Essex County Wine Report

The strawberries are almost done. The quality from Pardoville is not as good as the very local ones, and they are almost gone.

On Canada Day, in Amherstburg, there will be an Ice Cream Fest to help A'burg and the area celebrate the founding of our country.

just have an exam that i'm finding ways to avoid studying for. food and wine dynamics btw.

I'm sorry but I've been at Carousel and saw such goodness. How different cultures can meet and find common ground then I read the Toronto Star. Oi, on the website there was an article on the Leafs draft pick. I just wanted to see whose career was just ruined and then noticed that the article was all about his religion.

OMG! He's a Muslim...can't be....Well he is a CANADIAN KID who plays hockey, probably way better than I ever did. What has this country gone to. Then it goes on to how he may get more Scarboro kids to emulate him and play. Who wrote that crap. The kid is from Montreal btw. Just why do we have to bring religion into sports. Its wrong and shouldn't be there. I don't care what religion my fav player is and only care if he's talented and isn't some evil type off the field.

Hockey will come to our newcomers. Just look at the NHL Punjabi network....cool. I remember when APP told me that one of his co-workers was looking to find a Cdn to teach his son to skate. It just takes time to get them into it.

To the fellow, I apologize for your unfortunate luck to be picked by the Leafs. By all accounts he is a great kid and I wish him all the luck. He'll need it.

This weekend was the middle weekend of Carousel and Terry and I had to go and we had a quest...find the best cabbage roll. Terry makes great cabbage rolls as she was taught by and older Polish woman. Light and flavorful….she has a thing for them.

Well we had a chance as the Eastern Europeans dominated this weekend. If you are from afar Windsor has large Eastern European, Italian and now Chinese and Middle Eastern communities. Originally French, its a change place...and all for the better I think. Where else can you get great kolbassa, Italian sausage, curries and hummus in the same place. Its fun and you learn alot of slang.

First stop was the Serbian Village….cabbage rolls were great...light and spicy. The strudel was great too!!!  Good start.

Next was a stop at the Romanian Village. Now I thought their community was small but the place was packed. They sang their anthem then there was Oh Canada with an accent. It was cool and the fellow knew all the words….I get confused with the new version..oi to be outdone b an immigrant. Thats cool.

Cabbage rolls really good. Light  with just the right amount od rice..May be the one and the little sausage things were to die for...it was hot and the parking lot was filled with people. The all wanted to see when the other came over..now this was in English...little else was..

Next was Slovenia. We were too stuffed to eat and no cabbage rolls but the dancers were on and the little kids were so cute...a keeper.

Then to Serbia 2. They have 2 official sites and well we met some friends there. As usual Sam and his family showed their usual generosity offering us up some lamb and sausages. Pork and the his mum cam with a strudel et all platter oi...very good. Thanks Sam

Then to the Polish Village and well it was a cluster bleep. My beer order was messed up to the point I didn’t care, then 20 to get food. Now my Polish friends are all PhD types so they should organize it better. But the dancers made up for it very very well done.

Final stop was the Hungarian Village. I was waiting for this. I wanted real strudel and Tokaji. Neither was there..damn..but I got some pear liqueur (aka motor oil) and cabbage rolls. They were to die for...light tasty and yes the best for the day...Our undisputed champion of Windsor.

But look across the street. Legion Branch 143...my Legion..it moved and I lost where...now I know and I got to see my old neighbor’s mother..cool..got to go back.They have a great wall of Honor...wonder if they would take the picture of Chuck (my dad) and his buddy in Holland in their picnic table tent (an upside down table with a blanket….Cabellos wasn’t around in ’45.

Well next week is Scotland, Germany and Greek. Well no food at Scotland (well there is btw) but I hope me mum wont try to pick up the pipers again. I think she’s a cougar.

Till then  tootles

I am going to talk about another fine summer wine that I really think is under-rated, (therefore, cheap) and is very versatile.

That wine is Rose. Oh, I know; its crap....well no grasshopper, trust Fat Master Po. Rose can be made many ways but they basically involve limiting the skin contact with wine.

The best ones are made from the bleeding of the raw wine thus concentrating the red wine and resulting in a real wine that simply is lighter in colour. It will have great taste and the ability to mate with a wide variety of foods.

Now almost every winery down here makes them and the are all different. There is Baco Noir, Cabernet Franc, was Pinot Noir, and some of unknown origin. Thats ok to me because the concept is fun happy wine and not a snobby one.

Mate it with sausage, burgers, tomato based dishes and all kinds of fun stuff. Remember it is red wine based so think red wine food...but on the lighter side. South of France, Spain and Portugal all do Rose, so look that way, Grilled fish, bbq, shrimp all work well along with appies on the deck.

Basically if you eat it on the deck, Rose will work. Its fun and always can be drank on it own.

I suggest you get a few and try them. Ma I suggest the Baco from Aleksander, Summer Sun from Erie Shores and Sprucewood's. I like all of them but those are a good start. Heck, try em all and enjoy the summer. Terry and I will.

Tootles

email me at essex_wine_report@yahoo.ca if you want to comment and not join

Well it looks like summer has settled in. LeMans finished this morning and was great. The French must be happy as Peugeot won. This was Audi v Peugeot, diesel v diesel and just great racing. Hockey is over, congrats to Pittsburgh and well next year will be revenge.

But as we begin to eat lighter and maybe some more local fish and shrimp and seafood, let me give you my secret summer weapon....Vinho Verde. What you say, this isn't local, its priced well and gee, its from Portugal. Yes to all above. But have it with perch and you will see it my way. Its just a natural complement.

The wine is “green”, very young, alot of acid and some bubbles. The very slight carbonation is from the acid.

Why is this good? Well the acid just rips thru fat and cleans your pallet. You fry perch and the grease just gets cut thru and the bright green apple/citrus taste just goes with the fish naturally. Have it with shrimp and then you will see.

It goes happy on the deck and guess what it is dirt cheap. Buy the cheap, general list ones at the lickbo. Avoid the Vintages stock and pay less than $10. The are just so good.

I know that Pinot Grigio will do the same thing but I just like the Vinho Verde better. So here is my choice with shrimp marinated in Limoncello and oregano then grilled....yummy

tootles

Local peas are out and were very very yummy!!!!

The local strawberries are out and Terry and I got the first Saturday and now they are starting to fall a little in price. The taste...oh the taste. Forget imports and chow down on the local ones. The locals say that the season will be short, but they are really good.

Its Sunday afternoon and another lovely day. The bees are out again and those industrious little guys are having a field day in our raspberry patch.

Well, yesterday Terry and I missed another Dionysis at Mastronardi. It always seems to fall at the wrong time. I really had to get the back door finished on my house and its been a bear. Whoever buys it is getting much better than I had. I always wondered why there was a gale in my kitchen and when I opened up the door I found out why. Oi! what a mess...actually the wall grows ~ 1.5 inches across the door. I guess that is why I had “issues” with getting locks to work. Fixed now BTW.

So we decided to have lamb for dinner. What wine??? We started with the Mastronardi Meritage (which is drinking wonderfully now) then decided to have a Syrah for dinner.

Syrah is the wonderful Southern French grape that originates in the Rhone Valley. There it is spicy, tasty and has all those great leathery flavours I love. With rosemary and lavender growing all around it takes those notes making it great with lamb.

Now, our Aussie cousins call it Shiraz, as the grape is thought to have originated in Persia. But there with the heat it is a totally different animal. Big, fruit forward and high alcohol. Fun, yes, and in its best wonderful, but in a pedestrian form jammy and manipulated.

Here, it really shouldn't grow but it does and oi, it is good. So here, a cool climate area we make very good Syrah which is a warm climate grape. Its weird but it works.

No music tonight as the Wings were on. Little Vladimir, my terrier, used to take hockey very seriously and knew when Detroit scored. Well, when he started watching the game, the Wings dominated.

The wine was from Smith and Wilson. A wonderful place just outside Blenheim and we always try to get to.

So lets look at their Syrah:

Visual: this wine is very dark coloured and does it have legs. The wine is beautiful in the glass and inviting.

Aroma: the aroma is very complex with loads of secondary aromas ( oak, leather, dirt, spices). I smell my old ball glove. Then there is some deep fruit and spice. This smells wonderful.

Taste: the taste mirrors the smell. Complex and beautiful. The oaky, leather is there with some really dark fruit. The finish is sooooooo long, I just love it. The tannins are there along with a good dose of acid for backbone. This is a well made wine. The jamminess that I get from Aussie wine is hinted too but thats it. It gives some velvet but its not objectionable.

With the lamb (grilled with Herbes de Jim....kinda like Herbes de Provence except from my garden) went perfectly with the wine. The herbal tones came out and the secondary tastes from the Syrah mingled beautifully with the herbes and spice. It was heavenly.

This Syrah is a beaut and a value at the price. I recommend it heartily and its on my “just can't do it here” rebuttal list. Along with the Muscedere and the Aleksander, these wines just show what we can do, even with a grape that shouldn't grow here.

Tootles

email me at essex_wine_report@yahoo.ca if you want to comment and not join