niagara is coming

This Wednesday Savvy Company is hosting a tasting of wines from Niagara-on-the-Lake: 52 New Wines From One Unforgettable Place. I'm going, and I'm excited, so I wandered over to their website this morning to see who would be featured. The fine people at Savvy are always working to bring a diversity of Ontario wines to Ottawa, so there is a nice mix at this tasting of some of the smaller and some of the bigger estates.

Here's what I'm particularly excited about.

Maleta Estate Winery: is a very small operation that mostly sells off the vineyard, so this is the next best thing to travelling to Niagara. Last year we picked up a bottle of the Old Vines Dry Sparkling; it was very good. And the rosè is incredibly interesting: there's a roasted red pepper quality to it that's unique. I'm hoping to try some more.

Coyote's Run Estate Winery: for some of my favourite whites.

Niagara Teaching Winery: always has something interesting; they are one of a few wineries experimenting with Canadian oak.

Southbrook Vineyards: Ontario's biodynamic winery; need I say more?

Colaneri Estate Winery: is new, and offering impressive wines for such early vintages; I tasted a few at the Ottawa Wine and Food show.

And a few places I haven't tasted yet: Stonechurch; Riverview; Pondview.

Hey, it's a Wednesday night, everyone should be drinking wine on a Wednesday evening. I know I will be.

from the big nickel to a big white

It's been a long weekend and a short week. Usually that's a good thing, but this week it feels like I'm still running to catch up.

Last Friday we took a car ride to Sudbury. Then we took a car ride to Toronto. And a few days later, when we finally got out of the car in Ottawa, I was tired. I've been drinking Jack's homemade Chardonnay for two days because I'm too lazy to go to the liquor store. Which is perhaps fitting since our trip to Sudbury was the last one with Jack. We've brought him to his birthplace, and on what felt like the first day of summer, left him in good company.

We stocked up on cheese in Toronto, sat out on Joe and Laurie's porch with the grill going and lots of cold rosé and white wines. I had forgotten how much I love grilled asparagus. Oh that it was asparagus season for more than a blink of an eye each year. And there's nothing better than cold white wine on a warm day.

My friend, Amina, unscrewed this big beauty and I was surprised to find a lovely, fruity, crisp and refreshing, simple, but great for a backyard party glass of wine - especially given its size. If you can't make out the bottle in that dark photo, it's a Hillebrand Artist Series Unoaked Chardonnay - 1500ml for $15.95.

Now, I think I'm going to go and make a cake, I need to make friends with my kitchen again.

a cab and a boar

I should tell you about the boar first. The Parkdale Market, which is just down the street from our house, opened on May 1st. I wondered last year when they were re-paving and putting up new, shiny metal stalls with clean white canopies what was happening. The Market has expanded, a little, and there is a new indoor space called The Fieldhouse. Eggs, produce, meat, prepared foods, all kinds of local goodness is on the shelves. I picked up a wild boar roast and made a ragu.

The Cabernet Franc is a little bottle that I bought last summer when we were having a trip around Niagara. It's from Frogpond Farm Winery and, as you can see from the label, organic. Frogpond was one of my favourite stops on the trip. The winery is a small operation with a big red barn, a few goats, a dog; my idea of a perfect-looking vineyard.

My memory of this wine is that it was a little acerbic when I tried it in the tasting room at the vineyard. I flipped through my book and checked my notes from that time and sure enough I wrote down things like green, tart fruit, raspy tannins. When I tasted it last night though, it seemed much better than all that. I actually wrote half a page of notes with words like elegant, floral, dark fruit, soft tannins, balanced. Perhaps it just needed the few months of resting in my cellar to bring out all the good stuff. Perhaps it was too early in the morning when I first tried it (I've been thinking a lot lately about how my approach to a wine can vary depending upon when and where I am when tasting). Either way, it was a lovely glass of Ontario Cabernet Franc in my glass last night, and it went perfectly with that slightly gamey meat sauce on noodles.

it's not a secret

I was planning on telling you about this a little closer to June 1st, but I just realized that this is the last day for a discounted rate if you want to register for this event, so I should stop keeping it to myself.

Savvy Company is hosting 52 New Wines from One Unforgettable Place featuring newly released wines from 26 Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries. If you are like me, always happy to taste some local vino, then you might want to check it out.

big

This is for those of you who like something big in your glass.

Rich aromas of banana, coconut, butter and caramel permeate the nose, with a hint of lemon lingering in the background. This is a full-bodied drink balanced out by some crisp acidity and a fairly long, round, spicy finish.

I tried this once, at my study group last week, and wasn't sure how I felt about it. I think the bottle was a little too warm; I think I was a little tired that night, and I think I was being a little quick to judge the wine - this plush style of Chardonnay isn't my favourite. Then I tried it again, in class yesterday, and felt myself making a tenacious friendship with it. It was nicely chilled. I wasn't trying it right after a crisp, light sparkling wine, and maybe I was just feeling a little more open-minded yesterday. So, if you like this style of Chardonnay, this is a well-made, balanced wine that isn't overwhelming. Oh, and it's organic, so that means guilt-free drinking (not that we ever need to feel guilty, but every little bit helps).

an old fashioned kind of weekend

Dave's been in the kitchen again, with the cocktail shaker.

It's going to be an old fashioned kind of weekend at our house. Except that I'm not bringing him his slippers, or the paper at the end of the work day today. And he's the one greeting me at the door with this cocktail. But I'll probably be doing the cooking while he 'works' in his office tomorrow.

Old Fashioned
-recipe tweaked a little, from the LCBO
2 tsp sugar
3 dashes Angostura bitters
1 strip lemon zest
1 orange slice
--mash that up a little
lots of ice
2 oz whiskey or bourbon
top up with a little soda, if desired (we put a teeeny bit of Perrier)

That's Dave's lovely picture of boozy goodness. Check out his blog, GraphicPathic, you might see something you like.

In other news, wine shopping just got a whole lot easier. Natalie MacLean has launched a new app for your iPhone. Here's what you get: instantly access tasting notes, scores, prices, recipes; search 150,000 wines at the LCBO and other liquor stores; find out how many bottles are in stock of each wine at the LCBO you’re in as well as nearby stores via GPS real-time inventory search; track your purchases in your virtual cellar with just a few clicks; create a wine journal with your own wine notes and pictures; share your wines and pairings on Twitter and Facebook. Here's the download for it. And if you have a BlackBerry you can access the app here.

sharing

This is the wine that Randall Grahm made that Grayson shared with Kate, that Kate shared with me, that I'm sharing with you, that I drank too much of the other night, that I wish I now had more of today.

If you've never had a Bonny Doon wine, then it is time to try one. Randall Grahm is the original Rhone Ranger (winemakers in California, in the 80s, who took up planting Rhone varieties: Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne). His wines have a bit of a cult following, and you'll see from his website that he's an interesting character: passionate about wine to say the least. 

This bottle is mostly Carignan blended with some Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah. From old vine fruit (which means that the vine produces less but more flavourful fruit) it's a deep wine with stewed fruit, vanilla, sweet spice and a big warm kick. We were nibbling on cheese, paté and potato chips and the mild tannins, ripe fruit, and just enough acid made it pair up well with all of the above.

Sorry, this is another one of those: only at Play Food and Wine bottles. It's part of the good luck I have to be close to someone who works there. But if you go, I'm sure they'll be more than happy to share it with you.

Word: Carignan is a Spanish grape that is sometimes called Cariñena or Mazuelo. It grows all through the Mediterranean, and there's a little in South America - anywhere the climate is warm enough to ripen the fruit. It takes a skilled hand to make really good wine from Carignan as it is high in acid and tannin. Blending with softer grapes is not uncommon.

australia's first families of wine

I went to a tasting of Australian wines the other day. I was very forgetful and left my camera at home. I almost made the trek back home to get it, but it was just so cold. I couldn't make myself do it. Instead I drew this picture so you could get a very clear idea of what the tasting looked like. It's quite accurate actually. I don't know why I bother to carry my camera around with me, really.

We gathered at the Chateau Laurier and I was lucky enough to sit with Nita, Randy Fitzpatrick, who was one of my instructors at Algonquin, Bethany Harpur of Second Ferment, and Natalie MacLean. I say lucky because what ensued was bit of wine drinking athletics - it's good to be on a good team (that's us in the top left corner). We had eight minutes per table to meet the winemakers and taste, then a bell rang at which point we had to jump up and switch tables. The tasting was part of Australia's First Families of Wine tour. The twelve families who make up the group are tending some of the oldest vines in Australia; indeed they are all fifth and sixth generation winemakers. This kind of longevity, and stability, is complimented by well thought-out philosophy and the term terroir was bandied about more than once, which means that these wines are made with an expression of place in mind.

All of the wines were very, very good, but a few stood out as being different, or unique.

De Bortoli 2008 Noble One Botrytis Semillon: a luscious, sweet, amber coloured elixir and irresistible. Darren De Bortoli is passionate about Sauternes and set out to create a similar wine. After twenty six vintages, I'd say he's been successful.

McWilliam's Mount Pleasant Estate Florence 2010 Sauvignon Blanc: from the Adelaide hills, this grassy, minty wine has a lingering, crisp presence on the palate.

Tahbilk 2009 Marsanne: with a little body and spice, an interesting, almost silky drink. Tahbilk's holding of Marsanne grapes is the largest, and the oldest in the world.

Yalumba Hand Picked Single Site Swingbridge Vineyard Craneford 2005 Shiraz: this was my favourite red of the day, and it was all enticing at first with sweet, raisin and dark cherry aromas, but then restrained and elegant on the palate with hints of minerality and a long, velvety finish.

Yalumba 2009 Eden Valley Viognier: floral and spicy with apricot fruit, it made me want to rush out, buy a bottle, and try it with some creamy, spicy food.

Henschke Giles Lenswood 2009 Pinot Noir: the Henschke family runs a biodynamic winery and eight minutes was just not enough time. They have both studied winemaking and agriculture, and their attention to detail shows in the wines. Their Pinot Noir was delicate and elegant with light tannins, cherry fruit and a juicy finish.

Whew, and this is what I looked like by the time we were done.

Good thing no one had a camera to get a picture of that.

what's in a vernaccia

I was all set to leave you with some notes on a lovely white wine my study group tried last week, but then I realized that it's a Vintages selection and no longer available. Who wants to hear about something really good that can't be had? Suffice it to say that if you happen to pass by the Italian section in the LCBO one day, and you happen to see a Vernaccia varietal, give it a try. Vernaccia grows in a few different regions of Italy, but the Vernaccia di san Gimignano clone can be found in Tuscany living in the shadow of the more popular Chianti. It's unique with a floral, lemon tea, nutty, peachy kind of aroma. I love Italian whites because they are so versatile; usually medium-bodied with a decent balance of acid, they go well with food, or on their own. You may see one that looks like this.

I'll be back with notes on some fabulous Australian wines that I was privileged to taste yesterday. And I promise, these you will be able to find in the LCBO. It's just that I need to go do some drinking with Kate first.

The weekend is coming.

weekends

Weekends. Those two short days of the week when we get to do what we want. My neighbours ski in the winter and run and hike in the summer. Others of my neighbours spend their time in their garden. My friends Peter and Rachel - who have four, yes FOUR children - wrap their weekends around fun activities for the kids.

I spend my weekends drinking. And eating. That's what I do for fun. Sometimes I'll spend my weekend cleaning up after construction in my house, but that's not for fun. Lately I spend much of my weekends doing homework; that's not for fun either. I don't have kids, and I'm definitely not much of an outdoor enthusiast, unless you count sitting in my lawn chair with a cold glass of rosè, perhaps looking at something inspiring like green fields or a lake. Yup, it's just one big food and booze fest at our house from sunset Friday to sunrise Monday. Don't worry mom, it doesn't get too messy, just a little.

On my very favourite weekends, I get to do this in the company of friends.

Lately we've been getting together, Saturday nights (after all the homework is done), with our friends Cory and Marya over pot-luck appetizers and a variety of drinks - see Rum Swizzle a few posts back. This weekend we decided to hit on a theme: Asian-inspired nibblies. Dave made juicy beef dumplings; Marya brought eggrolls, and I made a little assortment of grilled satay skewers and a roasted tomato dip. Typical wine pairings for Asian food are off-dry Rieslings, Gewurztraminer, and lighter reds such as Beaujolais, or Pinot Noir. We decided to go the sparkling wine route.

How can you resist a 'sociable' bottle of bubbly? It's made in the charmat method, which is how Prosecco is made, so don't expect any deep yeasty, earthy tones. It was more of a floral, citrus, crisp drink with a little of a candied aspect to it. It worked well with the food, but I think I would be tempted to turn it into a cocktail on its own ($13.95).

This was the fun drink of the evening: Chiarli Castelveltro Lambrusco ($9.65), a red sparkler and cheap!  Lambrusco is the name of the grape and the wine, from the north of Italy. Marya thought it seemed floral; Nita was picking up on a sweet characteristic; I found a little crisp berry fruit and a mild bitterness on the finish; Scott liked it better than the white sparkling wines of the evening. If you've ever had a sparkling Shiraz from Australia, well this is much lighter, crisper and fruitier.

Sigh, as I write this on a Monday it feels a long wait until next weekend.