Hi Debbie – Just wanted to comment that I thoroughly enjoy being a Savvy Cool Curds subscriber & the Curd on the Street magazine. Well done. I have forwarded it to a couple of friends who also enjoy good wine and cheese.
If I only had $100, I would buy….wines from Argentina!
This time last year, my husband and I spent a month in Buenos Aires, so when I saw that this release focused on Argentina, I was VERY excited to see what new wines would come into LCBO's Vintages. Here are 3 wines from Mendoza (Argentina's largest wine region) since it is the leader in quantity and quality of Malbec wines.
Fact #1 – 80% of the country's wine production is centered in this desert region located sandwiched between the Andes Mountain range (that borders Chile) and about 650 miles west of Buenos Aires. The region rarely sees challenges of insects, fungi or mould due to the high altitude and low humidity. And honestly, the daily temperatures ranged between 26C to 30C…that is certainly sounding pretty good right now as we suffer through a cold snap.
Fact #2 – In 2010, the Argentina government declared wine as Argentina's national liquor. Tuck that one away for trivia night!
Fact #3 – Canada is the 3rd largest market for Argentina wines…behind England & the US.
Before I get into the Argentina feature, I must shine the spotlight on this sparkling wine. Often found gracing the Vintages shelves, this beautiful pale cranberry coloured bubbly is always an elegant crowd-pleaser. For those of you who like sparkling wine and Rosé, it is a first class choice.
Whenever I serve Torrontes wine to guests, people always ask what wine I am serving, where it comes from, where they can buy it. It is a great find! Often there are one or two Torrontes wines available in the Vintages section of the LCBO. While not common, Torrontes has become the signature white wine of Argentina.
Dry as Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio, there's a little lanolin or honeyed taste that coats the palate while many soft citrus flavours explode. Mandarin oranges, lemons, apricots with lingering finishes of savory and grass.
It's a great tapas wine: sardines, almonds, olives, chips or just on its own.
Although Christmas is long gone, that heavenly aroma of traditional fruit cake and Christmas pudding loaded with dark ripe dried fruit and nuts reminded me of how great wine aromas like this one can trigger memories & fill your senses.
Medium bodied and dry, dark red/blackberry flavours dance on the palate and your senses are filled with some divine vanilla in the aftertaste. It's a great on its own or with the usual grilled fare. Absolutely. Delicious.
This is a classic expression of Malbec. Deep and dark in colour, violet aromas tantalize and blueberry blackberries and savoury play on the palate. Tannins are soft and smooth with a little mocha and tar on the finish.
Uncork this red wine to enjoy with a herb encrusted pork tenderloin or Sunday roast beef. Guaranteed that there will be smiles around the table.
With over 20 years as a consultant winemaker for national and international wine companies, when Susana decided to build a winery, she did in style and with much panache. In 1981, she was the first woman in Argentina to receive a degree in enology, and in 2012, she was recognized as one of the most influential women winemakers by The Drink Business Magazine.
This Cabernet Sauvignon is one charmer from start to finish. Full-bodied, ripe currants, herbal notes, tobacco, savoury – loads of complexity and backbone. This red wine overflows with character and strength. Roasts or grill meats & vegetables would be fabulous.
I was visiting a friend near Wellington in Prince Edward County recently and discovered that the farmhouse in which we stayed was walking distance to a couple of wineries.
We wandered down the road and up the drive of Hubbs Creek Vineyard, into the modest winery building that houses a small, well-staffed tasting bar, behind which are the fermentation tanks, barrel, and wine-making premises. John Battista Calvieri, joint owner, winemaker and viticuluralist with brothers Nick and Joe, was front and centre, radiating a warm welcome and pride in this family undertaking.
Of the 5 wines on the chalkboard, 2 are already sold out. We tasted his Pinot Gris 2014, Chardonnay 2014, and the Pinot Noir 2012. Get in your car now, drive to the County, and get some of these amazing wines – Hubbs only produces 800-1000 cases annually.
The Calvieri family has been growing grapes in the County for about 15 years. A few years ago, John Battista, an Electron Microscopist with the University of Toronto, won an amateur winemaking award for a wine he crafted from his County grapes. That's when he and his brothers decided it was time to stop selling their grapes and to start making their own wines.
Ask John Battista about the wines and his passion shines through, as he says, 'what I really do here is out there, in the vineyards'. He is a purist, using only his own estate-grown grapes to produce outstanding wines that show the character of the estate and the region. 'I go to Italy regularly,' says John Battista. 'My family is from there, after all. I like to talk to the winemakers there – the really good ones tell you, you have to focus on your vineyards, your fruit, your winemaking if you truly want to make the best wines.' Lessons well learned, as you'll discover when you taste his wines.
Made in the Alsatian style, this dry, light-medium bodied wine offers enticing aromas of pear, citrus, melon and mineral. Produced from the fruit of 15-year-old densely planted vines, it's crisp and bright, showing roundness and purity in the ripe fruit flavours, and the classic mineral character of County wines. Well structured, vibrant in texture, the clean finish seems never-ending.
From the wonderfully warm 2012 vintage, this Burgundian-style wine is a great find for Pinot-philes. Its sister wine, the now sold-out 'Reserve', won a silver medal in the All-Canada Wine Championships. The nose offers subtle, complex notes of red berries, Morello cherry, earth, mineral and a whiff of spice. Dry, medium bodied and beautifully silky in texture, the notion of cinnamon toast on the palate is witness to twelve months aging in seasoned French oak. Tightly wrought, the wine displays intensity in the ripe red berry, cherry and currant flavours, and in the well-defined structure of subtle tannins and bright acidity. Finely crafted and elegant, finishing long and dry, you'll enjoy sipping this Pinot with a mushroom and Brie tart, or with grilled steelhead trout.
Fresh from the bottling line, this wine still needs a bit of time to come together. Produced from the fruit of seven-year-old vines, 20% fermented in seasoned French oak, the wine offers notes of apple and citrus, hints of pear and toasted nut. Dry, medium bodied, its tangy and pithy, flavours of grapefruit, lemon-lime and green apple to the fore. The texture is zesty, the finish long and dry. Hold the bottles for a few weeks, then enjoy with halibut with a lemon-caper cream sauce, or with seafood pasta.
There is so much to see & do (and drink) in Prince Edward County…why not taste your way along the County roads one winery at a time.