Spring Dinner at Mistura

   

It’s that time again. Time for Toronto Vintners Club to clear out the surplus collection of premium vintage wines from our extensive cellar and drink them at Mistura Restaurant.  Chef Massimo Capra of Mistura Restaurant has prepared a menu of several signature dishes to compliment the fine quality of wines from our cellar and essentially, the wines are on us.

Mistura offers patrons “contemporary Italian cuisine reflective of a simplified, yet refined approach to taste.” The restaurant focuses on seasonal ingredients and June’s menu should not disappoint. Since opening in 1997, Mistura has been accumulating rave reviews from fellow chefs and food critics, including Joanne Kates of the Globe and Mail. Kates ranked Mistura No. 18 on her Top 100 restaurants in Toronto for 2012 and No. 13 in 2011.

Reservations are restricted to 60 people only.  Price includes all taxes and gratuities.

Where: 265 Davenport Road, Toronto, ON
When: Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Time: 6:30pm – Reception, 7:00 PM - Dinner
Cost: TVC Members $115; Guests’/Non-Members $140 (all inclusive)

2001 Barolos Results, May 2012

This wasn't the first time - and probably won't be the last time - that Bernard Stramwasser of Le Sommelier Inc. was our guest speaker for a Barolo tasting. Previously it was the 1997 vintage and this time it was 2001! 

On May 15, 2012 we tasted wines from some of the Piedmont’s great wine producers Cavallotto, Marcarini, Ceretto, Giacomo Fenocchio, Paolo Scavino, Paolo Conterno, Giovanni Manzone, and Massolino.  Here's how we ranked the wines.

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A - 2001 Giacomo Fenocchio - Bussia        $37.95	8	6
B - 2001 Manzone - Le Gramolere             $44.95	2	3
C - 2001 Paolo Conterno - Ginestra           $54.00	5	4
D - 2001 Cavalotto - Bricco Boschis           $54.95	4	8
E - 2001 Massolino, Serralunga d'Alba - Barolo $57.93	6	2
F - 2001 Marcarini - Brunate         $59.00	3	5
G - 2001 Ceretto - Brunate            $83.69	1	1
H - 2001 Paolo Scavino - Carobric    $87.95	7	7

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

Revisiting Chianti Classico - Results, March 2012

This past Tuesday, March 20th, 2012, the Toronto Vintners Club presented the rare opportunity, to go back and re-visit our tasting from back in March of 2010.  It was a unique opportunity to revisit these wines and to see what effect 2 additional years of cellaring had on these wines.  Our Guest returning gust speaker for the evening was Julian Hitner, who last joined Toronto Vintners Club for our Brunello di Montalcino tasting in Feb. 2011.

Over all, pretty much everyone was in agreement on their wine rankings, with the older of the wines tasted coming out on top.  Julian ranked the 2005 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico as his top wine of the evening, saying that it had great notes of salami and roasted meat with also just a very faint port like element hiding in the background.  This wine had firm tannins that were balanced with perfect acidity.  The group's top pick was the same wine, but the older of the two vintages present that night, the 2003 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico.  According to Julian, this wine was very refined and had a great red cherry/garnet colour.  It was a very complex wine, with notes of pipe tobacco, roasted meats and cigar boxes.

Here are how the wines were ranked:

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A - 2007 Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico $35	8	8
B - 2007 Isole E Olena Chianti Classico $35	3	7
C - 2006 Isole E Olena Chianti Classico $36	7	4
D - 2006 Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico Reserva $62	6	5
E - 2006 Antinori Peppoli Chianti Classico $23	2	6
F - 2005 Antinori Badia A Passignano Riserva $51	5	3
G - 2005 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico $45	4	1
H - 2003 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico $55	1	2

Comparing this years tasting to that of 2010, we can see that there has been quite a bit of movement of the wine that are in the middle of the pack.  The biggest jump in rankings was the for the 2006 Antinori Peppoli Chianti Classico, which moved from 5th place overall to second.


Here are how we ranked the wines in 2010:

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A - 2007 Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico $35	8	7
B - 2007 Isole E Olena Chianti Classico $35	4	3
C - 2006 Isole E Olena Chianti Classico $36	7	6
D - 2006 Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico Reserva $62	3	5
E - 2006 Antinori Peppoli Chianti Classico $23	5	8
F - 2005 Antinori Badia A Passignano Riserva $51	1	2
G - 2005 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico $45	6	4
H - 2003 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico $55	2	1

Chardonnays

French wine-making techniques and the end results are still held as the gold standards for most winemakers in other countries. For New World winemakers, there is often no better compliment than for their wine to be judged as good (or better) than a French wine.  And if it's a New World Chardonnay, to be assessed as "Burgundian in style" is the biggest accolade. Burgundy- and California-style Chardonnays have characteristically been very different.  A typical California-style wine usually has a lot of oak, butter and tropical fruit flavors to it while a Burgundian Chardonnay will be more crisp, fresh, with mineral and steely overtones. These days, however, the best producers in the US are pulling back and focusing on a more restrained style for their Chardonnays, producing what many refer to as a more Burgundian-style wine.

Next month, TVC presents a line-up of top-rated Chardonnays from California winemakers (Kistler, Arrowood, Shafer, Pahlmeyer, Ridge, Signorello Estates and one from Oregon (Eola Hills) made to taste more like wines from Burgundy than from the US. Close your eyes while you imbibe and you just may think you’ve been transported to France. 

Theme:  Chardonnay – To Be or Not To Be Burgundy 

Date:     Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Time:     6 PM

Where:  Faculty Club, 41 Willcocks St., Toronto

Cost:      Members $65; Non-Members: $80 (Includes light appetizers. Please note that all ticket sales are final.)

Register /Buy Tickets

Chianti Classico in March

Once associated with bottles wrapped in straw baskets, Chianti has come a long way on its evolution to the great wine it is today. Chianti is one of the most attractive territories of Italy.

In March, TVC will re-taste wines from the Chianti Classico region.  Our inventory has received two additional years of aging in excellent cellaring conditions so it will be interesting to see how these wines have developed in the bottle.We will taste 8 wines (along with light appetizers).  The 2006 and 2007 vintages of Isole e Olena Classico are the standard bearers for this winery, produced by rigorous selection of Sangiovese grapes from the most outstanding vineyard parcels. The wine-makers of Antinori have been innovators in the development of Super-Tuscan blends, keen experimenters in the vineyard, and their considerable success has led to expansion in ownership of real estate and vineyards. From the eastern edge of the Classico region, in what was originally an 11th Century monastery, we’ll compare the 2006 Badia a Coltibuono Riserva against their 2007 non-Riserva. The wines are made from entirely estate-grown fruit with the classic Chianti recipe of predominantly Sangiovese with Canaiolo. The 2003 versus the 2005 vintage Castello di Ama, the truest expression of Chianti Classico, is a blend of 80% Sangiovese grown in chalky clay soils, 8% Canaiolo and 12% Malvasia. Finally, from one of the oldest wineries in the region, Antinori, dating back to the 12th century, with 26 generations producing Chianti, we can compare their Riserva with the 2005 Badia a Passignano to their non-riserva Peppoli.

Date: Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Time: 6 PM
Price: Members: $58
          Guests:     $73

          (includes appetizers)

Venue: Faculty Club, Univ. of Toronto,  41 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON  M5S 1C7  - Map

Deadlines: Mailed Reservations - Friday, Mar. 16, 2011

               Online Payments - 5pm Sunday, Mar. 18, 2011

Buy Tickets 

2003 Red Burgundy - Results, Feb. 2012

A wise wine merchant once made the comment - "The first duty of every wine is to be red.  The second is to be from Burgundy."  One of the great charms of Burgundy is that it is so different year to year.  This past Tuesday, (February 21, 2012) we got the opportunity to taste some great Burgundy's from a very different Burgundy and from one of the most unusual years in recorded history. 

Our speaker for the evening was Peter Wearing, who co-founded The Small Winemakers Collection, a wine agency, in 1991. Today he is managing director of the company that employs 15 people and is one of the largest agencies in the province.

Peter started off the evening by speaking about why the 2003 vintage was so unique.  2003 was plagued by heat waves all over Europe.  Temperatures were on average, 6 degrees higher than normal.  A 4 degree difference is very unusual, but 6 degrees was previously unheard of.  This increase in temperature lead to the earliest harvest on record, which started on August 20th, which was a full 4-6 weeks earlier than the earliest ever recorded harvest date (depending on the location in burgundy).  This high heat caused the grapes to contain high amounts of sugar.

Many producers thought that the 2003 vintage would be a write-off, but at some point during the fermentation, magic happened.  The acids increased, and the tannins from the thicker grape skins helped to round everything out.

All the wines that we tasted, were great examples of what skilled winemakers were able to produce in much less than ideal conditions.  All the wines were great with not a bad one in the bunch.

Peter's number one wine of the evening was the 2003 Rossignol-Trapet - Latricieres-Chambertin $109. He said that this was an elegant Burgundy, with a great woody nose.  The acids and tannins were beautifully integrated along with great fruit and woody flavours.  The group agreed with Peter as they ranked this as their second favourite.

The groups favourite wine, which was ranked first by one of the largest margins we have ever seen in a tasting, was the 2003 V Lignier - Morey St Denis, Les Faconnieres, 1er cru $84.  It had great dried fruit flavours of plum and cherry, along with subtle hints of leather and tobacco.  Peter didn't quite agree with the rest of us, and ranked this wine 6th, mainly due to what he said was a lack of that typical Burgundy complexity.

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
A - 2003 Domaine du Prince Florent de Merode Corton Les Marechaudes $67	3	5
B - 2003 Taupenot-Merme - Mayzeres-Chambertin $100	4	2
C - 2003 Rossignol-Trapet - Latricieres-Chambertin $109	2	1
D - 2003 V Lignier - Morey St Denis, Les Faconnieres, 1er cru $84	1	6
E - 2003 Albert Morot Beaune, Bressandes, 1er cru $57	5	8
F - 2003 de Montille - Beaune, Perrieres, 1er cru $79	6	4
G - 2003 Domaine Jean-Marc & Hugues Pavelot Savigny-lès-Beaune aux Guettes, 1er cru $49	7	7
H - 2003 Alain Hudelot-Noellat - Nuits St Georges, Les Murgers, 1er cru $99	8	3