BBQ & Zinfandel

For those who love grilled meats and vegetables in summer, pairing those foods with Zinfandel is a perfect combination.  So in view of our approach to summer weather in Ontario, the Toronto Vintners Club is hosting a Zinfandel tasting - all 8 wines for the fabulous 2012 vintage - along with appetizers.  All of our Zins have been sourced from California.  This is a great opportunity to try a number of different Zins that have been sourced from various counties in California: 5 from Sonoma, 2 from Lodi and 1 from Napa.  You may recognize some of the names and other wineries will be totally new. For more information about the wines and the wineries, click on the link below. 

Theme:  Zinfandel - It Must Be Summer!
Date: Tuesday, June 21(day after the summer solstice)
Time:  6:00 PM
Venue: Faculty Club, Univ. of Toronto, 41 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1C7  - Map 

Price: TVC Members: $64; Guests/Non-Members: $84  (includes a reception wine & appetizers)

Buy Tickets/Register:  NOTE: ALL ticket sales/reservations are final. Cheques must be received by Friday, June 17th. The cheque-payment option will be disabled at midnight Tuesday, June. 14th after which only credit card sales will be accepted until Monday June 20h or earlier if the event sells out. You will be sent an email confirmation after completing your registration. If you tried to register but did not receive your confirmation, please contact chris@torontovintners.org before trying to register again.

California Dreaming - SOLD OUT

Our May 20th tasting of premium California Cabernet Sauvignon wines is . . .

Sorry you couldn't get in.  Hope to see you at a future event hosted by Toronto Vintners Club.

California Dreaming - only 6 spots left!

There are only 6 tickets left for our May 20th California Dreaming  - Premium Cabernets!   Don't be disappointed because you missed it!

Details of the Wines
Register / Buy Tickets
Join Toronto Vintners (you'll get a discount on your event tickets if you're a member).

Hope to see you there!

California Premium Reds

For several centuries, the top Cabernet-based wines of Bordeaux have defined greatness in red wine.  So
it’s no accident that when Napa Valley winemakers first wanted to make exceptional wines in the 1800s, they imported Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings from Bordeaux.  Therefore, the rarest, most prestigious and priciest wines made in the US—and many would say the greatest—now happen to be California Cabernets. Whereas Bordeaux cooler climate produces more austere and less approachable wines unless cellared for at least a decade or longer, California's warmer climate naturally leads to fleshier, fruitier, more generous wines that can be readily enjoyed within a few years of their vintage.   At an average price of $4,750 for one ton of Napa Valley Cabernet grapes, $47 is the industry’s rule-of-thumb price for a bottle of wine made from these grapes. Thus Napa Valley and California Cabernets have become a category for the well-heeled wine lover.

“Napa Valley is the heart of Cabernet Sauvignon production and is clearly an ideal region for creating world-class wines. If any Cabernet-based wine is capable of giving Bordeaux a run for its money, it's Napa Valley's examples. However, due to the extremely high cost of purchasing and developing vineyards in California, and the cachet of Napa Valley on the label, this has largely become a category for the well-heeled wine lover.”
(http://www.wineaccess.com/wine/grape/cabernet-sauvignon)

TVC presents a total of 8 premium reds from California.  7 are from Napa Valley (Caymus, Chateau Montelena, Clos du Val, Cain, Terra Valentine, Trinchero, Corison) and 1 is from Alexander Valley (Kendall Jackson).  All are Cabernet Sauvignon with the exception of Cain Five (Cain Winery) which is a Bordeaux-style blend of five grapes. The vintages are 2005, 2006 and 2007 which are all rated as outstanding for northern California. This will be a fantastic tasting of premium Californian reds.  Don't miss it!!

Theme:  California Premium Reds
Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Time: 6 PM - Reception Wine; 6:20 PM - Formal Tasting
Location:  U of Toronto Faculty Club, 41 Willcocks, St., Toronto ON
Price:  TVC Members:  $92; Guests / Non-members:  $112
Register / Buy Tickets
Note: All ticket sales are final!!!

Hitching Post Wines - Results

This past Tuesday, Toronto Vintners Club was proud to present, the exclusive Canadian tasting of Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post wines, lead by the winemaker himself Gray Hartley.

As we were honored to have the wine make present for the evening, we ran the tasting slightly differently than what our members were used to.  Instead of a blind tasting of the wine, Gray lead us on a journey through them, regaling us with stories and anecdote about each in turn.

The tasting started with the 2011 Pinks Dry Rosé.  Some people assume that is wine was named after the colour of the wine, but in fact, the name came from an earlier part of Gray's life.  He spent the first half of his career, not making wine, but fishing for pink salmon in Alaska.  This fishing influence can also be seen in some of the other wises that we tasted: Cork Dancer was named after the lead fish in the salmon run, that would jump and seem to dance along the edge of the fishing nets. The Highliner name was given to best ship in the fishing fleet, so Gray though it was only fair to give that name to what they considered the best of the fleet of Pinot Noirs.

Gray also shared a couple great stories from the filming of Sideways and how almost on a weekly basis, they still see customers come into the restaurant and request to specifically sit in the seat that Miles (Paul Giamatti) sat in in the movie.

During the tasting, the club ranked the six Pinot  Noirs that were poured, here were the results:

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking
A - 2011 Pinks Dry Rosé $20	NR
B - 2009 Hometown Pinot Noir $27	5
C - 2009 Cork Dancer Pinot Noir $35	3
D - 2009 St. Rita’s Earth Pinot Noir $49	1
E - 2007 Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir $42.50	6
F - 2004 Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir $59	4
G - 2007 Highliner Pinot Noir $ 50	2
H - 2009 Late Harvest Gewürztraminer	NR

California Chardonnay - Results, Apr. 2012

On Tuesday April 17, 2012, California Chardonnays took center stage at the latest tasting hosted by the Toronto Vintners Club.  All in attendance that night were treated with the opportunity to taste some truly remarkable wines made by expert Californian winemakers.  All the wines tasted were deliberately crafted to distance themselves from the typical oaky and tropical fruit filled California Chardonnays of old and tried to return to their Burgundian roots with a more crisp style with lots of mineral and steely overtones.

Our speaker for the evening was Steve Elphick.  Steve has been a professional photographer for the past 36 years with a focus on wine and beer.  He is the sole photographer for the Wine Atlas of Canada and has had his work published and exhibited in museums and art galleries all over the world.  He has also professionally judged wine since 1988 including judging Chardonnay at the California State fair for the past 12 years.  He is also the past VP of the Wine Writers Circle of Canada.

According to Steve, there is one main reason why these wines don't taste like the typical California Chardonnay.  Like Burgundy Chardonnays, all of the wines that we tasted  follow the french model and do not add any yeast during fermentation, only wild yeast from the air is used to start the process.  This results in the wines having a "plushness" and a big rich mouth-feel.  It is also interesting to note that all but one of these wines have undergone malolactic fermentation and this one wine is considered by many to be the best non-malo wine in America. (keep reading to find out which one it is). 

After the tasting was finished and all the rankings were compiled, the groups favourite wine on the night turned out to be the only non-malo wine being tasted tonight, the  2009 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay.  Steve ranked this tied for fourth and praised it for it's open acidity.  Steve's favourite wine of the night was the 2008 Signorello Vieilles Vignes Chardonnay, the group had this ranked as their 5th favourite. 

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A - 2008 Evening Land La Source Seven Springs Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills $79	8	7
B - 2009 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay $49	3	4.5
C - 2009 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay $59.95	1	4.5
D - 2009 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay $79.95	2	3
E - 2008 Signorello Vieilles Vignes Chardonnay $51.95	5	1
F - 2009 Kistler Les Noisetiers Sonoma Coast Chardonnay $64.95	6	2
G - 2009 Kistler Sonoma Mountain Chardonnay $72.95	4	6
H - 2008 Arrowood Vineyards Réserve Spéciale Chardonnay $49.95	7	8