TNs with Thai in Toronto--Bernie Schwartz Comes to Town

[Mike_Grammer]

See what I did there? We were thrilled to welcome our good friend Bernie back for a visit to Toronto. Jay Shampur made the arrangements for 7 of us at Isaan Der. Food was very good and service was with a smile as we had a terrific time and visit. Lots of interesting quaffs too.

2015 Marques de Murrieta Capellania

A rioja white, it was nice to check in on this again. I get a bouquet of dried nectarines and some underlying hints of almond. Smooth and very white Rioja to me, with binned apple, gingerbread and some saline accents coming out to play, No rush to drink but certainly fine to enjoy now

2019 Domaine du Clos des Rocs Clos des Rocs Monopole

Jay contributed this. Maconnais, this shows buttery with white fruit on nose and tongue. Slurpy and easy to drink for sure, has a touch of velvet to the texture. Quite enjoyable without being a thinker’s wine

2013 F. Cossy Sophistiquee Extra Brut Champagne

Another fine, fine 2013. I think Tran brought this, but I’m glad I have 3 more of my own. Plenty of bubbles off the top, then it settles in nicely. Really pretty apple and apple blossom with sidebars of lemoncurd.

2016 Benon Origin Cab

Bernie toted along this Paso entry. From Hawks’ Hill in the Adelaida area. Aromatics show macerated plum and definite meat tones to me. This is quite svelte dans la bouche, slightly rich and full and very lovely. Checks in at 14.2% and it’s, for me, a rather finely reined-in style from this area. In a good place to drink with light pepper, more plum and blackberry. Tiny smoke tinge at the very end. Interesting and engaging wine.

2021 Beta Paratur Cab

Yes, I know. Opened way too early. But I wanted to try this, my first chance to taste Ketan’s effort from this Mt. Veeder location. We all comment about the difference on nose and palate (this was pnp). Bouquet is black fruits, very dark chocolate and some violets. And wow—the palate is sooo unique. There’s, right now, almost no fruit to speak of. Instead, riveting savoury notes, balsam up the wazoo and perhaps a smidge of tobacco. Leave a long time, folks–suggest at least 7 years—and as it sat in the glass, some dark berry and currant started to emerge. Full of idiosyncratic promise, a lot of people loved this.

2020 Ignios Origines Vijariejo Nero

A new experience for me, this is from the Canary Islands (with the grape nomenclature, I wonder if it’s related to Nola Palomar’s Domaine de Veleta Vijiriejo). Super-intriguing, scents of light chickoree and berry components waft up the glass. There’s some game/animale too, here. Composed and a controlled freshness with hinted-at red and darker fruit, even perhaps a dab of roasted chestnut. Mark, who brought this, talks about a comparison to NSG and I can’t say he’s off-base there. So fun to get to try this.

2014 Muller-Catoir Haart Scheurebe

I brought this one as well, wanted to try a Scheu with Thai food. It did work well. Flowery nose with very light scents of honey. It’s light on its feet in the mouth, and I think I’m glad I opened it now…it doesn’t feel to me like it has staying power past the next few years. I did find it misted away a bit quickly, but that changes and some sugar does pop out with some time in the glass. A ton of pleased noises around the table. I was happy this showed relatively well from a vintage I haven’t paid much attention to.

2011 Raul Perez Vico

Mencia, 100% I think. Many thanks to Jay for opening this for us. Good expressiveness with red and purple fruit playing up. There’s fine shape right now to taste, with red and purple fruit replays joined by a sprinkle of sage, but I think we all agree that these need to be drunk up. Finish tails off, which fits the wine at this stage.

2021 Pardas Blau Crau

Jason contributed this one, Malvasia. I get a sense of light tropical, even to the point of some guava. I remark that the palate is subtle here–glides across the mouth. The acid is there, with lemon-lime components, but it shows up after the initial entry. A wine that focuses me on the texture is often going to be something I like and no exception here.

Much fun was had by all. A worthy welcome and I was very glad to have some time with Bernie again.

Maluhia,

[Tran_Bronstein]

What the hell kind of report is this?!? Miniscule notes, no setting of the environment for the readers to feel like they’re there and no visuals. Doesn’t this board have any standards for membership? Oh well, once again it’s time for me to explain to everyone what really went down.

Hizzoner Bernard Schwartz returned to Toronto and fellow board member Jay Shampur made arrangements for a Thai dinner to welcome him back. He chose Issan Der, a great Thai restaurant I’d classify on the high end of the casual affordable scale. This was my first time eating here and everything was superb. We’ll be very happy to return.

Marques de Murrieta 2015 Capellania – Breaking with tradition a little, we started with two still whites as our aperitifs beofre hitting the bubbly. The Capellania is a white Rioja made form 100% single vineyard Viura. This is quite flavorful, rich umami on the palate with high phenolics and sweet dragonfruit. Drinks almost like a red wine but for the lack of color and tannin. Great stuff.

Domaine du Clos des Rocs 2019 Pouilly-Loché Clos des Rocs Monopole – Clos des Rocs makes this Chardonnay using 85 year old Chardonnay grapes grown on a 3 hectare lot and ages it 13 months in used barrels before releasing. This is quite mellow, with smoky sweet baked apple notes that are contrasted by quite high acidity. Delicious stuff.

F. COSSY 2013 Sophistiquée Extra Brut Champagne – Tart green apple and light brioche flavors. Very much a lean style of Champagne. Very refreshing and goes perfectly with the spicy Thai food.

Speaking of which, the food started arriving at this point. For our appetizers, we started with the Shrimp Fresh Rolls:

This was followed by the Golden Bags, a vegetarian fried dumpling:

Our final appetizer was the Fried Calamari:

After this, we opened one more white and then moved on to the red wines and a couple of more whites as we awaited the main dishes:

Benon 2016 Origin Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon – This is a big Cali red that acts like a Bordeaux, tannic and rich and full of ripe black cherry flavor.

Beta Paratur 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – I think the other guys have finally incurred brain damage with all of their alcohol consumption by opening this one. Some freakin’ infanticide here . This has a really sweet and ripe nose that makes me think it’ll act like the Benom above but on the palate it’s all balsamic umami and green vegetal notes. There’s the barest hint of red fruit on the finish. Good god, but this needs more time. A pox on the others for subjecting me to this.

Raul Perez 2011 Vico – Well now, this is more like it. Rich black coffee on the nose, sweet ripe black cherry on the palate and smoothed out tannins. 100% Mencia from the Bierzo region of Spain.

Muller-Catoir 2014 Haart Scheurebe – Lemon-lime, white grapefruit and botrytis by the bucketful on both the nose and the palate. If Sprite was a wine, this would be it. It’s very tart and dry on the opening, but some perception of sweetness does come through on the finish as it warms up. A great white wine, acts the same way a German Riesling would.

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2020 Ignios Origines Vijariejo Nero – This is blend of Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir from the Canary Islands that is grown on volcanic soil. The driest of all the reds tonight, rich fruit but very high acidity and easily the best red with the Thai food.

Here are the main dishes we had with the rest of the wines, starting with the Khao Soi noodles served with lamb shank:

This was followed by Green Curry Chicken:

Then came the Beef Rice Noodles:

Next was the Red Curry Fish:

And lastly was the Cashew Chicken:

Our thanks to the kitchen staff and floor staff of Isaan Der on Queen Street in Toronto. Look them up here: https://isaander.com/