia
A big bold Aussie Cabernet Sauvignon stored in a combination of French and American oak barriques. According to the tasting notes supplied by Ring Bolt, this wine can be enjoyed through to 2022. I'm sorry my little Cabernet friends, you'll never see that date.
Price - $20 - LCBO (Vintages)

2012 Ottawa Wine and Food Show - Part Duhhh !

Yes the Ottawa Wine and Food show was a lot of fun and there were some great wines to be tasted but for some people it was not that fun. It left a bitter taste in their mouth like a bad chardonnay.

 So lets get to the ugly part and yes there's an ugly part. Ticket sales and accessing the show was not pretty this year and this is not an isolated incident. It happens almost every year that I've gone and dates back to the days when the event was at the Civic Centre. It's an area that needs immediate improvement or people will simply stop going to the show out of sheer frustration. So let me address this part to the people who organize the Ottawa Wine and Food Show.

First. Buying an online ticket for entrance to the Wine and Food Show is not a lottery. You can't just take peoples money and then make them stand outside for 3 hours while you sell walk-up tickets at inflated prices. There's a level of commitment to the consumer when you sell tickets on line and there must be a reasonable time frame for accessing the show. They have committed their money to go to the show so you must commit to providing access to the show. It's that simple. 3 hours outside on Colonel By Drive in November weather is not reasonable.

Second. If your organization cannot guarantee access to the show in a reasonable time frame, the consumer is entitled to a full refund without a fight. You can't just take the money and run. It's not professional, it's not good public relations for future shows and it gives the Ottawa Wine and Food show a bad name.

I've talked to a number of people at the show and some who have stopped going because they refuse to attend another wine and food show where there's a good chance that they will not get in and lose their money.

Like the old saying goes "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice and I'll go some place else to drink wine. (or something like that).

Cheers !

2012 Ottawa Wine and Food Show - Part 1

It was a smorgasbord of wine, beer, whisky and food at the 2012 Ottawa Wine and Food show held at the Ottawa Convention Centre and it was phenomenal once again. I was able to attend one of the wine tastings hosted by Rod Phillips called "Tasting in the Dark" which was both unique and informative.

I also had an opportunity to meet with whisky sommelier Davin de Kergommeaux who hosted a Canadian rye whisky tasting. Davin is a certified Malt Maniac, sommelier and Canadian whisky guru. Davin was doing a tasting featuring some of Gibson's finer rye whiskeys. I wasn't able to attend the tasting as it was sold out but I did chat with him (very briefly) about whisky and his new book Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert

The "Tasting in the Dark" wine tasting was led by Rod Phillips who writes a wine column for the Ottawa Citizen. This was a fun tasting. The room had 60 plus people anxiously waiting for a unique wine tasting experience and they got it. Shortly after Rod's introduction, the lights were turned out and with a few whimpers from the people with Nyctophobia, the sommelier volunteers started serving the wine using night vision goggles. Yes that's right.. night vision goggles. There were a couple of "excuse me" and "sorry" as the volunteers got used to moving around the room using their new form of artificial sight but after 15 minutes with no glasses broken everyone had a glass of wine in hand. The first challenge was to figure out if you were drinking red or white wine. Once you reasoned that out, the next task was to identify the varietal which proved to be the interesting part as people started yelling out wines that in some cases were both red,  white and rose.
Out of the 4 wines served, the Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and the French Beaujolais seemed to be the easy guesses as a lot of people were on the same track with those wines. The lights were eventually turned on and Rod revealed the answers to everyone. Like I said, a lot of fun.

 After the tasting I headed up to the main show floor to scout out some good wines. The Zinfandels from California (Ravenswood Old Vine, Gnarly Head and Fancis Ford Coppola) were all excellent as usual. Big and bold.

I did find a few of gems that I thought stood out on their own.

2011 Stanners Cabernet Franc. 100% Cabernet Franc barrel aged in French oak. The usual heavy herbecious aroma of green peppers was not as strong which made this wine more enjoyable. A good balance between fruit and acidity. Very pleasant. Sorry. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the bottle but here's their website http://www.stannersvineyard.ca/

2011 Cono Sur Bicileta Pinot Noir was smooth, subtle and layered. A great sipping wine or it could be paired with pork tenderloin.

 2007 Ruffino Riserva Ducale "Oro" Chianti Classico was everything a Chianti should be. The barrel aged Sangiovese was smooth and elegant. Loved this wine










Cheers !