News & Events
The Terroir festival is on Victoria Day weekend in Prince Edward County. It's an annual celebration of the County's wine industry in picturesque Picton at the no doubt quaint Crystal Palace Fairgrounds.
County winemakers will release their 2007 whites and rosés and local chefs will take care of the food pairings. According to Angela Braun of the Winegrowers Assocation, there was a "record harvest of high quality grapes" in 07 and she says it's a "great vintage."
Given the poor retail distribution of the County's products - not to mention the limited quantities of some of the wines - there's no better way to try them and buy them than in the County itself. Some of the better whites being made in Ontario right now come from the county - especially Huff Estates and Norman Hardie.
Picton's not that far from Toronto or Ottawa, but you'd really probably rather not drive back the same day...
For more info, visit the winegrowers association website.
France and England both bemoaned their cool, wet summers of 2007 (remember those flooded English towns), but it looks like Bordeaux got off lightly.
Cynthia Joyal of the Vins de Bordeaux Canada in Montreal has released an overview/summary of the 2007 vintage. Of course the organization charged with promoting the wines of Bordeaux is not going to say anything bad about any of the wines but, reading between the lines, it seems like the sweet wines of 07 are going to be particularly good. No doubt Chateau d'Yquem will be even more expensive than it already is...
Here's the Vins de Bordeaux vintage summary, including detailed weather analysis.
Alas, now that the Man from Maryland has spoken, the upbeat word from the Vins de Bordeaux folk may be eclipsed. Read a report on Robert Parker's opinion of the vintage. Interestingly, the wines that got the highest marks from RP and his super-taster sidekick Neal Martin were the Sauternes...
Like so many good things, Bordeaux's en primeur program was ruined when it got too popular. It was great for consumers up until a few years ago and it was possible to make genuine and sometimes substantial savings on very fine wines. Now, the chateaux of Bordeux charge pretty much standard retail price, only three years in advance. Who needs that? That said, there are still some good reasons to consider an en primeur investment.
En primeur worked for many years as an insurance policy/cash flow thing for the chateaux. They would agree to sell loyal customers X number of bottles at a low price in order to get the cash up front and deliver the wines in the future. This way, the chateaux got money regardless of how the wine turned out. All through the 1990s, however, people who bought in advance made a lot of money: retail prices were often double or more the en primeur price by the time they hit the shelves three years later. In the UK, the secondary market for fine Bordeaux became so developed, there was an index that went up and down like the stock market.
Key reasons for this include the boom at the top end of the market, so more wealthy buyers were chasing the same small number of well-known labels, and improvements in winemaking technique. Bordeaux never actually has a really "bad" year anymore - some years are less good than others, that's all. The chateaux have now realized this and are charging top dollar from the word go. To get a flavour of how it used to be (and to see how much you could've made/saved in the 90s), read my article on the subject in 2003.
The principal benefit now is to get hold of sought-after wines at more or less retail prices. This is worth doing as there's a good chance they'll sell out within days of being released on the market. Most of the mid and lower range bottles will be available at the same price retail in 3-4 years - so let the chateau take care of both the cost and the risk until then. But if you must have the Lafite or you're collecting a particular chateau and don't want to take a chance on missing out on a small retail allotment in a few years, then en primeur would work for you.
Vintages runs a Bordeux Futures program every year and will be releasing a catalogue later this year. Have a look, be appalled at the prices, but bear in mind that for certain sought-after chateaux, this may be your best bet for securing some product.
To help you with your research, the talented team at Decanter magazine are blogging Bordeaux. Follow them as they barrel taste the latest Bordeaux vintage and get a jump on what's "hot" in the 07 vintage. It's all about the wine of course, but market perception is important, and what London thinks is particularly important.
Looking for an excuse to visit Hamilton? For three days at the end of March, the Hamilton Convention Centre will host the annual Food & Drink Fest, which features good representation by Niagara wineries and wine agents. Shows like these are a great opportunity to try a little bit of a lot of different wines: a very efficient way to figure which producers and wines you like best.
There are also lots of beer and food selections and, similar to its counterparts in Toronto, you buy a batch of sample tickets and hand over between one and four tickets for tasting samples.
Tickets are $12 and $20 buys you 25 sample tickets. For more information on the show, which runs from Friday March 28 to Sunday March 30, visit www.foodanddrinkfest.com.
A portion of the proceeds goes to support the Art Gallery of Hamilton's children's programs.
Every year Ontario's winemakers are invited to submit their best wines for consideration at the Cuvee Awards, one of the more important wine competitions in the province. The hundreds of submissions are tested by two different panels - one of the winemakers themselves, the other of critics and industry professionals.
The short list was presented last week in the beautiful Strathcona Room on the 69th floor of First Canadian Place. About 60 wines made the cut, and the winners in the various categories will be announced at the grand Cuvee Gala on Friday, February 29th.
The gala will also be an opportunity for Niagara's top chefs to strut their stuff, and strut it they do: there's some excellent, innovative cuisine down there. Featured chefs include Tony de Luca of Old Winery Restaurant and Kevin Maniaci of Inn on the Twenty. Newcomers this year include William Brunyansky of the Charles Inn and Christopher Smythe of Riverbend. Fallsview Casino Resort is the sponsor and chef Ray Taylor and his team will be there. The talented students from the Niagara Culinary Institute will also be representing.
The chefs will be cooking "live" at various stations and the wineries will have their wares on offer. It's a big, fun event with lots of buzz. This year it will be in Niagara Falls at the Fallsview Casino Resort. Tickets for the Gala evening are $200 per person.
For more information about the event and the related Cuvee En Route (winery visits program), visit the Cuvee website.
My favourite was a big surprise: a syrah. I don't know how she did it with a grape I consider better suited to warmer climates, but Niagara superstar Ann Sperling did a great job with Southbrook Vineyards' Triomphe Syrah 2006. I thought it "best-in-show" and gave it 91 points.
See my top picks and their tasting notes here.
Saturday February 23rd - Time to get fancy!
The Wall Street Journal’s tag team tasters Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher (they’re actually married) had a very good idea a few years ago. They recognized that one of the problems with buying a very fine wine is that there’s a real danger that you’ll never feel there’s an occasion “worthy” of it. So they decided to declare the last Saturday in February Open That Bottle Night.
The idea is that you have a nice dinner, either at home or in a restaurant, and open a pricey, special bottle you’ve been cellaring. In cities around the US, people now participate and it really is a good idea for a lousy time of year.
You need to be a subscriber to get into the Wall Street Journal’s site, but to get a flavour of the evening, just Google Open That Bottle Night. Then get down to your cellar and dig out that prize bottle...
If you're interested in a hands-on, expert-guided tasting of very fine wines, Ritchies' Fine Wine Tasting Series is the place to be. Even with tickets at $175 per evening, last year's three-evening event sold out completely. This year, tastings will be held on March 8, April 8 and May 6, and the evenings are all expected to sell out.
The series will kick off with Rob Jull leading a vertical tasting of Rhone heavyweight Chateau de Beaucastel. Rob Jull is the man who vets and values the wines submitted to the Ritchies fine wine auction.
Though the list of wines has not yet been finalized, other evenings will include fine Burgundies and Bordeaux. Check the website two weeks before the event for a list. One of the hosts will be Arron Barberian, who recently revamped the legendary Barberian's steak house cellar - and it is now one of the best wine cellars in the city.
For more info on this event, visit the Ritchies website.
Given the mild weather, you may not be able to skate the
Rideau Canal, but you can attend what looks like a great selection of "regionally distinct wines" from Australia.
The "Australian Regional Heroes" wine tasting, hosted by High Commission of Australia, will showcase wineries and wine-producers that focus on their region through varietal choices and styles, aiming for a Euro-style "distinct sense of place in their wines".
Moving away from the shiraz obsession, organizers say food stations will showcase pairing possibilities with another wine Oz does well - cabernet sauvignon, and also newer entrants more typically associated with cooler climates: pinot noir, riesling.
The tasting takes place at the Government Conference Centre, 2 Rideau Street, on Wednesday, January 23, 2008
from 6:30pm – 9:00pm. Some of my favourite producers like d'Arenburg, DeBortoli and Nugan Estates will be there. Some of the producers covered in my Australia is Cool? feature will also be there.
For more info about the event, visit the wineaustralia.com website.
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