18
Feb
2011
- Details
-
Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
Earlier in the week I accepted an invitation to lunch from Ontario's Roaming Winemaker Andrzej Lipinski ... I dubbed him that in a review I wrote a few weeks ago and I think Andrzej wanted to set the record straight. Andrzej has quite the interesting story to tell of a young man coming to Canada in the early 90s and getting his start at Vineland Estates ... interestingly enough he was not a winemaker by trade, but in fact an auto mechanic - though he did grow up in a town that had the only wine festival in Poland. But the wine industry has a lure and Andrezj was soon working in the cellar of Vineland before he became the assistant. The rest of the story is one of a man who won awards, made a name for himself and has really been looking for a proper fit ... Now I won't start getting into the misunderstood artist toiling at his craft story that you've heard a thousand times before, and I don't think that fits Andrzej anyway, but I will tell you he has some pretty interesting wines being made at the two wineries we visited, and that's really what this story is all about.
Starting my day in Niagara-on-the-Lake's newest addition to the winery landscape, Colaneri, we began our tasting at the tasting bar with some of their current releases: (to read about the releases the tasting and the lunch, click here)
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
13
Feb
2011
- Details
-
Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
The mystery continues ... I have long wondered why wine writers bring the bottles they do to a dinner filled with other wine writers. Tonight was our annual dinner, this year held at Tutti Matti (an Italian restaurant at 364 Adelaide Street West). Although food was delicious and my dinner included salad (baby spinach with bufala mozerella, pine nuts, dried balsamic figs, sliced prosciutto, grilled seasonal fruit and saba vinaigrette); main (slow roasted beef short ribs, italian beer, oranges, rosemary and garlic with soft polenta and roasted root vegetables) and dessert (tiramisu - maybe the best I have ever had), it is the wine that always intrigues me. A fellow by the name of Martin and I got into a discussion about that very thing and neither of us could explain to the others satisfaction why bottles of Le Vieux Pin (B.C.) were sitting beside Chateau Pipeau flanked by a Brunello di Montalcino which sat between a '99 Cilento and Hillebrand with some Jankris and Errazurriz Ovalle standing behind them. Why a bottle of Isole e Olena found its way beside a Perrin & Fils, or how a rare bottle of Kruger Rumpf Pittersberg could be at the same table as a run of the mill Aussie Shiraz like The Lackey Shiraz. The head stratching will continue, but here are some notes about the wines that found their way into my glass ...
The Best Wines of the Night ... (Find out what were the best wines and what were the duds at dinner)
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
