learn about wine

Yuck. Not worth the $12.95.

Not sure if I agree with the review from the Toronto Star. I did find it bitter.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1157451127395&call_pageid=991479973472&col=991929131147

I must admit I have tried and failed on numerous times to find a wine from the Niagara region of Ontario that I enjoy.

Most likely I’m misquoting a famous Canadian poet Irving Layton who said something along the lines of “it takes a lusty Canadian to take a grape so good and ….(can’t recall it exactly) and make a wine so bad”.

Now granted that quote was probably 25 years ago and I’ve been to my fair share of Grape and Wine Festival parades in St. Catharines but to date all the VQA stuff disappoints and I’ve just plain given up.

I tried a Henry of Pelham 2004 Reserve Chardonnay last weekend. It was drecky stuff and not worth the $15 I shelled out.

Other than that Niagara wines scare me. I have too many bad memories of Chateau de Charmes (the house of Harm) and the horrible house wine we used to have at Laurier back in the 90’s. My father used to inflict this horrible stuff on me from Collio Estates which my brother and I used to jokingly call Polio.

Anyone have any suggestions to support the hometown winegrowers?

Not something I would normally pick off the shelf but friends brought this along for dinner on Saturday. For a roast pork I was happy to stick with a South African Merlot so we saved this for the dessert course of cheese from the local area.

This was big and bold and complex. It complimented a local Quebec chevre and a Iles De Madeleine cheese quite well. My favourite pairing was with the St. Andre triple cream brie on slivers of Ace Bakery Olive Focaccia.

Not quite French, not quite German. This is a nice mix of the two. This appears to be a grab bag of Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. For a summer wine at $10.00 it’s very nice. I’ve had bad associations with cheap German wines (a la Black Tower) from back in my high school days and discovering Alsace has been nice.

I’ve sampled a lot of Alsace wines this summer and keep coming back to this one after trying a lot of the higher end stuff at Vintages.

http://www.dopff-irion.com/site.htm

For $13.95 you can’t go wrong with this one. Dark dark colour and smooth with some nice berry flavours. A really nice substitute for when I can’t afford a Clos du Val at $31.95 a pop.

PEREZ CRUZ CABERNET SAUVIGNON RESERVA (V)
VINTAGES 694208 | 750 mL bottle

Price: $ 14.95
Wine, Still Table Wine, Red Still Table Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.

Sugar Content : XD

Made in: Chile, Chile
By: Vina Perez Cruz

Release Date: Apr 15, 2006

Utter dreck. I put away half a bottle one night and decided to save the rest for cooking. I’m a sucker for a cadillac and even have the chevrons from a ‘47 tattooed on my right sleeve.

A nice label does not a nice wine make.

Take a pass on this one.

Enjoyed this getting dinner ready last night. Not sure if you can find it in Ontario as we picked it up over the river at an SAQ.

http://www.eastonwines.com

It’s not always about the good stuff. Being Canadian we never really got into the concept of well drinks and call shots. Discount liquors don’t really tend to fly in Canada. Who really wants to drink vodka from Maryland?

But corn likker always holds a certain appeal if you’re looking to get into trouble.

I remember the late summer of 97 visiting with Feizal in New Orleans and the day he took me to Friday happy hour at the Good Friends bar. 75 Cent doubles of the local grocery store rotgut. Rolling Rocks were a buck and we ended up tipping more than the actual cost of the drinks. After the first two you tend to forget that it tastes like nail polish remover.

Apparently Schwegmans is no more but the odd dusty bottle of this stuff still lurks around in some of New Orleans more dubious drinking establishments. I highly doubt it gets any better with age.

Chocolate flavours. Just wonderful and a steal at only $10

Toronto life has a good review.

http://www.torontolife.com/guide/wine/spain-and-portugal/pedras-do-monte/

Took a flier on this one and was pleasantly surprised. Picked up a second bottle for the weekend to go with a mustard crusted pork tenderloin and fingerling roasted potatoes.

GRAY MONK PINOT NOIR 2004VINTAGES 251835 | 750 mL bottle

Price: $ 17.95
Wine, Still Table Wine, Red Still Table Wine
12.1% Alcohol/Vol.

Sugar Content : D
This is a VQA wine

Made in: British Columbia, Canada
By: Gray Monk Cellars Ltd.

Release Date: Aug 19, 2006

http://www.graymonk.com/