My brother and his wife came over for dinner, we made roast pork and a whole bunch of appetizers ... maybe next time we'll just have an appetizer party because there was lots of pork left over and very little of the appetizers ... the wines we poured were interesting and enjoyed (enjoyable). My brother kicks his evening off with a little Dead Elephant, an India Pale Ale from Railway City Brewing Company located in St. Thomas, Ontario - I'm a fan of the Dead Elephant, but it sounds disgusting to tell people you're sucking on a Dead Elephant on a hot summer day. Bro has never done such a thing and his response to having his first was to have a second (he must have liked it), at one point he turned to me and said, "quite hoppy, more so than you'd expect in an India Pale". The ladies (my wife and his) decided to go with white in their glass, so I opened a bottle of Keint-he 2009 Chardonnay out of Prince Edward County, they polished off the bottle in record time. Myself, I kicked off my evening on the red side with a chilled bottle of Laurent Gauthier 2011 Grand Cras Morgon, a "vieilles vignes" (old vines) Gamay from the Beaujolais' Morgon region: black cherry and cranberry, both tart, with white pepper notes to compliment ... I must say this wine was quite young and still has plenty of time to go, proving that Beaujolais can age, this could easily go 5+ years. The dinner wine was from one of my favourite regions in Washington, Horse Heaven Hills, this is the one from Columbia Crest, 2009 Les Cheveux, a Bordeaux blend: lovely blackberry and black raspberry with a great chocolate seam that runs right down the middle, proved to be very smooth and silky. All-in-all a great night of food and wine.
Showing posts with label Beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beer. Show all posts
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Sunday, December 9, 2012
From Beer to Sweet Wine the Holidays Officially Get Underway (Ontario, France, Lebanon)
Tonight there were eight different bottles opened, well nine actually, but one was corked, as friends came over to kick off the holiday season. The first thing to be cracked was a bottle of beer, we had made a trip to Oast Brewery in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Saturday afternoon and walked away with a 6-pack of beers (two different) to start our evening off for those who wanted suds with their pigskin (total blowouts the 4pm games were). Those who wanted to start their evening off with wine chose the Colio 2011 CEV Sauvignon Blanc or the Tawse 2011 Quarry Road Riesling (linked to full reviews on my website). As we plowed our way through appetizers and on to the main course (pot roast, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, roasted cauliflower, and fresh homemade cast-iron skillet bread - all lovingly prepared by my kitchen maven wife); I offered up dinner wines. Cave Spring 2011 Dolomite Chardonnay (reviewed on site) was the white of choice but it was the next four wines that proved very interesting and the ones I had not tried in quite some time (if ever). Kicking off with a Chateau Lagrezette 2000 Cahors (France) ... this was old school Cahors Malbec, before they started making them all drink now, a la Argentina, this needed time - and we gave it 12 years - and it still needed an hour in the decanter to mellow and give it that smooth, lush, black fruit quality with barely a hint of those robust tannins it once had in its youth. Next up a Lailey Vineyard 2007 Niagara Peninsula Pinot Noir (the first bottle we opened was corked, rats!), this proved to be quite a lovely wine that still has plenty of time in front of it. An hour and a half in decanter could not subdue the tannins and rough around the edges spices, but the fruit was coming out quite nicely and seem to be holding the middle ground defiantly against the tannins and spice on either side. This one still needs time and I have a few bottles left so I am quite prepared to give it what it needs ... let's see what happens in two years or so ... my guess and hope is that as the tannins subside that rising fruit quality we found tonight will advance further. The surprise of the night was the Chateau Musar 2008 Musar Jeune (Lebanon), this wine had a sweet fruit edge, middle and core and a youthfulness to boot - it was the wine most asked for seconds of, I only had the one bottle open, I'm sure I could have gone through two or three. Lastly, with the multitude of desserts served I took a flyer on a non-vintage sweetie out of France: Croix-Milhas Maury - Mute Sur Grains, Vin Doux Naturel ... not sure how this one went over as many did not finish their glass - that should tell me something - so I can only speak for myself here: the wine was drier than expected, with a spicy edge to it that might have been a turn off for some ... when you think sweet you rarely think about a spiciness to go along with it. Then again with all the wines consumed previous, maybe it was just one too many bottles in a fantastic evening of food, wine and friendship. Thank you all for coming and let's do it all again next year - with different wines of course.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Holiday Get Together wines and beer (Ontario / Australia)
The evening started with a growler of beer and ended with a debate over an Ontario Meritage, the middle consisted of two wildly different Tasmanian Pinots. Sounds like a party, and it was.
The wife and I decided to invite some friends over to make up for cancelling on the US Thanksgiving get together we were originally planning (I had to go out of town that weekend). Our drinking started early because of the miracle bird - a turkey that was calculated to need 7 hours to cook somehow only needed 3 to be completely done ... it is our first Christmas miracle. My wife and I sat on the couch in the living room and knew we needed something to drink ... that's when we pulled out the growler (1.9L) of Niagara College Teaching Brewery Glutton free beer ... yes we wanted a beer but nothing heavy - we had guests coming after all, and this one hit the spot.
People started to arrive some 3 hours later - the beer was gone but we had plenty more, including a NCTB Oatmeal Stout that proved to be popular with us and a few guests. For dinner I twisted the cap on a bottle of Josef Chromy 2009 Pinot Noir "Pepik" - which was delightfully Pinot-esque with that sour cherry, cranberry and slight earthy tinge, this was a very good Pinot Noir from a country not known for making great pinot (Australia) but from a region I have grown to really enjoy Pinots from (Tasmania). I wanted to have a bit of a contrasting Pinot in bottle number two, so I twisted another cap on a bottle of Tamar Ridge 2007 Pinot Noir 'Kayena Vineyard'; another Tasmanian offering but this time from the 2007 vintage, which must have been way hotter because the alcohol was a whopping 14% where as the first was only 12. This one showed more of a cooked fruit flavour, more robust with more plummy and black fruit qualities - more along the lines of what you expect a delicate grape like Pinot to become in a hot region like Australia ... but there was still some finesse shown in the making of it so it wasn't jammy ... it past muster.
After dinner a debate began over a bottle of Ravine 2010 Meritage - someone mentioned that had seen my review and wondered what wine I had tasted, as they had tried the same wine and was nothing like what I had described. I quickly ran downstairs and grabbed a bottle and poured some glasses - I was vindicated, but my guest insists that the wine we tried tonight and the one they had tried previously, while labelled the exact same, were not the same wines ... curious.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat (USA)
It's Christmas Eve and I am spending it in Michigan with my wife and her family, I have no idea what small town I find myself in, although I drove here I just took direction, hope my passenger doesn't get too drunk for the ride home - I guess that's why we brought along the GPS. The good news is that not too much was consumed this evening so getting home was no problem, but I was not going to risk my bottle of Torres wine on sub-par glass (just in case). Instead I took my wife's niece's suggestion on an interesting beer to try. So while those who sipped on the suds chose from the case of Coors Light, I sipped on this Cherry Wheat beer from Sam Adams. I have to admit I am not a Sam Adams Boston Lager fan, or any of the few others I have tried from this brewery, but this really intrigued me. While some who gave it a sip thought it tasted like cough syrup I thought it a little more delicate and easy than something as harsh as cough medicine. If you have tried a wheat beer before you know that it's light and refreshing, add to that a hint of (Michigan) cherries, which show up on the finish, and you have a delicious beer to bring in the festive season ... I had a couple at the party and a few in the hotel room, I thought them very tasty and recommend it highly for those who like a touch of cherry-sweet refreshment. I guess I should thank Erica's niece Danielle for the recommendation, she doesn't like wine but she's okay in my book for her beer of choice.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Leopard Frog 2004 Tantra then an Old Credit Amber Ale (South Africa / Ontario)
When I tried this wine many moons ago I was enthralled with it, a delicious blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot from South Africa ... it was during the Sante event in Toronto and South Africa was the "host country". Winemaker David Powell was in and he was incredibly engaging, and without modesty, as he told us why he named the wine Tantra (something to do with making love to his wife). The wine was quoted to us as being worth $60, many thought he said "sixteen" - which was a steal - but that myth was quashed when they handed us the notes from the day and saw that it was indeed a 60 dollar bottle of wine (the LCBO decided to sell it for $23 - don't ask, as I didn't, I just bought a few quickly). Of course this is all preamble to me opening this wine on this particular Saturday with MY wife ... my modesty will prevail here. On the menu was some pretty simple chicken with a couple of side dishes, one of which were French Fries. I looked forward to popping the cork on this wine so I did so right as dinner was served. The nose was fantastic, black fruit with a little pepper and a really nice herb component; I couldn't wait to take a sip. Peppery notes were at the fore of the tongue, but then something strange occurred, that usual tarry-earthy sensation that you get in young South African wines was here in spades, there was no hint of it on the nose but the palate was loaded with it ... it tasted dirty. Still very tannic but also very dirty ... I could not mask my disappointment, I gave it an hour, sampling it every 10 minutes and it never got better, it fact it continued in its dirty ways ... I do not remember this wine having this characteristic those many moons ago, and checking my notes from the past I see it did not; what happened? Anyway, we moved onto something else,instead of a wine we quaffed some Old Credit Amber Ale ... now that was good.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Coyote's Chardonnay Last Night - Beer Tonight (Ontario)
Last night I failed to let you all in on my vinous choice: a 2008 Black Paw Vineyard Chardonnay - awesome wine (that assessment comes from a none Chardonnay drinker). Couldn't locate my Chardonnay glasses so I had to drink it out of a Bordeaux glass - it still tasted good. Tonight I had a simple BBQ chicken sandwich, but I was too hot to consider a wine so I twisted the top on a Rickard's Red ... now that went down very easily too. Tomorrow I think it's back to vino, but it sure is nice to slum it sometimes. Cheers.
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