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Get
all the evaluations for
the MAY
Release National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist Saturday, April 12, 2003 I
am standing on the 29th floor of the Fairmont Royal York
Hotel at a preview tasting of the 34 gold medal winners featured at this
weekend’s Toronto Wine & Cheese Show. “How did you come up with
this selection?” asks one invitee pointing to the under $13 reds. He
adds that he prefers the slightly sweeter, fruitier Australian Shiraz to
the dried, but better structured South African Shiraz. Ironically, the
next person much prefers the latter.
Fortunately,
it’s not a matter of being right or wrong, it’s all a matter of
taste. Both reds are clearly gold medal winners! Professional wine
judges, however, tend to look at the technical side of things as opposed
to casual sippers who simply either like or dislike a wine’s flavour.
Things like the structure, length and finish will be less important to
those just trying to find something that’s worth drinking. And
that’s what this weekend’s show is all about – discovering wines YOU
like. That and actually being able to buy the winners, all of which are
available for sale at the LCBO, at the winery store or through the
agent.
While
I admire licensee efforts aimed at getting well-priced unsung heroes on
their wine lists, there is way too much “me-tooism” out there - if
it’s at so-and-so’s restaurant then we need to have it too! In
addition, there is little if any wine missionary work out there. I am
referring to fruit wines, which are simply not taken seriously. And yet,
dollars for donuts, if one compares a good fruit wine and icewine
(costing four times the price) side by side, many would prefer Mr.
Fruit! And
this is where the Toronto Wine & Cheese show excels with a
record-setting ten gold medals for fruit wines. There are about one
hundred fruit wines to discover at the show, including 39 award winners.
Black currant seems to be the fruit flavour of the month with the newly
opened Downey’s Estate 2002 Black Currant
($14.95) won best off-dry fruit wine and Harvest Estate 2001 Black Currant
Ambrosia ($14.95) best
sweet fruit wine of the show respectively. You must also try the cranberry wines,
including the amazing Downey’s Estate 2002 Cranberry Ice
($22.95 per 375 ml), which is a real zinger! For
value, nothing can compare to two remarkably tasty, gold medal winning
efforts recently launched by Magnotta. If you like pineapple juice, you
will love Magnotta 2001 Pineapple
Chardonnay at $5.95 Even better is Magnotta Blueberry Blue,
which at a mere $6.95 tastes like fresh baked blueberry pie.
Unfortunately, all the fruit wines mentioned are only available for
sale at the wineries. Nor are they eligible for VQA designation.
Surely the time has come for the LCBO to get a specialty fruit wine
store functioning in say, St. Lawrence market. The store/tasting bar
concept has worked perfectly in Montreal for many years now! The
trouble for most Ontario fruit wineries is that they are too small to
knock on many licensee
doors. It’s a chicken and egg situation where the restaurants refuse
to order because “nobody asks for it.” Of course, if you don’t
have it, you can’t sell it! It’s all too bad because these fruit
wines would be perfect for Passover (such as the bronze winning
Rodrigues Strawberry, which is Kosher) or Easter (one of the many
delicious cranberry wines).
The 20th Toronto Wine & Cheese
Show continues today and is open Sunday noon to 6 pm at the
International Centre (6900 Airport Road). Tickets are $15 per person -
contact 416-229-2060 for information. Coming up on
Monday, April 14 is the 23rdannual California Wine Fair. This
is largest tasting of California wines in Canada and is being held at
The Fairmont Royal York - 100 Front Street West at 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm.
Tickets are $50 for wine club members / $55 for invited guests. The
afternoon trade-only event is for “invited guests of the liquor
boards, media and hospitality industry only.” Trade identification is
necessary to gain admittance. Call 1-800-558-2675 (CORK). Competition Background The Canadian International Wine Challenge is Canada’s largest competition where Canadian wines have a window to compete one-on-one with imports. A total of 468 wines were submitted in 17 classifications. There were 34 gold medals (7%), 60 silver medals (13%) and 98 bronze medals (21%). The wines were served blind in the appropriate classes in flights based on grape variety or fruit type. Also, this is the only competition in North America where award-winning fruit wines are professionally judged and then presented to more than 35,000 consumers. Only wines of merit receive an award. If, for instance, the wines in a specific class did not score sufficient points, no medal was awarded. Michael Vaughan, wine columnist at the National Post and editor of Vintage Assessments, led the judging. The judging panel included David Lawrason, Barbara Richie, Richard Feldkamp and Jay Fallah.
Check out the
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Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2004 |
Of
course, some are a tad more idiosyncratic than others. Everyone is
certain to enjoy a bubbly glass of Spain’s 
It’s
sad but true that most restaurants refuse to even acknowledge that these
everyday LCBO wines exist. The reason is simple, it’s hard for a
licensee to make a big buck with inexpensive General List products that
many know and love. In fact, a majority would rather take a $10 mystery
wine and hustle it out the door for $40+! And yet, how many times have I
ordered a seriously overpriced, private import “unknown” which turns
out to be a taste dud? It seems that many licensees don’t want to hear
that today’s 
As
for the best icewine you will have to rush to pick 
Ontario
wines were also victorious in the white and red 
Finally,
there is the 
the perfect thing to
taste just prior to leaving the show.