Next Event is 2009 Chablis on June 18

2009 Chablis

Often described as refreshing with subtle fruit flavors, Chablis is perfect for a warm June evening. 2009 is a standout vintage and the eight wines we will taste are sure to impress.  Located at the northernmost district of Burgundy, the vineyards of Chablis are renowned for their dry white Chardonnay.

Of the eight wines featured in June, we have five Grand Crus and three Premier Crus. Chablis Grand Cru wines are of exceptional quality, made under stringent regulations with a lower maximum yield permitted and the minimum potential alcohol is one degree higher, than for standard Chablis wines.  Chablis Grand Cru wines are characterized by delicately honeyed aromas of lime, complimented by distinctive mineral flavours attributed to the local limestone soils. Chablis Premier Cru is the next level down from Grand Cru and considered wine of very good quality.  The selection of producers we will taste include William Fèvre, Servin, Albert Bichot, Joseph Drouhin, La Chablisienne, and Gerard Duplesis, all of which are renown producers of premium Chablis. 

Our guest speaker will be certified sommelier, Anne Popoff.  "She is principal of Le Savoir-Vivre, her wine consulting firm. Prior to that, Anne spent many years with SOPEXA, a French marketing and communications agency specializing in French wine and food. Anne entered the wine business after an international career in investment banking. She is currently finishing Level 4 (Diploma) of the Wine and Spirits Education Trust offered by the Independent Wine Education Guild and is a member of the Society of Wine Educators."  (Source: http://www.capsontario.ca/docs/board.php)

This tasting is going to be a wonderful way to end the season and kick off summer. We hope to see you there!

There:  Burgundy - 2009 Chablis
Date: June 18, 2013
Time: 6 PM
Where:   41 Wilcocks St., Toronto, ON (U of T Faculty Club)
Cost:      TVC Members:  $69;  Non-members: $89
Register / Buy Tickets  (Note that all ticket sales are final!  And we encourage new members to sign up for our Newcomers' Table when you register.)

As always, a reception wine and light appetizers will also accompany the formal tasting. 

Please remember to NOT wear perfume or after shave or smoke cigarettes or cigars prior to the tasting as the smells from these items will impede others' ability to nose their wines.  Thank you!

2004 Brunello di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino is considered to be one of the richest and most prestigious wines produced in Italy, largely due to its exclusivity.  Wines of Brunello have an impressive richness of fruit, great concentration, powerful tannins, and great aging potential. According to James Suckling of Wine Spectator, “Just a few days after they harvested their grapes in 2004, producers of Brunello di Montalcino were speaking of a fantastic vintage.” The vintage is said to have resulted in “wonderfully perfumed and majestically refined Brunellos with an excellent balance of fruit and refined tannins.” Many estates, both well-known and smaller estates produced high-scoring wines, some of which we will be tasting in May.

TVC will present 8 exclusive wines both from classic producers and contemporary producers, all from an exceptional vintage year.   We hope you can join us in May.

Theme:   2004 Brunello di Montalcino
Date:      Tuesday, May 21, 2013 (the day after the Victoria Day weekend)

Time:      6 PM
Where:   41 Wilcocks St., Toronto, ON (U of T Faculty Club)
Cost:      TVC Members:  $72;  Non-members: $95

Register / Buy Tickets  (Note that all ticket sales are final!  And we encourage new members to sign up for our Newcomers' Table when you register.)

As always, a reception wine and light appetizers will also accompany the formal tasting.

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

Wines of Portugal

Celebrate spring with Toronto Vintners Club while sipping red wines from three famous regions of Portugal on April 16.  We have four wines from Douro, three from Alentejo and one from Dão, all of which have scored at least 90 points and are drinking at their best today!  If you aren't familiar with Portuguese wines, this will be a great opportunity to try something new but if you know them, then you know you'll be in for a big treat and this will be a chance to taste some new producers.  Portuguese wine styles changed dramatically about 21 years ago when Portugal entered the European Union and began a period of rapid economic expansion that brought it into the ranks of a modern industrialized nation and with that has emerged a significant increase in quality.


Theme:   Portuguese Reds
Date:      Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Time:      6 PM
Where:   41 Wilcocks St., Toronto, ON (U of T Faculty Club)
Cost:      TVC Members:  $60;  Non-members: $80

Register / Buy Tickets

Please note that light appetizers and a reception wine will also accompany the formal tasting.  We hope you'll join us for this tasting!

Fun Facts about Portuguese Wines

* In 1756, the Douro Valley became the world’s first official demarcated wine region.
* Portugal has more indigenous grape varieties than any other country – more than 200.
* The number of microclimates and soil types give specific and unique features to Portuguese wines – a plus for the wine lover, especially in tandem with the number of grape varieties.
*The country is the seventh largest exporter of the product worldwide, by value.

Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Winery in March

TVC is very very fortunate to have Gray Hartley, the co-owner and winemaker from Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Winery located in California, fly to Toronto, Ontario to present an exclusive tasting of its wines to our membership on Tuesday, March 19.  The winery gained some fame and notoriety when its restaurant was featured as a venue in the winepic Sideways (2004) but its fame also derives from its wines which are mainly Pinot Noir but also include several other grapes.  Robert Parker Jr. has given high praise and scores for their Pinots.  We will be tasting the following wines:

2011 Pinks Dry Rosé
2009 Hometown Pinot Noir
2009  Cork Dancer Pinot Noir
2009  St. Rita’s Earth Pinot Noir
2007 Highliner Pinot Noir
2004 Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir
2007 Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir
2009 Late Harvest Gewürztraminer

A couple of the wines are being brought directly from the winery and you will get to taste others before they are released to the Ontario public. This opportunity to taste Hitching Post wines is exclusive to the Toronto Vintners Club and we hope you will join us for a fun and entertaining evening.  Seating is limited so please register early.

Date: Tuesday, March 19th, 2013
Time: Reception Wine: 6:00 PM, Formal Tasting: 6:20 PM
Where:  41 Willcocks St., Toronto, ON (U of T Faculty Club)
Cost: Members’ Fee: $59; Guests’/Non-Members’ Fee: $75
Register / Buy Tickets (ALL ticket sales are final!)

Wines of Northern Rhone

Theme:  Wines of Northern Rhone
Date:      Tuesday, February 19/13
Time:      6 PM
Where:   41 Willcocks St., Toronto, ON (U of T Faculty Club)
Cost:      TVC Members:  $85;  Non-Members/Guests:  $100  (includes reception wine plus light appetizers with the wines)
Buy tickets  Note:  All ticket sales are final. No refunds will be offered unless we sell out and have a wait list.


On February 19th, Toronto Vintners Club features eight reds from the Northern Rhône region, including three from the northern-most Côte-Rôtie, two from Hermitage and three from Cornas. Our Côte-Rôtie selection includes a 2003 Domaine Yves Gangloff, and a 2004 and 2005 Domaine Jamet. From Cornas we will taste a mini vertical of Franck Balthazar from 2005 and 2006 and a 2006 Arènes Sauvages.  Finally from Hermitage we will taste a 2006 E Guigal and 2007 Ferraton Père & Fils. Given the diversity across the region and the quality of the wines, this tasting is not to be missed.  As always, we will start our evening with a reception wine.  We will first taste the 8 wines blind and then light appetizers will be served once we’ve had a chance to nose and sample the wines.  Non-members and guests are always welcome!

2006 Burgundy - Guest Speaker

Our Guest speaker for the evening will be Julia Tingarov.

Coming from a Chemical Engineering background, Julia was naturally drawn to the Food and Beverage aspect of the Hospitality Industry. Years of working in fine dining establishments followed, including 11 years at the prestigious King Edward Hotel in Toronto. To satisfy her many varied interests Julia has had a catering business, a radio show and traveled extensively. Her passion for wine and her quest for knowledge finally won over and in 1996 she was accepted and graduated with honors from the coveted Jacques Marie Sommelier Program at George Brown College. Since her appointment to Sommelier Julia has worked in and consulted for a number of the top restaurants in the city. She has taught a wine appreciation course at George Brown College and has done numerous lectures and presentations for both corporate and private clients. For the past eight years Julia has sat on the advisory board and been an integral part of organizing the Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival, which has raised more than 12 million dollars for the Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation. Julia is currently employed as a consulting Sommelier and sales associate with Halpern WineEnterprises.

The reception wine that will be served tonight will be a 2011 Remoissenet Pere et Fils, Macon Villages Chardonnay.

The Macon is a small region of Saone-et-Loire sitting on part of the eastern edge of the Massif Central. The limestone subsoil of the Maconnais region is ideal for growing Chardonnay grapes. Remoissenet's  foray into the Macon has been led by former Robert Parker's Wine Advocate Burgundy critic (and Washington, DC native) Pierre Antoine Rovani, who put down his pen in 2006 to take up his dream of making great Burgundy. The results so far have been impressive, starting with Remoissenet's entry-level 2010 Macon-Villages. This 100% Chardonnay is clear and bright, light yellow with greenish tinges. It has a delicate bouquet with floral fruity nuances, suggesting acacia, peach and apricot, woven together nicely in a fabric of minerality, verve, and brisk acidity, the latter being a hallmark of the fine 2010 Burgundy vintage. Well balanced with good length on the finish. Serve as an aperitif or to accompany hors d'oeuvres, mussels, fish or goat's cheese. Best drunk young and fresh within 3 - 4 years of the vintage.