On the Road with the Grape Guy

California … sun, surf, and sand, though now I am sure we should add wine to that list of California staples.  There are proably more wines that come out of California than movies coming out of Hollywood.  Doing some rough calculations in my non-math oriented, wine soaked brain after the show, I figured that with 56 pages in the California Wine Fair tasting book with approximately 2 wineries per page – if each winery brought an average of 4 wines (some more, some less, but they average out at about 4 per), you’d be looking at trying to taste approximately 448 wines.  Now, if you consider these are just the ones they brought to showcase, there must be plenty more back at home in their respective tasting rooms, that’s a virtual sea of wine.

So there I was in a room filled to the brim with wine from sunny California and wondering where to begin my reporting, how do I get across the many flavours of the state of Schwartzenegger and Zinfandel, the state that beat the French at their own game in ‘76 and the state that has been accused of over-oaking their whites and under-oaking their reds?  How about I start with the stuff you can get or will be able to get in the near future and move on from there. 

Coming in May will be some Coastal Wine from Beaulieau Vineyards, sounds French but this stuff is pure California.  Lots of great red fruit and easy drinking, at $12.99 a perfect wine for every day consumption and all BBQs … look for the 2005 Coastal Shiraz and the 2004 Coastal Cabernet Sauvignon in the general list section of the LCBO.

Cline Cellars has been a staple at the LCBO for a long time, mainly in the Vintages section – but their general list Zinfandel ($14.20 - #489278) is a real bargain for Zin fans – light, fruity with chunks for raspberries.  Their Los Carneros Syrah ($20.15 - #955435) is also good value for the money – good body, excellent spiciness, you definitely get more than what you pay for in this bottle.

The Delicato Family is making a name change, shortening their name somewhat along the lines of KFC; now they want to be known as DFV (Delicato Family Vineyards).  In May look for the Irony 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon ($22.95 - #25106) at a Vintages near you, it’s pretty easy to spot with its distinctive orange label … in the bottle you’ll find dark fruit flavours and ripe tannins, there’s also some full bodiedness here; all made from Napa fruit that’s been aged in French and American oak.

Finally, in the “here and now” department (May 12), pick up a few bottles of the Robert Hall Winery 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles ($29.95 - #25205), it’s my pick for best Cab Sauv of the show (Bang for the Buck wise).  $29.95 is not a lot to pay for a wine of this caliber.  Good vanilla and cinnamon notes, lots of red fruit (mainly cherries) and touch of apparent sweetness through the mid-palate.  The Robert Hall Vineyards boast Bordeaux style soil, longest hang times and great diurnal temperature, thus getting the best fruit, and I can’t disagree after sipping on this one, it’s delicious.

I’ll start the later column with my Bang for the Buck selection:  Dry Creek Vineyard 2005 Heritage Zinfandel (max $19.95, may be less upon release); the sailboat label seemed like a good analogy, because I was totally blown away by this wine.  A sweetish-like mid-section carried this wine through my mouth … very red fruit dominated, some chocolate, light on the tannins, good acidity, a well-balanced wine through and through.  The interesting part is the old clone vines the fruit comes from.  Dry Creek takes old vine buds and grafts then onto new vines, therefore you get new vines producing old fruit … get it, got it, good.

Speaking of Zinfandel, June sees the return of the Gnarly Head Zinfandel from Delicato (DFV), it’ll be wine of the month in Vintages, and the price has come down 2 bucks from last year’s offering (now $17.95).  Aged in French, American and Hungarian oak the wine shows signs of strawberries, raspberries, fruit compote, plums and a fig finish – made form 35-80 year old vines.

The Trinchero Family has a wine name that is sure to cause a stir at your next party if you use it at just the right time.  Be prepared to pipe up and say, “Who’s up for a Manage a Trois?  Red or white?”  Both will be available for $18.95 on July 21st in Vintages.  The white is a blend of Chardonnay, Muscat and Chenin Blanc, it has great playful peachy notes.  The Menage a Trois red in Zinfandel heavy with Merlot and Cab Sauv in the supporting roles, lots of red fruit, chocolate and cherries here.  Yummy!

Finally, if you can wait till July and beyond you’ll be able to get your hands on some sinfully good wine from Michael-David Winery.  The 7 Deadly Zins is back – pepper and spice backed up by red fruit forwardness and a zip of acidity, all for $24.95.  That should tie you over till the next wave come along … so be on the look out for 6th Sense Syrah ($24.95) with its spicy black fruit character (no release date yet).  And speaking of character, the Lone Ranger of wine strikes again with Incognito, an award winning red blend who’s identity changes year after year; the 2004 version ($24.95) if full-on deli in the mouth with spicy smoked meat flavours – chewing a wine never felt so right (no release date yet).

L’Aventure’s Optimus, a blend of Syrah, Cab Sauv and Petit Verdot is fruity and enjoyable and contains less oaky flavours every year, so the fruitiness will continue to increase year after year ($65.00 – Halpern Enterprises).  Rutherford Wine Company’s $23.95 Cabernet Sauvignon is a mouth pleasing red with sweet fruit, cherry, raspberry and chocolate (Eurovintage International).  Finally, Z-52 has two Zins worth shouting about … Agnes Vineyard and Clockspring Vineyard, both $23.40 a bottle.  Agnes comes from the sandy soils in Lodi and 45 year old vines:  chocolate and spice dominated with red fruit taking a back seat, very smooth in the mouth.  Clockspring hails from Amador County, grown 1500 feet up in volcanic red soil.  This one’s meatier with more spices and a sweet finish, though it is still quite tannic (Small Winemakers Collection).

“No representation?”  I asked in awe of what Trygve Fekjan (of Arizona based American Wines International) had just told me, he shook his head.  “That’s a crime,” I said.  He was there representing JanKris Winery, located in Templeton California, and I had just sampled the 2004 Crossfire (Paso Robles), a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Syrah and 25% Merlot … a totally awesome wine with tones of raspberry flavours that travel front to mid-palate, change to chocolate and pepper in the back and a lingering anise-like finish.  Simply superb – somebody better pick these guys up and bring this bottle to Ontario.  Please … it’d be a crime not to.  By the way, their Cabernet Sauvignon was quite tasty too.

Closing off with news of a new winery opening in May 2007 in Medocino County … Jacuzzi wines, part of Cline Cellars but a totally unique winery unto itself.  Growing more interesting, non-traditional grape varieties in California, namely Primitivo, Sangiovese, Barbera, Nebbiolo and other European (read Italian) grape varieties.  Good Luck on this new endeavour … and if you get the chance try the Primitivo, it’s a cousin of Zinfandel (if not the parent) and has much elegance and finesse wrapped up in pepper and dark fruit (www.jacuzziwines.com).

So much wine, so little time and only one tongue to taste it all with … that’s the real dilemma of California wine.  Cheers.

“You’re obviously not from Hamilton,” said the Lakeport rep to me when I asked him where Lakeport calls home.

“How do you know that?”  I asked.

“Because we’re from right here in Steel Town,” replied jovially.  Lakeport was just one of the 50+ exhibitors at this year’s (2nd Annual) Hamilton Food & Drink Fest held at the Hamilton Convention Centre … and from all reports it was bigger and better than last year.  Barb from Reif Estate told me “I heard some exhibitors didn’t come back this year, but I don’t know why, this show is amazing.”  And in those four words she pretty much summed up the feelings of both exhibitors and attendees at this year’s event; a mixture of good local restaurants, an array of Ontario wineries from both Niagara and the Lake Erie North Shore; some area breweries and a smattering of agents, who brought with them the international flair of spirits and wine.

First stop was Mastronardi (who seem to be a fixture at all the events lately) – I tried their 2002 Merlot ($29.00 – winery only) for the fourth time.  This rich full-bodied red is mellowing out quite nicely with age, the fruit and wood are really integrating well together.  This truly was my favourite red of the day.  Reif Estate was pouring their terrific 2005 Gamay Rose ($10.95 - #669366) which will be perfect for the summer ahead:  light and dry with strawberry and raspberry on the taste.  Coyote’s Run slipped me a glass of their general list 2005 Unoaked Chardonnay ($14.95 - #26740) a crisp, light and lively affair mixing good fruit and tropical notes on both the nose and taste.  Finally, I bumped into Robert of EastDell fame (see brunch at EastDell), he poured two Diamond Estate (EastDell’s parent company) wines:  the EastDell 2003 Cabernet Merlot ($14.95 – #620187) which had some dark fruit and earthiness with just a hint of tannin to it – I would recommend another year on it’s side should smooth this baby right out; and a Birchwood 2006 Gewurztraminer/Riesling ($10.85 - #572156), this’ll be a summer party/patio pleaser for sure with apple and lychee on the nose, honeyed apple and pear on the taste - I even picked up a little lime – very refreshing.  You should be seeing, and serving, this at the cottage.

Also in attendance were some of the agents from around Ontario, they brought international wines and spirits to this mainly local themed event.  Of particular interest was a fruity, easy-going Italian number from Cecchi, Bonizio Sangiovese Di Maremma ($12.10 – #613299), a well-priced pizza wine with minimal tannin, great value.  New to the LCBO is the Twin Fin 2003 Shiraz ($13.95 - #34132); it follows along the same line as the other Twin Fin offerings (Pinot Noir and Cab Sauv), fruit forward and ready to go.  There’s some red fruit and spice on this Shiraz, making it easy drinking and a sure BBQ season favourite for summer get togethers.

A few stand out restaurants from the show were KOI (Hamilton), whose coconut shrimp had everyone raving.  Any booth I stopped at to ask for food recommendations always started with. “The coconut shrimp at KOI is to die for …”.  My Thai (4 locations: Burlington, Hamilton, Brantford, Ancaster) served up a delicious fresh spring roll – mine was a little heavy on the coriander, but delicious nonetheless.  And, surprise, surprise, the Hamilton Convention Centre caterer was serving up the most amazing mini-burger I have ever tasted, topped with Asiago cheese, sun dried tomato mayo, fried red onions and red peppers … absolutely delicious.

Finally, the afore mentioned Lakeport let me try a few of their more interesting beers … the Honey Lager is good for you honey beer fans (of which I am one) and the Wee Willy offers up good body and some toasted caramel flavours.  I asked about their “new” red beer which they told me is expected to be on shelves at all Beer Stores by the end of the week of April 2 – but unfortunately they had none to try (my brother told me as I was writing this article, that he’s been drinking it for awhile now, so what give?).  Lakeport (for those who don’t know) is the 24 for $24 company, good beer at a fair price and was just bought by Labatt’s last Thursday March 29, 2007) – though the promise is business as usual.  Hope so cause they sure live up to their claim.

I must say that the Hamilton Food and Drink Fest was a rousing success for all who attended, and from talks with exhibitors they enjoyed being there too.  The elegant and intimate setting with live music at one end and cooking demonstrations at the other, and all manner of food and drink in-between was a welcome change from the boisterous big room events.  One ticket seller told me they had 2200 people go through the fest on Saturday (12-8), which seems impressive for a show of this size.   The ticket seller also lamented that they may have to take up two rooms next year to accommodate all the people.  My feelings are as long as they are able to maintain the atmosphere they can expand all they like.
 
One small note to next year’s organizer:  the only thing I would definitely recommend changing is the glassware … while a great little memento, it did little to help showcase the wines that went into it; a standard ISO glass would have performed better – a small glitch in an overall very impressive show.  Long may the fest go on.