Dessert Wines - Pure Indulgence

Next month we explore the world of Dessert Wines, just in time for the festive holiday season.  Click on the link below for details on the wines.


Theme:  Dessert Wines - Pure Indulgence
Date: Tues. Nov. 15, 2011
Time: 6:15 PM (NOTE THE TIME!!)
Price: Members: $65         Guests/Non-Members:  $75
Venue: Faculty Club, Univ. of Toronto, 41 Willcocks Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1C7
Map   
Deadlines:
Mailed Reservations - Thurs. Nov. 10/11
Online Payments - Sun. Nov. 13/11

For November, TVC has assembled fine examples of sweet wine from various regions around the world.  We will start close to home with a Niagara ice wine from the Vidal grape.  We can contrast this with a selection of European wines such as the prized Kourtaki Muscat Samos from Greece, Hafner Old Vienna Composition Curvée from Austria, a 1er Cru Sauternes from Château Guiraud and Gewurztraminer SGN from France, and two Rieslings from Germany not to be missed, including Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese and Schloss Schönborn. Finally our tasting will take us down under for some delicious and award-winning Noble One Botrytis Semillon from Australia. (See over for more details on the wines).   And to round out your wine tasting experience, we will be serving various food combinations to compliment these wines.

Chateau de Beaucastel Vertical Results

On Tuesday October 18, 2011, Toronto Vintners Club had the exciting and rare opportunity to taste a vertical of Chateu de Beaucastel, with samples ranging as far back as 1995.  Everyone in attendance agreed that all the wines were amazing

Our speaker for the evening was Howard Cayman, from Charton Hobbs, who are the importers of the wines were were tasting and all of Perrin & Fils wines, to Canada.  Howard has worked in the wine industy for many years.  He has spent some time in Harrods wine department as well as working as an assistant wine maker in many wineries in both Canada and France.

Cheateau de Beaucastle are the only producers in Southern Rhone to produce their wine using all 13 grape varieties allowed in the production of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and they have been strictly organic since 1964.

 The wines were tasted in chronological order, starting with the young '07 through to the '95.  Howard spoke about how when tasting a vertical like, it is extremely difficult to rate and compare these wines against each other as they are all in different stages of evolution.  Luckily the group was able to work through these difficulties and come up with a ranking.

The groups favourite wine of the night, turned out to be the '98, which had a beautiful sweet aroma and great flavours of juicy blackberry, licorice and truffles.  Our second favourite wine was the baby of the group, the '07.  It had great acidity and Howard spoke about how it has a great life ahead of it and could last for 25 or 30 years.  Howard's, the speaker of the night, favourite wine was the 2000.  For anyone out there holding bottles of the '95 vintage, even though it scored well (3rd for the group and 6th for the speaker), it showed signs that it was on the back end of it's life.  Howard said that it had reached it peak and would notget any better.

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
2007 vintage	2	3
2004 vintage	8	8
2003 vintage	7	4
2001 vintage	5	2
2000 vintage	6	1
1999 vintage	4	7
1998 vintage	1	5
1995 vintage	3	6

Sweet wines in November

Our November event will feature sweet wines, just in time for the holiday season! This will be a good opportunity to try a variety of sweet wines to see what will work best when paired with your festive fare! Hope to see you at this event.  Stay tuned for more details to come.

InterVin's Top-Scoring Value Wines - 2011

Looking for a good quality wine at an economical price?  Why not check out these wines that made the InterVin's Top list for Value Wines.

2011 InterVin International Wine Awards
Judges’ Selections for Best Value
 
Red Wines
Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Blends
Barefoot Winery Cabernet Sauvignon United States
Two Oceans Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2010 South Africa
McWilliams Winery Hanwood Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Australia
Rosemount Diamond Cellars Cabernet Merlot 2009 Australia
Southbrook Vineyards Connect Organic Red 2008 Canada
Wineinc Pty Ltd. Wine Men of Gotham Cabernet 2008 Australia
Other Red Blends
Aya Charming 2008 Portugal
Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Rèmole 2009 Italy
Ogier Heritages Côtes du Rhône 2009 France
Tormaresca Paiara Rosso 2009 Italy
Other Reds
Castillo de Monseran Old Vines Garnacha 2007 Spain
Henry's Drive Vignerons Morse Code Shiraz 2009 Australia
Nicosia SpA Fondo Filara Nerello Mascalese 2008 Italy
Rigal The Original Malbec 2009 France
Stoney Ridge Estate Winery Warren Classic Pinot Noir 2010 Canada
 
White Wines
Chardonnay
Calona Vineyards Artist Series Chardonnay 2010 Canada
Coyote's Run Estate Winery Unoaked Chardonnay 2010 Canada
Les Vins Georges Duboeuf Hob Nob Chardonnay 2009 France
Stoney Ridge Estate Winery Charlotte's Chardonnay 2010 Canada
Riesling
Angels Gate Winery Sussreserve Riesling 2009 Canada
Henry of Pelham Family Estate Riesling 2008 Canada
Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris
Barefoot Winery Pinot Grigio United States
Calona Vineyards Artist Series Pinot Gris 2010 Canada
Henry of Pelham Family Estate Pinot Grigio 2010 Canada
Montevina Winery Pinot Grigio 2010 United States
Peller Estates Okanagan Family Series Pinot Gris 2010 Canada
Sauvignon Blanc
Legends Estates Winery Diva Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2010 Canada
Rossendale Wines Cottesbrook Sauvignon Blanc 2011 New Zealand
Viña Misiones de Rengo Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2011 Chile
 
Other Whites
Azienda Agricola Torre Varano Falanghina 2009 Italy
Limnos Wines Muscat of Alexandria 2010 Greece
Mission Hill Family Estate Five Vineyards Pinot Blanc 2010 Canada
Southbrook Vineyards Connect White 2010 Canada

Source: http://www.intervin.ca/sitepages/?cid=727&cn=2011%20BEST%20VALUE&an=2011%20Exceptional%20Bargains:%20InterVin%27s%20Top-Scoring%20Value%20Wines

Beaucastel Vertical is coming!

On October 18, TVC will be tasting a flight of 8 wines from Chateau de Beaucastel ranging in age from 1995 to 2007.  TVC members have been given an exclusive opportunity to register and buy tickets for the event before it's opened up to the general public.  These wines are very expensive and very exclusive so it will be a rare opportunity to sample them in a single sitting.  The price for members is $95 and $115 for non-members and guests.   For an interesting article and 10-year comparison on the rise in prices for Beaucastel, click here.


Now is a good time to join Toronto Vintners because if you join now, your membership will be paid up until the end of 2012 and by joining now, you'll receive a notice for this event with all the registration information.  For more details about our membership, please click here.

Our Bordeaux Speaker

A big thanks to Tammy Cheung, our speaker for our 2003 Bordeaux.  Tammy is a pharmacist by trade and currently in the advance level of the Wines and Spirit Education Trust diploma program. She also completed the Bordeaux Master-Level Certificate with the French Wine Society this past summer.

Bordeaux and Rhone are her two favourite wine regions of the world.

2003 Bordeaux, Left Bank - Results

This past Tuesday, the club was lucky enough to have the opportunity to taste some 2003 Left Bank Bordeaux's.  Those of us that were able to make it out to the even, were not disappointed by some of the outstanding wines available this evening.

2003 was an atypical season, marked by heatwaves throughout Europe but with late rainfall that helped to save a lot of the harvest, especially the cabernet sauvignon.  This lead to the wines having higher than normal tannin levels and much more of a new world flavour.

The highest ranked wine for the night, with a unanimous decision, was the Leoville Barton, 2e, St. Julien (which was also the most expensive, coming in at $109 a bottle at the time of purchase).  It was described a having a very spicy and smokey aroma, a nice inky purple colour, and perfectly balanced tannins and acid levels. 

Name of Wine (in order poured)	Group Ranking	Guest Ranking
2003 Pavillon Rouge, Chateau Margaux $89	6	8
2003 Grand Puy Lacoste, 5e, Pauillac $86	8	7
2003 Lafon Rochet, 4e, St Estephe $49	7	5
2003 Duhart Milon, 4e, Pauillac $59	5	4
2003 Branaire Ducru, 4e, St Julien $65	2	6
2003 Malescot St. Exupéry, 3e, Margaux $69	3	3
2003 Langoa Barton, 3e, St Julien $66	4	2
2003 Leoville Barton, 2e, St Julien $109	1	1