Hours:
Thursday – 6 pm – Midnight
Friday – 5 pm- midnight
Saturday- 4pm – midnight

Cost: $15.00 per person

Location: Windsor Expo Center
1508 Walker Road
Windsor, ON

I was visiting a local winery yesterday and talking to an employee who works there and is also in my class. I was asked if I liked the class and when I toldthem that I did and went on to explain how my palate seemed all messed up the employee stated that they noticed the exact same same thing. We are both a bit confused by this. Not sure exactly why this is but I actually was glad to know that it wasn’t just me who felt this way.

I wonder if it has something to do with what my palate has been exposed to. I taste and drink mostly local wines, wines fom Lake Erie North Shore and Pelee Island. In the first two weeks of our wine class I have been exposed to wines from France, Italy, New Zealand, Chile and California, USA. I wonder if it is this world wide exposure to wines has put my palate to the test.

I have been reading about MALIVOIRE’s 08 Gamay VQA Niagara. It was a new LCBO Vintages release on January 9th, 2010. All of the reviews have been very good. A search for this product online at lcbo.com showed two bottles still available in Windsor at the Roundhouse Center. I planned to be in that area yesterday so I stopped in and picked up the last two bottles.

The online inventory seems to be up to day. I went online again today and see that there are now no bottles of MALIVOIRE Gamay available in Windsor now. I imagine the online database is updated once per day late at night. It is a usful tool when looking to locate vintage wines that are not available at all LCBO locations.

Gary

Some thoughts on the first class:

Very interesting and a good first night. The instructor is John Carnahan. He has a very easy going teaching style that I liked. John works for the LCBO and I recall seeing him at the Round House several years ago. I had a few questions about some wines I wanted to buy and he was very helpful. He knows his stuff and is the perfect teacher for such a course.

Some interesting wines were tasted. (not drank). Let me tell you that drinking wine is a lot easy than tasting it. While I believe I have a good sense of tastes, tasting involves spitting the wine out after tasting, this is something I am going to have to get used to doing.

About the wines we tasted. John obviously wanted us to experiences the four main taste on the tongue (sweet, sour, saltly/ mineral, and bitter). Baby steps …. a good way to start as we can’t run until we can walk. Two Sauvignon Blancs, one from France and one from New Zealand were tasted. Very interesting how the one from France had a pronounced mineral taste while the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc had a sweet / gooseberry taste. I thought the taste was a bit more citrus than gooseberry but then I haven’t tasted gooseberry in quite some time so citrus was the taste that hit me.

The two Sauvignon Blancs were:

JEAN-MICHEL SORBE QUINCY 2008, Price: $ 18.95 and SAINT CLAIR SAUVIGNON BLANC 2009, Price: $16.95.  

There was also some red Italian wine (can’t remember what it was) but it was one bitter pill.

Looking at the class schedule I see that I will need to miss one of the classes over March break as I already have a vacation booked with my family in Florida that week.

The course looks like it is going to be a challenge and I am ready for it.

Judges included internationally acclaimed sommeliers Zoltan Szabo and Jamie Drummond, respected wine writers Margaret Swaine and Daenna Van Mulligen and celebrated winemakers Darryl Brooker and Craig McDonald.

Full results from the competition are available online at intervin.ca.

Category: Cabernet Franc

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Colio Estate Wines Inc.
Brand: CEV
Style: Cabernet Franc
Vintage: 2005
Retail: $20.75

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Muscedere Vineyards
Brand:
Style: Cabernet Franc
Vintage: 2007
Retail: $16.00

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Pelee Island Winery
Brand:
Style: Cabernet Franc
Vintage: 2008
Retail: $10.95

Category: Cabernet Sauvignon

Medal: SILVER
Winery: Pelee Island Winery
Style: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2005
Retail: $24.95

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Colio Estate Wines Inc.
Brand: CEV
Style: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2007
Retail: $19.75

Category: Chardonnay – Unoaked

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Colio Estate Wines Inc.
Brand: CEV
Style: Chardonnay Musque
Vintage: 2007
Retail: $15.35

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Pelee Island Winery
Brand:
Style: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2008
Retail: $10.95

Category: Late Harvest

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Pelee Island Winery
Style: Late Harvest Riesling
Vintage: 2008
Retail: $13.95

Category: Pinot Noir

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Pelee Island Winery
Style: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2008
Retail: $10.95

Category: Red Blend

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Pelee Island Winery
Brand: Eco Trail
Style: Red
Vintage: 2008
Retail: $9.95

Category: Red Varietal

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Muscedere Vineyards
Style: Baco Noir
Vintage: 2007
Retail: $18.00

Category: Riesling Dry

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Pelee Island Winery
Style: Riesling Dry
Vintage: 2008
Retail: $10.95

Category: Sauvignon Blanc

Medal: BRONZE
Winery: Colio Estate Wines Inc.
Brand: CEV
Style: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2008
Retail: $15.75

Eight local Baco Noir’s from Lake Erie North Shore and one from the Niagara region will be put to a blind taste test and only one will be awarded the title as best local Baco.

Here is a list of Baco Noir’s that will be tasted:
Colio 2008,
Pelee Island 2008,
Mastronardi Casa Nostra 2008,
Erie Shore 2008,
Muscedere 2007 Reserve,
Aleksander 2007,
D’Angelo 2007 Reserve,
Sanson 2005 Reserve,
Henry of Pelham 2005 Reserve.

The eight local Baco’s will also be put to the test as they compete against what many consider one of the best Ontario Baco Noir’s from the Niagara region, Henry of Pelham 2005 Reserve.

By simply selecting the right ingredients, making healthier substitutes and choosing the proper cooking techniques, you can increase the amount of nutrients contained in your meals.

* Start with the salt content in your food. Even if you reduce the salt content by half, this will not affect the taste to any considerable extent. Instead of salt, try adding any spice, sprinkling some herbs or adding citrus juice or vinegar. You could try adding onion powder or garlic to any soup or sauces. Some people prefer a mixture of paprika, onion, garlic and a few parsley flakes in their meat.

* Also watch out for the sodium content in your food. If you use quite a bit of canned, processed or preserved vegetables, your sodium intake will be quite high. You could instead go in for canned or preserved foods marked ‘low-sodium’ or just try the frozen variety instead. Compare the tins of different companies and pick up the one that lists the least amount of sodium in its nutrition facts. Of course, the best option is always to go in for fresh vegetables.

* Your blood pressure and your cholesterol levels can be very effectively controlled by using tomatoes, onions, herbs and vinegar as well as using low-fat sauces and low-fat salad dressings. Try substituting full cream products like yogurt or sour cream with fat free or low-fat alternatives.

* You can best preserve the nutrients in vegetables by quickly steaming them or just stir frying them instead of frying or even boiling. Do not cook at very high temperatures since the heat and excess liquid can simply remove all the valuable nutrients. Even while stir frying or grilling, you should use non-stick cookware or a spray. Roasting or poaching are also good alternatives. Avoid open-flame grilling since this is supposed to produce compounds that may give rise to cancer. Finally, cooking in the microwave may be one of the healthiest ways of cooking since it does not take long to cook the vegetables and there is no need to add any extra fat.

* You should increase your fiber input by using whole grains instead of highly refined products. Try whole-wheat flour, brown rice, barley and oatmeal.

* Add fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet whenever possible. For example keep some cut and shredded vegetables ready in to add to salads, in casseroles, and to stews and soups. For added flavor, try adding chopped yellow and red peppers. Excellent alternatives to heavy gravies or sauces accompanying meat dishes are fruit chutneys and vegetable salsas.

Château des Charmes Cabertnet-Merlot 2005 “Old Vines” Estated Bottled” from the Niagara On The Lake region. At $19.95 I decied it was worth a try.

The nose waffs with blackberry and plums. It is a very nice Bordeaux blend that begins with dark fruit tastes, hints of spices and earth. It does have big tannins in this one and that caught me a little off guard, it could be a little softer. Nice smooth long finish to round out this wine. (Nov 25, 2009).

Gary Killops

Notes From The Vineyard.
Cabernet-Merlot is a classically styled blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot that has been aged for one year in French oak barrels. The resulting wine is complex with flavours of dark chocolate, raspberry and cassis. Estate grown and bottled from grapes sourced exclusively from the Chateau’s own vineyards. Ready to drink now, but will continue to develop in the bottle for 5-10 years. 2,100 cases produced. Harvested on September 23, 29, October 4, 2005.

Food Pairings
Cabernet-Merlot is a classically styled blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot that has been aged for one year in French oak barrels. The resulting wine is complex with flavours of dark chocolate, raspberry and cassis. Estate grown and bottled from grapes sourced exclusively from the Chateau’s own vineyards. Ready to drink now, but will continue to develop in the bottle for 5-10 years. 2,100 cases produced. Harvested on September 23, 29, October 4, 2005.

Food Pairings
This full bodied red wine is excellent with any red meat or tomato pasta dish.

13% Alc. / Vol.
VQA Niagara On The Lake

Let’s face it, the Niagara Wine Region (Niagara On The Lake) is the most popular and most well know wine region in Ontario. It also has the more wineries in the region than wine regions such as Lake Erie North Shore, Pelee Island or Prince Edward County. Actually I believe Price Edward now has more Wineries then the Lake Erie North Shore Region and Pelee Island combined.

There are wine writers and reviewers in all of these regions. Niagara on the Lake and Price Edward County have a number of excellent, well respected writers who promote the wines in their region.

So what’s up with wine writers and reviewers of the Lake Erie North Shore and Pelee Island Wine regions?

In my opinion, and from what I have seen and witnessed they get very little respect from the local wineries and in some cases people who organize events in this region.

Let me give you an example.

A local wine writer (and sometime wine review) gets very little respect from many of the local wineries. Now I disclose that he is a good friend of mine so my opinion might be a little slanted. This past summer he held a couple of seminars at a local popular wine event and he was treated like crap. I witnessed him having to argue his way in to the event when his promised admission tickets were not at the gate. The following day I was told he had to do the same thing and was only admited once a writer from outside thise region who was also presenting a seminar vouched for him so that he could gain entry.

I hate to group all of the local wineries into this same catagory because some have actaully been good local writers and reviews. Wineries such as Erie Shores, Muscedere, and Mastronardi seem to get that local wine writers are good for their business. They are friendly and are glad to have them (myself included) at their winery.

I understand that this is a business and the bottom line is to sell wine and have it move out the door. Without sales the winery does not exist. I believe that wine writers and reviewers can be good for their business and can help them move product out the door. I am not so sure that many of the local wineries share my belief that local writers and reviewers are good for their business and in fact have very little respect for local wine writers.

Myself, I have made it a point not to be too friendly with the local wineries. I struggle with this all the time but I want to be able to say when a wine is bad and not worry that I can’t because it will hurt a friendship. Lucky am I that most of the local wines are good to excellent so I hardly ever have to review a wine as bad.
I visit many local wineries and they have no clue who I am and I like it that way. I buy all of the wines I review and therefore feel that as a consumer I can speak without prejudice.

I do know that the as of October 2009 the stats on visitors to my web site (Essex Wine Review – EssexWineReview.com) show that every month readership has increased to now about 150 visitor / day in October. Not a lot in comparison to many other wines sites but I also know that on average 70% of these visitors are from right here in Essex County.

So on any given day just a little over 100 people from the Essex County area check out Essex Wine Review.

So why do I mention all of this? I am addressing all of the local wineries in the Lake Erie North Shore and Pelee Wine Regions. Local wine writers and reviewers are giving these wineries exposure to thier business. I believe that they are helping sell local excellent wines.

Winery owners …. show these writers a little respect. The next time you are planning a special event and looking for someone to present a seminar either at your winery or at a wine event consider going local rather than out sourcing. You might be surprised at what they have to offer!

It begins during the winter and early spring, the vines are dormant. During this time there is no visible indication of growth.

Scale Crack – is the first sign of growth.

Early Bud Swell – the bud swells out of the hard outer bud scale. Tis is followed by Late Bud Swell where you can begin to see signs of green leaf growth.

Bud Burst – the bud splits open and the leaf is exposed to the sun.

First Bloom – The flowers begin to open.

Buckshot Berries – Small clusters of berries (grapes) begin to grow.

Green Grape – The berries continue to grow, They are green and hard.

Veraison – The grape berries soften and start to change colour as they start to ripen.

Fruit of the Vine – the berries are soft. They continue to ripen an change coloured as sugar content and berry size increase.

Harvest – The finish line of growth. The grapes are ripe, with a high enough sugar level to pick to begin the fermentation process.