2009 was a good year in the CWG household. While I was away for just over half the year (mostly on business) some great wine and food were consumed, and some great sights seen. The year started in Rome and ended in Toronto, with stops in Moscow, Yakutsk, Hong Kong, Sydney, Vancouver, San Diego, San Luis Potosi, Paris, just to name some of the bigger locales. One thing that is consistent with such travel is you need to eat, and of course drink Wine (toss in an occasional beer and martini for good measure). With so many wine magazines, blogs and articles going over their top 10 lists for 2009 I thought I’d do my top 3. For the top three I will do restaurants, cheap bottles, expensive bottles and sweet/ports that we drank during the year. Some of these may be purchasable still at your local liquor/LCBO store, some you may need to travel to in order to experience their great culinary delights, and some you may just curse me and tell me to go away due to lack of availability!
Today’s post are the wines & restaurants that came in at #3:
Restaurant: Chez Janou in Paris. Located in the Marais portion of Paris (3ieme) this restaurant is neither fancy-dancy nor Michelin starred/recommended. What it is, is a good Provencal meal in a great atmosphere. In 2009, despite some great restaurants visited this remains a highlight for the entire experience. If you are ever in Paris and want a nice casual evening out, head to this location and enjoy!
Inexpensive Wine: This category is for the everyday ‘Table Wine’ wines. Some vineyards might find it a tad offensive to be in this category at all, but modern day wine drinkers should agree with me that wines in the $5-$39 range are common everyday wines to be drunk with guests or meatloaf (or both). With all that said the wine that came in at #3 this year was a Canadian offering, Trius 2007 Red. Trius, a brand from the Canadian giant Hillebrand has in recent years perfected this Bordeaux style blend which is the little brother/sister to the Grand Red (in good years). At roughly $22 a bottle this wine brings big potential for a small price tag. As with all the Trius Red vintages, you will enjoy now but be richly rewarded if you lay it down as this truly will enrich with 5 years on it’s side. It is difficult to say this about many low priced wines. A gem for your cellar for sure.
Expensive Wine: This category is difficult to define, what is expensive and to whom? Mrs CWG and I agree that with the current wine market anything over $40 is a good definition of ‘expensive’. We could have used $50, $75 or $100+ but at the end the average wine drinker (not those bottomless wallet types that drink Cheval Blanc with spaghetti) rarely drinks a wine in the +$40 on a nightly basis, thus making this the point we chose to start the Expensive Wine category. So if we want to jump into it, we are going with a 2003 La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino. This Tuscan Sangiovese came to us from a small wine shop in Montalcino in late 2008, priced at or around $66 after exchange rate. A polished long finish, rich fruit and subtle coffee/espresso notes, it wow’d our mouthes. We had expected to keep it a tad longer, but having two bottles it made most sense to try one as our cellar was out of room, we were quite overjoyed that we did. This is not offered in Canada, but you can buy it online, if you are willing to deal with customs and shipping. Like most well done 2003 Brunello’s you will be pleased with your purchase from this strong Tuscany wine region.
Desert/Port: Since Canadians live in the best Icewine region in the world it is not hard to fine 3 Desert wines that can make a yearly list, between our Late-Harvests and regular Icewines there is no shortage of great options. But what about Ports? Often times ports are just ignored or drank with some pungent cheese and nuts. Forgotten for some, but not CWG! Let’s be frank (or george or william), a good Port is without a doubt a delight on the palate and senses. So our 3rd overall choice is just that, a Port, our 2001 Fonseca Quinta do Panascal vintage was so nice, we bought a second. At $50 it is not a ‘cheap’ port, but nor is it overpriced. If you like chewy, deep plum and rich fruits to compliment that fantastic blue cheese or brie, this will greatly satisfy your craving. As with any good vintage port you should be rewarded with laying this down, if you can somehow avoid drinking it all.
Thus wraps up third place in the CWG 2009 wrap up: a French Restaurant, Canadian Red, Italian Red and a Portuguese Port, so far so yummy!
Happy 2010
Well 2009 was, to say the least, a busy year. It saw me go on an unexpected sabatical of six months with John picking up the slack. Despite being away half a year, wine was still drunk and some great ones made it to a special list, the top CWG wines of 2009. I will start tomorrow with number 3 and then work onwards to number 1 over the next week. In the meantime, happy new year and I hope 2010 turns out wonderfully for all our readers.
-Canadian Wine Guy