March 29, 2012
Join in Thursday at 2:00 pm ET as I chat online about wine. I will be joined by Ruth Dunley (PostMedia), Rod Phillips (Ottawa Citizen), James Nevison (HALFAGLASS) and Gurvinder Bhatia (Vinomania).
http://www.canada.com/business/Live+Chat+wine+experts/6348994/story.html
We’ll be talking about Easter wines and responding to questions from readers.
Good to go!
March 22, 2012
http://blogs.canada.com/2012/03/27/tawse-for-thought-a-niagara-summer-in-march/
A freakish heat wave smothers Ontario with record temperatures and that does not sit well with Paul Pender. Budding vines followed by frost could spell disaster. “I’ll be looking for a new job” says Pender. Let’s hope not. His first four vintages at Tawse Winery are the stuff of local hero. The wines yet to be bottled from 2010 and 2011 will introduce Mr. Pender to the world.
Paul Pender is a pragmatist. He’s also the most passionate winemaker this side of the 49th. This deadly combination is the proviso towards ensconcing Tawse as the preeminent winery in Ontario. That and the meticulous farming of optimum ripened grapes coddled from top vineyard sites. The land, the fruit and the barrels. Mr. Pender’s Burgundy, Northern Rhône and Bordeaux Right Bank rolled into one dramatic package. He considers himself a farmer above all else and Tawse is on the road to achieving full organic and biodynamic status. Others may fill out forms that declare their outfits “sustainable” but very few practice what they preach.
I spend 90 minutes in the Tawse caves with Moray’s man, tasting through the 2010 and 2011 casks. I emerge energized, head buzzing, like walking out of a Yorkdale movie theatre as a child in 1980 having just watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. To a batch, the reds show concentration, deep colour, balance and structure. Not a weak or merely acceptable one in the lot. No “iffs” here. Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah for the long haul. White grapes are mined with Burgundy in mind. When I look into the eyes of the Chardonnays, the cut, clarity and brilliance shine of Dresden green. Single Vineyard wines, each its own unique organism, testaments to power and finesse.
Chardonnay David’s 2011 coruscates like the glare of a Koon sculpture, lambient and luminous. Searing tang of citrus and green apple. A crime to show so well, Zen in its persistence and long finish. This vintage and this vineyard may unseat Robyn. 93-95
Chardonnay Quarry Road 2011 resides on the mineral, slate and lime side of the tracks. The calcareous quality imparted by its eponymous SV terrior makes it the antithesis of David. Creamy, 24-karat fruit. 91-93
Chardonnay Robyn’s Block 2011 will put another gold record on the wall. Combines the best of both David’s and Quarry’s world. Smacking sapor of melons and pears. Seriously folks, life’s been good to Robyn. 92-94
Cabernet Franc Van Bers 2010 will show that 2010 is the new 1998 for Ontario reds. “Our climate is always workable for early ripening Cab Franc” says Pender, “and when the vintage is right, it’s ideal.” Layers of rich fruit here packed like sardines within a protective bubble of tannin. Should go to 2020 and beyond. 91-93
Merlot David’s 2011 fresh to barrel noses reductive and requires ferocious swirling to aerate and be counted. The wine rebounds so Bob’s your peduncle for this round mound of Merlot. For regular days when you’ve “got some money and a case of wine.” Will drink well in the boat’s cuddy and with grilled ground chuck up on deck. 87-89
Merlot David’s 2010 suffers no stenosis and instead flows as a sanguine and savoury riverine expression. Olives and the smokey whiff of yeasty bread on the grill. Not surprising considering the quality of Pender’s lees so often collected and added back to the next generation’s barrels. 89-91
Syrah Redstone 2011 airs reductive fallacy ad absurdum and so beats it out as a funky drummer. It takes a major swirl to disambiguate the fetor from the fruit but patience is virtuous. A walled Syrah for sure, and mysterious. Opaque, pepper studded trove of treasure peeks out. 88-90
Syrah Redstone 2010 lays bare visually that rarely, if ever, have I seen this kind of colour intensity from Ontario Syrah. Pulp and skin impart an easily identifiable dark sheen of complexion. A mess of lush fruit, meed of the maker. Drink this and “the flutes of the chi will sound again, my friend.” Dangerous. May someday have to be weaned off this one. 91-93
Good to go!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Quince Bistro, 2110 Yonge Street, Toronto
I play the hunger game all day in anticipation of the big night. Eating little, saving myself for what the chef will throw at me. “Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death.” Five courses and 10 wines later the thrill of victory is sweet. Chef Peter Tompkins takes the group on a Mediterranean wanderlust road trip with stops in no less than five European nations. Our leader generously gifts eight of the ten wines from his cellar. All in all, five continents and 10 countries are represented. A theme runs through the lot and the game is on. We speculate on the grapes, the country of origin and the producer.
Canapés
Tarlant Brut Zero NV Champagne races out of the gate, unabashedly revealing all. Brioche, apple skin, lemon meringue and Pomello. She’s easy to like, maybe too easy. “My, my my. Once bitten…twice shy.” 87
Grilled Portuguese Cornbread, chicken liver pâté, pickled apples
Henry of Pelham Cabernet-Merlot 1998 brings the house down. I think it droit de la Gironde. Who would believe a 14-year old Niagara Bordeaux blend and its milk chocolate, oak domination would not only survive but thrive? From Ontario’s long-growing, patio summer. Best tomatoes too. 89
Viña Santa Rita Cabernet Sauvignon Casa Real 1997 may wander off over the Chilean hill yet shows continence in a continent away, IGT way. Soft, curvy, lovely. Where tobacco, spices and rich vanilla once fused fusible fruit, there now exists a quiet calm. Good show though. 88
Crispy Braised Lamb Shoulder, du puy lentils, lamb jus, mint salsa verde
Odem Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 from the folks who bring us Alfasi out of the Golan revelates in its own way. Oz-like in constitution (Margaret River comes to mind), the vernal persistence is admirable. There is a feeling of disjointedness for some. A summons to Israeli wine guy Rogov (86) to taste again and show some new love. 88
Cathedral Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 (328567, $14.95) the non-ringer, South African VINTAGES essential electrifies blind. I reckon oak/fruit bomb Argentine Cab, a la Michel Rolland but wrong again. Alcohol is very present, green mint and eucalyptus dominate and dark chocolate lingers on. Like Lindsay Lohan. 86
Grilled New York Strip Loin, celeriac purée, potato rösti, haricots vert, assorted mushroom sauce
Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1996, the last of Robert’s great wines. Everything changed in 1997 and “…history, like love, is so apt to surround her heroes with an atmosphere of imaginary brightness.” Wex waxes on about “a Tel Aviv Cab” but that roadster was seen flying down Dizengoff in the last flight. This Napicon has reached high tide and is now a pig in shit, cool, uncoiling in the mud. AZ announces he is “hanging up his wine shingles.” We have come to the crossroads of the evening and all is good. 93
Château Léoville Barton 1999 is unequivocably the best value, never mind the vintage, in classified growth Bordeaux that some extra cash can buy. Now I’ve done it! MG notes “lead on the right”, as in the right (wrong) hand side of an Aussie road. Common to the Mondavi, a bretty, farmyardy character no longer dominates as a red hot mama. Now smokey berries and if there was thought of fruit not waiting for tannins to evolve, think again. Will rank with the best of ’99. WOTN for most. 94
Assorted Cheese Plate, toasts and chutney, piave, delice de bourgogne, 5-year aged perron cheddar
Antinori Guado al Tasso 1999 is closed down and phasing dumb. Pencil shavings fill the glass but no fruit, herbs or spices. Sink smell too, metallurgic and iodine. I’ve had the 2000 twice recently and both examples were expressive, blood thirsty Tuscan specimens. Could this ’99 be years behind its window with fruit lurking in mountain shadows? I find myself walking away in high dudgeon. NR
Clarendon Hills Hickinbotham Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 noses funky pork and seafood, gamboge and gammon. Phantom palate of d’Agen plum, prune, fig and raisin. Pitchy black ink, an operatic meteor shower on a moonless sky. MS says “a sipping wine, with cheese, a fireplace and a boar stew.” To me, crazy Mclaren Vale Cabernet, perverse to look at, deadly to consume. 91
Alois Kracher Scheurebe TBA #4 Zwischen den Seen 2004 is dessert all on its own. Fanta orange, quince (of course), marmalade and honey. Lazer acidity by way of AM, sweet and syrupy. Could imagine pouring it on Austrian Palatschinken. 92
Good to go!
March 19, 2012
http://blogs.canada.com/2012/03/19/would-air-canada-serve-these-wines/
Union disputes, factory closures, protests, pilot book-offs, flight delays. Rachel Sa was grounded. Did Air Canada spoil your March break party? More importantly, if you did manage to fly on time, did they pour you stellar wines? Not likely. My March break concluded with a defrosting lake and a growing fort. Also with a little help from friends, family, food, sunshine and of course, fine wine.
Cline Zinfandel Live Oak Vineyard 2000 ($30) was the price I paid through VINTAGES Classics a decade ago. Intuition (and 15.5% alcohol) at the time suggested a lengthy cellar slumber. Good thinking. Heavens to murgatroyd! Ten years on the power of this Zin sets a land mine off in the mouth. Imbued of chewy caliginous thew, berries super concentrated still while tannin and acidity proliferate. Milk Chocolate character acts out the vineyard’s name. Fruit could last at least five more years. 91
Beni di Batasiolo Barola Vigneto Corda della Briccolina 1998 may not be a wine to blow my mind yet there remains enough ro, ro rosey to be the apple in my cherry pie. Faintly herbal, sweet as fiori d’arancio. Expertly evolved tone, sound down low and baked of a colour as if weathered bricks that fashioned the backyard oven. 91
Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2007 (512384, $29.95) posolutely states its case as spokesperson for modern CCR. User-friendly, ruber-rich tree fruit cup runneth over. Chroma of pigeon’s blood corundum. Molto crema; gelato, cassis and anglaise. 89
And the fort is really taking shape.
Good to go!
Friday March 16, 2012
http://blogs.canada.com/2012/03/16/seeing-red-on-a-green-day/
A link to the March 17, 2012 VINTAGES release:
http://www.vintages.com/circular/circ_main.shtml
If only it were just the reds of Spain falling mainly on these VINTAGES pages. Kudos to our very own Friendly Wine Giant David Lawrason for calling out the LCBO by noting that something is amiss in the land of the monopoly. The catalogue does indeed look like a Food and Drink issue, minus Lucy and Nancy’s journalistic integrity. Perhaps it’s the social responsibility stance that drives the heavy food component but this is the business of wine promotion and selling. So the question begs. Who’s penning this plane crash with no survivors? Poor Bob Homme must be rolling in his grave. That said, four big picks for Pattys everywhere.
Bodega del Abad Dom Bueno Crianza 2001 (244699, $14.95) the red is my 2nd Abad reco and Godello abides. My favourite Wine Ponce exclaims “…most $15 wines are not built to last, but this red still has the good stuff.” From Bierzo, a Mencia munificent spice box of aromas and flavours, savoury, herbal, smoothed out by its age. Great IVR* I say. mjg 88
San Filippo Le Lucere Brunello di Montalcino 2006 (146175, $49.95) is the better of the two ISD Brunelli. Suckling (95) calls it “…refined and gorgeous.” Sanderson of WS (93) says “…dense and tannic, with a long spicy finish.” Kyle Phillips-IWR (2 stars) writes “…it’s an austere wine, in a traditional key, and very young.” Biggest shout out comes by way of Jonathan of the Grape Life (97), “…excellent finesse. Balanced fruit, acidity, tannins…rather moreish.” Entrenches me in that recurring dream, the one inside Enotecca La Fortezza, tasting through an endless sea of Brunelli.
St. Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 2009 (535104, $29.95) bests Barossa at this price point and on that limb for matter, anywhere in the land of Oz. From lands Ebenezer, Seppeltsfield and Greenock, receives extended elevage (20 months) in American Oak and shows off like a multi-coloured bruise. A favourite of Aussie writers from Perth to Sydney. RJ (96), JH (96), GW (94), JL (94), KG (93) and Sarah the Wine Detective, “…well-defined and bright, it’s a thoroughly modern Barossa bruiser!”
Other Wines Of Note:
Opus One 2008 (158063, $364.95) is what?
Quintarelli Valpolicella Superiore 2002 (986117, $79.95) price is spot on
Concha Y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (315176, $79.95) tag has burst through the roof. I paid $42 for the 2001!
IVR* – Vintage Direct Intrigue-to-Value Ratio
Good to go!
March 16, 2012
http://blogs.canada.com/2012/03/16/simpsons-inspi…ne-not-so-fast/
VINTAGES ordinarily provides the fermented silage for my rambling raison d’être but to the LCBO’s General List a switch, on a dare. I have been summoned to post a tasting note by canada.com blog colleague Rachel Sa. Her pop culture penchant and Bard’s tongue reel me in to play the game. It may not be Global Thermonuclear War, but I’m on the bus anyway.
Cantina Clavesana D’Oh Dolcetto di Dogliani 2010 (268037, $12.95) of closed nose and real cork is the only one of its General List kind. Bottle’s slogan is “you d’oh something to me.” A Homerian “mmm,” yet no mystic or Rhetorician here. I’m quite certain the Clavesana clan from Piedmont have never heard of Homer, Zohar or even L’ag Ba Omer for that matter. I concur with the pithy plums and cherries noted by local pros Rick VanSickle, “…fun little Italian Dolcetto all dressed up in a clever package” and Tony Aspler (87), “…nicely balanced with a cherry pit finish.” Post Media and Wine Chat colleague Rod Phillips chimes in with, “…very attractive and well-priced dry red.” For my experience, a double-cut, frenched Veal Chop (garlic, lemon, olive oil, Dijon, Worcestershire and light soy) helped soften the edges. Here like Chianti without the Classico, DOC without the necessary “G”. Perhaps pair with Jelly Donuts, Snickers and Gummy Bears. Fizzling finish, as if D’OH wears short shorts. It’s inoffensive, not necessarily plonk but lacks badonk. Wish I could say “where have you been all my life” but must drink less Dolcetto to save family…zzzzzzz. 84
Good to go!
Canada Geese Have Returned to the Lake – March 14, 2012
http://blogs.canada.com/2012/03/14/non-fiction-wines-for-spring-break/
Another personal hermeneutic. Argot befitting the setting. Perfect weather to fly. “Are we part of the plan here?” Elbow up to the bar, eat, drink and be happy.
What’s on your menu this week? Take-out Pizza, maybe even from scratch? Pasta with tin tomatoes, or perhaps smothered in a sauce made from last summer’s canned San Marzanos? The grill fired up on a Spring evening laden with burgers, chicken and steaks? The Smoker filled with ‘Bama Ribs, Brisket or Pork Shoulder? My menu for Spring Break includes Boneless Beef Rib-Eyes cut to 2″, Beef Ribs, Tomato-Lentil Confit, Veal Knuckers, Brisket-Chuck Sliders, Grilled Whole Pink Snapper, Roasted Nova Scotia Cod, Oven Fries, Vine-Ripened Tomato and Beet Salad, Asparagus Gratin and Tuscan Bread Soup. No-nonsense and universally versatile, food-friendly wines will really tie the room together.
Michele Chiarlo ‘Le Orme’ Barbera D’asti Superiore 2009 (265413, $14.95) my old friend, “…step on in and let me shake your hand. So glad that you’re here again.” Felonious only in its unalarming cost, this cruising Piemontese and its waxing, gibbous nose is juicy, sumptuous and buys a dinner thrill. A study in IVR* 101. Luscious, lip-smacking acidity and balance are its calling card. From the VINTAGES March 17, 2012 Release. 88
Domaine Vincent Paris Saint-Joseph 2009 (239053, $24.20) was $28.95 when first released through VINTAGES. Chaste, exemplary, pellucid pulp of Strawberry Syrah. Itchy white pepper proboscis, more Vincent than Jules, true to its namesake proprietor. Logical, reasonable, avoiding intuitive survival. A Royale with cheese. Only 12.1% ABV. On the wine card at Barque. No fiction. 90
IVR* – Vintage Direct Intrigue-to-Value Ratio
Good to go!
Friday March 9, 2012
http://blogs.canada.com/2012/03/09/toronto-life-names-top-10-new-restos/
Since opening in April 2011, the wine card at Barque Smokehouse has been in my charge. Weighed favourably towards VINTAGES releases, the list makes friends with and flatters the meats smoked ’round the clock. The wine program is unique to this city; affordable, accessible and stamped by a carbonic footprint in the sand. Wine outsells both beer and spirits and 15 choices are available by the glass at $10 or less. The same operose research afforded tasting and writing goes into picking wines from the LCBO and through some of our most assiduous and industrious agencies; Barrel Select, Halpern, Lifford, Liquid Art, Profile, Stem, 25Brix and Woodman.
The cover story for yesterday’s release of the April 2012 Issue is “Where to eat Now, Toronto’s Best New Retaurants.” Toronto Life has published this cutting top ten list with Barque listed at number six. Good on you David, Jon and crew. These boys are in, and in for good, so it’s no surprise they are going the whole hog. Not bad to be gracing a list inhabited by Yours Truly, Acadia, Aria, Keriwa, Ortolan, F’amelia, Modus, Volos and Mideastro. Here three deep reds available in the here and now on Barque’s wine list.
H.M Borges Douro Lello 2010 the fortitudinous one was born with a complaint in its voice. Spicy po’boy BBQ feel crossed by electric kool-aid acid, black cherry jello. “New blood joins this earth” as the Unforgiven wooden wolf, opening a door to Portuguese perception. Prune and Aussie licorice concentrate. The Lello says “‘I’m sorry I kicked you in the ass, but I’m not sorry I’m an ass-kicker.” It’s cheap so please forgive. 87
Pietro Marini Malbec 2008 (269045, $13.95) of alpine altitude up Cafayate way searches low and high for that synaesthetic middle ground. A no nose start, awakens, naps and rises again. Notes of smoked allspice, juniper and blueberries come and go. Flavours are faint at first, develop with time, end abruptly, then return and linger. Intriguing and certainly not like your mother’s Mendozan Malbec. It’s “got values but I don’t know how or why.” 87
Kenwood Jack London Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (944843, $34.95) alights with its prominent, perfumed proboscis. A Katherine Hepburn nose in fact, classy, confident, twitching, pretty. Swirl a second time and Texas tea laced cassis persists, with a hint of solder. A multi-coloured and peppered berry interchange tongue lashes the inner cheeks then settles in for a long haul chopper journey. A balanced attack both on ground and in air. Dreamt about under a bed of California Stars. Easy rider. 92
Good to go!
March 8, 2012
Join in today at 2:00 pm ET as I chat online about wine. I will be joined by Ruth Dunley (PostMedia), Rod Phillips (Ottawa Citizen) and James Nevison (HALFAGLASS) .
http://www.canada.com/news/Live+Chat+wine+experts/6242201/story.html
Our topic will be “Dinner Party 101.”
Good to go!
March 1, 2012
Join in today at 2:00 pm ET as I chat online about wine. I will be joined by Ruth Dunley (PostMedia), Rod Phillips (Ottawa Citizen), James Nevison (HALFAGLASS) and Gurvinder Bhatia (Vinomania).
http://www.canada.com/news/Live+Chat+wine+experts/6216424/story.html
We’ll be talking about wine festivals and looking ahead to BBQ season.
Good to go!
Godello 