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Becoming Familiar with Wine

Posted by Gary Killops on May 19, 2009

Many of us are not even vaguely familiar with the different varieties of wine that are available for
purchase. In fact, some of us probably thought red wine and white wine were the only ones in
existence. Most of us don’t have any idea of the number of varieties of wine that are in
existence. We have dinner wines, dessert wines, red wines, white wines, dry red wine, dry white
wine, sweet red wine, sweet white wine and much more. Before you serve your first dinner that
includes wine, make sure to understand something about wines. Know what is proper to serve
with different meals.

A general rule of thumb is white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat, but there may
sometimes be variations to that. For instance, although chicken is a white meat, red wine is the
customary wine of choice because it complements a chicken meal better than white wine.
Another variation is turkey which has both white meat and dark meat. Because of both white
and dark meat on turkey, one can choose to serve either white or red wine while some may
actually serve both—red to the guests who choose dark meat and white to those who choose
white meat.

Another thing that is important to understand is the relationship between red wine and fish.
Customarily you would serve white wine with fish but in the event you choose to serve red wine,
it’s important to choose one that does not contain any tannins since the presence of tannins in
twine you serve with fish may give the wine a metallic taste. Though the taste itself is not going
to cause any harm, one drinks wine for the flavor thus having a metallic taste takes away from
that. To avoid this possibility either serve white wine with fish or make sure the red wine you
serve is free of tannins.

Before you have your first party or even serve your first wine with dinner make sure you know
exactly what you should serve with the meal you have chosen. Taking the time to research and
learn about how wines complement food, you will be able to make a better selection of wine to
go with the dinner you are serving. The more dinners you serve the more educated, you will
become about the proper wine to serve.

Southwest Ontario Wineries Win 29 Medals

Posted by Gary Killops on May 17, 2009

The 2009 “All Canadian Wine Championship” was held last week in Windsor Ontario. Wineries from British Columbia to Nova Scotia entered over 1100 different wines in the championship.

The “Best of the Best” trophy winners were:

Best Red Wine of the Year
Church and State Wines, BC 2006 Quintessential $50.00

Best White Wine of the Year
Lang Vineyards, BC 2007 Riesling Farm Reserve $19.90

Best Sparkling Wine of the Year
Peller Estates Winery, ON Peller Estates Ice Cuvee Rose $35.00

Best Dessert Wine of the Year Sponsored by Ontario Viniculture Association
Pentage Winery, BC 2007 Ice Wine $55.45

Best Fruit Wine of the Year Sponsored by Ontario Viniculture Association
La Face Cache de la Pomme, PQ 2007 Frimas Ice Cider $39.87

Wineries in Southwest Ontario appellations (Lake Erie North Shore and Pelee Island) won 29 Medals of Merit.

GOLD
Colchester Ridge Estate Winery – 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
Colio Estate Wines Inc. - 2008 CEV Pinot Grigio
Pelee Island Winery – 2007 Pinot Noir
Pelee Island Winery – 2008 Riesling Dry
Viewpointe Estate Winery – 2005 Balance Pointe
Viewpointe Estate Winery – 2006 Ideal Pointe

SILVER
Colchester Ridge Estate Winery – 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
Colio Estate Wines Inc. - 2007 CEV Pinot Noir
Colio Estate Wines Inc. - 2008 Girl’s Night Out Chardonnay
D’Angelo Vineyards Estate Winery – 2006 Vidal Icewine
Pelee Island Winery – 2007 Pinot Noir Reserve
Pelee Island Winery – 2008 Cabernet Franc
Pelee Island Winery – 2008 Late Harvest Riesling

BRONZE
Colchester Ridge Estate Winery – 2006 Cabernet Franc
Colchester Ridge Estate Winery – 2007 Riesling
Colio Estate Wines Inc. – 2008 CEV Pinot Grigio
Muscedere Vineyards – 2004 Vidal Icewine
Muscedere Vineyards – 2007 Syrah
Muscedere Vineyards – 2007 Baco Noir Reserve
Pelee Island Winery – 2006 Cabernet Merlot Reserve
Pelee Island Winery – 2008 Eco Trail White
Smith & Wilson Estate Wines – 2008 Riesling
Smith & Wilson Estate Wines – 2008 Smith’s Vidal
Viewpointe Estate Winery – 2005 Focal Pointe

Happy Mothers Day

Posted by Gary Killops on May 10, 2009

A few local wineries celebrated Mother’s day by releasing several new wines.

Mastronardi Estate Winery: Release their 2007 Brianje VQA wine just in time for Mother’s Day! Join them for the launch of our newest Riesling. They say it’s stunningly fruity aromas and sweeter citrus flavours make it their best Riesling to date. It is the perfect Mother’s Day gift, a gift of life, as proceeds from the sale of each bottle is donated to Batten Disease Research, a charity close to the Mastronardi’s hearts. They also gave a long stemmed rose to every mother that visited the winery on Mother’s Day.

Aleksander Estate Winery. AEW Celebrates Mother’ Day & Chardonnay – treat Mom to a taste of their new 2008 Chardonnay paired with yummy treats. A wine tour in the County is a great way to spend time with Mom.

Muscedere Vineyards celebrated Mother’s Day with the release of two wines. A 2007 Baco Noir Reserve and their 2007 Unoaked Chardonnay.

The new wine releases come just in time too. Adding wines to the review site at EssexWineReview.com has slowed down over the past few weeks as I am waiting for more wineries to offer new wines.

Wanda and I didn’t visit any of our local wineries this weekend. Instead, we spend the weekend bottling some of our own wine. We will have a nice supply of riesling, oak chardonnay, and a couple of fruit wines ready for the summer. We are looking forward to trying the new wines and plan on visiting the wineries soon.

Mastronardi Winery’s Dionysus 2009 Almost Sold Out

Posted by Gary Killops on May 9, 2009

I just received an email notice that Mastronardi Estate Winery’s annual Dionysus 2009 VIP tickets are sold out and very few of the general admission tickets are left.

I have never been to this wine event but from everything that I have heard you will have a wonderful time. This is an event that I will have to plan to attend next year. If you want to go and do not have your tickets yet I suggest that you get them soon.

For more information on Dionysus 2009 visit:
http://www.essexwinereview.com/news/dionysus-2009/

Gary

New Wine Arrivals Slowly Being Released.

Posted by Gary Killops on May 2, 2009

The wineries in the southwest region are slowly releasing their new wines and so far all signs point to a year of excellent new wines.

Aleksander Estate Winery recently introduced their new Baco Noir and Pinot Noir along with a wonderful Baco based Rosé.

Viewpointe recently released their Auxerrois and  last Saturday Muscedere Estate Vineyards released 8 new wines including a wonderful Pinot Noir and Syrah. (Reviews of these wines will be added to EssexWineReview.com soon).

The vines at Erie Shore Vineyard have started to bud.

After a long winter Spring is finally here. Our local wineries have quite a few events planned over the next few months. Many of these events are free and under the current economic conditions a drive out to county is a nice way to spend a weekend afternoon. 

Gary

Happy Easter

Posted by Gary Killops on April 12, 2009

Easter dinner is always a big event around our house. Perhaps not on the same level as Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner however it is right up there.

Friends and family often ask me what wine I will have on the table during these big feast. I usually give this a good deal of thought and consideration before making the wine selections.

So what red and wine wines did we have on our table today?

The red was D’Angelo Estate Old Vines Foch Reserve 2005. (See Tuesday’s Essex Wine Review for my thoughts on this wine). We recently had D’Angelo Estate Old Vines Foch 2002 and loved it so the 2005 reserve was a good pick. By the way the D’Angelo’s 2005 Old Vines Foch Reserve was a Double Gold award winner at the ”All Canadian Wine Championship“. Another good reason to select this wine.

The white wine selection was Erie Shore 2006 Unoaked Chardonnay. Wanda and I like this wine, we had it on the table at Christmas, it was good then so why change a good thing. One thing about the Chardonnay, I like it best slightly chilled, actually almost room temperature. For me, that is when this wine taste the best.

Gary

Better Open This One Now

Posted by Gary Killops on March 28, 2009

I had a bottle of Pelee Island Merlot 2002 that I was running out of time.

The wine just recently started to leak from the area around the cork so I figured I better open this one soon or it will go bad as air gets inside the bottle. Here is what the corked looked like after I opened the bottle.

Open just in time to taste one of the finest local merlots I have ever tried. There is someting to be said about letting a wine sit. Took this one right to the edge and it was worth it. I am sure in a few weeks the wine would have gone bad and I would have missed this experience.

Orsen Wells coined the phrase about no wine being good before its time. You just have to know when that time is and when it’s running out.

If you have some older wines take some time this weekend to check them out. I know you may have been saving them for a special occassion. If they are starting to leak open them now and enjoy them. They may not be any good by the time that special occasion comes around. No sense wasting a good wine.

Gary

Cab Franc Head to Head

Posted by Gary Killops on March 25, 2009

I was in the mood to have a bit of fun today and do something that I haven’t don but have been thinking about doing for some time now. Today just seemed to be the right day to do it.

On my way home I stopped by the Roundhouse LCBO and picked up two bottles of Cabernet Franc. The two I picked up were Mastronardi Cabernet Franc 2006 and Erie Shore Cabernet Franc 2006. Both are the same vintage, both are VQA wines from Lake Erie North Shore region, both are for sale at the LCBO for about the same price.

One final thing before I began my taste comparison. Calabria is a great little pizza restaurant in Cottam and they have a pepperoni and cheese special on Wednesday. Both of these wines taste great with pizza so I ordered one for my tasting evening.

Back and forth between the two wines it was hard to say that one was better than the other. In the end I decided that they are both very similar in taste. Both have a nice green bell pepper taste up front and both paired perfectly with the pizza.

Good wine and good food. What a great evening.

Gary

  

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