47 posts tagged “foodie”

The food was excellent (roast pig...I bet it was local)) and was even better than last year. Congratulations on a job well done.

How does one get invited to these events. Simple….go to the winery and sign their guest book. You will get on their emailing list and be kept abreast of what is happening. Buy some wine and become friends. What you will get back will be amazing. I have learned so much about wine….taken into the vineyard, eaten wine grapes (not what you would think...they aren’t eating grapes), and getting barrel tastings... really cool.

So when you venture out to a vineyard, you should remember some basic rules.

1)the tasting bar is not a bar. It allows you to try the product so that you can buy what you like. Please respect the server and don’t act like the tool from Sideways who says “hit me”. The tastings are just that. I have witnessed someone doing this heinous act and the server was not impressed. You are there to sample the product, not get drunk

2) If you go in a group call ahead. Many wineries are very small and need warning to prepare. You can wipe out their glassware and really overwhelm them. Basically any more than 6 people requires warning. A bonus for a call is that they may do something special for our group or give you our own wine guide.

3)Remember that many wineries are at their home. Treat the area with respect. Drive slow, park nicely and don’t run over the family pet or child.

4)Buy some wine...they like that

5)Don’t act like you are an expert. Don’t claim to know the winemaker when you don’t. You may be talking to the winemaker….you will look like a tool.

6)Forget the “I only drink wines from Napa” mentality….the local wineries are very proud of their product and “may let you have it” if you give them attitude…..try something new, talk to them with respect. Most of the people I get samples from are very knowledgeable, know more about wine than me, probably own the place and aren’t a $10/hr clerk. 

7)Have fun!!!

What was it? A Muscedere 05 Canadian Oaked Chardonnay. Was Bacchus speaking to me? Well since they refuse to bottle the new Chardonnay, I will review this one again.

This wine, was the subject of a top secret review last year. I managed to obtain (or steal) a lickbo sample. Not final production but oh so nice. This one was a production sample.

Music tonight is Joe Jackson ‘Two Rainy Nights'. Its a live album from 2002 and is wonderful.

Dinner was Berkshire pork chops grilled with a wee bit of herbes de provence, new potatoes smashed with alot of butter and rosemary and fresh local corn. Pork from Wheatly, corn from down the street, and potatoes from Murray’s (also down the street). Local is good. My god, an Essex County meal….I wasn’t trying btw.

Now the wine:

A wonderful straw/gold color. Very inviting. The wine just hangs on the glass then falls in nice rivulets…..a good sign.

So far so good but how does it smell? You smell the oak for sure but it is nice and soft, then vanilla and pears, apples so nice. I could just smell it all night.

The mouth feel is wonderful, thick soft...it just feels good. I get the oak, but apples on the after taste. Butter, lot of butter oh this is nice. There is a little acid (good). A bit of mineral on the finish and a nice warmth of the alcohol. A wonderful wine.

This wine just makes me happy. The last time I had it I was powerless (merci enwin) and drinking it in the rain. This is much better.

With the food it held up very well. It mated with the pork and brought out its best attributes. Very enjoyable. Terry thinks the new one couldn’t have done as well, but how can I be sure as the new isn’t bottled yet!

Well this one is sold out, but Bacchus has had his way. E-mail Fabio and beg him to bottle the new one...offer to help bottle it too!!!...Terry did... as it is very good and needs to be enjoyed and if you have some of this 05 try it and enjoy.

Wine of choice is a beauty...a 2003 Gewurtztraminer but its Grand Cru Schoenenbourg. This my friends is a great bottle of wine. It’s from Huniwihr so it has a pedigree. Bloody hell it is a Grand Cru so it should be good.

My great grandfather was from Alsace, and I guess he was one step ahead of the Prussians during the Franco Prussian War. Off to Montreal then Toledo then to Windsor. My Grandmother..Maude Henrietta LaPlante..married one Orville Small. She was a firecracker who taught me alot about food, getting thru tough times and general stuff a Grandmother is for. Funny, she couldn’t cook but knew how to get fresh good produce. Going to the market with her was a trip.

Music is/was Alison Krause. One was her latest solo album and now is her album with Robert Plant (ex of Led Zepplin). Really good music. I usually cannot stand country but this stuff is really excellent.

Dinner was grilled salmon steaks with some grilled polenta with a mozzarella topping. All in all not bad.

The wine is wonderful. It takes me to a wonderful place. It makes me see visions of a young Sophia Loren stomping grapes in a classic vineyard. Ok off by miles, and a few countries, but the visual is great.

Visually, the wine is light gold, sparkly and just beautiful. Legs, this wine has legs like Condi Rice..just beautiful. The seem to go on forever.

The nose exudes a class sweetness, with all the tropical fruit you can handle. I get some petrol and wet stone. Wonderful, complex and just wow!!!!

The taste is out of this world. Round sweet and good. Though sweet, there is a nice balance of acid and a wee dollop of alcohol...13.5%..this is no lightweight. Ever once in a while I get the elusive petrol, but I think the exotic fruit and spice is much better.

With food this is a winner. Sweet with food...Yes sir!!! It has a great balance of acid and it managed to fight off and clear the salmon oil. It has unctuousness and just works so well with food. Man this is good!!!

This wine goes with my idea that the French still make the best wine in the world and if they avoid the fruit forward onslaught we will all have better lives.

But, even so, we made a nice meal. Roast duck, a personal favourite, mashed potatoes and stuffing. What more could you want, Not only do you get a nice meal, you get duck fat. I realize that the Jewish kitchen revolves around shmaltz (chicken fat), but I just think the French have got this nailed.

The music started with Robert Plant and Alison Krause. A wonderful album. Now, Allison is from Union Station which is a Bluegrass band and Robert is from Led Zeppelin. Don’t let that fool you as Zepp always had an appreciation of music and wasn’t a run of the mill metal band and she is a wonderful artist. The album is a jewell. After that we went to Michele Petrucciani, Live at the Village Vanguard. He was an exceptional pianist whom I had the honor of seeing man years ago. He was simply wonderful.

The wine….(ooops I forgot again) was Malivoire Pinot Noir. I just love their wine and a stop at the winery is a must when I am in Niagara. We actually invited the staff to come down for the Wine Fest and I bet the will. They are really cool.

This wine is wonderful. The aroma is not overwhelming but what there is is wonderful. Nothing stands out but we knew it was good,

The taste is similar. No outstanding element but boy is it good, This is what good wine should taste like. Very subtle and good. I just wish alot of winemakers would go there and see what they do. It is just soooo right. With the duck it just went with it. Didn’t overpower, didn’t make anything else but sooo nice.

I just wish I had more. Probably there is more around but I just became one with this wine.

What is really cool as it reminds me of Sprucewood’s Pinot, so we opened some. More alcohol on the nose, lighter and not as complex, but still good. This is a complement by the way as the Maliviore is way more expensive. I just love this wine and as usual they have Hit It right.

BTW Malivoire doesn’t make BIG WINE..the use gravity feeds and make good wine mainly white but this Pinot is just their best and one of the best I have had.

Anyone who regularly reads this knows that I am enamored with Alsatian wines. Give me a Pinot Blanc, a Gewurtztraminer , or a Riesling and I am happy.

This wine is from my secret store, a 2004 Reserve Gewurtztraminer from Huniwihr. Funny isn’t it, that this is French wine when everything about it is rather Germanic. Well Alsace is on the Rhine and it did change hands a few times. WW1 it was German. WW2 it was French. Wonder how the old legion halls were on a Saturday night. It could have been fun.

Music is Mel Torme and George Shearing, Top Drawer. These two made several excellent albums and the quality is wonderful. I have the house to myself so its nice.

Food was trout, just pan fried in butter and rice. Very simple.

The Wine

The aroma reminds me of a tropical garden. All kinds of exotic fruit and spice..very nice and polite. This is not an in your face wine.

Colour is a nice golden and this wine is a wee bit thick but very nice.

The taste is wonderful. It is round, thick and unctuous. The wine engulfs the tongue and just grows. First hit is fruit then a spice kick at the end. This is a finely crafted wine. The taste lingers like a good red and just greets you. I taste all kinds of eastern fruits, like lichees and kiwis (mumsy likes kiwis, so that was about the only fruit we got..not quite true btw) 

With the food it just went so well. The wine just cut thru the trout and engulfed it like it should. Similar to the Malivoire Pinot Noir, there isn’t a stand out point, it’s just good.

To me this is similar to really good stereo equipment. When its really good you just don’t notice it there but you enjoy the music. This wine doesn’t shout it just does it’s thing. Very unassuming but good.

I suggest that any fellow Gewurtz junkie venture to get a good bottle at vintages. It may set you back a few quid but it will set up your taste buds and calibrate them. Oh yes you will enjoy it.

The local wine that is similar? Tr a Mastronardi or a Pelee Reserve. I think the Mastronardi is closer in philosophy...yes I really like that wine too!!

We decided to have our 2^nd challenge. If you look back, we tried several Italian reds and were pleasantly surprised. It was amazing to see the quality available in the sub $8 range. After aeration, these reds gave a good showing for themselves.

This challenge is for the white lover. A wine that I certainly love and one I find surprisingly versatile. Gewurztraminer is the wine of choice. From Alsace this wine is luscious, round, spicy and fruity. Food friendly and a wonderful wine on its own.

Test procedure: several potential wines were chosen the day previous and placed in the same shelf of my wine fridge. This allowed a randomness in wine chosen (by our guest  panelists) and avoided any predisposition from myself to choose specific wines in specific order to alter outcomes. Wine glasses were standard white wine glasses...nothing special. 

A control wine was chosen….ie: one which I have known very well and is thought a good sample from the real region. In this case we used Pierre Sparr rather than my ‘ringer’ as two participants do not like my ringer….I just don’t get it but it may be used in part 2. 

Food started with an antipasti platter, then dinner. Dinner consisted of veal rolls stuffed with artichokes braised in red wine and tomato sauce, boiled baby potatoes and a cabbage pie. Dessert was creme brule with blueberries.

Guest testers were Tom and Carolyn. The had just gotten home from skiing after Chicago and seeing the Spice Girls...they claim that they only took their girls and they went to dinner….yeah right!!!! So when they arrived I slapped in a cd of Spice girl music we had downloaded and had Bend it like Beckham on the tv ( sir david and posh make a cameo at the end). Well, Tom disappointed us as he didn’t wear his Posh t-shirt...oh btw we survived all 3 songs. Better music was played thru the night.

Wine #1: Angel’s Gate     It’s from the Bench in Niagara. The winery is simply beautiful. You can see the lake and the vines go down the escarpment. This would imply that the wine has a great chance to be good due to the slopes….like Alsace.

RESULTS: it appears that the nose was well liked by all, but the wine really did not impress. Comments range from: pedestrian to ‘would not buy’.  This is not a good start and I was really disappointed as I always liked this winery.

Wine #2 Niagara Teaching College Well the college is somewhere in Niagara on the Lake, but don’t ask as I got really lost getting there (is that something different LOL!). I was really impressed with the enthusiasm of the students and they were so proud of their work.

RESULTS: The nose was very aromatic. Everyone commented on that. The mouth feel was nicer and it was very fruity slightly light but all liked it. This one is a keeper. The difference between this one and the first was dramatic. This simply is a much better bottle of wine(ok my imput).

Wine #3 Pierre Sparr This is the control wine. From Alsace, it should be the real thing. It is not expensive and I really enjoy this wine. Peppery, fruity, just a good bottle.

RESULTS: All liked it, yet one person preferred the Niagara College wine. 3 of 4 had very positive things to say. Fruit aroma, light taste, tangy, refreshing, mild were the comments. As expected it was well liked. It was assumed to be sweet but it really isn’t. Very well liked.

Wine #4 Mastronardi A favourite of mine. Made down the road across from Colosanti in Ruthven. I find that they make great wine. So the first local wine was making me be very anxious as I wanted it to do well.

RESULTS: All agreed that the nose was wonderful…..floral aromatic ...very nice. One noted that it would be great with spicy( food which is what Gewurtz is acclaimed for) so they ‘hit it’. Another noted that it should have been the dinner wine. Light, floral, clear et someone noted Big Bold so there is personal taste. 

Simply a wonderful wine.  

Wine #5 Pelee Island Reserve This is from the good line at Pelee. If you buy Pelee Island I suggest this range as it is much better than the lower lines. 

RESULTS: Well the results by now may be not as good as early ones but this wine was also universally liked. Aromatic perfumey nose, fruit taste. Results were consistent that the taste was very good and fruity. A well liked wine and after the rave comments for the Mastronardi this wine was well liked therefore it is very good. Being available in the licbo is also a plus.

OVERALL: It appears that the favorites were Niagara College and Mastronardi. Terry loved the College, and our guests were more for the Mastonardi.

What can I say…...I was disappointed with the Angel’s Gate, really liked the Niagara College and always liked the Mastronardi. Can I pick a winner????? Well, I would happily drink Mastronardi ever day, its that good…...but I like Pierre Sparr too and the College and Pelee…...I am so conflicted.

So here are my personnel rankings: 

A+   Mastronardi

A Niagara College, Pierre Sparr (an old friend)

A- Pelee Island Reserve

B- Angel’s Gate

Round 2 is forthcoming and I will use my ‘ringer’ with Mastronardi against the Harrow wines with Smith and Wilson and some more Niagaras. We have a standing invite to some friends from down the Arner so they now have to come. 

We employed a quick marinade on the chops (herbes de Provence and olive oil (Spanish), then grilled them. We had them with some mashed potatoes salad and bread.

The wine...what can I say was a 2002 Nebbiolo from Ridgepoint. They are located on the bench across the street from Tawse.

The nose is amazing, It is soooooooo different from the usual. I get hints of chocolate and we both got nice leather. It is just so nice.

The flavour is amazing. This is a BIG WINE, a man’s wine (per Terry) and just is so nice. It isn’t fruit forward it is very very dark. I get the classic leather tones and some of the tar I am supposed to get. It basically twinged my tongue but the tannins are there and not attacking me. I really love this wine. 

It was extremely food friendly. The earthy tones of the herbes de Provence (fennel, rosemary etc) just went so well with the dark notes. I felt I was drinking a great wine from the old country.

The winery itself just seems so old world to me. Mauro out back with the kids and the dog, the wife running the store and the sister running the restaurant...just like I would like to believe the old country would be like.

It took me 3 years to get this wine (its always sold out) and I just want to eat at the restaurant. I just see a 1960’s vintage Sophia Loren stomping the grapes...what a vision. Mauro you made one hell of a bottle of wine!!! And I got some left.