Expanding one’s vinous horizons
From winemaker’s Dinners to LCBO Tastings
©
Michael Vaughan 2001
National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits
Columnist
Saturday,
September 22, 2001
It’s
one thing to rely on your local wine writer to give guidance as to
what’s best and quite another to get out there and taste for yourself.
For Ontario wine fans, the 2001 Niagara Grape &Wine Festival
(September 21 to 30) is a fairly good window to explore the hundred events
taking place throughout the Niagara Peninsula and taste. As a certain
amount of driving is involved, I strongly suggest you spit and keep on
spitting. Now that may not sound too polite, but trust me, it’s
essential for survival. For a listing of current events see www.grapeandwine.com
And
then there are various wine dinners being bandied around, some great, and
some not so great. These are usually spearheaded by a wine club or
importer who wishes to focus on their wine portfolio. This Thursday, for
instance, there’s a Chilean Concha y Toro winemaker’s dinner at Pangea
Restaurant at Bay and Bloor. The cost is $120 per person (featuring
seven wines). It’s bound to be a tasty affair under chef Martin
Kouprie’s guidance. Call (416) 920-2323.
 You
may also want to check out the Harvest
Celebration Dinner
at
Peller
Estates
next Saturday, September
29th, where Chef Jason Rosso presents an inspired harvest menu complete
with matching wine. Tickets are $90.00 and spaces are limited so reserve
early by calling 1-800-582-8412.
To
learn and taste, the LCBO offers one of the better deals in town. Their Wine Appreciation series (usually consisting of four two-hour
seminars) are priced from $80 to $110 and are led by a LCBO product
consultant. Of course, such programs are only as strong as the seminar
leader.
http://www.lcbo.com/index_eng.html
While
I applaud these LCBO efforts (along with their Tutored
Tastings), I am seriously disappointed that the LCBO shut down
their weekly tasting programs at a number of LCBO stores. At the huge
Toronto Crossroads store, for instance, I would happily pay to attend
weekly sit-down tastings. These frequently sold-out sessions were done on
a voluntary basis by the store’s product consultants. They had a
terrific impact on customer loyalty. Today, only three Toronto stores –
Bayview Village, Queens Quay and Manulife offer these tastings.
Another
concern is the huge amounts of money spent by the LCBO’s Knowledge
Resources Group to produce wine training films abroad. Are they really
needed? Does one have to take a Canadian film crew to Portugal’s Douro
to produce “yet another” series on Port, when lots of material is
already available? Surely LCBO resources might be better spent, like
upgrading more local stores enabling them to have consumer friendly
tasting programs.
A
high quality program worth considering is wine expert David Lawrason’s
Wine Access courses, which are priced at $395. In addition, there are two
theme seminars, the reds of Italy in October ($275) and Syrah
International in November ($175). A few spaces remain.
Other
programs are popping up every day. Unfortunately, I haven’t had an
opportunity to check out the quality of what’s being offered. A very
good bet, however, is the 42-hour ten-week program at George Brown College
(current classes are sold out), which is a bargain at $312.50. This
includes a written
examination and blind tasting at the end of the course.
There
are, of course, various major country tastings (usually broken up into
trade and public segments). Last Wednesday, for instance, I attended an
Aussi onslaught of some 300 wines at Roy Thompson Hall. The afternoon
trade session was quite civilized, albeit intolerably short considering
the sheer number of wines. The consumer evening session was very crowded
with almost a thousand fans straining to taste the wines on parade. Under
such conditions, its best to stick to a single varietal like Shiraz,
although any attempt to taste all 86 (sic)
presented would be almost impossible.
 I
am amazed that organizers failed to present advance comparative blind
tastings for wine writers. With all these wines in one place, it would be
easy to snare a sample of each for such tastings. In the absence of such
an opportunity, here are two highlights from a small sit-down tasting: the
excellent 1998
Annie’s Lane 1998 Coppertrail Shiraz available through Maxxium
(416-535-7899) and Voyager
Estate 1999 Chardonnay represented by Torion
Trading at (905-775-7578). www.voyagerestates.com.au
In
addition to these mass tastings, there are regular monthly events hosted
by various Toronto wine clubs. These are also a good way of expanding
one’s vinous horizons. Like the LCBO programs, they can vary
significantly qualitatively. The Toronto Vintners is the oldest
continuously operating group in the city, while the largest is Toronto
Winetasters who will be presenting Sandro
Boscaini for a Masi tasting October 18th. A compendium of
clubs and courses appears below.
For
some, the LCBO’s glossy Food
& Drink magazine is another source of discovery. It’s sad to
note that every issue drains other magazines and newspapers of some half
million dollars worth of advertising revenue. A full-page colour F&D
ad costs $10,165 for beverages and $13,309 for non-beverages! This isn’t
sour grapes! Unlike the LCBO, genuine publishers (be it Toronto Life or
the National Post) do not have a captive audience or the LCBO’s $870
million in annual operating profits. And unlike the LCBO, the infusion of
advertising revue is critical for their survival.
What
makes matters worse is that importers and domestic producers are
confronted with a monopolistic distributor whose rating system for new
products awards higher points to those spending large amounts of
advertising money in their Food & Drink publication. It’s startling
to discover that out of 100 points, a wine’s quality only gets 20
points, while twice as many points (40) goes to the marketing plan which
contains an explicit extensive list of costly LCBO merchandising programs
in which the supplier is expected to participate. To examine the LCBO’s Product
Profile and Marketing Plan that suppliers have to fill out for any new
prospective general listing Click
Here.
For
BC wine fans, their moment of truth is fast approaching. It’s the 21st
Annual Okanagan Fall Wine Festival, which kicks off in Kelowna next
Friday on September 28. There are over fourteen major events on the first
day alone, from wine cruises and dinners to clambakes, all topped off by a
special evening Consumer Tasting ($35) where 14 wineries will be strutting
their stuff. Getting there on the cheap is easy. Air Canada’s nonstop
Toronto-Kelowna flight costs an incredible $316 return ($354.17 with
taxes). These deep discounts appear every Wednesday at 12:01 am on Air
Canada’s website (http://aircanada.ca/home.html)
under Interactive Services - look at the Websaver
specials. It’s perfect - you can leave from Thursday to Saturday and
return Monday to Wednesday. See our current Vintage
Destinations feature to discover what to drink and where to stay &
dine (Click Here)
Finally
for our Time Out summary of
current and upcoming events (Click Here).
Wine Courses
(The
details below are based on information on hand at the time of writing
and there is no undertaking on our part as to its accuracy.)
David
Lawrason's Wine Access Courses
A
five-week ($395) Wednesday night intro course at Vines Wine Bar tackles
styles/varietals. Shorter theme courses this fall include Italian reds (3
weeks) and International Syrah (2 weeks). There is also a four-week
advanced course. Lisa Brooksbank (416) 596-1480 ext. 221.
Dr.
WineKnow
A series of seminars at the Hotel Intercontinental. Average fee $50.
Edward Finstein (416) 261-0855.
George
Brown College
The
college-level focal point for culinary arts in Toronto offers ten-week
courses at two levels. "Wines" runs on a dedicated weeknight,
plus Saturday morning. Wine Appreciation 2 runs Mondays (Spring start).
Call Laura Lothian-Bryant (416) 415-2517.
Humber
College
A
course of wine appreciation is offered in “partnership” with the
“Sommelier Guild” which I understand to be the International Sommelier
Guild. Initial reports have not been encouraging and I would be extremely
careful about laying out $2,100 for the 6-month program.
Call (416) 675-6622 ext. 4908.
Independent
Wine Education Guild
Taught
by the wine trade, this offers trade and avid consumers all of the levels
of Britain's Wine & Spirit Education Trust required for Master of
Wine. A lower certificate and higher certificate program start in the fall
in North York, and a diploma program begins January 2002. Darlene Giroux
(416) 534-2570
LCBO
Courses
Through
four weeks of practical tastings, video presentations and handouts,
students progress through three levels. Contact Customer Service Desk at
desired location: Queens Quay, Toronto, (416) 864-6777 Manulife Centre,
Toronto, (416) 925-5266 Bayview Village, Toronto (416) 222-7658.
Vintegriteach
Dr.
Woody Fischer teaches objective tasting based first on understanding
components (I session), then 3 sessions to tasting beyond the current
market-driven hype of cabernet, chardonnay and Champagne. (416) 926-0262
Wine
Establishment
Call
(416) 861-1331 for info on courses planned to begin in September.
)
-
Wine
Clubs
Amici
dell'Enotria
Five
tastings and two social events per year provide a forum for tasting a
range of Italian wines and meeting visiting producers. Bob Moore (416)
964-3341.
Australian
Wine Society
Ten
events a year, including some social affairs, cover the gamut of Aussie
wines, often hosting winemakers. Usually at Oakham House, Ryerson. Fee
$30. (416) 323-3919.
Ontario
Wine Society
A
program of eight annual events are held at downtown Tasting Rooms (416)
964-3341.
Society
for American Wines
Ten
events per year held Tuesday evenings focusing on tutorials and dinners,
often with visiting winemakers. Fee $45, Julie Madill, (416) 751-0753.
South African Wine Society
Fee $25, Eleanor Cosman (905) 762-9161
Spanish
Wine Society
Tastings
at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, a dinner, and Spanish
tours. Fee $45, Barry Brown, (416) 927-9464.
Toronto Vintners
Seven
tastings and one social per year at the Ontario Club. (416) 964-3341.
Winetaster's
Society of Toronto
Ten
events per year (a wide range of international, often eclectic tastings)
held at North York Centre Burgundy Room.
Plus a great Xmas event at Casa Loma.
Fee $65, David Hutchinson (416) 690-0281.
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