2004 White Burgandy Results

On May 17, we were privileged to taste some excellent example of 2004 White Burgundies, including some excellent examples of Meursaults and Chablis's. 

We were privileged to welcome Sébastien Jacquey as the guest speaker for the evening.  Sébastien comes from the Nevers region of Burgundy. His extensive educational and practical experiences have led him throughout France to many of the most prestigious schools and châteaux including training at Baron Philippe de Rothschild in Pauillac. Sébastien is a Master of Earth and Environment, specializing in Vine Management and Terroir; and an Engineer of Oenology and Viticulture.

Sébastien first spoke to the group about the quality of the 2004 vintage in Burgundy.  Sadly, the 2004 was not one best vintages for the region and started out almost as poorly as the drought filled 2003 season.  Heavy rain in August brought some disease and infection to the vines of the region, but luckily, September was "blessed by the gods" and dried out many of the vineyards.

He also talked about how two very different style would be present in the wines we tasted that night.   Some of the wines, like the Jean Boillot, are very "old school", where as wines like the Domaine LeFlaive and the St. Aubin, were much more of a new generation style.  They use much less oak and try to focus more on letting the terroir come through.

This turned out to be one of more challenging tastings we put on, as the group struggled to come up with a consensus for everything but their top and bottom ranked wines.  The two top wines of the night were the Jean Boillot (Sébastien top pick and the groups 4th) and Marc Colin, St Aubin (The groups top pick and Sébastien's 5th)

When speaking about the Jean Boillot, Sébastien described it as having an intense/complex nose that was full of ripe stone fruit scents.  It was very creamy and fat with flavours of mushroom and limestone minerality.  It showed a fantastic balance between the fruit and minerality with a long, smooth and tight finish.  However he did say that it wasn't a typical Burgundy, and that it tasted almost new world.

The St. Aubin, according to Sébastien, had lots of ripe stone fruit and ripe flower flavours and also some intense citrus notes.  It had good structure with a medium long finish.  He did say that when tasting, that he was searching for a minerality that seemed to be lacking.

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A. Jean-Marc Brocard, Chablis Les Clos	6	7
B. Marc Colin, St Aubin, En Remilly, 1er Cru	1	5
C. Theirry et Pascal Matrot, Meursault, Charmes, 1er Cru	7	8
D. Michel Coutoux, Meursault, Charmes, 1er Cru	3	6
E. Latour-Giraud, Meursault, Charmes, 1er Cru	2	3
F. Henri Boillot, Meursault, Charmes, 1er Cru	5	4
G. Domaine LeFlaive, Puligny-Montrachet, Clavoillon, 1er Cru	8	2
H. Jean Boillot, Puligny-Montrachet, Perrieres, 1er Cru	4	1

Reminder - White Burgundies on May 17

 

Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Chablis and St. Aubin

 Just a few days left to register for our fabulous white Burgundy tasting on May 17! We'll be drinking wines from Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Chablis and St. Aubin communes and from some of the greatest producers in the region. Price includes appetizers and a reception wine.

Register/Buy Tickets

TED TURNER MEMORIAL

1932 - 2010

In Memoriam

Edward Giles Turner

A memorial service in honour of TVC’s founder and long-time president, Ted Turner's life will be held at St. Mark's Anglican Church, 41 Byron Street Niagara-on-the-Lake ON, L0S 1J0 on Saturday, May 14 at 11:00 AM.  Reception to follow at Addison Hall (located on the grounds of St. Mark's Church).

"May he drink with the gods and dance with the angels. May he shine through the universe like he shone through life. His spirit burns bright with magnificent colours.  He lived. He loved. He made a difference."  Thank-you Ted.

From Toronto and destinations E/W via QEW:

Follow the QEW towards Niagara.  After crossing the Garden City Skyway at St. Catharines - exit the QEW at exit 38B, follow the Niagara-on-the-Lake signage onto Highway 55. Take Hw 55 12km (7mi) northeast until it ends at Queen Street. Turn R onto Queen St. (main street of NOTL).  Turn L just after the clock tower & proceed to the first Right (St. Mark's will be on your right).

And now for White Burgundy!

Next month (May), we get to taste Burgundy - always wine lover's dream! - and this time it will be white Burgundy.  Unlike buttery and oaky New World Chardonnays, white Burgundy is generally crisp and acidic, and those wines aged in oak show only a subtle touch of the wood. White Burgundies produced in 2004 are considered a not-to-be-missed vintage as it was an excellent year across Burgundy for whites.  In 2004 many producers opted not to produce any reds; however the same producers are raving about their whites.

We'll be drinking 8 rare 2004 white Burgundies from the Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Chablis and St. Aubin communes and from some of the greatest producers in the region.  Some highlights include: Domaine Latour-Giraud, with its rich history dating back centuries, using a lot of bâtonnage (stirring the lees in the barrels) for body, texture and a rich, nutty taste; Domaine Henri Boillot, which produces mainly premier crus on its 13 acres estate and is considered one of the best sources of fine wine in the Cote D’Or; and Domaine Leflaive, run by Anne-Claude Laflaive, a visionary character, renowned in Puligny and considered among the best in the regions.

Hope you can join us!

Theme: 2004 White Burgundy (for more info about Burgundy & a list of the wines we'll be tasting)
Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Time: 6 PM
Where: U of T Faculty Club, 41 Willcocks St., Toronto
Cost: TVC Members $76; Non-Members: $91 (NOTE: the price includes appetizers)
Register / Buy Tickets: http://www.onlineregistrations.ca/tvcevent5/
Join TVC or Renew Your Membership http://www.onlineregistrations.ca/torontovintners/

Spanish Reds - Modern Developements Ratings

We had a strong turnout for our Spanish Reds tasting this past Tuesday April 12, 2011, when we tasted some truly remarkable wines from all four corners of Spain.

Our guest speaker for the evening was Charles Jewett.  Charles has been involved in the Ontario wine scene for many years and played a big role in spearheading an effort to provide Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) courses in Canada.

Charles briefly spoke about how Spanish wine makers are moving away from the old style of wine making in favor of much more modern and innovative techniques, and that these wines tonight would be some excellent examples of this new breed of wines.

With that, the group go on to tasting the wines, and overall, we seemed to agree with Charles when it came time to rank them, both scoring the  2004 Bodegas San Román, San Román, Tinto (Toro) as the top wine of the night.  Charles comments on this particular wine were that it had a lovely black cherry nose that made you sit up and say ``Hello!!``, it had elegant fruit and a full flavour with a long finish. 

Some of his other comments on the top wines of the night:

2000 Resalte de Peñafiel's Gran Resalte, Ribera del Duero - ranked 2nd
This wine was the most interesting and represented a classic style Spanish red that we don`t often see anymore. It had classic barnyard and leather notes on the nose. It has been aged in large wood barrels for 2 or 3 years, but that the oak didn`t over power the natural grape tannins.


2003 Baigorri Vino De Garage DOC, Rioja - ranked 3rd
This wine had great coffe and mocha aromas in the glass, but tasted more of just mocha and the sweetness that one would expect to accompany with it. Was full of strong and long flavours that lasted right to the end.


2004 Valdrinal Reserva - Ribera Del Duero
This wine had notes of coffee, chocolate and truffle on the nose and that continued on through the tasting.  It presented with some beautiful berry tannins, but finished slightly weak.  This wine would greatly benefit from another couple years in the cellar to really reach it`s true potential.

 The rest of the ranking are as follows:

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A. 2005 Vall Llach Idus De Vall Llach DOC, Priorat	7	5
B. 2001 Cellers Fuentes, Gran Clos De J.M. Fuentes DOC	5	4
C. 2004 Bodegas Tardencuba, Valnuevo Seleccion (Toro)	8	7
D. 2004 Bodegas San Román, San Román, Tinto (Toro)	1	1
E. 2003 Baigorri Vino De Garage DOC, Rioja	3	6
F. 2006 Balbás Gran Reserva - Ribera del Duero	6	8
G. 2004 Valdrinal Reserva - Ribera Del Duero	4	2
H. 2000 Resalte de Peñafiel's Gran Resalte, Ribera del Duero	2	3

2004 German Riesling Ratings

On March 22, 2011 we had a small but dedicated group come out to taste our 2004 German Rieslings.  It was a fitting wine to help us say goodbye to winter and welcome in spring (even if the weather outside didn't play along).

Our guest speaker for the evening was Anne Martin. Anne is an expert on German wines and revealed to us that out of all the wines out there, German Rieslings were her favourite.  Currently, German Rieslings are under-appreciated wines but are also under-priced, partially in thanks to global warming making them more accessible.  Anne explained the often difficult and confusing classification system that the Germans use to identify their wines.  According to Anne, the 2004 vintage was much better than the 2003's (which suffered from too much heat).  2004 saw cooler temperatures during a rainy summer followed up by an Indian summer in the fall, which were perfect conditions to make truly great Rieslings.

Awaiting each person at their table the night of the tasting were some great wine tools that were provided by German Wine.  Everyone received a new corkscrew, a DropStop pouring assist disc, a red and white aroma wheel, and some great literature on German wine regions and wine classification.

The final results were, all in all, pretty even right across the board. There was never more than a once place difference between the groups rankings and Anne's for any of the wines that we tasted.  The groups' pick of the night was the 2004 Scharzhofberger, Egon Muller (Saar).  Anne said that wine had a slightly higher acidity then the others, but that it was perfectly balanced by the level of sweetness.  It had hints of star anise and ripe apple on the nose and had, what she describes as, a "salivating finish, which left us thirsting for more".

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A. 2004 Durkheimer Michelsberg, Kurt Darting (Pfalz)	7	8
B. 2004 Winkeler Dachsberg, Prinz von Hessen (Rheingau)	8	7
C. 2004 Hattenheimer Schutzenhaus, Balthasar Ress (Rheingau)	6	5
D. 2004 Urziger Wurzgarten, Dr Loosen	5	6
E. 2004 Ockfener Bockstein, von Othegraven (Saar)	4	3
F. 2004 Scharzhofberger, Egon Muller (Saar)	1	2
G. 2004 Berncasteler Doctor, Dr H Thanisch Erben Thanisch (Mosel)	2	1
H. 2004 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Spatlese Kabinett, Toni Jost (Mittel Rhein)	3	4

Spanish Reds - Modern Developments

Spain is such a fascinating, colourful and beautiful country with its history, geography, food, music, art, artists, and wine.  It simply has everything!  "When phylloxera destroyed the French vineyards in the 1860s and ’70s, many Bordeaux winemakers moved south. They brought with them their vines, their winemaking skills and the Bordeaux bottle. A century later, in the 1970s and ’80s, Spain decided to join the contemporary viniculture world, and Spanish wines began to improve."   NY Times, Frank Prial, Jan. 3, 2008.  Today, many Spanish wineries are very highly prized by oenophiles throughout the world.  Next month - April 12 - the Toronto Vintners Club continues its exploration and education of  Spanish modernist wines and focuses on red wines from several new and innovative winemakers.  Click on the links below for details about our event as well as to register and to join TVC if you are not already a member.

Theme: Spanish Reds - Modern Developments
Date:  Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Time: 6 PM
Where: Faculty Club, 41 Willcocks St., Toronto
Cost: TVC Members $69; Non-Members: $85  (NOTE: the price includes appetizers)
Register / Buy Tickets:  http://www.onlineregistrations.ca/tvcevent4/
Join TVC http://www.onlineregistrations.ca/torontovintners/