26
Mar
2012
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
Lured into Toronto to taste the wine of Grandi Marchi ("the result of the determination and enthusiam of 19 of the most important Italian wineries to promote the culture and commercialisation of Italian high quality wine on world markets") to taste less than 18 wines from some of Italy's best and most well known wineries such as Masi, Pio Cesare and Antinori. I say "lured" because it seems like it was a bit of a ruse, the occasion was not to try the wines in the Barbarian Steakhouse wine cellar, but instead to promote the launch of Italian Month at the LCBO and their new series of Discover DVDs on the wine regions of Italy. I probably would have been ticked making the trip in if the wines hadn't been worth trying. As for the videos they are available as part of a three part series through podcast, itunes and other options ... check out the lcbo website for details. Below, a list of nine wines that were truly the best of this class ... and that is saying something. (to see the list of some of the better wines tried - click here)
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
07
Mar
2012
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
The second time in a week I'm at a tasting of a winery that is just going into it's second decade of production (see Hall from March 1). Today we'll be tasting 10 wines (2 whites, 8 reds) from Vina Ventisquero, a winery that started production in 2001 and has grown to be one of the biggest exporters of Chilean wine. Filipe Tosso, winemaker for Ventisquero since the beginning started things off with a brief history of the winery and make up of the winery: owner started his business 55 years ago with a chicken farm, 16 years ago he started thinking of getting into the wine business. Today they have 7 different vineyards spread out from the north to the south of Chile and 5 different lines: Queulat, Grey (single block), Vertice, Heru, Pangea. It was also pointed out to us that Chile is the only phyloxera free country in the world - there are pockets in other countries that did not get hit by the louse but Chile is fully phyloxera free.
Vina Ventisquero is trying to break into the Canadian market, let's hope we see more of their wines. (to see reviews of their wines click here)
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
