A big TGIF to all those out there about to head home for a relaxing weekend. Weather in Toronto is currently hot and muggy with a huge storm about to come through. I am going to be having vodka martinis tonight (no hate mail please) and unwinding from a long arduous week.
Till tomorrow, sip well and enjoy!
I guess since we are in June it would be a great idea to share some nice wine related events going on in Toronto this month:
Monday June 11: Wines of Germany
From 7-9pm @ Coupe Space (998 Queen Street East) with Jamie Drummond (Sommelier, Jamie Kennedy Kitchens)
“Fresh from his wine tour of Mosel, Rheinghau and Pfalz, Jamie shares obscure treasures from the oft-overlooked
vineyards of Germany. Jamie delights in bringing you surpirising gems in his trademark irreverent style.
Leiderhosen optional.” Cost is $75/person.
Tuesday June 12: Sip Ontario
From 7-9:30pm @ Fermenting Cellar (in The Distillery Historic District, 55 Mill Street)
“Celebrating Ontario Wine Week is June 10 to 16, 2007. Amidst the historic backdrop of Toronto’s Distillery District you and your friends are able to explore premium VQA selections of more than 25 award-winning wineries and an extraordinary collection of Ontario Tourism’s Distinctive Getaway Chefs.” Cost is $50/person and you can order here.
Tuesday June 12: Chateau Leoville Barton
From 6pm @ Toronto Board of Trade (1st Cdn Place @ King & Bay)
The Toronto Vintners Club is hosting “A rare opportunity to taste 8 wines from Ch Leoville-Barton (1988 – 2002) from vintages rated good to excellent. Leoville-Barton is a “super 2nd” growth estate. Tasting has been opened up to the general public.” Cost is $80/non-member or $69/member.
Wednesday June 20: Energy Savings Group Wine, Whisky & All That Jazz
From 6pm @ Liberty Grand (25 British Columbia Rd, CNE Grounds)
“This cool combo of classic jazz, fine wines and rare whiskies is one of Toronto’s premier events. For those who are hip to collecting, there’s a fine wine auction with selections from some of the country’s best cellars. The evening features a lavish sit-down dinner in the Renaissance & Centennial Rooms followed by entertainment with Canadian chanteuse Holly Cole. ” Cost is $375/guest with proceeds going to Covenant House Toronto.
Thursday June 21: Summer Solstice Dinner
From 6:30pm @ The Boulevard Club (1491 Lakeshore Blvd. West)
Australian Wine Society “Once again we are celebrating this “Midsummer’s Day” at the Boulevard Club on Toronto’s waterfront. Our Cellarmaster has selected the wines and the Executive Chef has lined up a wonderful dinner. We meet at 6:30 outside on the deck overlooking Lake Ontario for bubbly and appetizers, then inside to the Solarium for a full four course dinner with wines. Wines will be matched with each course and a “sticky” with dessert to top off the evening. Last year we sold out very quickly, so book early.” Cost is $85/member or $95/non-member.
Note: If you wish to have your event listed at the Canadian Wine Guy site, use the contact page to drop me an email.
Yesterday was a day to sit back, sip wine and contemplate life, simply because most of the city was stuck indoors as Mother Nature was doing her best to pretend it was late fall, not early summer. With the winds a blustering and the rain a drizzling the Canadian Wine Guy decided to sit back, relax and sip some wine. I know, I know, a novel idea! When looking into the wine fridge I wanted to drink a red, but with no particular region calling me, I decided to look at the Canadian section and see if there was something ready to at least give the ‘Ol College try. Sitting there, all lined up in their little part of the cellar world were 6 bottles of Henry of Pelham Meritages all of different vintages. I could not resist pulling out a 2003 as I had not actually tried one yet and if my memory served me correctly I was sure to have a nice wine. Mrs.CWG and I had gone with some close friends a few summers ago to Henry of Pelham estates to do a traditional wine tour, while we in fact decided to forgo the only tour that day we did not however leave without tasting and buying wine. Our friends are huge fans of the Estate’s Baco Noir but being the Bordeaux man that I am, I was drawn to the Meritage or “Cabernet-Merlot” as they have dubbed it. Getting away from the actual wine (as I will review it below) and focusing on the Estate I have to recommend a few things. First make the trip, it is a lovely drive and Henry of Pelham Estate has a charm to it that is uniquely Niagara. The tasting and wine boutique are very quaint and well laid out, the staff is typical wine region: friendly and knowledgeable. But mostly, plan on going for lunch in the summer to harvest times. The Coach House Cafe is a great little eatery that is worth spending some time sipping the house wines and nibbling on food. In the good weather months you can sit outside and soak in the surrounding vineyards. Okay, enough of that, on to the tasting!
I was worried that the 2003 really was not going to be ready to drink, well maybe not “ready” but I was at least concerned that I was opening it a good 3 to 5 years too soon. With the knowledge that I had another 2003 in the cellar I choose to take the plunge anyways, wine, after all, is for drinking. When decanting the Meritage gave off a nice solid red with hint of rust on the edges and a distinctive raspberry smell came to my nose. The initial swirls led to an even more in depth raspberry with a hint of blackberry. Initial sips showed an equally balanced wine with amazingly light tannins. After I got into the wine light oak came to the surface as well as a light hint of caramel. The equal balance from the initial sips did not change, how it rolled on to my tongue seemed to finish with the same polish. I was quite surprised that a 3.5 year old Bordeaux style blend would be as ready to drink as this was. As I sit here writing this I still cannot seem to shake the feeling that this wine is actually ready to drink now, though I will hold the final bottle in my stock for 2 to 3 years just to see the changes. While not an overly “complex” wine I found it to be detailed enough and with plenty of room to change. If you have a bottle or can find a 2003 I doubt you will be disappointed with this. This wine can compete with most lower to moderately priced reds and is worth having a “go” for yourself.
After some soul searching, despite enjoying the wine it simply did not wow or amaze, a solid well priced wine gets a solid 84.
Mrs.CWG has nothing to say on this topic as she is off in Eastern Europe for work. She has however promised to bring back some Bulgarian wine which she has been remarking is quite nice. If she brings back wine then she will be forgiven for abandoning me!
EDIT: Mrs.CWG says
“How could you open that without me!”
Is it just me or does the full names of some wines seem to stretch two to three pages in width? Well this long named wine (and we need to include the whole name to properly define it) is one of wines Mrs.CWG brought back for me over a year ago during her worldly travels. Why it may seem strange to an outsider to see the Canadian Wine Guy requiring his better half to retrieve a Canadian wine via traveling as opposed to me just walking down to the local vintages section, it is not strange, it is simply very difficult to get Okanagan wines in Ontario (while it must be said the same is true in British Columbia in respect to Ontario wines). While the Niagara wine route has some geographical recognition, the Okanagan Valley for most is a question mark. Nestled into the interior of the rocky mountains in British Columbia, the wine region extends from the Okanagan Lake in and around Kelowna all the way south to the border of Washington State and the Osoyoos Lake region. The region boasts almost 75 wineries, many of which have had wines win or be recognized on the international scene. Included in this recognition, if not leading the charge has been the Jackson-Triggs Winery. Canada’s largest winery has presence in both the Niagara and Okanagan regions with their Okanagan operation located in the southern portion of the valley near Osoyoos. While they have been in Niagara for just over 23 years, their presence in British Columbia is much less experienced yet their short time in the region has led the winery to some high accolades.
Okanagan Jackson-Triggs has three labels plus one “terroir” brand, starting from the entry level Proprietors’ Selection to the intermediate Proprietors’ Reserve all the way to the more selective small quantity Grand Reserves. The wine we are reviewing today is their Bordeaux style Meritage from the high end Grand Reserve collection. The wine blends what most consider to be the five traditional Bordeaux grape varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Somehow in recent years the Carmenere grape has been banished to the sidelines and ignored from “Bordeaux” clarets! The 2003 is simply not purchasable anywhere in Toronto, and as such Mrs.CWG had to bring it in from BC on one of her many trips in 2006. We can buy the 2004 now in select LCBO’s but not the 2003. While I will be giving the 2004 a shot, if the 2003 is any indication, I expect that it will need to be cellared for 5 to 8 years more before being truly ready to drink. With that…. on to the tasting!
The decanting produced a very simple purple colour which surprised me with it’s extended time in oak (18 or so months), generally I have found this alone tends to soften the colour away from the “grape juice” look. The initial nose on this was strong berries, with oak in the mix. Upon swirling and getting a good sniff the berry smell (raspberry and/or strawberry simply too hard to discern) was firmly entrenched. The initial slurps did nothing to tone down the berry flavours. After several sips the true complexity of the wine began to come through, hints of vanilla and strawberry jam made for an interesting collage. The oak and tannins soon took over. The tannins did not soften over time and were very abrupt even towards the end of the second glass and the oak seemed to get a tad heavier instead of smoother, which I found to be odd. This wine in my viewpoint is simply not ready to drink yet, it is too young. I am very glad that Mrs.Cwg bought two bottles, as I am tagging the second bottle as a drink in 2010+. Odds are good with the effort put into the wine and the quality of the grapes that this wine will soften while not taking away any complexity as it ages. That will surely lead to a fine wine if you have the patience.
For now though, this wine is no more then an 85.
Mrs.CWG says
“Make sure you mark this for later consumption!”
While readership (viewership?) is increasing to this site, I am hoping that I can get some suggestions for reviews in the upcoming months, please feel free to email me or comment wines you would like to see reviewed. Over the upcoming weeks I will be looking to review a Californian Zinfandel, an Italian contribution or two and maybe an Argentinian Malbec if I can find something that tickles my fancy. In the review cycle will also be an Okanagan red, a southern Rhône and possibly an Aussie Syrah. With Mrs.CWG away and my desire to get myself into shape to run a half or full marathon, I should be only doing 2 to 3 reviews a week over the next month or so, be patient they will increase again soon!!
Well it has been a long while since a review and without a doubt this is a good place to start. Bordeaux’s can often times be overstated and over appreciated, largely due to the huge price that many collectors pay for bottles from famous Maisons in the upper echelons. The Château d’Argadens is a smaller house located south of the city of Bordeaux and slightly north and east of the town of Langon in a region called Côtes des Bordeaux – Saint-Macaire. Originally this house was called Château Salle d’Arche but when the Maison Sichel bought the house in 2002 they renamed it after a noble family from the town of Saint-Macaire. While a small house for many a year, the Sichel clan (it is still a family business) has plans to make it into one of the better maisons in the Bordeaux-Supérieur category. For those unfamiliar with d’Argadens but knowledgeable about Bordeaux’s, you will be familiar with another Sichel house Château Palmer, one of the bigger names with reputation to match in Médoc.
The d’Argadens red is not hard on the wallet, surely due to the Sichel family looking to have a solid entry into the affordable Bordeaux export market. Since 2002 was their first vintage I am sure the years to come (with mother nature approving) will come to find more and more refinement. The terroir lends itself to excellent wine and the almost equal split of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and a small growth of Cabernet Franc grown on a good altitude slope. On to the tastings!
As I decanted this, I thought to myself, “self, this looks about right”. A slight rusty hue to the colour but otherwise a nice solid red, neither cloudy nor “see-through”. The initial scents were distinctly black cherry and the legs (if you believe in such things) were long and slow. Initial sniffing led to large cherry with solid strawberry to compliment. I must say it was much “fruitier” then I was expecting. The first few sips (with solid chewing and slurping) brought about those same flavours as well as a nice hint of oak, not too uncommon! Further jumping into the wine the fruit mellowed, the tannins were even and the wine had a lovely balance, something that can be expected of a five year old red. Hints of vanilla and molasses lent itself to this easy drinking red. I was expecting more tannin and puckering in my mouth then I received, all of which was a pleasant surprise. Without a doubt this would be an excellent wine to have with a medium dish (not too spicy, not too weak, think grilled chicken or pork with a glaze) but I would much rather have it with a nice piece of Blue and Emmental cheese with maybe a few other local “stinky” (as Mrs.CWG would call them) cheeses to compliment. The wine would also be a great bottle to bring to a dinner party as it could be easily served with dinner or enjoyed before or after the meal.
Too many times people expect great robust and complex wines to come from Bordeaux, this wine has elements of both but in large is a very solid affordable wine from a great region. It will not displease the purchaser and will achieve it’s greater goal, tingling the senses, due to this I am giving this wine an 87.
Mrs.CWG says
“Would like to grab a bottle or two for another night!
The hope is, over the upcoming years, that the Château d’Argadens starts producing even more
Things are settling down a bit, meaning I will be regaining my later evenings. Tomorrow will be a review of a Bordeaux Superior (a Sichel) that was quite polished. Hopefully I will get a stemware review in before the week is out and we are looking at a nice Canadian Cab-Merlot on Wednesday/Thursday evening.
On other news, Mrs CWG will be leaving for a 17 day work adventure in Bulgaria, Serbia and the Czech Republic this Friday, which means CWG will be on his own to drink wine and rule the roost!
Till then sip well!
CWG has been under the weather and extremely busy, all of which has meant no wine. What? No Wine? Yes sadly this is true. I think I will have time to pop a cork this evening, if all goes well there will be a review later!
Cheers
Well aren’t we in a Burgundy mode? If you read the review of the Burgundy yesterday you would be thinking “why Canadian Wine Guy would you review two Burgundies in a row?” Well fun enough, this is a Canadian burgundy, a joint venture between Canadian wine conglomerate Vincor Canada and Burgundy based Boisset . Vincor owns Inniskillin, Sawmill Creek and Jackson Triggs as well as a few other smaller Canadian wine producers. Boisset is an equally large vintner with vineyards primarily on the Rhône both in the Burgundy region and the southern Rhône region. When the two of these got together to create Clos Jordanne it brought some excitement to the Canadian wine industry. Their decision was to plant and produce as if Clos was a Burgundy house, soil separation and only Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. This, as well as French influenced wine makers, allowed the house to begin to produce excellent wines with a good sense/feeling of a French wine.
This Clos is the Village Reserve which is very reasonably priced for the effort, skill and patience put into it. For Clos Jordanne reds they have three Pinot Noirs with the Village Reserve being the best priced. The grapes come from all of the Clos vineyards and the care taken can be seen and sensed quickly on the wine. While not one of the true “terroire” Jordanne wines I doubt most would call this the inferior horse in the stable. While a single vineyard wine produces great variations (if unsure refer back to the Château des Charmes review where a mere 50 meters made all the difference in the world) if does not truly indicate superiority over it’s multi terroire cousins/brothers/sisters (or whatever they may be called.) On to the tasting!
Without a doubt I was surprised by a slight rusty colour as I both decanted and later poured into our glasses. The scents were primarily fruit, cherries and raspberries with black cherry winning the war once the swirls started. Swirling brought out a nice blend of smells, some of which i was not truly able to distinguish while also getting both oak and hint of earthiness (not the bad moldy/dusty, just a hint of earth). First sips did little to dampen the cherry flavours and provided a nice light Burgundy style wine with a hint of oak on the finish. The following sips brought forward a bit more oak and a little less cherry with a small undertone of apple and a small bit of floral. Wow, alot of smells and feelings out of this wine, but still very enjoyable. I found that for a Pinot Noir this wine still holds strong tannins, not overwhelming but strong none the less.
I took some time to rate this, one because it was Canadian and I did not want to show favouritism for the region and two because it is so largely different from the red wines I truly think Niagara and Okanagan does best (Bordeaux style). After much thought and careful deliberation’s I came up with a rating of 88.
Mrs.CWG says
“Even for $25 I would have this again, but I wouldn’t share it!”
Mommessin, an old wine maker situated close to the town of Mâcon in the Burgundy region of France. The Burgundy region is considered one of the top three wine regions in France for reds, but that whole concept of “top” is too suggestive. Suffice it to say, the Burgundy region is probably the most diverse. From Chablis to Beaujolais the region’s appellations and wines vary greatly. This wine from Moemmessin comes from the highly regarded Beaujolais region and while most people know Beaujolais for their Nouveau’s, the real first class wines from this region are the Cru Beaujolais. There are ten Crus and this wine comes from the Fleurie part. Unlike most wines from the Beaujolais region, Crus are more robust, stronger and can be aged longer. Also, unlike northern Burgundy reds which are primarily Pinot Noir based, the Beaujolais region is uniquely Gamay only. This wine is 100% Gamay.
Having had this wine before I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into. Aging was not required, though unlike most Beaujolais it will add a bit to the wine if left on it’s own another 2 to 4 years. I am not the biggest “light” red wine fan so I naturally sway to the Cru Beaujolais over it’s appellations brothers (and sisters). This wine is well balanced and a good representative for Fleurie and the La Chapelle Des Bois designation. On to the tasting:
First smell was fruit, fruit and fruit. The fruity nose was distinctive with strawberries being the only discernible scent. The colour was balanced and not too “purple” for a fruity wine, almost a hint of rust on the edges. Initial sips and chews brought forward a nice mix of berries and a hint of flower. Reading the label tells me the flower smell is close to violets and peonies, I will trust the winemaker’s nose on this one as I all I noticed was a hint of flower to go along with the soft berries. The taste of oak followed with several more tastes, but not an overwhelming oak, a nice compliment to the existing flavours in my mouth. The finish was smooth and solid with the tannis being well behaved. I think what I liked about this wine more then anything is that it is completely balanced, from aromas to tannins to colour. This is the well polished Mercedes c240, not too expensive but many years of fine automaking has yielded a fine product with good heritage.
This wine has earned it’s 88.
Mrs.CWG says
“light and soft, enjoyable”
Tonight I felt like stepping back into the lovely world of Bordeauxs, and in this case the Saint-Emilion region of Bordeaux. St Emilion, despite it’s newer classification system is actually the oldest region in Bordeaux. The vineyards are in the Saint-Christophe des Bardes region of St Emilion which has been designation by UNESCO as World Heritage. Saint-Christophe des Bardes is located east and slightly north of the city of Bordeaux. The grapes grown in the region are primarily Merlot with Cabernet Franc and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon also grown. This wine includes a blend of all three from what I could ascertain.
On to the wine. Well I can tell you the first thing about this 2004: It needs to age. Not a little bit, a whole bunch. I’d say after the tasting was done and the bottle consumed that I will not open my other 2 bottles of this vintage for 5 to 6 years. Originally I thought: “Well maybe 3 to 5 years”, but in all reality this wine needs a great deal of time to mature. This is not to say it was a poor wine, or lacking good wine crafting, it simply was too tannic to be opened now. The 2004 vintage in the Bordeaux region was not a highly regarded one, of recent harvests only 2002 seems to be regarded less, but as this is now my 5th or 6th Bordeaux from 2004 I can honestly say that the issue is not as much a lesser quality harvest but more so very uneven product, as odd as that is to say from Bordeaux.
On to the tasting! First note was the colour on decanting, it was very purple/ruby with not a hint of rust in it. The initial smells were distinctly cherry with a hint of black currant. Initial taste followed through with the smells first discovered with a heavy tannin on the finish. Over a couple more sips the wine brought forward more oak and a hint of caramel. Without a doubt the finish stayed with strong tannin in the mouth and oak on the tongue. This wine at this stage would be excellent with Cajun, Creole, spicy lamb, or you can insert a spicy or strong bold type meal here. I would not recommend this to be drank on it’s own in it’s current condition, check back with me in a few years to see if that changes!
Despite it’s youth and need for cellaring it gets an 85 (we will revisit this in a few years)
Mrs.CWG says
“Good thing the meal was spicy, made the wine compliment it well”
If you have never had the chance to do a Niagara Wine tour, I truly think you are missing out on a little slice of life that needs to be enjoyed. Nestled away from the hub-bub of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and far enough away from the “glitz” of Niagara Falls lies the Niagara Wine Region. The region is bound mostly by Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment but tends to have some vineyards that rise above the escarpment. The area is known for it above seasonal temperatures and fertile ground which yields good fruit harvests one of course has become grapes. More can be said on the escarpment area (in much much more detail) but suffice it to say, the wine region has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 30 years and despite being overlooked on the international scene still produces outstanding wines. Wine touring the region from Beamsville to Niagara on the Lake can produce some lovely visits and at last count there were over 70 wineries to explore and enjoy, each with it’s own charm and usually it’s own gem. Fielding Estate Winery is located in the Beamsville Bench area, nestled nicely up a ways into the escarpment such that the Lodge has a nice view of the Toronto skyline way across Lake Ontario, Both Mrs.CWG and myself have had the pleasure of enjoying tastings at the Lodge with what turned out to be some of the most knowledgeable and friendly staff in the entire region. During our tastings (we have been more then once) we had a chance to find two wines that had us very happy after the sale was complete. In fact we had found 3 or 4 to be honest that we liked enough to buy, but it ended up being 2 that kept our attention.
One of the above mentioned two wines is this relatively inexpensive white hybrid chardonnay. While 2006 is young, this white is meant to be drank young, and enjoyed thoroughly. While it may change ever so slightly from one or three years sitting in the cellar, it is a “drink now” wine. The colour is a straw yellow, and the initial citrus aromas take over your senses. Not to try and guess which citrus smell hit me first, lemon tended to be the one with the most “oompf”. First tastes brought forward the citrus but also peach and apple. The wine is a a semi sweet, if you are using the sugar scale I believe it would be a “2” in terms of sweetness. The lasting impression is of a nice easy to drink white, with heavy citrus, light peach and a hint of apple. This wine would be a nice compliment to fish, rosemary chicken or early summer evening sipping on the terrace. A pleasing, no nonsense wine that is overly enjoyable, worth the purchase.
This is an 84 overall.
Mrs.CWG says
Have always loved the Chardonnay Musque
Btw the other wine that is a must have from Fielding, but requires cellaring, is their Meritage Reserve, very yummy!
Well here it is, the 2002 Château des Charmes St. David’s Bench Cabernet Sauvignon. For those that have read my posts in the past, you are probably wondering why on earth is the CWG acting all weird over this wine from a winery I really have not heard anything from? Well… during the 2007 Niagara Ice Wine Festival Mrs.CWG and I had the pleasure of having a nice private wine tasting session at the Château set up by Michèle Bosc who is the Director of Marketing for the vineyard. For those that are not familiar with the winery be sure to visit the link top their website and do a read on the history of the Bosc family’s dedication to wine making. During the tasting we got to enjoy over 9 different wines from different vintage lots and despite expecting to enjoy the 2002 Equuleus (Bordeaux style blend/meritage) it was this gem that took all at the tasting by surprise. Château des Charmes has two 2002 vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon, one is from the Paul Bosc vineyards the other is from the St. David’s Bench vineyards, both of which are no more then 50 meters from each other. In a true display of terroir the wines were remarkably different and the St. David’s Bench took away the prize for the best wine in everyone’s book.
So with great glee I could not wait to revisit this little gem. One of the hardest things to get through to people unfamiliar with Canadian wines is that while you may experience a poor or medium wine we do produce a large amount of great wines in both the Okanagon valley and Niagara peninsula. The fun part is finding those precious wines! This Cab Sauv is one of them. On to the tasting notes:
We decanted the Cab Sauv and the first smell was a distinctive strawberry with hint of currant, not what I remember but still nice on the nose. The wine was a deep ruby colour with a hint of rust on the edges. First sips led to the same berry hints but with the currant being stronger this time. As we consumed the wine, the wine was extremely well balanced and the a slight spicyness came out to complement the berry flavours. Added to the strong structure of the wine it also had a medium tannin so it left the mouth fully satisfied after a good chew or two. Without a doubt the wine met the lofty expectations. I think that despite it’s wonderful state now, it will be equally beneficial to cellar this for 3 to 4 more years, which, if you do not have any will mean you will have to act fast. Château des Charmes lists it as sold out on their website and I have only seen a few bottles in a select few LCBO’s here in Toronto. For $25 a bottle it is under-priced for the level of quality of the wine.
It is with trepidation that I rate this wine, one because I am about to give my first 9x rating and second because I think I will be using this as a benchmark. It is hard to rate/judge wines when you have a good idea of what you see as a complete wine, and of late this is the most complete wine I have had. While in France in late April I drank many a french wine, trying to enjoy Rhônes, Bordeauxs and Burgundies as much as possible. During that trip I found so many wines I truly enjoyed, this Cab Sauv would have easily have been mistaken to have been from one the better French vineyards had someone snuck it in.
This wine gets a solid 90
Mrs.CWG says
“Delicious”
Oh, sorta a PS on this post, in the next 2 to 3 months I will be reviewing another Château des Charmes gem that deserves mentioning in case anyone is looking for a well priced dessert wine between now and then: 2006 Late Harvest Riesling
Often times I get asked about how to store/keep wine. The basic logic behind cellaring wine is to allow a good wine that is still tannic to mature and change. Some wines get released ready to drink, most whites (Sauvignon Blancs being a notable regular exception) and a great many “light” reds fall into this category. A Beaujolais Superior for example is often times meant to be drank right away and not cellared as it will gain little from more time in the cellar. But then there a good many that will greatly improve upon “laying down” for a year, maybe 10. This is where it gets challenging.
Let’s take some Canadian Mertitages for example, what I call Canuck Bordeauxs. A Meritage is a blended red that is made in a similar style to the very popular French Bordeauxs. Bordeauxs tend to have a blend of some of the following: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carmenere, and depending on which part of the region will often times dictate which grape is dominant. In Canada the typical blend is with just the big three Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot though some winemakers may add in some other varieties. So what does this all have to do with Cellaring you ask? Well a good Canadian Meritage will require time to mature in the bottle (as do most Bordeauxs) and to add to it’s complexity. The tannins and sugars in the blends will over time work with the little bit of air exposure to alter the wine.
Cellaring comes in to play to give that wine the proper atmosphere in which to allow this magical process to happen. An ideal wine cellar is cool and damp’ish. By cool we are talking 10 to 14 degrees celcius (50 to 57 F) with moderate humidity. The humidity keeps the corks from drying out and therefore allows it to keep it’s seal. Light is not a good ingredient which makes basements and “caves” good locations for cellars as they will have little light, good moisture and cooler temperatures. “So then what about condos CWG?” you say? Easy enough, you cannot put your wine in a cave or in a basement so you will need to buy or build something to do what a cellar does. For those with condos bigger then the average freehold house you could build a small room by using excess space in a large room or have it designed into your floor plan. The size of a room will depend on your expected size of your collection. For the rest of us we are given few choices outside of appliances. Now do not fool yourself into thinking that small 12 bottle wine chilling fridge at your local “big box” retailer is a cellar. It is no more then what it calls itself, a wine chiller.
Wine cellaring appliances come in many shapes, designs and styles. What you choose will depend on budget, preferences (style features) and the expected size of your collection. Often called Wine Refridgerators, a good wine cellar appliance will offer wooden racking, light protection and in some cases multiple temperature zones. I personally have a wine fridge made by Transtherm, it is the Castel 3 temperature zone 230 bottle “fridge”. The temperatures are split into red serving, cellaring and white serving. Below you can see some pictures taken from we first purchased the fridge over 18 months ago. So why did we choose this fridge over any of the other similar ones made by Vintage Keeper, Le Cache or Euro-Cave? Well word of mouth was one reason; good friends of ours had the Cottage fridge by Transtherm and had experienced nothing but great things. Second was the look, the black smoked glass and casing fit nicely into our historic loft and surrounding furniture. Lastly I really wanted the three temperature zone style fridge and while a few others had multi-zones the best reviews I had heard were directed at the Transtherm. Now fast-forwarding to present day I truly believe that if you are concerned with cellaring primarily, avoid the multi temperature zone fridges, or else just go with a two temperature (white and cellaring). We simply do not use the red-serving area for anything other the cellaring which means we turn off the temperature adjustment portion and that region falls into the cellaring conditions. Overall this product has served us well and it has become a huge conversation piece as well. It is amazing how many times someone has seen the wine fridge and said “wow that is a really nice fridge” which then leads to discussion of wine!
If you are a condo resident looking at starting or helping out your wine collecting, think seriously about investing in an appliance cellar. While the investment is a costly one at first it will prove to be well worth your while long term. Think about it from a logical sense, if you have 50+ bottles at an average cost of $25+/bottle then you need to protect the investment in one form or another. Love your wine and it will love you. Here are some links to manufacturers of wine appliances in case you are interested in browsing the different styles and models:
Transtherm
Euro-Cave
Le Cache
Vintage Keeper
We bought our fridge from Rosehill Wine Cellars and I found them to be excellent on all fronts, including email support from the owner Gary on tweaking the settings on the fridge. While I try not to push to one vendor or another, I can only speak from experience to say that in the Greater Toronto Area you will be hard pressed to find a better retailer.
Click on the thumbnail to see larger image:
Fast Monday morning note, the Wall Street Journal Online linked to my review of 2004 Chateau de Seguin on Friday the 11th. At the bottom of the Gaiter/Brecher Tastings Review you will see a link to my review!
A belated Happy Mother’s Day to all (due to entertaining both Mrs.CWG’s mother then my own I was kept away from blogging).
We are enjoy some cheap plonk with Crème de Cassis thus making Kir Cassis. Well the first bottle was not plonk but without a doubt the second was less then stellar. But with Cassis it adds that punch that reminds one of Paris. We so miss Paris, amazing food, fashion and shopping!
Currently reading Postwar by Tony Judt. I think it is neither light, nor is it to be neglected. So far so good, hopefully I will do a full review on it’s completion with the next up: Woodward’s State of Denial.
Enjoy your evenings, sip well!
Well day 4 since I wanted to have the 2002 Cab Sauv by Château des Charmes, and lo and behold we failed again at the basics of opening it. That is okay, we were rescued by this hidden little gem. The Periquita Classico came highly recommended and decently priced for what ended up a great wine. Portugese wine is often overlooked by most “sophisticated” wine folks, and in reality i think it is due to the hit or miss syndrome, you either get pleasantly surprised or terribly disappointed, seems there is no in between. Jose Maria Da Fonseca is one of the oldest producers in Portugal. This single grape variety (Periquita is officially called Castelão Frances) has been one of the staples of the vineyard for over 150 years. The Classico is said to be only bottle in vintages of exceptional qualities. This vintage without a doubt follows suit. Mrs.CWG and I opened this after what ended up a LONG and tiring week. Wanting a nice smooth red to finish the evening off, we opened this up under the stars of the evening and sat back to experience the wine and the May sky. What we discovered is in the below tasting notes:
First sniff: rhubarb , orange hue, light cherry
On the pour: Subtle red with a hint of rust in the colour
First sip: heavy black cherry, large wine, solid tannins at the end
Over time: the finish is nice, almost a citrus ending, tannins softened nicely. Complex wine but not due to the wine maker trying for it to be, nice and solid from first taste to finish. This wine, while already 6 years old will benefit from a few more years of cellaring if you have the conditions. Those drinking now will get a well developed wine which can go with most meals and is easily drank in a relaxing atmosphere and a nibble of cheese. I would not recommend having a light fish or salad but grilled chicken will not get lost here. At 27.95$ worth the price.
This is a solid 89.
Mrs.CWG says:
“If we went to the liquor store for a $28 bottle of wine, I’d buy it again”
Fear not, we WILL get to the 2002 Cab Sauv, but not tonight. This evening we are going to have a white, not sure which, but I moved 3 to the cold portion of the wine cellar so that we were ready to choose.
Big Smoke, Hogtown, T(eee) O(h). Call it what you will, but Toronto is where CWG and the Mrs. reside. Being what is now called a transplanted Montréaler it has taken me 7 years of living in the city to own up to being a Torontonian. Without a doubt the difference between the two cities leaves many native Montréalers at odds with declaring their new homes literally that, their home. As a true Urbanite I knew when I moved to this city that I had to live downtown. My narrow viewpoint on what constitutes downtown irks people from time to time, but realistically, there can only be so big of a “downtown” in any city. For those that know Toronto, I call the downtown core everything north of the lake, south of Bloor St and boxed in by Bathurst and Jarvis Street. To me this really is downtown. I do not make a distinction on uptown because simply I am not well enough versed on where uptown really ends (I can say that without a doubt Yorkville, Eglinton are both uptown areas but how much further do you go?). So after several years of living in the Olde Town part of downtown Toronto (Front St @ the St Lawrence market) we finally got a chance at buying a condo around the corner from our historic loft that had we desired (remember the word urbanite!). While staying in Olde Town we managed to get a lovely condo that had multiple floors and to top it all off a huge roof top terrace, and if that were not “hot” enough already, it was a corner unit.
We moved into this lovely place after a complete repainting and a few other tidying ups we needed to do. Since it was late October we really had little opportunity to actually sit outside and enjoy the terrace’s view of the skyline. Despite my best efforts to get Mrs.CWG out onto the terrace for all hours under our natural gas heat lamp, often times the blank stare or hands on the hips led me to understand that she was simply not ready to shiver and enjoy the night skies with me.
Fast forward to May and I have to boast that this truly is what we were looking for. As I write this I am sipping on some much needed water and basking in the glory of the soleil on this warm Friday afternoon. The biggest contemplation I am having right now, is which wine to open for this evenings dinner. Dinner will be marinated NY Strip with sautéed mushroom sauce and mixed steam veggies. I think I will hold true to my mid week desire and crack open the 2002 Cab Sauv.
On another note, I went browsing 3 different LCBOs today after work to see if I could find a hidden gem or something that might tickle my fancy. Found a well priced 2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape by Guigal. I believe that the 2001’s are probably ready to drink now and without a doubt that vintage comes highly regarded. I did not pick one up as two of the three had at least 5 to 6 bottles, and at $54 or so dollars I will probably be safe until tomorrow to grab one or two bottles.
Lastly, I cannot seem to find Crème de Cassis for the life of me, if you know an LCBO in the downtown core (see the definition above!!) that carries it, please let me know (post a comment). I will be trying the Queen’s Quai store tomorrow, maybe I will post that I got lucky. Mrs.CWG loves Kir Royales which means I need to get some
Late night of work and then good weather pushed us up to the terrace (guess I should post pictures of the terrace, non?). Mrs.CWG and one of her friends wanted Juleps so the wine drinking is passed to another evening. Tomorrow will be a sirloin (marinating now) and cab sauv.
Till then, sip well and share!
So I switched gears, instead of the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon I decided to be spontaneous and head over to one of my favorite LCBO’s (Liquor store) and ask the shop’s expert for a recommendation. My usual criteria is: something uncommon (vineyard) for the store, competitively priced ($10 to $35), and something he/she has tasted and enjoyed. I am not looking for them to give me a breakdown of the wine or even a review. Simply I want to know did you or did you not enjoy it. So from this discussion I grabbed two bottles, one of which we are reviewing tonight and I am sipping as I write this.
Bogle Vineyards is an estate just outside of Sacramento California, east of the Napa Valley. It is a family run business that has been making wine (taken from their website) since the late 60’s early 70s. While I enjoy Merlots, I have to be honest that few, if ever leave me gasping for breath. On the few occasions they have done so, it has been at the hands of a California Merlot. This alone leaves me a sucker to grab a good bargoon (bargain folks, bargain!) and give it a whirl. This bottle was priced around $17, in the bargoon realm for sure! On to the tasting!!
On opening my nose caught a rush of fruit, primarily apple and cherry, upon further sniffing the apple remained on my nose (I find it odd as I rarely smell apple on a wine). The first few sips exposed my senses to a full bodied, large tannin Merlot. Without a doubt the apple had disappeared and cherry and oak had risen to the top of the aroma hierarchy. A few sips more and cherry, oak and a hint of blackberry own my palate. That is okay, I like all those! Without a doubt, being a bold style red, you will need to pair this with a traditionally strong meal or cheese. Think lamb, arrabiata pasta or Cheshire cheese, do not be afraid to drink on it’s own as it has enough complexity to keep your mouth happy at a party, on the deck or in the lounge. While nowhere near a “wow” this is a very solid wine and for the price is hard to beat. I am not sure this wine will improve greatly upon cellaring though without a doubt it will change a little. With the low cos it would not be a bad dollar or two to put a few bottles at the back of your cellar if you have the room and open them in a year or four. You should be pleasantly surprised. It is a drink now or keep for 2 to 5 years.
With some though and bearing this wine merits an 85.
Mrs.CWG was out on business so she has no opinion at this time!
Nothing much to report here, weather is tremendous with it peaking around 26 degrees Celsius today so it was determined to be mint julep on the terrace time. That means no wine reviews today though I have to say that Bombay Sapphire gin truly is my favorite gin.
Tomorrow I will post a blurb on stemware and I think I will decant a 2002 Cab Sauv by Château des Charmes and give feedback!
Mrs.CWG is enjoying her Mint Julep, I think I made the right decision tonight…
Anyone who knows the CWG knows that I have a great love for Bordeaux wines. Not sure when it occurred but somewhere in my upbringing I felt that to be a red wine of stature the wine had to be from the Bordeaux region of France. Obviously that is not the case, but the region still provides brilliant wines, year in year out (though some may argue the early 90s should be excluded from that statement). Maybe one of the things I love best about Reds from this region is you can find some real gems for decent prices. While some may be out buying into Bordeaux futures (I will explain the concept some other time) or plunk down obscene money for a bottle from a first growth, I am content with trying to find an excellent producer that will give a nice complex wine with a lovely touch and finish. I am sure those that return to read this blog will see a consistent smattering of Bordeaux’s, for this I will not excuse myself!!
On to the wine, Chateau de Seguin is a vineyard just slightly ease of the city of Bordeaux in the Entre-Deux-Mers region (see map below). Seguin produces a solid Bordeaux-Supérieur that comes in, even at a frugal person’s budget, quite reasonably (I think it was in the 16 to 18$ range if memory serves me correct). The wine itself can probably sit for 3 to 6 more years to mature but as I bought two bottles there was no reason to wait on one of them. Opening the wine revealed a lovely hint of black cherry. The wine ended up being smooth with distinctive aromas of cherry, raspberry and a solid hint of oak (not surprising). The wine was surprising robust and pleasantly chewy, something I was not expecting for the price and the youth. This wine will be a nice compliment to a spicy meal or nice steak, maybe with a nice mushroom sauce.
Solid wine, it gets an 86.
Mrs.CWG says
“very smooth”
Our first Canadian wine to be reviewed. This bottle was plucked from the cellar after having been one of the monthly wines offered up by the Peller Estates “Wine Country at Home” Membership. The 2002 is ready to drink now, but will also see some changing if you let it sit for another year or two. The wine has notes of spice with a hint of Vanilla. While it is an enjoyable wine, I found that I was slightly disappointed in it. Understanding that this is not Peller Estates high end (the Private Reserve line is below the Andrew Peller Signature Series), still for a price of $20+ a bottle I expect a bit more complexity and depth. Maybe it is my expectations of a Cabernet Sauvignon but I wanted more “oomphf” then this delivered. Was still enjoyable, it was wine after all!
I will back track though, this wine will be very tasty with a medium spiced red sauce pasta, a bbq pork chop or a striploin (maybe reduce some Cabernet with some mushrooms for a nice sauce. Do not shy away from this if you like even keeled red that will be smooth from start to finish.
After some good thought I feel this wine warrants an 82 on the ratings scale.
Mrs.CWG says
“enjoyed it”
Let’s start with this little wine from Gard in the Languedoc Roussillon region of France. For those not familiar with the region, the city of Nîmes is the largest city in the department (Regions are broken down into departments) and the area finds itself just slightly north and west of the famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This little gem was recently release in Ontario in the vintages section of the LCBO. The wine is a blend of Grenache and Syrah in equal proportions and despite being only an ’04 is ready to drink now. The 2004 vintage for the middle/northern Rhône is proving to be much better then previous believed. This wine in question is well balanced, fruity and is a nice compliment. I will add better more complex tasting notes in the future going forward, for now this will have to do! Figure on this being excellent with a mild-medium seasoned pork tenderloin, chops, or good roasted/grilled chicken. Excellent for those trying to avoid a complex oaky Bordeaux style blend.
To get the rating system underway, I want to use a % scale, with 100 being out of this world amazing, 70 being absolute plonk (anything under would be used as paint thinner), and everything else in between based on how the wine works for me, it’s cost/value and the intangibles that I could only explain to you in a drunken stuper while talking towards one of you potted plants!
This gets an 86
Mrs.CWG says
“nice wine I’d have again”
Exchange Rates and the Ugly Facts
I try not to blog about politics or anything close to, but this is something a great many Canadians are getting affected by and either are choosing to be silent or simply have not gotten any support from their elected officials.
Okay so you ask “CWG what are you talking about?”
I am talking about the fact that over the past 3 years the Canadian dollar has continued to gain strength compared to the US dollar but yet prices have not shown the same volatility, usually in the vendor’s favour.
Before we get into it anymore, let me state a few facts (to see where you can find the rate changes go here):
02 Jun 2003 0.73 US dollars
02 Jun 2004 0.73 US dollars
02 Jun 2005 0.80 US dollars
02 Jun 2006 0.91 US dollars
02 Jun 2007 0.94 US dollars
As you can see over the past 5 years the Canadian dollar has steadily risen in comparison to the US dollar, and despite this rise Canadians are still paying prices based on exchange rates of 5 years ago for most products, INCLUDING WINE!! What it means to the average Canadian is, despite the fact that importers (be it the LCBO, Automobiles, Computer products) are able to buy more with the same Canadian dollar (or buy the same product for less money) the cost savings is not being passed on to the consumer. Shall we look at some examples?
We will start with big ticket items, cars:
Domestic: we will pull out a vehicle that we can choose the exact same options, for this I chose the Chevy Corvette Z06 fixed roof (CDN site, US site), prices pre-options: Canadian $90,485 MSRP and US $70,000.00 MSRP. This is for a Buffalo NY zip code, which puts the “real” exchange rate at around 0.77 not the 0.94 that it currently is. In even terms it means that a Canadian buying their Corvette in St Catherines instead of in Buffalo pays $16,000 real dollars more for the same car.
Foreign: for this example we will choose the BMW M5 sedan, US site and Canadian site for your references. The MSRP in Canada is $113,300 and in the US is $82,500. This equates out to a “real” exchange rate of 0.73 or an out of pocket difference of $25,534.
Without a doubt this has been going on for years as even the Toronto Star had an article on it in their weekend Automotive section a year or so ago. Let’s take the exchange rate for something as simple as wine. For this exercise I choose wine.com (shipping to NY state) and the LCBO prices.
Australian: Wolf Blass 2004 Gold Label Shiraz; wine.com: $19.99, LCBO: $30.85, “real” exchange rate of 0.65, out of pocket $9.68
Californian: Beringer 2002 Knights Valley Alluvium Red; wine.com: $27.99, LCBO: $50.15, “real” exchange rate of 0.56, out of pocket $20.37
Bordeaux: Christian Moueix 2003 Merlot; wine.com: $10.79, LCBO: $15.95, “real” exchange rate of 0.67, out of pocket $4.47.
What does all this mean? It means that until a public stink is made retailers will continue to fleece the average Canadian consumer over what amounts to large amounts of money. Think this is important to you? Pass on this blog and/or share the information, until then try not to think of the extra money you are paying.
Cheers