Champagne Evening

Ooh, la. la! Our last event for 2009 is an event worth celebrating - a Champagne Evening to commemorate the end of the first decade after the New Millennium!! Yes! A full decade has already passed.

As you probably know, only wines produced in the Champagne region of France can legally be labeled Champagne now and we will be serving you 8 of them in addition to some light appetizers to accompany these glorious wines. As a special incentive, guests/non-members can attend at the same price as the members so bring your friends, spouses, colleagues and enjoy a great evening of wonderful bubbly from Toronto's best downtown wine tasting club! Thank you for your support over the past year and we look forward to seeing you in December and throughout 2010.

Event Details

Theme: Champagne Evening
Date: Tues. November 17, 2009
Time: 6 PM
Price: TVC Members: $78; Guests: $78
Location: Toronto Board of Trade, 4th floor (Downtown Toronto), 1st Cdn Place, King St. West (NW Corner of King & Bay St.), Toronto
How to Find the Board of Trade

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Port Evening and Rankings

We had a delightful evening sampling some lovely and interesting ports, in spite of our guest speaker's description of a previous tasting of one of the ports as 'baby's vomit'. Ooooh, yuck! Fortunately, no one found a bouquet of that description on any of the wines! Alan Gardner told us to look for 'grip' of the wines in our mouth and described how the production of Port changed around 1986 when Portugal joined the EEC. He also thought we'd find the Colheita Port (not a vintage port) different from the rest. It certainly was. Colheita ports are tawney wines aged in cask as opposed to barrel aged. This was the run-away favourite of the group which placed it at the top of their list; Alan liked it too, placing it as his 2nd favourite of the evening. Combined with appetizers of various types of cheeses, sweet and savoury pastries, walnuts, chocolate covered strawberries and dense chocolate brownies, we had a very enjoyable evening. Here's how the wines were ranked. They were poured in age order from oldest to youngest.

Thank you to Alan Gardner for making our evening successful and enjoyable!

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A. 1978 Hutcheson Colheita Port	1	2
B. 1980 Gould Campbell Vintage Port	3	8
C. 1983 Quarles Harris Vintage Port	7	4
D. 1985 Warre's Vintage Port	4	3
E. 1991 Warre's Vintage Port	8	5
F. 1994 Warre's Vintage Port	5	7
G. 1997 Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port	2	6
H. 2000 Delaforce Vintage Port 2000	6	1

Vintage Ports in October!

Here's a preview of what TVC will be tasting this month. Vintage ports! This event will also include FOOD! See further down for the list of the wines. Click on Vintage Ports to go to our website for more details.

Event Details
Theme: Vintage Ports
Date: Tues. October 20, 2009
Time: 6 PM
Price: TVC Members: $65; Guests: $80
Location: University of Toronto Faculty Club
Parking
Public Transit Access - there is a streetcar that travels south on Spadina Ave from the Bloor Subway (St. George station) and the stop is right on Wilcocks street.
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1978 Hutcheson Colheita Port (Producer: Hutcheson, Feuerheerd & Assoc.) $89

1980 Gould Campbell Vintage Port (Producer: Vintage And Fine Wine International) $89



1983 Quarles Harris Vintage Port (Producer: Quarles Harris & Co.) $79

1985 Warre's Vintage Port (Producer: Vintage And Fine Wine International) $79

1991 Warre's Vintage Port (Producer: Vintage And Fine Wine International) $75

1994 Warre's Vintage Port (Producer: Vintage And Fine Wine International) $89



1997 Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port (Producer: Smith Woodhouse & C.A, L.Da) $84

2000 Delaforce Vintage Port 2000 (Producer: Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman) $98

Rankings for the 2004 Bordeaux, Sept 22/09

Overall, people had a very good impression of these Bordeaux Right Bank wines and the vintage (all from 2004). While it was a vintage that is supposed to be maturing early, several of these wines can and should continue to be cellared for more time. They were very concentrated, with lots of fruit in most of the wines, balanced with good acidity, tannins, and structure.

As you can see below, Peter Boyd, our guest speaker, and the group had different palates when it came time to rank their favourite wines! The group preferred the most expensive wine of the evening, the Beausejour-Becot from St. Emilion while Peter ranked it close to the bottom! Peter's favourite was the Beauregard from Pomerol, a less fruity, more austere wine than the St. Emilions. There was more agreement on the wines placing 2nd, 3rd and 4th and last. The group ranked St. Emilion wines in their top 3 and bottom 2 with the Pomerols sandwiched in the middle.

Here are the rankings of the wines in the order in which they were poured.

Guest Speaker’s Rankings

2. D’aiguilhe, St. Emilion $38.70
5. Troplong Mondot, St. Emilion $69.00
1. Beauregard, Pomerol $49.00
6. Le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol $67.00
3. Certan-Marzelle, Pomerol $64.50
8. Barde Haut, St. Emilion $59.00
4. Beausejour (Duffau-Lagarrosse), St. Emilion $64.00
7. Beausejour-Becot, St. Emilion $65.00

Group Rankings

3. D’aiguilhe, St. Emilion $38.70
8. Troplong Mondot, St. Emilion $69.00
5. Beauregard, Pomerol $49.00
4. Le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol $67.00
6. Certan-Marzelle, Pomerol $64.50
7. Barde Haut, St. Emilion $59.00
2. Beausejour (Duffau-Lagarrosse), St. Emilion $64.00
1. Beausejour-Becot, St. Emilion $65.00

Thanks to Peter Boyd and our attendees for a very enjoyable evening of wonderful wines!

TVC presents Vintage Ports, Oct. 22

What better way to slide into autumn than with a tasting of vintage ports from Portugal!

Event Details

Theme: Vintage Ports
Date: Tues. October 20, 2009
Time: 6 PM
Price: TVC Members: $65; Guests: $80
Location: University of Toronto Faculty Club
Parking
Public Transit Access - there is a streetcar that travels south on Spadina Ave from the Bloor Subway (St. George station) and the stop is right on Wilcocks street.
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Click here to Register / Buy Tickets

Bordeaux event almost full!

As of this morning, there are only 16 seats left for our 2004 Bordeaux tasting. Please don't wait to register. Buy your tickets at https://www.onlineregistrations.ca/tvcevent7/.

2004 Pomerol & St. Emilion (Right Bank), September 22, 2009

We are pleased to offer a tasting of Bordeaux Right Bank wines to inaugurate the 2009-2010 season. With five selections from St. Emilion and three from Pomerol (home of Petrus), we can compare the two regions. Pomerol produces only 5.3 million gallons of wine over 2700 hectares and is characterized by more robust flavours which lend longer aging, whereas St. Emilion is one of the largest and oldest viticulture areas, producing 36 million gallons (over one third of Bordeaux production). St. Emilion wines tend to reach maturity quicker. The 2004 vintage was rated above average to excellent with early maturing for these two regions and these wines should be drinking well right now. The selection includes Premier Grand Crus such as Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse, Beausejour Becot and Troplong Mondot as well as some Grand Crus such as Beauregard and Le Bon Pasteur. For a complete listing and tasting notes of our wines, please click here (you will leave this Blog).

Our guest speaker is Peter Boyd, profiled in Wine Access magazine as one of "Canada's Top Sommeliers". Peter has had a long association with Scaramouche Restaurant, worked with some of Canada’s best chefs, and spent time living and working in France. We are delighted that he can join us for the evening.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Tues. Sept. 22, 2009
Time: 6 PM
Price: Members: $65 Guests: $80
Register/Buy tickets
Venue: The Toronto Board of Trade, 4th floor (Downtown Toronto), 1^st Cdn Place, King St. West (NW Corner of King & Bay St.), Toronto
Directions: How to Find the Toronto Board of Trade

Deadlines:
Cheques must be received by Fri. Sept. 18/09
Online Payments - Sun. Sept. 20/09
Cheque-payment option to be disabled midnight, Tues. Sept. 15/09

Please note that all reservations/payments are final!