We had this wine at Politica last night. Pale in color, varietal on the nose there are some well under control bouquets of lemon and grass but quite subtle. On the mid pallet the tastes match the bouquet this is a smooth well made Sauv Blanc with grassyness and lemon dominant but not overpowering. This is a very food friendly wine. The wine is on the lighter side of medium. The alcohol is well under control. I would give it an 89 or so. Very nice wine. I paired it with a pasta dish with steam and shrimp in a red sauce and it went quite well. All in all, a lovely meal complemented by this very nice wine! Not surprising that this is a J Lohr. I find I really enjoy all there wines. Unfortunately, not available in the LCBO.
I was wandering in an LCBO store and they were sampling this wine so I said why not. I was thoroughly surprised by it, and bought a bottle. They also were sampling the shiraz but I didn’t care for it. This wine is quite pale in color and has a lovely lemony, grassy bouquet. On the mid pallet the wine is quite varietal in flavor for a sauv blac with lots of lemon and grass to go with the bouquet. The wine is quite zesty with a medium finish. All in all this is a reasonably well made tasty sauv blanc. Nice and dry. I would give it an 88-89 or so. I paired it with pan fried steak and kidney and it went well, holding it’s own. Give it a try you might be surprised!
From the LCBO web site:
FISH HOEK SAUVIGNON BLANC LCBO 129726 | 750 mL bottle Price: $ 9.95
Wine, White Wine, 12.0% Alcohol/Vol. Sugar Content : 1
Made in: South Africa, South Africa By: Western Wines Ltd.
Tasting Note
Pale straw yellow colour; aromas of lime, green fruit and herb with a slight rustic note; dry, medium bodied, spritzy with pleasant nettle and herb flavours; good acidity on the finish.
This wine caught my attention as a Bordeaux under $20 with a good write up. The prices on Bordeaux’s are really continuing to creep up there. The wine is quite dark in color with a note of oak and black fruit on the nose. On the mid pallet there are some very distinct sharp flavors coming from deep cherries and the like. Then comes the finish. If you like your wines smooth and easy drinking … this so is not a wine for you! This is a big bruiser. Wimps need not apply. The finish is dominated by some lovely thick pallet sticking tannings and some puckering dryness. This is a bold Bordeaux. The finish seems to me to be dominated by Cab Franc (although I am not sure there is any in it). There is a hint of alcohol on the finish but nothing too overwhelming. The wine is quite complex as well with lots of layers of flavors going on in your mouth and on the long finish. Wow, very nice 90-91 in my boat. Yum … Be sure and try this without food and pair it with something milder to totally appreciate this wine to it’s fullest! We paired it with a pork chop and it was a good combination albeit not the best. The dessert was a chocolate brownie and again it went ok but not fabulous.
From the LBCO web site:
CHÂTEAU SAINT-NICOLAS 2006 VINTAGES 138602 | 750 mL bottle Price: $ 18.95
Wine, Red Wine, 12.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Bordeaux, France By: Diva Sarl
Release Date: Jan 23, 2010
Description
A Gold Medal winner at the 2008 Concours de Bordeaux – Vins d’Aquitaine.
Tasting Note
This is principally Merlot, and the aromas and flavours ably bear that out. Cherry, plum, oak and berries dominate. Dry and rather lush with supple tannins for balance. This medium-bodied wine will please both admirers of the European or New World style of wine. Enjoy it with roast beef or veal tenderloin. (VINTAGES panel, May 2009)
Fast note on this Italian red since I am a tad short on time but wanted to share.
Fruity nose, medium tannins, soft finish. This is not a home run but a solid double-triple (mid winter baseball reference there for you). A tad rough to start but polishes out evenly. You will get cherries and raspberries, a tad smokey. you can still find bottles at the LCBO. Enjoy.
I expect a certain amount of discipline and elegance to a Rhone Village wine. This wine is quite dark in color with some dark fruits coming through on the nose. On the mid pallet the wine displays some fruit forward sweetness with some dark fruits coming through. On the finish on opening the 14% alcohol comes through fairly prominently. Off to the decanter for this one. The finish is fairly dry with some tannins. While not a terrible wine it is by no means a great wine. After an hour in the decanter the alcohol was still the prominent taste in this wine. I would give it an 88 or so. I won’t be running out to grab more that’s for sure.
From the LCBO web site:
ORTAS TRADITION RASTEAU 2008 VINTAGES 998716 | 750 mL bottle Price: $ 15.00
Wine, Red Wine, 14.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: Rhone, France By: Cave de Rasteau
Release Date: Jan 9, 2010
Description
A Gold Medal winner at the 2009 Concours des Grands Vins de France in Mâcon.
Tasting Note
This blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre displays an attractive nose of wild berries, black fruit, pepper and a hint of tar. This dry, soft-textured, medium-bodied wine features juicy black fruit and hints of leather and pepper. Very pleasant match indeed for comfort foods like lamb stew, shepherd’s pie or beef casserole. (VINTAGES panel, Aug. 2009)
What winecurrent.com had to say about this wine:
14.0% alcohol Another French gold medal winner this wine wears a bright cherry robe with hints of purple. The nose is redolent of petits fruits—blackberries and raspberries—along with the wonderful herbs producing garrigue. With flavors consistent with the aromas its a dry medium-bodied wine that has a seam of refreshing acidity and perceptible tannins. A hint of berry tartness and pepper linger on the warm finish. A hearty winter stew will do. (Susan Desjardins) (998716) $15.00 Rating 4.5/5.
The wine is deep inky in color, mild on the nose. On the mid pallet this wine has some deep fruit flavors but this is by no means a fruit forward or a sweet wine. This wine is all about the finish. The finish displays some slightly sharp tannins, some oak, some nice complexity and some nice dryness, all packaged in a long finish. This is one well made cab. The 14.5% alcohol is well under control. I suspect it will age well too. For the money this is a good deal. I would give it a 91. Yumm …
From the LCBO web site:
GROVE STREET CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2006 VINTAGES 161190 | 750 mL bottle Price: $ 17.95
Wine, Red Wine, 14.5% Alcohol/Vol. Sugar Content : D
Made in: California/Californie, United States By: Girard Winery
Release Date: Jan 9, 2010
Description
Grove Street Winery has been producing superb wines for over twenty years in the picturesque town of Healsburg, in the heart of Sonoma.
Tasting Note
This is truly an exceptional value for Cabernet from Sonoma. Opaque ruby in colour, it’s bursting with layered aromas of ripe cassis, raspberry, plum, cocoa and vanilla. It’s dry, with ample body and intense black fruit and spicy oak flavours supported by supple tannins, all culminating in a long, smooth finish. Very easy to love. (VINTAGES panel, Aug. 2009)
Here’s what winecurrent.com had to say about it:
14.5% alcohol A deep red this wine offers a plethora of aromas—black currant attractive leafiness cedar and hints of eucalyptus. Its beautifully structured and well integrated with tangy acidity and silky drying tannins. Loads of lush dark fruit rush across the palate and carry through on the lingering finish that teases with hints of toasty oak and cocoa. (Susan Desjardins) (161190) $17.95 Rating 4.5/5
We went to a food and wine charity event last night at The Stop. The event was coordinated by Danielle with funds being used to run their projects. Thirteenth St wines were served during the event with Peter from 13th along to enthusiastically talk to us a bit about the wines and the winery. The Stop has a greenhouse that provides all the herbs and some of the vegetables used for the evening. The food was prepared by a volunteer crew who were attentive and very friendly throughout the evening. The event was well done. Here was the menu for the evening:
Menu
Various Hors d’œuvre were served along with THIRTEENTH STREET JUNE’S VINEYARD CABERNET ROSÉ 2008 . I didn’t really think much of this wine. It wasn’t terrible, but not to my tastes. I’m really not a rose person, and a bubbly Rose is even less to my tastes.
· Braised rapini with a poached mini egg over a pickled garlic sauce 13TH STREET PREMIER CUVÉE BRUT 2004. I quite enjoyed this Brut which is made in the traditional champagne style. Lots of Chard flavors, just the right amount of bubbles. I’m not a big Champagne person but I enjoyed this one and would have it again. I would give it a 89 or so.
· Elk ‘PHO’ – Carpaccio of elk over braised cabbage with raw mushrooms and horseradish surrounded by spicy broth Funk Vineyard Riesling 2007 (Not available in the LCBO right now). This is a quite nice semi sweet Riesling with a good varietal structure to the wine, some honey, some apricot. The sweetness was about right for a food friendly wine.
· Juniper scented risotto with hot ricotta and smoked prawns Gamay Noir Sandstone Old Vines 2007 (Not available in the LCBO). This was quite an interesting wine. It was quite a fruit forward Gamay with some tannins and structure on the finish. There’s a fair bit of sweetness to the wine so one would need to be careful with the food pairing. This particular pairing was not bad but frankly I would have reversed the Riesling and the Gamay. I would give this one an 89-90. I quite enjoyed it.
· Crispy duck breast over celery root puree and mulled wine sauce Meritage 2006. I must admit I am not a big fan of Meritage blends. This one was not bad displaying only a little of that “Niagara terroir” to it. I would give it an 87 or so. The fruit in it was fairly well done and the Niagara tannins were well under control. Medium in finish the wine seemed to go Ok with the duck.
· ‘Smores’ shooter
· Lemon almond cream cake with mascarpone mousse and a warm sage emulsion sauce 13 Degrees Below Zero Riesling 2008. I have to admit again, I am not a big fan of Ice wines. This one was pretty good to my tastes. It was not as sweet or syruppy as some. They were well under control. It made a nice finish to the evening.
All in all it was a nice evening, very well done by the whole crew at The Stop and Peter did a great job of giving us just enough information about the wines and the winery! He was very enthusiastic about what he does, was very knowledgeable and stopped by each of the tables during the evening to discuss the wines, the winery and anything else that might have been on our minds!
About The Stop Community Food Centre:
Located in the Davenport West neighbourhood in Toronto, The Stop works to increase people’s access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality.
The Stop’s Green Barn is a satellite site of The Stop located in the Artscape Wychwood Barns at St. Clair & Christie. It includes a year round greenhouse, sheltered garden, bake oven, compost demonstration project, community kitchen, a classroom and a weekly farmers’ market.
Generally speaking I love going down to the Niagara wineries, with one exception. Thirty Bench. I find their staff arrogant and pretentious, the only winery down there that I have found like that. Odd. No idea why. Their web site says it all “Premium wines”. Alright enough of that onto the wine. My sister gave me this one for Christmas along with the Organized Crime I previously blogged about. The wine is quite pale in color with a mild typical Riesling bouquet. Rieslings really can vary a lot but there are some Niagara ones that are fabulous. On the mid pallet the wine is quite nice and crisp. The wine is medium on the finish with a nice tartness and minerality to it. I would give this one a 90. Smack on varietal Niagara Riesling, and just the way I like them. I paired it with pan fried sea scallops and it went well.
From the LCBO web site THIRTY BENCH RIESLING 2008 VINTAGES 24133 | 750 mL bottle Price: $ 18.70
Wine, White Wine, 11.0% Alcohol/Vol. Sugar Content : D This is a VQA wine
Made in: Ontario, Canada By: Andrew Peller Limited
Release Date: Oct 10, 2009
Description
Thirty Bench is a Riesling specialist. The 2007 vintage of this wine won a Gold Medal for Best Dry Riesling at the 2009 Ontario Wine Awards.
Tasting Note
This is the entry level Riesling from the estate, a blend from the vineyards, in a house style. An attractive nose of lime-citrus and subtle mineral notes. It has zippy acidity on the palate to go with refreshing citrus fruits in a dry style. Score – 3 1/2 Stars (out of 5). (Rick VanSickle, www.stcatharinesstandard.ca, June 18, 2009)
This is in fact going to be a short and sweet review, as I am swamped in paperwork and other work related stuff. This wine was presented to the Canadian Wine Guy as a potential wine to review, and it would not be fair to accept the wine and not review it, now would it? Candor is part of the Hope Family Wines that produces Treana, Austin Hope and Liberty School (probably the most familiar of the labels for the average Canadian consumer). Candor is the newest of the group which is focusing on Merlots and Zinfandels. While their labels and naming (Lot 1, Lot 2) are interesting, I am still perplexed that any winery in this day and age would market a Merlot (or Zin for that matter) as non-vintage. Going over press materials and websites I am cannot get a true feel for this choice, my only hope was the wine would leave that question moot. On to the tasting!
‘Ripe strawberries’ fill your nose on the decant. The first few swirls skirt that fruit and replaces it with a flowery bouquet, odd, but the nose does not lie. The initial sips actually do not do this wine much justice, the initial reaction was ‘ho hum’, a bit lively at the beginning, half decent fruit and a dull finish. BUT, that was the start, this wine grows quickly on you, it becomes more balanced and more respectful in terms of the palate. Plum and come forward with a good hint of earthiness mixed in. A good pairing for this is the standard bold red meal, lamb, steak au poivre or a hard roast. This wine is not going to win awards, it will not wow your Merlot friends, but it is a good value and a decent table wine. Lot 1’s are still around and selling for under $20 so expect the same for Lot 2, you can do much worse for your twenty dollars then this wine.
If I were to say Lost Canyon Winery the first thing that may come to the more educated oenophile is “Garage Winery!”. While not entirely true, Lost Canyon does have a fair history behind it with said Garage and wine crafting. Fact is this urban winery is now making it’s name as a single-lot Pinot (and Syrah) specialist. Lost Canyon belongs to the East Bay Vintner’s Alliance a small collection of San Francisco ‘East Bay’ wine makers, and thus the urban reference. Only producing commercially since 2001 this winery has done a solid job in earning it’s name as a maker of good consistent quality Pinot’s. I purchased this wine in question in early 2009 on one of my trek’s through San Francisco, so without further blabbing what did we find?
As the cork was removed this wine oozed subtlety. A light hint of strawberry and a tad bit of toasty oak hit the nose. A light coloured pinot once poured into the glass, vanilla starts to take over your nose with an almost candied smell that will get you later as you move into the bottle. A few good slurps later and you are finding a wine that is forward on the palate but lingers at the end. Tannins are small and you could almost say this wine is a tad too smooth. If you enjoy 1er Cru Burgundy’s you may find this too tame for your liking. Also if you were to pair this with a spicy or forceful dish you would expect it to disappear. Overall it is a pleasant drinking wine but for the price ($42US) you would expect a bit more. As we worked through the wine it simply never jumped out in any sense. Pleasant is the best way to describe it, if not for the price I would recommend it for a regular drinking wine.
The CWGSR is 85 out of 100. (might have been higher if the price was lower, but bang for buck meter dropped the rating)
Decided to pull a Bordeaux for dinner tonight, nothing very expensive but on the other hand something I figured would be ready. This offering came from an Yvon Mau wooden box set a few holiday seasons back that the LCBO offered (similar to this one). Yvon Mau is a Bordeaux and wine marketing and producing company. With the merger in 2001 of Yvon Mau and Freixenet, the new entity is the world’s ninth largest wine producer, and a great part of this comes from marketing/producing little estates like Michel Séral’s. When bundled together you tend to get 4 to 6 bottles of small-house wine from Bordeaux that can generally impress you for the price. Averaging out to be $15-20 you can consider this a good bargain with the added bonus of the complete unknown. Let’s jump to the tasting notes shall we?
Young and lively, those are the first impressions! After a couple of years on it’s side the sediment was visible and required decanting producing a solid nose of deep cherry and caramel with a ruby red colour. The first few swirls and slurps led to vanilla taking over from the caramel and cherry remaining evident with hints of plum. As the wine opened up the cherry yielded entirely to plum, tabacco and cedar, quite a change from the initial spectrum. The wine is decently balanced, may weighed a tad heavier on the front end, and with a shorter finish then was expected. Overall the wine is a professional offering that does not detract from a meal or hinder drinking it on it’s own. On the other hand it is by no stretch of the imagination anything more then a run of the mill Grand Vin. You get what you pay for in this bottle, decent French winemaking but not outstanding or memorable.
I’ve blogged about this one before. I really enjoy it. Here we have the 2007 release and yet again J Lohr is right on the mark. This wine is somewhere between pale and deep yellow in color. The wine is mild on the nose with traditional Chard bouquets coming through. On the mid pallet are some lovely mild fruit flavors. They have it just right. This is not too fruity, not too sweet just right for my pallet. On the finish the wine shows traditional California style Chard with some butteryness, some oak, an some creamyness. They totally got it right. Some of the over baked Chards I find really hard to do a food pairing with. Not this one, because of how they have kept things in check it pairs well. I had it with grilled fajitas and chocolate brownies and the two complemented each other well. If you prefer Chablis style Chards you will hate this wine. If you prefer over the top boisterous chards then this is also not your wine. If you like a well made Chard crafted to bring out the fruit in the wine, then this one might be worth a try. I would give it a 90! Excellent. Did I mention Yum?
From the LCBO web site:
J.LOHR ESTATES CHARDONNAY LCBO 258699 | 750 mL bottle Price: $ 18.65
Wine, White Wine, 13.5% Alcohol/Vol. Sugar Content : 1
Made in: California/Californie, United States By: J Lohr Winery
Tasting Note Deep yellow colour; ripe apple, pear, melon & vanilla aromas; dry, medium to full-bodied; creamy texture & peachy, oaky notes on the palate; well-balanced with a long finish
Serving Suggestion
Grilled or roasted poultry dishes, pork with apple sauce or caramelized onions.
Here’s what Winecurrent.com had to say about this one:
This is a gorgeous offering that delivers a huge mouthful of delectable flavour. Vanilla tropical fruit and toffee apple aromas drift off the nose while flavours are a persistent stream of spiced green apple more tropical fruit and well-integrated wisps of seasoned oak. Its full bodied well textured and sports a lengthy deftly balanced finish. Pour alongside rich creamy chicken and veal dishes or roast pork tenderloin in a whiskey cream sauce. (Vic Harradine) (258699) Rating 4/5
This wine is quite dark in color mild on the nose with some varietal flavors. On the mid pallet are some varietal cab flavors with a hint of sweetness. A milder cab. On the finish the wine displays some tannins, some tartness and some oak present. All in all a reasonably well made cab. I would give it an 88-89 or so. Not a bad wine at all. Unfortunately it is not available in the LCBO.
Who is Joshua Greene you may be asking? Mr. Greene is Editor, Publisher and President of Wine & Spirits Magazine. Why am I calling him out? The atrocity that is his 23rd Annual Guide is the reason. In this annual magazine that lists in his, and his staffs, viewpoint top 100 Wines, Best Buys and Wineries you will not see a single mention of a Canadian wine/winery or winemaker. This is of course not shocking as Mr. Greene is a Californian centric writer who is proving once again that his magazine is good at in-depth looks at American wines, while wines outside of the USA better come from a big well known house ‘or else’. It is not tremendously difficult to rank Latour, Cheval Blanc, Krug, Louis Roederer and Pierre Morey in your top 100 without much thought or worry, who will challenge you? Ranking 28 American wines in your top 100 on the other hand, including an icewine, is nothing more then ridiculous, slanted and bias. 28% of the world’s best wines come from the USA? To make it even more of an insult towards the Canadian wine industry is that every country included in the top 100 (including Austria and Greece) each had a top red and white, yet there were no entries from Canada.
Mr Greene, you and your staff/panel could not do the same justice to Canadian wines as it did to the other 13 nations, I personally find that insulting, apologies are in order.
I was given this wine as a Christmas present from my sister. Thanks Caroline! Ah what’s in a name? I have no idea what to think about the name of this Winery Organized crime. Should I be intrigued, offended, sleeping with the fishies? I am even more perplexed by the label. What should I think about that?
Is there a statement here that somehow the Church is Organized Crime? And reading the description on the web site about the feuding churches I still don’t get how that has anything to do with Organized crime.
Ok let’s just say I don’t get it.
So enough of that, onto the wine. The wine is pale in color mild varietal reisling with a hint of sweetness on the nose. This wine is quite interesting. It takes each element of it to the limit and then stops just shy of being too much. On the mid pallet there are some noticeable sweet flavors, I would say more honey, apricots and the like. But just before you start to think it’s too sweet it stops. At just the right point. Then comes the finish and it does it again. There are some lovely well balanced tart flavors coming from the acidity of the wine. And again they stop just before they are too much. The wine is on the medium side of finish. It does not go on as some Rieslings can, it manages to stop at the right point. The wine is extremely food friendly. I paired it with a roast chicken leg with chocolate brownies for desert and it went quite well. As you regular readers know I as well as CWG find the Cave Springs Estate reisling to be the bench mark. This one comes quite close. A very well made wine. Goofy name and label aside I enjoyed this wine. I would give it an 89-90 with extra marks for the way the wine always stopped just before being too much! Unfortunately it is not in the LCBO so you will have to go out to the winery to get some. Maybe while there you can ask them to explain the bottle/name of the winery and educate me. The wine is $21 at the winery.
Dinner with wine used to be simple. The rule was white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat. But most of us don’t just eat meat and potatoes or drink claret and chablis these days.
With modern fusion cuisine and wines from new regions around the world, the choices – and confusion – are great. One new school of thought is that any wine goes with any dish. However, most of us don’t put ketchup on our ice cream for the same reason as we don’t drink a delicate white wine with a hearty meat dish or a powerful red wine with sole – they are mismatched flavors and textures.
When the marriage of food and wine works well, each enhances the other, making the meal greater than if you had consumed them separately. That’s why the following classic matches have survived the changes in food fashion: stilton with port, foie gras with sauternes, boeuf bourguignon with Burgundian pinot noir and goat cheese with sauvignon blanc.
It helps to start with the basic principles of food and wine pairing as they still provide a basis for experimenting with new world cuisine. One of the most important elements to harmonize between wine and food is flavor. For example, a tangy tomato-based pasta sauce requires a wine with comparable acidity. Without this balance between the acidity of the dish and the wine, the partner with lower acidity tastes flabby and dull, while the other, too tart.
To find an acidic wine, you can chose one that is made in the same area as the food. Years of matching the regional cuisine and wine as well as similar soil and climatic conditions make this a safe bet. For example, you could pair a tomato sauce fettuccine with a Tuscan chianti. Or you can select a wine from a cool climate where the grapes don’t ripen to great sweetness, and maintain their tart, tangy edge. Crisp New Zealand sauvignon blancs and French chablis serve these dishes well.
Acidic wines also work well with salty dishes. For example, oysters are both salty and briny with an oily mouth-coating texture that can smoother most wines. However, a sparkling wine from California, a Spanish cava or French champagne can both refresh and cleanse your palate when eating fish. Bubblies also work well with spicy foods. Hot spice in Asian, Thai, curry and chili pepper dishes can numb the palate. Many of these foods also have high acidity from citrus ingredients such as lime juice as well as sweetness. Therefore, you need a wine with an acidic backbone as well as a touch of sweetness such as an off-dry California sparkling wine with lots of fruit.
While off-dry, acidic wines go well with many dishes, the two most difficult wines to pair with food are also the two most popular: chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. New World chardonnays can be oaky, buttery, flavorful wines that overwhelm many dishes. But you can still enjoy chardonnay with your meal. Pair it with butter and cream sauces to marry similar textures and flavors.
Conversely, cabernet sauvignons can have bitter dark fruit flavours with mouth drying tannins (the same sensation you get from drinking well-brewed tea). Therefore, they find their happiest match in foods with juicy proteins such as a rare steak. The protein softens the tannin making the wine taste smooth and fruity. Steaks done with crushed black peppercorns sensitize your taste-buds, making the wine taste even more fruity and robust. However, the way in which the dish is prepared also has an impact. A well-done steak, for example, may taste too dry with a tannic cabernet.
Proteins are also at work with the marriage of wine and cheese, the cocktail classic. Red wines tend to go better with hard cheeses such as blue cheese as they can accommodate more tannins. However, whites suit soft cheeses such as brie and camembert as the creamier textures require more acidity for balance.
Game birds such quail, pheasant, turkey, duck, squab and guinea hen have earthy flavors that are more robust than chicken. Wild game often goes better with racy red wines that have a gamy quality to them, the classic being Burgundian pinot noir. The flavors of pinot noir — plum, cherry, mushrooms, earth and even barnyard (that’s a positive adjective) – accentuate the same gamy flavors in the food. Other wine options for game birds include Spanish rioja, Oregon pinot noir and lighter-style Rhône Valley wines such as Côte-Rôtie.
When it comes to barbecued and grilled dishes, go for robust reds, such as shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and barolo. Argentine malbec is the Ultimate Summer Barbecue Wine. With it’s fleshy black fruit, dark spices and smoky notes, malbec muscles in beautifully beside most grilled fare: it’s a sizzling combination.
One of the most challenging flavors to balance is sweetness. Dishes with a touch of sweetness such as glazed pork do well with off-dry wines such as riesling and chenin blanc. However, rich desserts such as chocolate and crème brulée demand a wine that is sweeter than the dessert, or the wine will taste thin, even bitter. Sweet wines such as sauternes, Canadian icewine, late harvest wines and port will work not only for their sweetness but also for their unctuous texture.
Your best source of food and wine matching is your own palate. Experiment with different combinations to discover not only what makes a perfect pairing for you, but also to broaden your range of possibilities. As the author Alexis Lichine observed, “There is no substitute for pulling corks.”
Canadian Wine Guy is excited to announce that we are getting another contributer if only from time to time. Natalie MacLean, the Canadian author of the bestseller Red, White and Drunk All Over, offers a free wine newsletter at her website (which is found in our links section). Not only is she a clear voice in the wine world, she is also a great source of some of the best food & wine pairing advice the web has ever seen. Despite her busy schedule, she has offered to contribute on occasion.
A good spot to start off with for this review is to state that Thirty Bench is a winery that is owned by the same group that owns Hillebrand, Trius and Peller Estates, Andrew Peller Ltd. Despite the fear that a big operation the size of Peller might corrupt or ruin the feel of a small specialty vineyard, they have done neither with Thirty Bench. In fact the opposite is true, this little gem is turning out to be a top 5 Canadian Winery. Initially dedicated to Rieslings (and still their primary focus and strength), they have started to turn out a fantastic Chardonnay as well as a Red blend and Pinot Noir. Their small lot mentality has very much grasped the idea that terroir and small (but well tended to) yields can produce remarkable wines. The 2006 Small Lot Chardonnay received a great deal of praise and with the 2007 vintage being considered one of the best of all time in Niagara it was with great anticipation that this bottle (plus a few more) was purchased. On to the tasting!
This barrel fermented Chardonnay was aged sur lie before being bottled. With it’s honey colour capturing the eye, you instandly get a nice caramel toasty smell. A few good sniffs and you are getting more of that and a bit of vanilla with underlying peach. The first few sips will give your mouth a nice crisp sensation with a polished ‘velvety’ feel. This is rather surprising as many Chardonnays achieve this through malolactic fermentation (that buttery taste/feel) which this wine has not gone through. The balance of acidity, fruit and smooth oak work well and the winemaker Natalie Reynolds has done a great job in bringing a Burgundy style to her wine. The fruit is understated throughout but still evident, with hints of peaches and pears running on your tongue. Overall this is a very good offering, in fact when we went to the winery to do tastings I was pleasantly surprised by it, figuring, as I often do, that I knew what I was going to purchase well in advance (and a Chardonnay was not in the ‘plan’). This wine has the structure and taste that allows me to recommend grabbing 6 bottles and putting them away. Two to three years minimum will really make this go from very good to great in my humble opinion. As it is now, for $30 (from the vineyard) you will richly reward if you drink it now or put it down. A great Canadian wine.
Please note, while I was pleased overall with the entire experience at Thirty Bench (and yes this is nitpicking) I was rather shocked that a $10 tasting charge was added to a wine purchase totaling well over $250. This is the first time in my wine tasting life, anywhere, that a tasting charge was actually added to a purchase bill. I fully understand that a charge needs to be applied to the free wine slurp hounds that jump from winery to winery looking for free stuff with no purchases, but when you buy significant wines I have always found the fee to be waved. I know, petty, still Thirty Bench when you read this, you can do better then that.
Hope everyone had a great weekend. We entertained good friends over the weekend. The meal was uniquely southeast Asian. It featured Vietnamese spring-rolls, mango-ginger salad, amok, red curry pork and tom kha gai soup. The wines were a bunch of repeats from the CWG side (two Chardonnays and then a delicious port after dinner) while our friends brought a nice Penfolds Bin 28, which if it was not the 3rd bottle of the evening would have warranted a review, since it was so deep and so mix with the spices of the dinner, no fair nor accurate review can be done. Instead I give you a recipe, this one was passed on from a much savier Thai foodie then I, special props to Stewart Hawkins for this fantastic little gem. As with all Thai dishes you are best to balance the meal with flavours, Tom Kha Gai should be medium in the ‘spiciness’ scale, and can be (in fact is usually served) with many other dishes. A good way to do Thai is: a relish, a soup (listed here), a curry and a salad.
Most of these ingredients they are probably best found in locations where Asian foods are sold, in Toronto you can get all of the ingredients from anyone of the many Chinese ‘supermarkets’ in China Town on Spadina Ave. Of note: Tom Kha Gai means soup of chicken and galangal, galangal looks similar to ginger but is very different.
Bring coconut milk to a gentle boil in a large saucepan. Add lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce, galangal, sugar, chilies, lemongrass. Cook 5 mins. Add chicken and mushrooms, cook another 10-15 mins until chicken is done. Take off the heat and chuck in a handful of Thai basil and corriander. Leave overnight. Re-heat, and add more Thai basil and coriander. You can garnish with crispy fried eschalotts if you could be bothered.
Burgundy, France, is the epicenter of the Chardonnay grape’s world, but the world itself has taken on this white grape as it’s own. Chardonnay is one the most widely grown grape varieties in the world and can be found pretty much anywhere wine is made. The problem with this, of course, is a bunch of plonk has gone off and dragged this noble Vitis vinifera down in many drinkers eyes, this is always a downfall of popularity. Add to this a huge surge in the past few decades of over-oaking and over-creative winemakers and it leads to even more difficulty in gaining respect. I have found that all of my white-wine drinking friends fail to list Chardonnays in their preferences, most times because they simply have had too many poor bottles. This wine I am reviewing today is definitely not one of the aforementioned ‘misses’.
Tapanappa may be best described as a perfect reincarnation for the Croser family. After having started up and successfully cultivated Petaluma into such a hit that it was purchased from them, they have since started their second fine wine franchise. Luckily (or extremely intelligent) they were able to manage to secure rights to part of the Tiers Vineyard Chadonnay production which was planted in the late seventies by the Crosers. Already the source for the brilliant Petaluma Tiers, the thoughts were the Crosers would choose the ideal portion of Tiers and make a classic Chardonnay. So far those beliefs have all come true. The 2005 vintage has gotten nothing but huge praise and the 2007 growing season is said to have been similar, if only a slight bit warmer. With that said I was very pleased to have purchased a pair of these back in August on a visit down under. While I slightly overpaid at a more ‘touristy’ wine store (I should have known better to have waited to go to the regular shop on Crown in Redfern, but I was impatient) with the $95 price tag I was not scared off, especially having tasted and bought Petaluma Tiers before. Needless to say Mrs CWG and I were very eager to give this bottle a whirl, and so we did in late December. Here are the impressions!
Wow. I could just leave that there and it covers all that needs to be said. Wow. A fantastic wine. The acidity is perfect, the balance in your mouth is harmonious, the fruit is complimentary, the minerality conjures up thoughts of 1er Crus from Burgundy, and the finish lingers long enough to be pleasant not a pest. Lemons and peaches play together nicely while vanilla and honey occasionally join the party. Maybe I should have just stuck with Wow! Overall this is a classic Chardonnay that with a bit more time in the cellar will be mentioned in the all-star category. If you have the opportunity to purchase a few bottles ensure you do, you will be rewarded.
As the 15th of January quickly approaches it is probably a good time to remind everyone of the upcoming 2010 Niagara Icewine festival. From the 15th to the 31st the entire Niagara region and it’s vineyards will be celebrating the gold that is Icewine. If you have time to make the voyage, I recommend spending a few days and enjoying a unique wine experience. There are so many different events, some community, some festival organized and a great many winary specific that you are recommend to check out the calendar to mix and match what is best for your trip.
A few events Mrs CWG and I will probably attend:
The Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Experience
Queen Street, NotL
January 23 & 24 11am to 5pm
Join us outdoors in the Heritage District for ice carving demonstrations, superb cuisine and, of course, wonderful Icewine!
Winterfest in Market Square
January 23, 2010 7:00pm to 11:00pm
Sip and savour the magic of winter in St. Catharines. Join us, as we celebrate Winterfest in our historic downtown. Presenting live music, gourmet cuisine, artisanal cheeses, and delectable VQA wines. Purchase tokens for wine and food, and a commemorative glass. Free admission. For information, call 905-688-0212.
then jump off to:
Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Cocktails
January 23, 2010 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Taste the most unique combinations created by the finest restaurants in Niagara-on-the-Lake. You be the judge and compare your favourites with our celebrity judges, outdoors in the Heritage District.
We will also do many of the winery specific events as possible, but as we are not sure which wineries we will leave that out for now. I cannot wait to do a follow up on the event, as well I’d love to hear from regular readers on their experiences.
J. Lohr Cab and a Mouton Cadet ‘reserve’ with the folks. The 06′ Lohr was to be expected, about avg for the price: good balance, long finish, good nose/fruit. The MC was less then stellar, a tad muted, medium bodied and soft finish, I expect more from the reserve version of an over-hyped ‘classic’
Tomorrow I will touch on the Niagara IceWine festival, which is upcoming, until then, sip well!
2009, a great year to love food and wine, really it was. Of the 170+ restaurant meals and 350+ bottles of wine consumed there was much choice and many memorable moments, but it was the following that ‘hit the spot’ for the Canadian Wine Guy. Hope you get a chance to try a few of my ‘best’s of 2009’ in the upcoming year and send me a note when you do. Here are the First Place recipients:
Restaurant: In Sydney there are at least 10 restaurants you can go to and be blown away with style, quality and flavour. Of all the cities I have traveled to, this one on the opposite side of the world ranks first overall for total experience. Sydney’s truly diverse culture and heavy south-east Asian influence leads to great creativity, but mostly the quality and innovativeness comes from the demanding locals. You would be hard pressed to find a larger concentration of ‘foodies’ then you would on this sun-drenched paradise. Fusion of all sorts can be found throughout: Thai, Malay, Chinese or even weird twists on good old fashion English style cooking (try and picture that!).
After my second visit this year I could have easily chosen two or three Sydney restaurants as the best of 2009, but when you have one restaurant that stands out so much further then the others, it may indicate well enough that one choice is sufficient. For this choice, the 2009 Top CWG Restaurant is the Spice Temple. Neil Perry has taken his reputation as an outstanding chef and restauranteur and lived up to it. The decor, the intriguing specialty cocktail list (named after the twelve Chinese zodiac signs), great tea selection, striking presentation and scrumptious food, all of this equates to something simply not found in Canada yet. If there was one thing I’d like to export from Sydney this one would give the weather and beaches a good run for the money. If you are in Sydney, get on the phone, make reservations and ensure you get to the Spice Temple at least once.
Inexpensive Wine: As a true lover of wine it is hard to go through all the bottles and choose a wine from a category with many worthwhile candidates as ‘the best’. For this selection I decided to go for a wine that we simply cannot grow tired of. In our house there are many different wines that could classify as the regular ‘vin ordinaire’, we have whites and reds of that genre for sure. If you were to ask many close friends of mine, they’d probably guess a Bordeaux style red would land itself in this spot, best inexpensive wine of 2009, but this year that would be presumptuous. This year we are going with a terrific little find from Burgundy, the best inexpensive wine of 2009, Alain Gras’ Saint-Romain Blanc 2006. This 100% Chardonnay wine is all I’d expect from a wine two to three times it’s cost. Good fruit, solid acidity, hints of minerality and overall just an amazingly polished Burg. To get all this for only $24 is remarkable. Mrs CWG has deemed it an essential part of our white selection and I am still intrigued that you can find it in Toronto to this date as the wine-maker does not produce in high volumes. If you get a chance, and like white Burgundy’s, you need to go out and get one of these. If you already have some, feel fortunate as you will also be rewarded with cellaring.
Expensive Wine: Well then, on to the really fun category. We have tossed back quite a few expensive bottles this year, not sure if that is a good thing or a bad one (nah it’s all good). We’ve had some great Bordeaux’s, a top house Margaux stands out. We have suffered through a few bold Italian reds (I hope you feel for us) that went down faster then expected. We have had to endure a few amazing Californian Cabs that left us wanting for more. Despite all those fantastic wines (and sadly a few pure stinkers) we ended up choosing a white (!?!) as our 2009 expensive wine of the year. A WHITE, me, a self-proclaimed Bordeaux man, pure travesty I say. Well if you had the 2007 Tapannapa Tiers Chardonnay you might as well throw a few bottles aside for it. To state that this is one of the world’s finest Chardonnays may be brash, it may sound silly, but truly it is. Brian Croser has outdone himself with his signature Chardonnay. It is everything you can ask for, balanced, velvety, good fruit, good length. The terroir of the Tiers plantings (who’s brother/sister wine the Petaluma Tiers shares fruit) is one of the best in the world, the Adelaide Hills area is ideally suited to grow Chardonnay and Croser has made the most of it. I think it is hard for me to admit that the best wine I have had during 2009 was a white wine, really it is, but I am very proud to have bought several bottles of this (and the Petaluma) and will ensure that going forward I will make a dedicated effort to collect future vintages as outside of Penfold’s Grange you will be hard pressed to find a more ‘wow’ wine coming from the land down under.
Desert Wine/Port: Well Icewine had to make it’s appearance somewhere on this list, if not someone may revoke my ‘Canadian’ card, eh! 2009’s best desert wine/port was without a doubt the Peller Estates 2005 Signature Series ‘Oak Aged’ Icewine. With over 5 international medals (with a gold at the prestigious Concours Mondial de Vin (Brussels)) this wine has done it’s job to get the wall-hangings. What it has also done is bring forward an icewine that is more then just sweet and fruity. It is silky smooth with a long finish. It is chewy with hints of caramel while showing great citrus fruit. Lastly it is simply delightful. As with any icewine of good quality, this wine was not made to simply accompany a crumble pie, it can be had with hearty cheeses or on it’s own by the fire. If you have never actually had icewine you are doing yourself a disservice as it is not a one-trick pony. So often the wine Canada has perfected is pushed off by serious oenophiles, do not let their upwards turned noses get the better of you, go out and spend the money to taste liquid gold, in this case Peller Estates has produce one such wine.
That wraps up 2009, I hope that in 2010 I can get back to a schedule that allows for more regular reviews and wine thoughts/information. Until then, please enjoy each wine, one sip at a time.
As a continuation of this piece today we will cover those things that ranked second in CWG’s 2009.
Restaurant: Spuntini’s on Avenue Road in Toronto is probably better known as being the place upstairs from Soto Soto. One of the more intimate Italian restaurants in the city, Spuntini’s does not force itself on you. Nowhere will you get the sense of being overwhelmed by an overly complex menu or perturbed at plain old ‘mama’s’ italian ravioli. A solid menu is reinforced with a stronger wine selection. Top off that balance with a professional staff and attentive owner Fernando who remembers casual regulars by name, and you are getting a small gem in a very crowded ‘T.O.’ restaurant scene. Mrs. CWG heavily endorses this pick!
Inexpensive Wine: Cave Spring Cellars is one of those little vineyards in Niagara that often gets lost in the crowd. Located on the Beamsville Bench this winery has made a name for itself for it’s mastery of Riesling. From Icewines to Off-Dry table wines, odds are pretty good if you like Rieslings then you should be giving their full range a whirl, especially their CSV product which is worth the price. But this ‘award’, or designation, is for it’s 2007 Riesling. Mrs CWG’s favorite summer white has all that is required of it to take a place in the Inexpensive Wine category, excellent balance, good fruit, solid acidity and the hint of that Riesling-petrol. We have had several bottles throughout the year as the $14.95 price tag is hard to beat as well as reviewing it early in February. Overall I am time and again pleasantly surprised with every bottle we have had, not much more I can ask for.
Expensive Wine: This category was the hardest to choose three wines in as there was a solid list of 20 that came to my lips at the mere mention of a ‘best of’. As it is, I narrowed my list to 7, and from there was stuck, which truly was the best? Or which did I remember as a favorite. At the end of the day the choice that falls into the number two slot was on the final list of each re-write. 2000 Joseph Phelps’ Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is without a doubt one of the best of 2009’s. This Californian Bordeaux style blend (80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 6% Petite Verdot and 4% Malbec) hits home with all the right features that makes it’s price ($60-$70) seem inexpensive. Great body, good character and luscious flavours make this one special wine. Having drank many ‘expensive’ Californian Cabs this year I can honestly say I have not had better then this bottle. I know there are gems out there, but this Phelps offering was done brilliantly.
Desert/Port: Having honoured a port in the #3 spot, it is logical to jump into Icewines for the top two spots. Well, logical I am not. The #2 spot goes to the Château des Charmes 2007 Late Harvest Riesling. This wine won gold at the 2009 Ontario Wine Awards for Late Harvest and as many of the estate’s previous vintages it remains a perfect alternative to the pricier Icewine category. Amazing fruit, good acidity, nice sweetness (in the 10 range) and a reasonable price ($22) make this a must not miss. If you are craving a nice desert wine I highly recommend this Château des Charmes offering, Mrs CWG insists on keeping three bottles around at all times!
CWG on Twitter
Happy Sunday morning, if you are at all like Canadian Wine Guy, you are prepping for two good football games today and making dog cookies (what?!?)…
For all those interested, I have added twitter to my daily you know what’s, join/follow me @canadianwineguy
I leave you with a picture of the world’s most spoiled Great Dane’s cookies
Cheers