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Posts with category ‘Events’

First Pour

Posted on April 24, 2006

Welcome back to weekly coverage of the topic that never tires. A place where once again—since departing the weekly “On Wine” column in the Globe and Mail in 1999—I can provide real-time news, views and reviews. This blog will review new releases from Ontario wineries, the LCBO general list, Vintages and Consignment. It will tell stories about people and places, and guide you to seminars and events. It will be your bookmark for what’s happening in the dynamic wine scene in Toronto and surrounding wine regions.

Santé, Australia and Prince Edward County

Posted on May 1, 2006

Pour a glass of spring riesling (Vineland 2005 Semi-Dry leaps to mind) and read on. It’s a busy time…The 7th annual Santé Food and Wine Festival is underway in the Bloor-Yorkville district this week, featuring a mix of large and small tasting, dinners both grand and intimate, “Sip, Savour and Shop” opportunities and seminars by wine experts. Unlike many traditional wine fairs, this is not an attempt to jam a gazillion wines and people into one room for a few hours, then boast about numbers. Eighty international wineries will be supplying events spread over five days throughout the community—a grassroots graze, albeit in a real green pasture neighbourhood. Perhaps this slightly foreign concept is the reason Santé fails to ignite passions in some. Knowing there was a charity beneficiary might evoke more empathy as well. That said, there is plenty going on, and the open-minded always find food for thought.

Twin Fin, Salmon Revival, Chateau de Beaucastel

Posted on May 4, 2006

It’s a rule of thumb (the purple thumb) that when the hype is about labels, demographics and price points, the wine in the bottle is likely mediocre—more so when cuddly critters are baring their commercial fangs. Which brings us to the LCBO general list and a new concept wine from California called Twin Fin (not the mascot of the San Jose Sharks). Twin Fin is actually decent wine but I’m not going to rave. It’s exactly the quality I expect from a $14.00 bottle, and fair value from California which still tends to be overpriced for what’s in the glass.

County Terroir, Tawse, Lifford Highlights

Posted on May 15, 2006

Long weekend coming up! For a getaway, head east to Prince Edward County’s Terroir Wine Celebration at the Picton Crystal Palace on Saturday, May 20 from 1 to 7 p.m. Jamie Kennedy, who owns a vineyard in the County (no wines yet) will be among several star County-focused chefs pairing up with County wineries who are showing their new releases. Stay over and tour wineries the next day. Tickets and info at www.pecountywines.ca. There has been a spate of County events in recent weeks, and with all the activity one wonders if they will run out of their tiny amounts of wine by mid-summer. The following Saturday, May 27, the 7th annual Ontario Fruit Wine Festival is on at Archibald Winery & Cider House Golf on Liberty Street north of Bowmanville.

NZ Sauvignon Blanc, First Pinks, Carmen of Chile

Posted on May 23, 2006

New Zealand sauvignon blanc has joined the mainstream. This we know because a customer walked into an LCBO store in Kingston recently and asked the Product Consultant, “Have you got that stuff called Cat Piss on a Hot Tin Roof?" Of course, the befuddled shopper was really after Coopers Creek Cat Pee on a Gooseberry Bush, the presumably much tastier $14.00 NZ sauvignon named for two of this grape’s more common descriptors.

Mondavi, Chinese Fakes, Wine of the Year

Posted on May 29, 2006

I recently tasted a range of premium Robert Mondavi wines with Associate Winemaker (red wines) Gustavo Gonzalez during a visit to his Ontario agent Churchill Cellars. I was curious to get a sense of life at Mondavi under the new ownership of wine behemoth Constellation—the New York-based company that recently acquired Canada’s Vincor. Gonzales, who worked at the Napa winery before, during and after the transition, referred to the time before the Constellation takeover—at a time when Robert Mondavi was being publicly traded—as “the dark period” in terms of wine quality and direction (or lack thereof). He recalls that the Mondavi staff were actually petrified of Constellation’s arrival. “Given Mondavi’s long history of wine culture we felt like we were the Romans, and they were the invading Goths from the east," he said. “But, as it turns out, the Goths arrived and wanted to learn from the Romans.”

Niagara 2005 Whites, Cellar Reds, Wine in the Cour

Posted on June 12, 2006

The great appeal of this blog is writing in real time and being able to recommend wines before they disappear. Or wines of which only tiny amounts were made. The 25-winery New Vintage Niagara event at the St. Catharines’ Golf and Country Club on Saturday opened the window onto a handful of fine new releases that won’t make it much past the winery gate—a situation more acute this season with the 2005s being in short supply. About 50% of Niagara’s 2005 crop was wiped out by winter frosts, but what remained ripened to record levels during a summer in which the region enjoyed 30 days of temperatures above 30 degrees.

Vieux Télégraphe, Single Serve Stone Cellars

Posted on June 19, 2006

When the stakes are high, you gotta know when to hold 'em. An urbane, mild-mannered French winemaker named Daniel Brunier made two Toronto appearances late last week showcasing two family wineries from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape appellation in the south of France: the renowned Domaine Le Vieux Télégraphe, plus a newer, refurbished estate called Clos La Roquete. The most famed appellation of the southern Rhone is home to the world’s best known, most powerful and long-lived grenache-based reds, usually blended with syrah, mourvedre and other grapes—up to 22 are allowed. Although some Chateauneufs are robust and round enough to enjoy when young, others from top estates have considerable longevity.

Value Wines, Calgary Dining, Portuguese Whites

Posted on June 26, 2006

Howdy, from the Hotel Arts in Calgary—site of the first International Value Wine Awards. There are 800 wines entered from 18 countries, all available somewhere in Canada for less than $25. As far as I know, this is the world’s first international judging for less-expensive wines, and I suspect there will be big world wide interest in this process. Results will determine a best red and best white under $25, then provide “top ten values” in each major varietal category—for example, the ten best shiraz in Canada under $25. They will also break out winners regionally or by country. By rough count, about 300 of the wines entered are found on Ontario’s general list or as Vintages Essentials, wines that I will be reviewing in the Toronto Life Eating and Drinking Guide this fall. The competition is being held in Calgary because Alberta, with a privatized market and over 700 stores, has the largest number of brands on store shelves of any province in Canada, over 10,000 at any one time compared to about 4,000 in Ontario.

Treadwell: A Father and Son Match

Posted on August 21, 2006

Many chefs and sommeliers talk of food and wine matching, but it’s always a joy to walk into a restaurant where chef and sommelier actually talk together—and then deliver outstanding matches at the table. Even better when they are a father and son with a genetically linked sense of flavour, and where the chef father has instilled passion for wine in son. It happened Sunday at Treadwell in Port Dalhousie, Niagara as James Chatto and I, along with group of 30 merrymakers, wound up our annual Tour of Niagara. Treadwell was the bon voyage lunch after a 48-hour matching extravaganza, in which we savoured and poked our way through 20 different courses and 46 wines. (There were several other great dishes and wines, some of which are covered in Chatto’s Digest this week.)

Wine Fridges and Wine Schools

Posted on September 5, 2006

I spent part of my Labour Day weekend helping my dear friend Carol buy her first wine fridge. We shopped during Ernesto’s deluge on Saturday afternoon, sloshing from store to store along the tacky Dundas Street strip in Mississauga. At Home Depot, after a 2 km-walk through the store, we found one 36-bottle fridge for $499. Not bad but we needed to see others.

Judging Wine Under $25

Posted on September 19, 2006

There are some gorilla-sized values in our midst, and you might want to head to the LCBO today or tomorrow before the word is further spread. On Sunday night, the wines listed below were tipped as top of their respective classes by the International Value Wine Awards.

A Tale of Two Fall Fairs

Posted on October 10, 2006

It was a glorious Thanksgiving weekend to be in southern Ontario, particularly in the countryside celebrating local bounty. The province’s wine growers were certainly giving thanks for three hot, dry days that pushed sugar levels in later ripening grape varieties, and helped dry out the soggy vineyards for picking.

Chile Showdown in Toronto

Posted on October 24, 2006

First they took Berlin, then Tokyo, then São Paolo. But Toronto proved no pushover.

And A Big Time Was Had by All

Posted on October 30, 2006

If the chef at your favourite high end restaurant wasn’t on the premises last Saturday night it’s likely because he or she was cooking in a private residence for the Grand Cru Culinary Festival. Twenty-five chefs fanned out through the city’s swankiest neighbourhoods where they each teamed up with one of 25 famous winemakers from around the world to present lavish meals to 18 guests per residence. Each person paid $2,500 per to raise funds for the Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation and the University Health Network, a leading teaching and research facility. I was unable to attend any of the dinners this year (the festival is in its second year), but I did attend the private tasting Thursday evening at a posh Versailles-like home in the Post Road area, where each of the winemakers personally presented two or three wines to 200 guests. My highlights in a moment.

Call in the Marketing Police

Posted on November 13, 2006

I get my share of grand tasting opportunities, fancy dinners and interviews with wine celebrities. But some days one must work the trenches as well. On Friday, it was the monthly press tasting at the LCBO for new releases on the general list, a smorgasbord of inexpensive, often weird and not too wonderful wines, beers and spirits. Given that the holiday silly season approaches the selection was even more bizarre, with “gift ideas” of oversized bottles that look like bowling pins, undersized French Rabbit tetra-paks and bottles with names like Yellowglen Pink, Igluu (an icewine gift set), Funky Llama, Painted Turtle and Kelly’s Revenge. (Note to the marketing police: please investigate who Kelly is and why he or she is so vengeful as to inflict these sour wines on us). One can see some artistic merit and mirth in these packages, but set against the barren, clinically white walls of the tiny tasting “lab” at LCBO HQ, the collection also presents a grotesque Warholian landscape of our almost infantile North American drinks culture. (And thus the need for marketing police.)

The Toronto Taste Challenge

Posted on November 28, 2006

It’s usually the Maple Leafs who put their reputations on the line at the Air Canada Centre, but Monday there was an event of career importance to over 200 of Toronto’s wine professionals. The city’s top palates gathered in the Platinum Club overlooking centre ice to compete in a blind tasting challenge for about $80,000 in wine-related prizes. It was free to any and all aspirants, with seven international wines presented to professionals, three to amateurs, with both groups also having to identify three Canadian VQA wines. With each wine, contestants had to identify grape variety (four points), country of origin (three points), region or specific appellation (two points) and vintage date (one point).

Three Wise Gifts

Posted on December 11, 2006

It's not the slickest, hippest wine book in the world but that lack of attitude is one reason why it's the best. Also because it is crammed with facts, an A to Z of wine with over 4,000 entries, presented tidily, logically, in language that everyone can understand. The third edition of the Oxford Companion to Wine (Gift #1) was edited by British wine writer Jancis Robinson, and it has captured her demeanour perfectly, a personal observation made after meeting her a few days ago in Toronto. She has an aura of approachability in person and in print that makes this monster book feel like a companion indeed. She also has the depth, objectivity and assurance to make it The Authority.

The Wine of the Week & The Napa Follies

Posted on January 22, 2007

Errazuriz 2005 Carmenère **** ($13.95, LCBO #16238, Aconcagua Valley, Chile)
And now for something very affordable. New to the LCBO general list and a huge value if you like your reds black and deep and even. Chile has struggled to tame carmenère—the late-ripening, often green-tasting monster that is becoming its signature. But like the Concha y Toro 2005 Carmenère I heavily recommended before Christmas, this new Errazuriz version finds the handle at an amazing price. The nose drenched in cassis, mint, leather and wood smoke—all well proportioned. It’s full bodied, dense and elegant with firm but deeply embedded tannin. Considerable oak on the finish is the element that ties it all together but fruit is not lost. Excellent length. Drinkable now, best 2008 to 2012, ideal for a lamb roast.

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I first traveled to Napa Valley, California, in 1978 when wine was new and exciting, when the Robert Mondavi winery was less than 10 years-old; when once legendary names like Inglenook and Beaulieu were the establishment, and new enterprises like Grgich Hills, Joseph Phelps, Cakebread and Heitz were just beginning to generate some buzz. It was a time of wonderment, promise and innocence, with a sense that this bucolic crease in the coastal ranges north of San Francisco might one day be able to produce great cabernets and merlots to rival Bordeaux. There was not a lot of self-confidence back then, but there was plenty of humility.

Chablis' Comeback

Posted on February 20, 2007

Wine of the Week
Pommier 2004 Côte De Lechet Chablis 1er Cru **** ($32.95, Vintages 23747)
From a small domain run by the married team of Denise and Isabelle Pommier, who began production on a small family property using traditional techniques, then switched to partial barrel fermentation in 1998. Apple/pear fruit quality is nicely ripe, with a touch of vanilla, herbs and spices. Medium weight, with terrific grip and balance and a lime, mineral and spicy finish that hits excellent length. Very enjoyable now, should please through 2010.

Niagara Winemakers Choose Their Best

Posted on March 5, 2007

Wine of the Week
Thirty Bench 2005 Wine Makers Riesling **** ($18.15, 24133)
The top scoring white at the Cuvée Wine Awards announced Saturday in Niagara. It signals a rebound for this small Beamsville Bench winery now in the hands of Peller Estates. A very good vintage, old vines and new enthusiasm and talent from winemaker Natalie Reynolds have produced a vital riesling showing New World boldness with ripe peach-pineapple fruit, a touch of petrol and mouthwatering lime-like acidity. Plus Germanic finesse in a touch of sweetness. Also won Riesling class at Cuvée. A smattering of bottles remain in Vintages stores—check at www.lcbo.com. Also try Vineyards wine stores in the GTA.

Fair California

Posted on April 17, 2007

Wine of the Week
Beringer 2003 Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, California
$40.15, Vintages Essential, 3525830, score 91
Collectors take note! The small, verdant Knights Valley, tucked in the hills between the Napa and Alexander Valleys, has always rendered very fragrant cabernet. Beringer’s historic heavy oak hand has stolen some of that vitality in recent years but this vintage rekindles the excitement, with very lifted toasty, cedary oak, chocolate and loads of cassis and mint. Full bodied, dense and elegant with firm tannin that will see it age 10 years. But also balanced to enjoy know as well—decant for an hour first.

All Greek Wine

Posted on April 23, 2007

Wine of the Week

Katogi-Strofilia 2004 Xinomavro, Naoussa, Greece ($19.00, Rubaiyat Wines 416-462-1577, score 89)
One of the star reds of the Greek Wine Road Show that touched down in Toronto last week. A pale but amazingly floral, flavourful, vibrant red from the native xinomavro grape that is finding new legs with modern winemaking in the Naoussa district of northwestern Greece. Not unlike pinot noir or nebbiolo, this has complexity and structure beyond its light appearance. Lifted aromas of violets, strawberry, sour cherry and fine spice. Mid-weight, firm and harmonious with some bitter, gritty tannin. Excellent length. Best 2008 to 2011.

Private Order Break Out

Posted on May 7, 2007

Wine of the Week
Bodegas Terras Gauda 2006 O Rosel, Rias Baixas, Spain ($26, 91 points, www.thewinecoaches.com)
Gorgeous aromatic, fleshy, lively and spicy white made on Spain’s northwest coast in Galicia, primarily from the local albarino grape (70%) with 20% loureira and 10% caino. Youth is so important with this style of wine that can sink into soupiness as it ages. This is as bright as they come, bursting with star anise, pineapple and grapefruit.

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Chenin Comeback?

Posted on May 16, 2007

Wine of the Week
Lammershoek 2006 Chenin Blanc, Swartland, South Africa ($21, 91 points, www.bokkewines.com)
Lammershoek winemaker Paul Kretzel embodies South Africa, and its wines; a tall, broad, solid man with a friendly manner and rich voice that lilts along with a vaguely Germanic Cape accent. His roots are actually Austrian, in the Wachau region of the upper Danube, an area famous for firm, mineral rieslings. The Chenin Blanc he poured during last week’s Sante Festival showed those roots as well—a different grape but similarly solid, mineral and dry with great depth. There was a touch of spice from a portion of the wine being fermented in old—and thus almost neutral-flavoured—barrels or “fuders." A technique widely used for European rieslings in the days before stainless steel, it added a dash of exoticism to the pear flavours of this chenin and one could tell that Paul Kretzel was pleased as punch with the result. With 40 hectares of chenin under vine, much of it old stock harvested a very low yields, he is one the largest producers of premium chenin in the country, and he is poised to do extremely well as the grape rises to stardom in South Africa. Historically this grape, locally called steen, has been widely planted for use in cheap white blends, so there is a lot of it to work with (although much has also been uprooted in favour of sauvignon blanc and chardonnay).

Prince Edward County Notebook

Posted on May 22, 2007

Wine of the Week
Huff Estate 2006 Rosé ($14.95, 89 points, www.huffestates.ca)
The belle of the ball at the Prince Edward County Terroir celebration this past Saturday. Winemaker Frédéric Picard blended 100% county cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon from Huff’s South Bay vineyards to create over 1,000 cases of a true rosé. (That is, not drawn off (saigné) from red wine.) It’s brilliant, soft pink with a piquant nose of red currant, strawberry and rhubarb compote. Zesty acidity bolts onto the palate and carries the sour red fruit flavours to very good length. As a sipping wine, it’s bracing and tart on the finish, but excellent with a fresh, leafy spring salad, tomatoes, and salmon.

Top Tuscans

Posted on May 29, 2007

Wine of the Week
Gualdo del Ray 2003 Frederico Primo ($41.95, 92 points, www.vinvino.ca, 416-636-3534), Val di Cornia Suvereto IGT, Tuscany
Made by rising star oenologist Barbara Tamburini (see below), this 100% cabernet sauvignon comes from Tuscany’s coast, home to legendary bordeaux-styled wines like Sassicaia and Ornellaia. It is as fine, rich and delicious as many high end Napa cabernets and modern Bordeaux, with very deep colour, lifted clove, cedar and mocha from new French oak, and ripe, almost floral, blackberry. Full bodied, plush yet still elegant with fine tannin and some Tuscan minerality on the finish. Excellent length.

Alsace Weekend

Posted on June 19, 2007

Wine of the Week
Paul Zinck 2005 Riesling (89 points, $19.95, www.liffordwineagency.com)
Alsace, France
This is a fulsome, fruity, dry riesling from a warm vintage in Alsace, showing all the expected attributes of apple, with a touch of honey and petrol. Nicely fleshy, with a ripe-fruited sweetness on the palate, refreshing acidity and a dry finish. Only available by the case from Lifford Agencies, but visit the site and ask about other Zinck wines as well. This producer has always impressed.

1,000 Wines of the Week

Posted on June 27, 2007

I’ve tasted so many wines this past week that I can’t pick one to feature. Furthermore I don’t have tasting notes (yet) on any single one of them, because I don’t know exactly which wines I tasted.

The Extraordinary Peter Gago

Posted on July 25, 2007

Wine of the Week
Penfolds 2005 Thomas Hyland Shiraz, South Australia ($19.95, 89 points 611210)
I tasted this new vintage, just arriving as a Vintages Essential, alongside winemaker Peter Gago during a recent trade tasting of Penfolds 2007 releases. Very youthful, solidly built yet quite elegant for $20. Reserved, complex nose of cedar, mint, blackberry, clove and graphite. Dense, firm structure, excellent length. Some tannic bitterness, so age it a couple of years. Best 2009 to 2012.

Into the Northumberland Hills

Posted on October 9, 2007

Wine of the Week
Oak Heights 2006 Cabernet Franc, Ontario ($19.95, 88 points)
While there are vineyards at this impressive new winery in the Northumberland Hills, winemaker Mike Traynor has sourced cab franc (80 per cent) and cab sauvignon from the excellent Watson Vineyard in Niagara-on-the-Lake for this label. (Southbrook Vineyards has made great Watson cab franc in the past.) Traynor has done a great job making Ontario cabernet franc the way it should be—without over-oaking or heavy extraction. I tasted it three times over the weekend, charmed by its bright raspberry-currant fruit, gentle tobacco, spice and overall ease. But it has substance too; it handled Thanksgiving turkey. Drink now to 2011. Available only via www.oakheights.ca.

Canada’s Largest Fine-Wine Auction

Posted on October 12, 2007

Wine of the Week
Chateau La Lagune 1982 Third Growth Bordeaux (97 points)
This grand cru classé Bordeaux was perhaps the best value among over 60 legendary wines tasted Thursday in advance of the LCBO’s Fine Wine Auction running from October 12 to 15 in Toronto. At 25 years old, it is not so much a fountain of youth as it is an incredibly well-toned, lean and fit, middle-aged long-distance runner. Amazing energy, vibrancy and balance. Likely to live another decade or more. Read on for other awesome auction wines still very much alive and on the block this weekend.

My favourite wine moments of 2007

Posted on December 27, 2007

1Hidden Bench 2005 Nuits Blanche, Niagara
My head-spinning first tasting of a brilliant bordeaux-inspired white blend of sauvignon blanc and sémillon that went on to win white wine of the year at the Canadian Wine Awards. Hidden Bench opened in June and came out of nowhere to take runner-up for winery of the year.

The Best Fest in the West

Posted on March 5, 2008

I spent last weekend at the annual wine inundation known as Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival—an event that locals and winery visitors argue is the best of its kind in Canada. It’s actually not even arguable, in my opinion (even if some easterners feel bruised by this admission). One would think that Toronto should be able to mount a show of this calibre, yet it never has. Hogtown’s big shows are for-profit, commercial ventures that tend to cheapen the content and keep the LCBO at a distance. The government cannot be promoting any commercial interest other than its own, and the reason that other wine shows work across Canada, including Playhouse, is that they have the full support of provincial liquor boards. One might ask why the government is in the wine retail business at all, but that’s a topic for another day.

California comes to Canada

Posted on April 28, 2008

The California Wine Fair rolls into the Fairmont Royal York Hotel on Monday, April 28, brimming with bottles that, by and large, cannot be found on the shelves of the LCBO. Of the 69 wines assembled for the fair’s preview media tasting last month, only 20 are currently available at Vintages or the LCBO. This doesn’t mean the LCBO is ignoring California: a big promo swings into gear in early May that introduces several new brands to the general list; and on Saturday, Vintages will be offering up a couple of dozen new releases as well. But the fair showcases so many, many more—a huge reservoir of wine either being sold direct to restaurateurs via the below-the-radar consignment program, or wines that want to be here and might just find a niche if they create a buzz at the fair. With so many wines and so little time, the grapevine goes electric. Why must all the big wine presentations in our city be so restrictive, so pressured, and in such chaos? And why must the pourers spend most of their time apologizing that we can’t actually buy the wine they are serving?

Cheers to Santé

Posted on May 6, 2008

The 10th annual Santé: Toronto International Wine Festival kicks off Monday, May 5, with a week-long tasting menu of winemaker dinners, special events and seminars in venues throughout Yorkville. California and Australia are this year’s headliners. Here is the roster of major events, complete with some of the wines and wineries worth investigating. For more details and tickets, check out the festival’s Web site, www.santewinefestival.net.

Ontario wine’s prime time

Posted on June 11, 2008

June has become the month for grand wine events in Ontario, timed to kick off the summer touring season. And this is sure to be a good year to go wine tripping: local wineries are strutting some fine bottlings from the 2007 vintage—the best in recent memory (see Toronto Life’s July issue)—although some styles will not be released for a few months, like the barrel-aged whites and reds. To help you plan your trip, here is a quick primer on some of the best events in the days ahead.

Niagara Auction Previews: The 2007 Reds

Posted on June 17, 2008

The colour was deep and the fruit was ripe among 10 Niagara reds showcased in the first public tasting of heavyweights from the 2007 vintage. These excellent wines were decanted during a barrel auction as part of the lucrative Niagara Wine Weekend and Auction, which netted a substantial amount for the SickKids Foundation and St. Catharines General Hospital. Over 1,000 people paid $1,000 each to attend the second annual afternoon garden party and gala black-tie dinner in The Commons in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

David Lawrason

David Lawrason

David Lawrason has worked full time as one of Canada's leading, independent wine writers and educators for over 20 years. He was the founder of Wine Access magazine and Globe and Mail wine columnist for 13 years before becoming resident wine guy at Toronto Life, where he pens a monthly column and writes an exhaustive review of LCBO general listings for the annual Food and Wine Guide. As a wine educator he has taught sommelier programs at George Brown, Humber and Niagara Colleges, and has run popular public courses in Toronto since 1988. He has visited every major wine major producing country in the world, while focusing recently on the booming Canadian wine scene, as founder of the Canadian Wine Awards program, and Canadian wine columnist for Wine Access.

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