Bottom's up!

So after a week of about 42 wines I was ready for a Friday. The event at the Toronto Board of Trade was such a success- and it was sold out to boot. I am sorry for all the last minute ticket people who wanted tickets - guess that just means you will all have to get your tickets early next time!

During the course of the evening I was able to try many white wines, but unfortunately never got around to trying the reds [insert sad face here]. Fortunately, I was sent home with a bottle of Bottom's Up Red from Marynissen and come Friday night I decided to pour myself a glass last night to celebrate the end of the week.

After looking at the bottle I realized it was an unfiltered red, from Niagara on the Lake and it was called "Bottom's Up", the bottle seemed to fit my mood [I like the Bottom's Up mantra] and I never say no to an unfiltered red. The back label told me to decant the wine and also let me know that there is potential for this wine to age to 2020. Before even tasting the wine I was excited to get it into my mouth. It was a 2007 (one of the best vintages in Niagara yet) and the varietal breakdown on the wine was 35% Cab Franc, 26% Syrah, 26% Merlot, 9% Cab Sauv, 2% Gamay, 1% Malbec, and 1% Petite Sirah. Typically you don't find too many blends in Niagara like the above but blended wines are coming back in style (see my writeup on Henry of Pelham's Sibling Rivalry).

So, I Poured myself a glass and tested it out... It was unlike anything I had tasted from Niagara before. It was beautiful, full bodied with great balance, a hint of dark blueberries and blackberries and potential to age for quite some time - but still can be enjoyed today.

The back label read - "The greater the challenge...the greater the Reward. This wine is a result of patience, hard work, and little serendipity...After blending the bottoms of the all the tanks, a careful and long process of separating the lees, from the wine has provided us with a wine this fruit forward and full bodied and ready to drink upon release. With your patience though this wine will reward with enjoyment past 2020."

This wine is a must try. I also believe highly in its mantra - even though it isnt always easy to believe in, it is one for the memory books!
I was even able to meet Jeff the Winemaker at Marynissen, who I will have to thank next time I see him for making such a delicious wine! I also think we will be visiting Marynissen during our VIA RAIL WINE TOUR on Saturday September 12th. So book the date. I will be requesting that we all try Bottom's Up.

Bottom's Up to a great week, a fantastic wine, and Wines of Niagara on the Lake!

Click here to visit Marynissen's Webiste or become a fan of them on Facebook here

Ange

Sibling Rivalry

A good amount of sibling rivalry growing up can be a fairly regular occurance. Technically, it really should be expected in any healthy and happy family homestead. In fact a home without it seems unrealistic and an impossibility, at least to me. Growing up with 3 sisters, "sibling rivalry" was a term that became synonymous with "sibling love". A healthy sibling rivalry has roots of love even in the face of arguments and disagreements.

With 4 girls in the house, cat fights were a regular occurrence. I am sure with 3 brothers (in the case of the Speck Brothers from Henry of Pelham Winery) sibling rivalry was as prevalent as it was growing up in a farm house full of daughters. The brothers have brought their rivalry together and have created a great wine that is symbolic of their family, their brotherly traditions and what they bring as a group of individuals to the Ontario Wine Industry. I spent the long weekend slowly sipping on a bottle of the White Sibling Rivalry and really enjoyed it. It is a bottle filled with a combination of Riesling, Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer (3 brothers, 3 grapes). The label also also claims that the wine is greater than the sum of its parts; a blend of the passion, personalities and knowledge of the Speck Brothers ... and a little rock, paper, scissors - all which has went into the newly released wine.

This wine is very aromatic and smells of fresh fruit (peaches and pears) as well as light citrus and floral notes on the nose. It smells and tastes very "pretty", has a thread of acidity and has good balance overall. The taste reminds me of summer afternoon by the pool. It is an easy drinking white and also has a screwtop for easy serving. To boot it is a VQA wine with a really fun and playful label. Be sure to serve well chilled. And of course, this is a great wine to try with... I'm sure you could guess... your siblings.

Cheers to Sibling Rivalry!

Available at the LCBO's at $13.95 a bottle

Pizzeria Libretto - What a true Italian Experience

So I went to dinner this past Thursday (which is my favourite evening of the week) to Pizzeria Libretto on Ossington and all I can say is it was absolutely amazing. Yes, I do like my pizza, but the sweet combination of cutlure, wine and food had be yearning the night would never end.

The food was true Italian style with a great gourmet twist (Pizzeria Libretto makes the only real Neapolitan pizza in Toronto). The staff was friendly, approachable and not bad to look at either. The wine list that will have you indecently drooling over Italian Wine choices and the chic urban environment will have you arriving early to avoid waiting in line. If you go with a party of 3 order a quartino of wine (can also be ordered in glass, 1/2 litre and bottle), which will give each of you the perfect amount to be able to try a few different wines over the course of the evening - obviously a must when eating Italian food. You can't go wrong with matching local with local. My favourite part was that the wine was served in Tumblers. Who needs Terroni when you have Pizzeria Libretto.

I can't wait to go back... but might need to take some Italian courses before trying to pronounce the menu...but a visit to Italy wouldn't hurt either...Rocco Agostino you definitely rock.

A must visit restaurant for everyone.
Pizzeria Libretto , 221 Ossington Toronto

Memorable Vintages 1982 | 1998 | 2009

So maybe the years above don’t have too much in common as you stare at them right now. But for me, they all hold some key moments and are important years in my own life.

1982
The 80's were an awesome decade. There was lots of good music in the 80’s too. Think of way back in the day when the FM radio (or your tape player) would have the sounds of Madonna, Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Meatloaf, REO Speedwagon, ABBA and Aerosmith. Seeing as how 1982 was the year I came into this world, I don’t necessarily remember all 365 days, but I am absolutely thankful for it. I do hope that my family celebrated with a few bottles of sparkling vino. My mom always said that on May 1st, 1982 it was a perfect Spring day with lots of sunshine, blue skies and the perfect temperature. I came into the world with some cool double digit references. I was born at 12 minutes to 12 midnight (so almost on May 2nd), in room 33 at the Waterloo Hospital and I weighed in at 6 pounds 6 inches. I was born first of 4 girls and come from a fairly large Italian family where pasta, meatballs, homemade sausages and wine were staples at all gatherings. YAH to the 80's!!! I love re-living them everytime I watch Paula on American Idol.


1998
16 years later, 1998 was a truly memorable year. I mean who doesn’t remember being 16 and going to high school. I definitely don’t wish I
was 16 again, but I do remember somewhat enjoying it. I remember doing a lot of work at school, working my little buns off at part time jobs, and driving for the first time (not to mention getting my first car – which was a Dodge Omni, later replaced by a black mustang). 1998 was also the year I began in the wine industry. I started my job at Vineland Estates Winery in 1998 – a great vintage for Ontario Wine. I had a bottle of 1998 Meritage from Vineland Estates Winery that I originally opened on my 25th birthday, but due to my poor job at cellaring it, it had gone bad. The picture to your left is signed by Allan Schmidt from Vineland and it says "Cheers, Ange from your Friends at Vineland. The 90's was also another great decade for music - think of Third Eye Blind, Oasis, Alana Myles, Bon Jovi, Phil Collins and dare I say it, Celine Dion.

2009
I am gonig to make 2009 a rocking "vintage year". I am not sure really why, it is just more of a gut feel type of thing. I turned the big 2-7 not too long ago and cracked open the second bottle of the 1998 Meritage from Vineland Estates- alongside a few bottles of sparkling wine to celebrate another year. The Meritage had aged fairly well and tasted lovely. Thanks to my Friends at Vineland for giving me even more great memories! The one thing I really like about Ontario red wines is that they don't taste anything like a California red wine. They have their own unique taste profile that allows them to elegantly age and taste more medium bodied in their older age. . The Meritage was a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and everyone that tried it appreciated it's age and enjoyed the taste.

With the wine aging so well it really got me thinking about how we all age and grow into who we really are as we get older. We get wiser and potentially more elegant and flavourful...maybe wine really does make us wiser? When we are young we are vibrant, energetic and willing to do what it takes to get where we want to go, even though we don't really know where that is. And as we age, we begin to fall into our rightful path and grow into our age and into wisdom. We come into our skins and just like a good wine, we hit a stride at an age where we feel is our prime. For an Ontario red wine, 10-12 years seems like a good place to start. For me I feel as though I am just entering into my prime. I am finally starting to figure myself out (what I want and what I need) but I am also figuring out who I am. Up until this point, I have felt that I have been trying to catch up with life. Trying to get'er done and keep up to pace with the rest of the world. I am realizing now that I don't have to keep up with anyone and that my life is really in my own hands to create and navigate. Similar to a 1998 Meritage, I have some good core strengths, including a great vintage, happy cellaring conditions and a healthy outlook - at least that is what my winemaker tells me are important in longevity :)

So there you have it. A little bit of an inside look at my memorable vintages. I am sure there will be many more bottles of wine to be drank and memories to be made over the next 60 years and I am very much looking forward to what comes next (especially the good wine and wisdom part)!

Cheers,
Ange

Ode to Joy - The German Wine Fair

We all know, I am a bit of a Riesling Fan... and fortunately I also have some friends who truly enjoy Riesling as well! So I grabbed a few girls after a day at the office and we were off to Roy Thomson Hall for an evening of wine, food and Riesling Joy!! I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday night than at German Wine Fair - and what a fantastic time we had!

Everywhere we looked there were bottles of Riesling and Pinot Noir (there was definitely more Riesling than Pinot). Funky round bottles and big tall bottles all filled with wine for us to taste and think about whether we liked it or not. It was like a dream come true for any Riesling lover. I was in Heaven. Natalie, Laura and I took to the floor with our wine glasses in hand and in much anticipation of finding some new wines that we would love. And we certainly did.
If you don’t already know Germany is famous for their Rieslings. They make them sweet and dry and when the weather gets cold enough they can even make Icewine. They are one of the other areas in the world, other than Ontario that can get cold enough to make it.
As it turned out, I could barely pronounce any of the vineyard names (it was a good thing Laura is of German descent as she turned out to be the language teacher for the evening) so I had to find other ways to remember the wines, including what the label looked like and how friendly the person behind the booth was with regards to talking to us about the wines. We found some great wine teachers who served us wine and taugh us about every Germany! We tried some sweet Rieslings – including one of my favourites the Relax Riesling – which helped us Relax into the evening - as well as some of the dryer ones as well.

One varietal we tried was called Silvaner - which had a taste that was a cross between a Gruner Veltliner (Austria), a Riesling and a Sauvignon Blanc. I loved it and will definitely be buying some of it the next time I am at the LCBO. We were pleasantly surprised by the Black Tower Wines. They had a really cool bottle, had an enjoyable and easy drinking taste. To boot they were very, very affordable. One of the wines we tried from Black Tower was called Rivaner (which is a cross between Riesling and Silvaner). It was a white wine in a black bottle and we really enjoyed it! We also found out that Black Tower is Germany's most exported wine.

I also learned that due to the fact that the majority of German vines are planted on a slope mechanical harvesting doesn’t happen very often – if at all. Most of the grapes are harvested and sorted by hand. We were even told that they go as far as to sort through all the berries individually to find the best single berries for that perfect bottle of Riesling. Now this sounds like my type of wine!

Here is a little German Wine 101 (thanks Wiki):
  • Germany has about 252,000 acres of vineyard
  • Riesling is the benchmark grape of Germany
  • The total wine production is usually 1.2 billion bottles, which places Germany as the eighth largest wine-producing country in the world
  • Red wine has always been hard to produce in the German climateHowever recently there has been greatly increased demand and darker, richer red wines (often oak aged) are produced from grapes such as Dornfelder (a German red grape variety) and Spätburgunder (the German name for pinot noir)
  • Schloss Johannisberg is a winery in the Rheingau wine-growing region in Germany, that has been making wine for over 900 years
  • At one point the Church controlled most of the major vineyards in Germany

The Different classifications of German Wine - that we learned about last night are (and this is also for my reference):

  1. Kabinett wines are made from grapes picked several days after the QbA grapes are picked. These are the first picked grapes of the Prädikat level.
  2. Spätlese wines ("late harvest") are made from grapes harvested 12-14 days after the Kabinett grapes are picked.
  3. Auslese wines ("select harvest") are made from grapes that have been hand-selected out from the other grapes. These grapes are late-harvest and have a high sugar content.
  4. Beerenauslese wines ("berry selection") are made from grapes that have been left on the vine longer than the Auslese grapes. These grapes develop the fungus Botrytis, which removes the moisture from the grape. Thus these wines are very sweet and make good dessert wines.
  5. Eiswein (ice wine) wine is made grapes that freeze naturally on the vine and reach a sweetness of Beerenauslese level. The grapes are harvested and pressed in the frozen state. The ice keeps part of the water isolated to achieve the high sugar content of these wines.
  6. Trockenbeerenauslese wines ("dry berries selection") are extremely sweet, concentrated and usually quite expensive wines. The grapes used for Trockenbeerenauslese have reached an even more raisin-like state than those used for Beerenauslese.

So there you have a little recap of the German Wine Fair plus a little bit about German Wine 101. I would love to be able to make it to Germany, it seems the perfect wine adventure for a Riesling (& Pinot Noir) lover!

I am still learning everything about the different wine regions of the world, but the wine fair was a great introduction and I will definitely be drinking more German Wines!

Cheers,
Ange

For more information on German Wines Visit any of the websites below:

http://www.schloss-johannisberg.com/

German Wine on Wikipedia

Wines of Germany -Canada