Berserkers,
This past Saturday I attended the first foodie and wine event of the year, the 2012 Wine and Cheese Show at the Airport Centre in Toronto. There is a long break between the annual Gourmet Food and Wine Expo each November and this show and, combined with beautiful 15 degrees Celsius summer like weather in the middle of what should still be our freezing snow-covered Canadian winter, it resulted in a very well attended and very fun event.
On the foodie side, I sampled paella from Florida’s El Rey de Paella, chocolate fondue from fondue restaurant chain The Melting Pot, a ton of cheeses galore including a Niagara made Comfort Cream Brie macerated in 20 Bees Cabernet Sauvignon wine for 4 days, Russian caviar, and pulled pork “parfaits” made of pulled pork, mashed potatoes, and baked beans.
Of course the big draw was the wine and there were two noticeable differences between this year’s show and last November’s Gourmet Food and Wine Expo. First was the noticeable overall lack of commercial mass made wine brands and second was the rather large amount of sweet wines available for sampling. Time to dive in.
MASSANDRA 2008 SOUTH COAST WHITE MUSCAT – This was the only wine at this exhibitor’s table. If you’re going to bring just one wine to an event like this it had better be a good one. It was.
Demarara sugar brown color, full body, bright floral nose of Muscat grapes, peach blossom and caramel that let me know this has spent time in oak. Tastes of caramel, brown sugar, vanilla and raisins. Slightly less fortified than a Portugeuse Moscatel at just 15% ABV, this was much more complex. It was like a French Muscat Beaumes de Venise aged and treated like a Tawny Port which is essentially what it is.
I had no idea what to expect with this and was near blown away. The closest thing I’ve had to this before is the Torres Floralis Moscatel Oro to which this wine is pretty much 100% identical. However, it is a much greater QPR at $16 for a full 750 ml bottle instead of just a 500 ml bottle. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
WEINGUTER WEGELER 2008 WEHLENER SONNENUHR RIESLING SPATLESE – Golden straw color, light body, nose of petrol and green apples. Tastes of sweet lemon-lime and green apples, and is supported by high acidity and mineral water salinity. Terrific stuff. I overheard trio of women who also sampled the wine at the same time as me raving about it despite its sweetness. RECOMMENDED
RENE MURE 2007 CLOS ST. LANDELIN SELECTION DE GRAINS NOBLES RIESLING – The Vintages tasting panel actually listed this as (D) or Dry on their sugar code. What crack were they smoking at the time? I can assure you this was anything but dry.
Beautiful golden brown amber color, full body, nose of lemons, limes, apples and honey. Very smooth mouthfeel and tastes of lemon-lime, green apple, honey and a touch of caramel in there as well. More interesting than what it had is what this wine lacked – a petrol nose typical of German and Canadian sweet Riesling wines and a Botrytis derived glycerine taste. It was like the child of a Canadian Riesling icewine that had an illicit affair with a German TBA. All the intensity of the former combined with the complexity of the latter. Remarkable wine. I immediately picked up a pair of bottles after show. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
TAYLOR FLADGATE 2007 VINTAGE PORT – I’ve previously marked out on the board over the 77 Graham’s, 83 Warre’s and 85 Dow’s which are at their peak after decades of waiting. But what would these fantastic Portos taste like at the beginning of their existence? What does absolute greatness taste like when it’s just a babe in diapers? This is the answer.
Dark inky black-red color, full body, and a nose of mixed berries, not the usual plum and black cherry aromas I associate with aged vintage Port. Just a wee touch of the silkiness in its mouthfeel that I do associate with the latter, however, to let me know what this is eventually going to become. Lots of tannin and oak in the finish but they’re very mellow, not as biting as on a young Cali Cabernet.
Surprisingly, this is completely drinkable right now. If it didn’t cost $140 a bottle, I’d actually even recommend that you buy one and do it. At this price point, however, and bearing in mind the knowledge of its future greatness doing so would be like flushing it down the toilet because that’s where it’s eventually going after you’re done drinking it and you can easily get a different house’s 07 Vintage Port for half the price or less if you really want to drink a young one. Honestly, though, why would you?
From a wine drinker’s perspective, this wine had absolutely no business being open right now and even my relatively inexperienced palate could figure that one out. From a learning perspective, however, it was great to experience the starting point of where awesome properly aged Vintage Port starts out. This wine is an investment to be bought now and enjoyed in your retirement or simply bought at that actual time. Do I even need to tell you that this is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for anytime between now and 2037? Hope I’ll be around to drink it then.
MANARA EL ROCOLO RECIOTO DELLA VALPOLICELLA – An intriguing Recioto that breaks with tradition by aging 85% of its contents in stainless steel instead of 100% in oak as is tradition. The result is a much fruitier and sweeter Recioto than I’ve usually had. Dark black cherry red color, nose of roses and cherries, full body and a rich taste of sweet black cherries with a subtle touch of cocoa. Noticeably lacking the tobacco flavour I usually get out of Recioto, most likely absent due to the stainless steel aging.
Lovers of traditional Recioto should know this leans dangerously close to being more of a late harvest sweet red wine than a Recioto. Close but not quite. It still as just enough touch of complexity to keep it from going there all the way, though. RECOMMENDED
PIANBELLO 2010 MOSCATO D’ASTI – Floral muscat and peach blossom nose, light body with lots of fizziness, sweet taste of Muscat grapes and peaches and honey. A typically pleasant Moscato D’Asti, as good as any other on the market.
ROBERTO MANARA 2010 FIOR DE MALAVASIA – A completely different producer from the one that produces the Recioto above. This was the equivalent of a Moscato D’Asti done with Malvasia grapes instead, which I normally only associate with Italian Vin Santo.
First difference was the nose which smelled more like candied ginger than peach blossom. Light body, very fizzy, and tastes of candied ginger, peaches, honey and a touch of green tea. A small yet earth-shattering difference. If Moscato D’Asti is peaches and cream soda, then this is green tea ginger ale. RECOMMENDED
VIGNAVECCHIA 2003 VIN SANTO –Golden red color, lush full body, nose of candied orange peel and raisins, mouthcoating feel and taste of golden Sultana raisins, lemon peel, vanilla, cinnamon and honey. A classic Vin Santo. RECOMMENDED
MUSKOKA LAKES WHITE CRANBERRY WINE – My friend Linda and I usually run into Muskoka Lakes winemaker Matt French at all the wine and food events in Toronto and sample his current releases of his Cranberry-Blueberry semi-sweet table wine and Red Maple maple cranberry dessert wine.
Instead, I was surprised to see an attractive blonde woman and a handsome young man at the booth instead of the usual suspect. Turns out they were assistant winemaker Reed Curry and his girlfriend turned wine booth babe Maggie whom he had talked into helping him man the booth for the show.
After introductions, Maggie took us into our confidence and let us know that special friends of the winery could taste two unlabelled and unreleased wines they brought with them. Once we gave her the secret Muskoka Stonecutters handshake, she pulled out two clear bottles with hand written labels on them. The first was this wine.
Lovely pink color to the wine, as in actually pink, not a rosé color. Light body and a pleasant nose of white cranberries. Semi-sweet and very pleasant mellow taste of white cranberries with high acidity and the barest touch of vanilla and cream. Absolute winner of a fruit wine. RECOMMENDED
MUSKOKA LAKES OAK-AGED WILD BLUEBERRY WINE – Maggie pulled this out for my friend after it came up in our conversation that she much preferred dry wine compared to my sweet tooth. This wine had a gorgeous purple-blue color, medium-light body, and a nose of vanilla, oak and wild blueberries that pretty much resembled a blueberry pie. Dry and complex taste of blueberries with high acidity and mild velvety tannins and oak.
I honestly have no idea if the tannin came from the oak barrels as well or more likely the miniscule blueberry stems and softer skins but either way this was tremendous in how velvety they were and shockingly close to the Taylor Fladgate 07 Vintage Port in terms of delicateness.
This was an incredibly pleasant shock. I’ve had dry fruit wines before and much prefer sweeter ones given my sweet tooth, but I really enjoyed this one. It’s pretty comparable to a Niagara Cabernet or Merlot and a perfect steak wine. In fact, I would take it over a Niagara Cabernet or Merlot anytime. Only edged out by the White Cranberry wine above because of my sweet tooth. RECOMMENDED
DOWNEY’S FRAMBOISE AND CASSIS FRUIT WINES – I have given notes on these in previous threads and they remain the same. Both are RECOMMENDED due to their excellent balance of fruit flavour, sweetness and acidity. The Framboise is in fact the best raspberry based fruit wine I have ever had and remains so at this point.
SUMMARY: Wow. This was absolutely great. This was the best selection of sweet wines I’ve ever had available at a wine and food show event. I tasted over a dozen sweet wines at this show, the most I’ve ever had at any food or wine show ever if you don’t count last year’s Port and Douro Wine tasting.
There were even MORE available as there were also a number of icewines available for sampling from Ontario vintners Strewn, Inniskillin, and CREW as well. Incredibly enough to me, I actually chose to forgo them this time around in order to get to the others as I have enjoyed all of them previously at other events and their wineries as well. That would make this the first time in my life ever that I passed up a chance to drink icewine.
The food was great too. This was a fantastic event for me and I look forward to next year’s edition. Cheers. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}