Michael Pinkus Wine Review - On the Road with the Grape Guy

Report from - Wrapped Up in the Valley ... November 2011

20 Jan 2012

Details: Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

While I was out hob-nobbing with the wineries, winemakers and pairings of Niagara-on-the-Lake for the Taste the Season event back in November, the folks in the 20 Valley were putting on their own food and wine extravaganza ... Once again I turn to the intrepid photographer, wino, bon vivant and man of leisure Fred Couch to bring us up to speed on what happened this year during "Wrapped Up in the Valley"

Sign for Wrapped up in the Valley

"Wrapped Up in the Valley"

by F.G. Couch

Each November, there are two passport events in Niagara – “Taste the Season” in Niagara-on-the-Lake and “Wrapped up in the Valley” in the Twenty Valley area. For one set price, passport holders could visit 23 wineries in the Twenty Valley. (24 wineries were supposed to participate but before the event, we heard the news that Wayne Gretzky Winery was closing for good. However, the brand will continue and the wine will now be made by Andrew Peller Limited). A food and wine experience is offered at each winery. The Grape Guy has already reviewed this year’s “Taste the Season” and he asked me to do a review of “Wrapped up in the Valley”. Unfortunately, November is a very busy time with back-to back wine shows in Ottawa and Toronto so I was only able to attend the one passport event this year. From all accounts both events were a great success and all events were sold out or close to being sold out. If my sources are correct, “Wrapped-up” sold 500 tickets for each of three weekends – a record number!

As an added bonus, and for no additional charge, passport holders could visit The Watering Can Flower Market in Vineland to make their own holiday arrangement. My wife and I made our way to Vineland early in the morning before the wineries opened. I had no idea what I was doing but with the assistance of one of the Watering Can’s employees, managed to put something together that had some semblance of a plant arrangement! We proudly put our arrangements in the car and headed for the first winery stop of the day.

Over the weekend, we were able to visit 20 of the 23 wineries. We were joined by friends from Toronto and we all agreed this was a wonderful event and well worth the $35 (plus HST) passport price. Most of the food and wine pairings were spot on and most wineries did a great job in presenting the visitor with a unique experience. However, there were a few disappointments! Every winery except one served the wine in a glass. Cave Spring Cellars had plastic cups for their 2009 Chardonnay Estate. When we commented on this, the server said that they were having a lot of tours, functions and a wedding that day and didn’t have enough glasses. Well, I’m sorry, but the winery knew that they could possibly get 500 visitors for this event and should have made arrangements. Even the smaller wineries were able to serve their wine in a proper glass.

The award for the smallest sample of food goes to Stoney Ridge Estates Winery. The mushroom and goat cheese in puffed pastry was smaller than a quarter and it was gone before you had a chance to taste in properly let alone with the 2009 Excellence Pinot Noir! Now, we weren’t expecting lunch at the wineries, but this serving was just ridiculous. Another disappointment was at Tawse Winery. The notes said that they were serving “locally grown grilled vegetable & goat cheese lasagna”. I was looking forward to this, but, instead we received something indescribable on a cracker. It sure didn’t look anything like lasagna. I’m not sure what happened. The redeeming feature was the wine – a 2009 Estate Chardonnay.

Enough of the negatives – ‘tis the season, etc., etc. Some of the highlights were at wineries where thought was given to the food and wine pairing, the presentation was unique or the pairing was, shall we say, interesting!

Our first stop on the tour was 13th Street Winery. A delightful pairing of the 2010 Red Palette with a Fall Mushroom Soup garnished with savory garlic & herb croutons was served.

GreenLane Estate Winery served their 2010 Pinot Gris-Riesling with a Gourmet Mac & Cheese topped with smoked pulled pork, aged white cheddar, ricotta, sautéed asparagus and mushrooms. This was served piping hot and an ample portion. One of my favourites of the day! Well done, GreenLane.

One of the most interesting pairings of the weekend was at Sue-Ann Staff’s Winery. Sue-Ann’s mom was busy at the griddle, preparing a Quebec Swiss & mozzarella grilled cheese sandwich with a slice of Granny Smith apple in between and an onion marmalade on top. This, of course, was paired with one of my favourite Sue-Ann wines, the 2008 semi-dry Riesling. This was not your typical grilled cheese sandwich made with Kraft slices!

Two wineries served chili – Harbour Estates with their 2006 Petit Verdot, Malbec blend and Hidden Bench (owner, Harald’s secret recipe?) with their 2008 Terroir Cache Red Meritage.

Special mention goes to Flat Rock Cellars – the 2008 Chardonnay was paired with a butternut squash & bacon soup topped with goat cheese; Megalomaniac 2008 Bravado Cabernet Sauvignon match with a country-style pate with homemade preserves (from August Restaurant in Beamsville); Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery – the 2009 Top Bench Red with a duck confit on cranberry focaccia with squash bruschetta – all delicious!

The event wouldn’t have been complete without some desserts and dessert wines. Vineland Estates Winery paired their 2006 Vidal Icewine and the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine with Blue Cheese – a wonderful pairing. The Vidal Icewine had a rich, orange colour and I had to look at the bottle to make sure it was, in fact, the Vidal!

I’m not a big fan of mead (honey wine) but I am a fan of desserts. Rosewood Estates Winery & Meadery served the 2008 Mead Royale with a harvest honey cake covered in a “blanket of Mead Royale frosting”. I could have easily been persuaded to have seconds it was so good.

Fielding Estate Winery was offering a choice of their 2010 Chardonnay or a 2009 Pinot Noir to go with an apple cider butter tart square from August Restaurant. We asked for a sample of each so we could decide which wine went best with the square. The unanimous decision was that the Pinot Noir was the best match. Unfortunately, the dessert was too sweet for the Chardonnay. A better match would have been a late harvest or an Icewine.

And so ends our tour of the “Wrapped up in the Valley” participating wineries. But, all was not over. Passport holders could pick up a box of 12 chocolate truffles prepared by “Toute Sweet” in Jordan. Each truffle contains a different wine. What a nice bonus to end a wonderful weekend and, hopefully, we can keep them long enough to share with our guests over the holidays.

A sampling of some of the truffles prepared by “Toute Sweet”, Jordan

Passports sell out quickly so if you’re planning on attending next year, check out the websites early for both “Taste the Season” – http://wineriesofniagaraonthelake.com/taste-the-season
and “Wrapped up in the Valley” – http://www.twentyvalley.ca.

(To see all of Fred's pictures from the event visit: http://ontheroadwithgrapeguy.blogspot.com/2012/01/report-from-wrapped-up-in-valley.html)

To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.

Report from - An Afternoon with Marcelo Papa (Concha y Toro) ... October 24, 2011

05 Jan 2012

Details: Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

Full Version (without pictures) ...

I seem to be playing catch-up in the early part of the year ... Yes it’s January 2012 and I’m writing some of my late-year On the Road articles – as you can see I’m a little behind, but better late than never as I like to say. With that said there are some days you remember better than others and some you get very excited to share with others. This was one of those days. A group of press folks were getting a chance to meet and taste wines with Marcelo Papa, he is the winemaker behind the “super premium” Marques de Casa Concha label from Concha y Toro. Marcelo has been heading the Marques label since 1999 and has really raised the bar for these wines and their notoriety … it is truly one of the most consistently good wine values coming out of Chile at the under $20 price point. Marcelo has quite the resume including 2 winemaker of the year honors from his fellow countrymen (2004 – Chilean Wine Guide; 2008 – Chilean Food and Wine Writers).

Marques Wines …
I’ll start by (re-)introducing you to the Marques de Casa Concha wines – if you have never bought or tried these wines you truly are missing out on some of the best values from Chile:

2008 Syrah ($19.95) – very raspberry throughout with a good tannin backbone and a sour cherry finish. (*** ½+)

2009 Merlot ($19.95) – aged 60% in French and 40% in American oak for 18 months … this wine delivers the juicy, minty, blackberry you expect from Chilean Merlot with a smooth mouth-entry and delicious easy to drink palate. (****+)

2009 Carmenere ($19.95) – the Carmenere has 15% Cabernet Sauvignon added for structure as well as aged 90% in French and 10% in American oaks. A pretty nose of raspberry, floral, mint, and vanilla spice, all lead to a good mouthfeel and some blackberry, mocha, vanilla flavours on the palate … fresh and delicious. (****+)

2009 Cabernet Sauvignon ($19.95) – it says Sauvignon on the label, and 94% of it is – the other 6% combine Carmenere, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot into this juicy package. The nose gives it all up: chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, cassis, blackberry … and it all follows on the palate – a real pleaser of a wine that’s always available as a Vintages Essential (Ontario). (****)

2010 Pinot Noir ($19.95) – the newest entry into the Marques line is made from relatively young vines, planted in 2006, and has 25% new French oak involved in its 14 month ageing process. This is a welcome addition to the line as it seems to bridge the gap between the California juicy and the Burgundian earthy-minerality of Pinot. Juicy cranberry, cherry and strawberry combine with some coffee notes to give this one some focus on both aroma and flavours along with excellent length on the finish. (****+)

A New Line of Wine …
It sure was nice to get re-acquainted with the Marques wines, but the real news isn’t what lies in Concha y Toro’s past – but instead what is in their future. In 2005 Marcelo took on a new line of wines called Vina Maycas del Limari, these are wines that start their lives as grapes grown in the Limari Valley in the north of Chile, 450km from the Maipo Valley. Limari is considered a cool climate region within this hot country with foggy mornings and lots of calcium in the sub-soils, this helps to give the wines a different character than those grown to the south. The vineyards are 18-20km from the coast and, unlike their hotter more southerly vineyards, these grapes see January temps (Chile’s hottest month) of 25C – 12C, maximum to minimum. According to Marcelo: “the big problem in Chile is too much sun (heat), it’s good for sweet fruit but not good for acidity.” The Limari Valley help reduce direct sunlight on the grapes with its foggy mornings, a fog that doesn’t relent its cover till between 1-3 in the afternoon. It was after all this preamble that Marcelo presented these wines (thankfully they are soon to be in the Ontario market).

Maycas del Limari wines …
To call these wines excellent or outstanding just doesn't seem quite appropriate enough to let you know how good these wines really are. I gave each and every one of these wines (Chardonnay, Cabernet, Syrah), four-and-a-half stars which says a lot about - I also look forward to trying them again for Vintages tastings as they can only get better with more time in bottle. There are three reasons I am looking forward to seeing these wines in the market: First, I can’t wait till they hit LCBO shelves so that I can snap up a few bottles, and put them in my cellar to share with friends. Second, at under $20 they might just be the best quality for value wines you’ll see out of Chile all year. And three, these just might be the best under-$20 Chilean wines I’ve tried, period.

2009 Chardonnay, Reserva Especial ($19.95 – previously released) – a fresh, clean Chardonnay that delivers on all levels. Lovely fresh white fruit of peach, pear and apple, there’s also quite a bit of minerality that keeps this wine lively on the palate … great finish with palate cleansing acidity. For a guy who doesn't impress easily with Chardonnay I can tell you I was ... very. (**** ½)

2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserva Especial ($19.95 - Feb 4, 2012 Vintages release) – the vineyard for this Cabernet is 45km from the coast, so the afternoon starts a little earlier (as the fog dissipates) which the Cab requires. The fruit jumps out of the glass: blackberry, cassis, cherry and blueberry – the palate is lively with fruit and an acidic backbone that keeps things from getting jammy … the fruit coats the palate but that acidity keeps it from sticking there. Rich, supple and tasty. 11% Syrah is also added to the wine. (**** ½)

2009 Syrah, Reserva Especial ($19.95 - June 9, 2012 Vintages release) – dark fruit and chocolate without being cloying and sticky, this wine has a freshness about it that is not often seen in hot climate shiraz/syrah. It’s juicy and jammy with tons of flavour in the mouth and those flavours seem to hang on forever, but there’s also a great seam of acidity that washes through the mouth keeping the finish clean and the palate ready for more - it would take more than a bottle to tire the palate out, but the brain might get a little fuzzy (14.5% alc). This is one fantastic and delicious wine. (**** ½)

All these wines have wonderful cellaring potential of up to a decade – but they taste so good now it might be hard to keep your hands off them till then.