TNs: TWEC (TM) Pre-Inauguration Dinner -- Haut-Brion, Raul Perez, Kosta Browne, Vin Santo & More

My fellow Berserkers,

The Toronto Wine Elitist Cabal ™ held its pre-inauguration dinner last night on Jan. 19th appropriately at Montecito in downtown Toronto. We celebrate the very special relationship between the United States and Canada by dining at a restaurant which specializes in American cuisine, specifically California Kitchen style cuisine, using local Canadian ingredients. Appropriately enough, our newly minted first-ever American member Tim joined fellow TWECers Mike Grammer, Jay Shamper, Jeffrey Wong, Heather MacDougall, and myself for dinner and wine. Even more appropriate, the evening was also our tribute to Chateau Haut-Brion, which is historically the first Bordeaux wine to ever hit it big in the United States thank to making a fan of then US ambassador to France and future US president Thomas Jefferson. On the wines, then:
13th Street 2006 Grand Cuvée Blanc de Noirs – This sparkler has always been the best I’ve ever had from Niagara. This one reminded me of the recent 2012 Ruinart. Heather points out it is in mid-evolution, as fresh oxidative notes meet sharp green apple flavors and high volatile acidity. This results in fresh milk and grass aromas and flavors. Slightly reductive. It goes without saying that the 02 Ruinart was much better but damn if this wasn’t pretty close to it. Stunning achievement for Canadian sparkling wine.

Raul Perez 2007 Rara Avis – Lots of ooos and aaahs for this beauty of an Albarino based wine. Tons of chalky flintiness, easily matches the best Meursault in that regard. A beautiful lemon drop nose leads into very strong salt flavors along with lemon and high acidity. This is balanced out by some clean rancio and black truffle flavors. As Heather put it, this is the love child of a Sherry and a Savanierres. Excellent with food but I really enjoyed it more on its own.

Turley 2010 The White Coat – This Cali White Rhone blend of Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier broke all expectations of it. It was not a white fruity bomb but rather restrained with low heat, high acidity, and creamy melon fruit flavors. As the night went on, lots of expressive coconut came out and it became even creamier. Nothing like a true white Rhone but very enjoyable for what it was, it got better as the night went on, and earned more respect from the table.

Chateau Beaucastel 1998 Chateaneuf du Pape – CORKED! This bonus wine from Jeff actually elicited a loud cheer from me. Unfortunately, it was pretty badly corked. Wet cardboard is a pretty apt descriptor, this literally smelled and tasted like a cardboard box left out in the rain. I took deep inhales and a sip on two separate occasions for my own education. Heather informed us that she has an old cork from a corked wine that is so awful it can actually cork a pitcher of fresh clean water repeatedly, fished out and dried, and used again for the same purpose of corking water to teach others what a spoiled wine smells and tastes like. Man, I was so looking forward to this one!

Domaine Bruno Clavelier 2010 Voznée-Romanée Les Hautes Mazieres – All the experienced palates around the table kept saying how tight this wine was the whole night through. I can only assume that “tight” is wine code for graphite and wood aromas, green pepper flavors, light tannins, and high acidity. It must not be code for fruit, because there is barely anything resembling fruit here and it literally didn’t change the entire night. This was clearly opened way too early.

1999 Chateau Haut-Brion – The reason we were all assembled. Now I’m not the biggest Bordeaux fan and I especially can’t stand Cabernet Franc. Fortunately this is mostly Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. A stunning black cherry nose with a touch of turpentine to it that reminded me of good Brunello. I found it had lovely brandied cherry flavors to start off with. As the night wore on, some flower aromas started to come out and it got a bit saltier and a touch of green pepper flavors came out. Those at the table who hahe had 93 and 94 Haut-Brion found this tight, causing me to remark that I’d love to taste an Haut-Brion that is opened up. This was really good with my lamb but absolutely amazing with a piece of Heather’s well-marbled steak. I loved this. Needless to say, this bottle was completely emptied by the table.

Kosta Browne 2011 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir – Nobody will mistake this for a Burgundy, that’s for sure. I literally started smelling it out of Jay’s glass across the table from me. HUGE graphite, black cherry and heat from the nose. At the start, this is not the expected Cali fruit bomb I expected it to be on mouth. In fact, it starts with big rich savory meat flavors that slowly morph into black cherry fruit. If any of you have had black cherry jerky, this tastes like that initially as the cherry slowly takes over. It also has a very high acidity, so this is by no means a Belle Glos. It’s not a fruitcake wine. Heather and Mike noted huge herbaciousness, with Mike specifically mentioning sasparilla. More sweet black cherry is pulled out with air. I ended up really enjoying this.

Castello di Cacchiano 1999 Vin Santo – In a twist, professional somm and restauranteur Heather brought the sweet wine this time. This beautiful Vin Santo has a beautiful super nutty nose of browned butter and walnuts. In the mouth, initial flavors of walnut pralines and toasted coconuts give way to fruity roasted peach and lemon compote flavors with a stream of high acidity.

So let’s talk food. Montecito was founded by famed Canadian comedic film director and Toronto native Ivan Reitman. He of course directed the classic Ghostbusters films, Twins, Meatballs, and Stripes among many others. So obviously having lived and worked in California as well as Toronto, his restaurant’s fusion theme of turning local Canadian fare into California Kitchen cuisine makes perfect sense. So here are some examples of what you’ll find here on the menu. I started with a Prosciutto and Mozzarella salad garnished with persimmon fruit and pine nuts.

My second course was a handmade perfectly pillowy potato gnocchi in a roasted chestnut sauce with endive and sage.

My main course was Lamb Sirloin flavored with harissa bbq sauce, persimmon salsa and greek yogurt sauce.

For desserts we ordered a pair of special dessert platters put together by Montecito’s pastry chef Susan Flores.

Beaucastel needs to stop putting cheap Chinese corks in its bottles or face yuuuuge sanctions! Sad!!

The Toronto Wine Elitist Cabal ™ would like to thank all the staff at Montecito for their excellent food and service. We look forward to many more wine and food filled evenings in the future. I leave you all with one last shot of the evening’s wines.

Cool. I have 99 HB (and 94). Have not tried the 99 yet but it’s coming to a SF Bay Area sometime.

Thank you for the lovely tour!

I have had the Turley and KB and you couldn’t have said it better!

The company, ambience and service were tremendous. Food was very enjoyable and the wines…well, they did get us talking! Very glad that Tim’s wife Alissa was able to join us later in the evening.

2006 13th Street Grand Cuvee Blanc de Noirs

An Ontario sparkler to start off. Heather’s bang-on with this as we start sampling…like you’re in the field with the milking cows–grass and lactic on the nose. Funny stuff to taste—reductive with bits of apple and sour lemon. It lingered on subsequent tastes and I couldn’t put my thought on it till Heather said “VA”—yes, of course! The balsamic vinegar. This really doesn’t go away, although it does pick up some nutty/salty elements at the end. I just don’t look for VA in a white. I’d like to try a clean bottle because there was substance to be had here.

2007 Raul Perez Rara Avis

mmm—delicious nuzzie of nuts, baked apple, truffle and a tiny bit of sage. Tremendous authority–amazing carry and tenacity with a balsam/lemon backbone. If I want the archetype for Albarino, this has to be it. Tim was wowed by this, when comparing to the California versions he’s tried. A beauty in a good place to drink right now, this is sheer, graceful luxury and even above the 99 HB, my WOTN

2010 Turley White Coat

The blend for this is Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Vermentino and Verdelho. I haven’t had one of these in at least 4 years and besides Tim, am the only one who’s tried one before. This shows flowery with some peach and white fruit underlying the bouquet. And this has settled in but maybe sacrifices the original exuberance for that. A nice backfeel with slightly…want to say marzipan. And later–some sweet nut paste shows…this was quite the surprising wine for me because I think I can safely say it is tracking exactly as a Beaucastel Roussanne or a white Ermitage would. If you still have one of these, take the same approach and leave for another 3 or 4 years.

2010 Bruno Clavelier Vosne Romanee Les Hautes Maizieres

2 hours’ decant, some swirling gets absolute pretty blueberry, light cinnamon, then rolls over to cardamom and small red berry. A lot going on. Dans la bouche, young and very focused, I think at first. red grippy with pure raspberry and earth and iron notes. But as it gains air, it really tightens up and I thought “this is as tart as I’ve ever had from Vosne”. It was Tran who suggested this might have some VA too, and though one doesn’t like to think such things, by the end of the night, I was pretty convinced it was there too, at a low level. And a bit odd, a slash of bubblegum on the nose at the end of the night. Loved the aromatics for the first 2 hours though.

1999 Chateau Haut Brion

very slow to come out of hiding, but it does come (only got about an hour’s decant). Leaves, tobacco, the dark, brooding plum and cassis. This divided opinion on taste quite a bit. Jeff feels super-too-young, I felt quite young, Heather found it on point and gave her the shivers…everyone weighed in with thoughts. But this is Haut Brion, in the way that no other Bordeaux can be. The beauty and class of the structure and taste and an awesome breathe-back of pipe tobacco, smoked leaves and sandalwood. And it does keep coming—much later, forest and sweet tobacco and the pain grille make an appearance. I could just go to sleep smelling this and dream sweet dreams.

2011 Kosta Browne Sonoma Coast

It has also been a long, long time since I’ve had a KB, many thanks to Tim for carting this along. No guesses needed as to where this is from. Huge aroma with strawberry, bing cherry, cola and sweetmeats. Ta-sty. round and rich but it does have liveliness—not all fruit. Sarsaparilla also is present. Definition of cherries jubilee? Right here, see Exhibit A

1999 Castello di Cacciano Vin Santo

of Chianti. Nuts, nuts and nuts. Almonds, and walnut and dates and then back to hazelnuts. And it follows that up with lovely, lovely flow on the tongue. It’s perfectly tuned to its taste and I like how it fits itself to the chocolate mousse (though not everyone shared this view!). A gentle soul with a nut-butterscotch aftertaste, thanks to Heather for bringing this.

A very lively night of conversation around the wines—which is only as it should be

A great shame about the 98 Beau but there was no question it was corked.

Kwa Heri

Mike