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Posts with category ‘Italy’

Tio Pepe and Opimian Society

Posted on June 5, 2006

Last Wednesday evening, I was in the courtyard at Bodega Gonzales Byass in Jerez, Spain, enjoying copious copitas (small glasses designed for fino sherry) of Tio Pepe, the company’s landmark brand, and world’s largest selling fino sherry. I was amazed at its continuous ability to refresh the palate through two hours of assorted hot and cold tapas. I was also ruminating on the incredulous news that the folks who run the LCBO's General List back home had de-listed this iconic wine. Importer Russell Woodman was informed of this in early May, with a curt fax saying that Tio Pepe had not made quota. Woodman claims a three-month out-of-stock situation had hurt the sales numbers, and has appealed. Meanwhile he is also taking steps to get Tio Pepe moving through Vintages stores where he feels it will be better handled by product consultants who have some idea of what this wine is all about. Obviously, given the General List’s thoughtless (computer-generated?) action, the folks there do not understand this wine. Certainly, the fortunes of sherry continue to fall globally, so the industry in Jerez must look itself in the eye and figure out a way to stop the slide. Ironically, Tio Pepe had already tried just that—recently reconfiguring the contents to make it one of the fruitiest, gentlest of fino sherries, then re-packaging it in a new white wine-looking bottle that even included the grape name—palomino—on the label.

Aussie Shiraz, LCBO Picks & Pans

Posted on July 31, 2006

The dog days of summer find me confined to my quarters, tasting virtually everything good, bad and indifferent on the LCBO general list, and on Vintages continuously available Essentials list. Hundreds of bottles are lined up for tasting in preparation for the fall publication of the Toronto Life Eating and Drinking Guide. It appears on newsstands in full magazine format in late October and then in the smaller Food and Wine CityGuide as a supplement to the December issue. I’m not quite ready to talk trends and observations, but I can offer faithful blog-readers a sneak preview. I will expand in the next couple of weeks as tasting continues; heaven knows that there is little else to report upon at this time of year. The wine world is on a summer snooze, much like my teenage sons.

The Merchant Vintner

Posted on September 12, 2006

The small, leafy backyard patio in the Upper Beach Gerrard/Coxwell home of wine importer Tony Hirons, The Merchant Vintner, bristled with sunlit wine bottles. The Italians over there, the French under the umbrella mixed with the Australians, the Iberians on that table. There were just a few tasters and all kinds of time to rummage through a portfolio of consignment and future Vintages releases from small family producers around the world. What made this all the more interesting was Hirons’ personal stories about each producer. Now passing the family business into the hands of son Nick after 25 years, The Merchant Vintner is a true artisan importer, and an outspoken advocate for family, fairness and fun in the wine business. This is a man—and there are others in Toronto like him—who deserves the chance to be a real wine merchant, in his own store and in his own neighbourhood, passing on wines and stories to friends and strangers who walk through his door every day. Instead he must hold near-clandestine tastings for a few wine writers in the hope they can get the word out about wines that can only be ordered by the case, or which will be coming out six months from now. (Hopefully the writers won’t forget). But that’s the way selling fine wine works in our world class city.

And A Big Time Was Had by All

Posted on October 30, 2006

If the chef at your favourite high end restaurant wasn’t on the premises last Saturday night it’s likely because he or she was cooking in a private residence for the Grand Cru Culinary Festival. Twenty-five chefs fanned out through the city’s swankiest neighbourhoods where they each teamed up with one of 25 famous winemakers from around the world to present lavish meals to 18 guests per residence. Each person paid $2,500 per to raise funds for the Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation and the University Health Network, a leading teaching and research facility. I was unable to attend any of the dinners this year (the festival is in its second year), but I did attend the private tasting Thursday evening at a posh Versailles-like home in the Post Road area, where each of the winemakers personally presented two or three wines to 200 guests. My highlights in a moment.

Top Tuscans

Posted on May 29, 2007

Wine of the Week
Gualdo del Ray 2003 Frederico Primo ($41.95, 92 points, www.vinvino.ca, 416-636-3534), Val di Cornia Suvereto IGT, Tuscany
Made by rising star oenologist Barbara Tamburini (see below), this 100% cabernet sauvignon comes from Tuscany’s coast, home to legendary bordeaux-styled wines like Sassicaia and Ornellaia. It is as fine, rich and delicious as many high end Napa cabernets and modern Bordeaux, with very deep colour, lifted clove, cedar and mocha from new French oak, and ripe, almost floral, blackberry. Full bodied, plush yet still elegant with fine tannin and some Tuscan minerality on the finish. Excellent length.

Aboard the Tasting Treadmill

Posted on July 3, 2007

Wine of the Week
Antinori 2003 Villa Antinori ($24.10, 88 points), Tuscany
Tasted three times within the past three weeks, this old standby on the LCBO general list has subtly changed recently, and, in this ripe vintage at least, the change is all for the better. Formerly made as a Chianti Classico under Italian regulation, it moves to the broader IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) designation which allows cheaper sangiovese grapes to be sourced outside the Classico zone, and allows a higher proportion of non-traditional grapes like cabernet, merlot and syrah. It still comes across as authentic Tuscan red however, with ripe red cherry, currant, cedar and tobacco flavours. The change is more textural, softer and richer, with comforting warmth and fine tannin. Very good length as well. Ready to enjoy now but should hold well through 2010.

My Italian Summer Vacation

Posted on September 5, 2007

Wine of the Week
Donatella Cinelli Colombini 2003 Cenerentola, Orcia, Tuscany ($50, 90 points)
One of the most interesting wines of my summer vacation in Italy was this fragrant blend—65% sangiovese, 35% foglia tonda—an antique, almost extinct Italian variety being revived at Colombini’s Fattoria del Colle estate near Trequenda. Aged one year in two different barrel sizes it shows lovely blueberry and blackberry fruit with fine peppery notes, supple texture and fine-grained tannins. Quite international in style, especially in this hot vintage, and very elegant and nervy as well. It is available by the case at www.lesommelier.com.

My favourite wine moments of 2007

Posted on December 27, 2007

1Hidden Bench 2005 Nuits Blanche, Niagara
My head-spinning first tasting of a brilliant bordeaux-inspired white blend of sauvignon blanc and sémillon that went on to win white wine of the year at the Canadian Wine Awards. Hidden Bench opened in June and came out of nowhere to take runner-up for winery of the year.

The Best Fest in the West

Posted on March 5, 2008

I spent last weekend at the annual wine inundation known as Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival—an event that locals and winery visitors argue is the best of its kind in Canada. It’s actually not even arguable, in my opinion (even if some easterners feel bruised by this admission). One would think that Toronto should be able to mount a show of this calibre, yet it never has. Hogtown’s big shows are for-profit, commercial ventures that tend to cheapen the content and keep the LCBO at a distance. The government cannot be promoting any commercial interest other than its own, and the reason that other wine shows work across Canada, including Playhouse, is that they have the full support of provincial liquor boards. One might ask why the government is in the wine retail business at all, but that’s a topic for another day.

California Greening

Posted on March 28, 2008

My column in the May issue of Toronto Life (on newsstands April 10) examines the burgeoning “green” wine movement, with observations and reviews based on tastings at the international Return to Terroir event in February, and Vintages’ organics release on March 29. Since then, I have compiled even more notes on the wine world’s most pressing trend. Much of the information and inspiration has come out of California, where “green” is becoming an industry-wide mantra. Grape growers are taking the lead in environmental practices and turning the heads of those in other sectors of California’s massive agricultural industry. Two insiders have told me that a stunning 55 per cent of Californian wine producers have now registered for a new program that allows for self-assessment of sustainable agriculture practices.

Blooming Whites

Posted on May 12, 2008

If you have never dedicated your wine budget to exploring the world’s aromatic whites, I suggest that now might be an opportune moment—when May is blossoming with fragrance, and some terrific bottles are selling for a song. The June issue of Toronto Life features reviews of 10 great aromatic whites from some of the world’s more obscure wine regions. Several others were tasted in researching the article, so I’ve reviewed them here. Plus, I’ve added a few classic selections from Germany and Niagara also released at Vintages on May 10.

David Lawrason

David Lawrason

David Lawrason has worked full time as one of Canada's leading, independent wine writers and educators for over 20 years. He was the founder of Wine Access magazine and Globe and Mail wine columnist for 13 years before becoming resident wine guy at Toronto Life, where he pens a monthly column and writes an exhaustive review of LCBO general listings for the annual Food and Wine Guide. As a wine educator he has taught sommelier programs at George Brown, Humber and Niagara Colleges, and has run popular public courses in Toronto since 1988. He has visited every major wine major producing country in the world, while focusing recently on the booming Canadian wine scene, as founder of the Canadian Wine Awards program, and Canadian wine columnist for Wine Access.

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