Issue 36 - Spring 2011

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From the editor FROM THE EDITOR It’s festival season! Time to eat, drink and all that I’ve been lucky of late. I’ve had three meals this good stuff. CityBites is once again presenting the past month that put a smile on my face. The first Salut Wine + Food Festival in May—you can was the signature item at The Burger’s Priest in peruse the full schedule in the centre section Leslieville.

The second was a Pekingofduck reinof the magazine—with a selection intriguing vented at atastings pre-opening dinnerdinners. at Lee Lounge, seminars, and special We’re Susur Lee’s new take on the old Madeline’s space. excited and hungry to get out there and eat!

contents Spring 2011

Volume 7, Issue 3

The wasthen, at Sneaky Dee’s, where a plate of It’sthird fitting, that this is our annual wine bar-style chicken wings just plain made me happy. issue. We like to take the time every year to celWhere there’s joy in food, there’s always ebrate exemplary wine and winemakers, somexcellence. it feels the like brilliant a surge in the and food meliers and,And of course, chefs scene right now, a lot of energy andofideas, restaurants that recognize the joys wineand and work places so hardtotoeat, elevate wine-food experience. great shop,the cook, etc. CityBites is As always, we again have the winewith “newbie� in mind. pleased to once partner the Salut Wine +should never benow intimidating and overly Wine Food Festival, in its third year celecompetitive, and so webringing strive to innovative educate and brating excellence and food inspire with all of ourhospitality wine coverage.

In this Terroir, an incredible industry conissue, we’re proud to support several ference that’s happening the day thisinitiatives— magazine Salut, Somewhereness, i4C (the chardonnay goes to print, so we’ll have to tell you about it summit)—that are pushing the boundaries of 2011, and just keeps growing. great wine, and making accessible to all.

Events like these bringitthe city’s food scene

So please raise a glass of your favourite grape its vital focus, on quality, innovation, ideas and juice and toast to wonderful times, wonderful just pure joy. Which reminds me of my fourth wines—and many more to come. smile-inspiring meal—an east-meets-west feast Dick Snyder, Editor • dick@citybites.ca at Senses in the SoHo Metropolitan. Patrick Lin, the man’s sublime. $ICK 3NYDER %DITOR s DICK CITYBITES CA

Features > The Wine Issue 21

Zfek\ekj

Greek Wines Hard to say, easy to drink. Get Greek lessons at MalĂŠna.

22 Tiny Bubblies

Get bang for buck at these small Champagne houses.

23 Same wine, different day 24 Chianti Kudos

Think outside the “house.�

Once a joke, now a serious force.

<Xicp Jgi`e^ )'(( Mfcld\ .# @jjl\ (

25 Postcards from India 26 Ms. Spritzer

Examining a burgeoning wine industry.

Some spritzer makeover tips from The Drake Hotel.

=\Xkli\j 55 Jl^Xi Xe[ Jg`Z\ 27 Three MS-kateers A conversation with Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three top sommeliers.

16 World avours at Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top spice shops.

28 Spice Cooking withExotic Wine ďŹ&#x201A;Ideas forabound your leftover fine wines.

Editor Dick Snyder/dick@citybites.ca Art Director Craig Sinclair/craigdesign@hurontel.on.ca

Associate Editor Signe Langford Editor Dick Snyder/dick@citybites.ca Wine Editor Craig John Szabo Art Director Sinclair/craigdesign@hurontel.on.ca Director ofEditor VinousSigne Affairs Zoltan Szabo Associate Langford Wine Editor John Szabo Contributors Stephen Beaumont, Greg Clow, Sean Deasy, Director of Vinous Affairs Zoltan Szabo Deacon Dr. Fresh, Konrad Ejbich, Arlene Hazzan Green, Lindsay Groves, Heather Li, Alan McGinty, KateSara More, Contributors Stephen Beaumont, Greg Clow, dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Amato, MichaelEdelist, Pinkus,Konrad Zinta Steprans, Zoltan Szabo, Stephen Tracey Ejbich, Maia Filar, Arlene HazzanTempkin, Green, Julie C. Trubkin Marc Green, Tracy Howard, Heather Li, Joy McCarthy, Mary Luz Photography Anderson, Dan Donovan, Mejia, StephenPat Temkin, Julie C. Trubkin Alan McGinty, My Trung Signe Langford, Julie C. Trubkin Photography JeffYen Coulson, Publisher Paul Paul Alsop/paulalsop@idmg.ca Alsop/paulalsop@idmg.ca Publisher Sr. Account Account Manager Manager Wendy Wendy Lyall Lyall Gardner/wendy@citybites.ca Gardner/wendy@citybites.ca Sr. Account Manager Manager Alexander Alexander McCarthy/alecmccarthy@live.ca McCarthy/alecmccarthy@live.ca Account

Subscriptions are $25 per year.

Email info@citybites.ca info@citybites.ca or or visit visit www.citybites.ca www.citybites.ca Email Advertising Inquiries Inquiries sales@citybites.ca sales@citybites.ca Advertising

PHOTO: JEFF photo: my COULSON yen trung

Louise Engel with one of Featherstone Estate Wineryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s viticulturist lambs.

City Bites Bites Media Media Inc., Inc., 24 24 Dalhousie Dalhousie St. St. Suite Suite 200, 200, City Toronto, ON, ON, M5B M5B 2A5, 2A5, 647-827-1705.

647-827-1705. City City Bites Bites is is published published Toronto, six times times a a year year by

by City City Bites Bites Media Media Inc., Inc., a a division division of of IDMG IDMG Inc. Inc. six

IDMG Management Management IDMG Paul Alsop, Alsop, Paul Donald G. G. House House Donald IDMG Partner Partner IDMG Dick Snyder Snyder Dick

17 Young Things MeetSzabo Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rising pastry chefs.

29 Sweet Canada vs. World Zoltan dares to compare!

18 The coolest, funkiest,Canadian most beautiful salt and pepperinternational vessels.

30 Stuff Cool Climate Chardonnay chardonnay is making waves.

20 Joy of Salt Artisanal invades Toronto.

31 The Somewhereness A funnysalt word for a stellar local wine event.

21

Chicken Wings Rating Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top wing joints (and some not-so-top).

Regular Bites I\^lcXi 9`k\j 5 5

Starters CityBites loses a dear Starters A Bolton new ďŹ sh Susur friend, Liz ofshop; Pantry. abroad; Le Creuset goes green.

6 6 7 78

Crumbs Spots that are hot.

Crumbs Hot spots, new spots, dead Bits &spots.

Bites A little bit of news.

9 8

The Gourmudgeon Stung by The Gourmudgeon For the love rudeness at a new restaurant of schnitzel.

Just Eating outyour tonight?

StuffOpened Toys and gear for wine.

Try one of these two new restaurants.

10 Smells like victory Wine Tasting 9 Pantry A vision ofEvan ginger, Challenge winner Saviolidis. in ales and beers.

11 Foreign Correspondents 10 Foreign Correspondence Bigflat.

Pancakes make the world go sandwiches from three countries.

12 Urban Farmer A container is all 11 The Farmer Tricking nature

you Urban need to get growing. into giving you salad.

12 Sugaring off with our 13 Fresh Viticulture Biodynamic

favourite sweet viscous liquid. winemaking in Niagara.

13 Read â&#x20AC;&#x2122;em and eat!

14 Books Fresh Spot prawnsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;delicious

cold-water darlings 14 Reality Check Wondering where goodness went.

15 the Wine Dine The Intercontinental Hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BYOB surprise 15 In store Superior olive oil and risotto.

16 easy-make Books Read and eat these

tasty titlesStephen Beaumont 23 Libations proffers his porter picks.

32 The Ej Konrad Ejbich reveals

an Amarone imposter.

24 The Ej Whereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oâ&#x20AC;?, wonders Konrad Ejbich, in LCBO. 33 Libations Whisky and wine, say

Stephen divine.

25 Szabo onBeaumont, Wine Johnare Szabo gets his sweet on.

34 One Last Bite Meet Featherstone

Wineryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grape protector.

26 One Last Bite A spoonful of sugar.

Cover illustration by Pierre Lamielle.

Cover photo by Jeff Coulson Spring 2011 <Xicp Jgi`e^ )'((

3 3

OLD WORLD WINERIES Alex Gambal (FR) Champagne Fleury (FR) Chateau de la Maltroye (FR) Château de Meursault – (Patriarche) (FR) Domaine de la Pinte (FR) Domaine de la Vougeraie (FR) Domaine des Deux Roches (FR) Domaine Jean Fery & Fils (FR) Domaine Laroche (FR) Jermann (IT) Maison Roche de Bellene

by Nicholas Potel (FR) Sattlerhof (AT) Tenuta Mosole Sergio Di Mosole Lucio (IT) Vie di Romans (IT) Weingut Fred Loimer (AT) Weingut Wieninger (AT)

The International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration July 22-24, 2011 • Niagara Peninsula

Visit coolchardonnay.org for full program details.

NEW WORLD WINERIES Adelsheim (OR) Argyle Winery (OR) Ataraxia Wines (ZA) Bouchard Finlayson (ZA) Cooper Mountain Vineyards (OR) Dr. Konstantin Frank (NY) Evening Land Vineyards (OR) Hamacher Wines (OR ) Josef Chromy Wines (Tasmania) Mount Difficulty (NZ) Ponzi Vineyards (OR) Pyramid Valley Vineyards (NZ) The Millton Vineyard (NZ) Vina Aquitania (Chile)

CANADIAN WINERIES 13th Street Winery (ON) Angels Gate Winery (ON) Blue Mountain Vineyards & Cellars (BC) Closson Chase (ON) Coyote’s Run Estate Winery (ON) Flat Rock Cellars (ON) Hillebrand (ON) Inniskillin Wines (ON) Lailey Vineyard (ON) Le Clos Jordanne (ON) Mission Hill Winery (BC) Norman Hardie Winery and Vineyard (ON) Pillitteri Estates Winery (ON) Southbrook Vineyards (ON) Tawse Winery (ON) Vineland Estates (ON)

Join keynote speaker and emcee Matt Kramer, noted wine author and columnist, for a memorable celebration. Taste over 100 cool climate chardonnays from 8 countries set against the breathtaking backdrop of Niagara’s wine country.

Savour “Claws and Curds” pairings and gourmet vineyard luncheons; enjoy exceptional dining at Friday’s Gala Dinner and Saturday’s “Cochon and Chardonnay” spit-roasted pig event with renowned chef Jamie Kennedy. Mingle with winemakers from Burgundy, Oregon, New Zealand and beyond at this threeday celebration of the coolest grape on earth.

Visit coolchardonnay.org for program details and to book tickets for this exclusive event. Be cool.

APPLIED DREAMS.

the starters For absent friends

Liz Dnieper-Bolton 1969 - 2011

The CityBites Team Arlene Hazzan-Green Arlene is an urban farmer and television director with one foot in the dirt and one in high heels. She and husband Marc Green founded The Backyard Urban Farm Company with the goal of igniting people’s passion for growing their own food. They design, install and maintain organic vegetable gardens in homes, school and businesses in the GTA. bufco.ca Julie C. Trubkin Julie dreams of owning a 1942 blue Ford pickup truck (an eco-version) to frequent markets and haul home random orphaned inanimate objects. A freelance writer and poet, Julie writes creative copy for Square Zero, Sweat Equity and Corduroy, while hammering away on her first novel. A fresh-bread elitist and world traveler, she can

Liz Dnieper-Bolton, husband Greg, and sons Andre and Benjamin.

It’s hard to find words to express the shock and sadness we felt when we received news of the unexpected death of our dear friend Liz Dnieper-Bolton.

For nearly a decade, Liz was the event coordinator at Balzac’s Coffee in the Distillery District, where she planned hundreds of events.

It was in 2008, though, that she really made her mark on the local food scene by opening Pantry, a food store and fine food take-out in the Dufferin Grove area. Pantry was a great friend to CityBites, always willing to lend a hand or a platter of food for one event or another. We were happy to support the great work and great vibe Pantry brought to the neighbourhood.

The store, which Liz ran with her husband Greg, as well as chef Eric Walker, was a testimony to everything she stood for: great food, casual simplicity, and a warm, inviting environment. It was a special spot.

Just about any day of the week, you’d find Liz working at her impromptu office, the big harvest table near the back of the shop. The placement was strategic: steps from the kitchen and steps from the espresso machine. More importantly, it gave her a view of the entire store, so that she could leap into action to assist a customer. As one regular noted, she really put the “service” in “service industry.” She was tireless.

In June of last year, Liz and Greg closed the store to spend more time with their young sons, aged 3 and 6, and with each other. They took a long-overdue trip to Anguilla, where they had spent their honeymoon almost a decade before. They took the kids to Disneyland, too.

Liz was hit with a virulent strain of pneumonia and died, at home, on the morning of March 17.

In everything she did, Liz’s gracious style, not to mention that famous work ethic, left a major mark on Toronto’s food community. We miss her terribly. May she rest in peace.

ask “is this vegetarian?” in several languages.

Lindsay Groves Lindsay studied oenology and viticulture at Niagara College and has worked in wineries around the world. A member of the Wine Writers’ Circle of Canada and certified sommelier, she was recognized as Ontario Sommelier of the Year in 2007 by the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, and was voted one of the Ontario Hostelry Institute’s “Top 30 Under 30” in 2008. Lindsay loves to travel, visiting Western Europe, the Middle East, Eastern and Southern Africa and India. She’s working on her first book and plans to start on her Master of Wine qualification. lindsaygroves.ca

Get in touch!

Send emails to info@citybites.ca or snail mail to CityBites, 24 Dalhousie St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2A5. Letters may be edited for space and accuracy.

Spring 2011

5

crumbs

By Greg Clow

... Two new hotel restaurants of note have opened in recent weeks: TOCA (181 Wellington St. W., 416-572-8008, tocarestaurant.com) in the Ritz-Carlton celebrates the bounty of Canada as interpreted by chef Tom Brodi (ex-Canoe), and The Carleton (30 Carleton St., 416-977-6655) in the newly renovated Holiday Inn features a “global bistro” menu

...

Blowfish on Bay (333 Bay St., 416-860-0606) brings the

Japanese fusion cuisine and unique sake selection of the original

King West Blowfish over to the Financial District ... Korean restaurant San (676 Queen St. W.) closed in March after a dozen year run

...

They can’t sell you the booze, but everything else you need for a

overseen by chef Chris Moreland and sous chef Shaun Goswell, the

swank home bar, including vintage glassware and accessories, one-of-

latter coming off a recent stint at Copenhagen’s renowned Noma

a-kind minibars, beer brewing kits and more is on the shelves at BYOB

Openings, closings and musings ...

All-natural gourmet sausages, double-dipped fries, and a

selection of German, Belgian and local craft brews selected by CityBites columnist Stephen Beaumont make up the modern beer hall

...

menu at WVRST (609 King St. W., 416-703-7775, wvrst.com) Ed Ho has recovered quickly from his

(108 Ossington Ave., 416-322-0020, amayarestaurant.com)

...

Things will soon be getting sweeter in Rosedale, where a second

...

A massive indoor smoker

ensures that you’ll get authentic southern-style BBQ at Barque Smokehouse (299 Roncesvalles Ave., 416-532-7700, barque.ca)

earth bloor west with Chef Kevin McKenna

...

(2448 Bloor St. W., globeearth.ca) in May

Gaucho Gourmet Market (614 College St.) has closed down,

but the famous El Gaucho chorizos and sausages are still available

Lots of great new food shops are open

each Saturday at St. Lawrence Farmer’s Market

or coming soon in Leslieville, including

...

Aboriginal

cuisine and art will be focus at Keriwa Cafe (1690 Queen St. W.,

organic and local grocery Foodist Market

416-533-2552, keriwacafe.ca) when it opens in Parkdale later this spring

(1129 Queen St. E., 416-465-5221), sustainable 416-828-1861, hookedinc.ca), olive oil and

Ossington will be home to the next location of the rapidly

is set to open alongside All The Best

has taken over the huge space that previously held My Place Pub to open

seafood shop Hooked (888 Queen St. E.,

...

expanding Indian delivery/take-out chain Amaya Express

location of Nadège Patisserie (1099 Yonge St., nadege-patisserie.com)

scuttled earth mississauga project, and

...

Cocktail Emporium (972 Queen St. W., 877-989-8980, byobto.com)

Earth chef Kevin McKenna.

fine food emporium Olive & Olives (779 Queen St. E., oliveolives.com), and a storefront location for Sausage Partners (1378 Queen St. E., sausagepartners.com), the sausage- and preserve-making business

...

The second Toronto location of Guu Izakaya (559 Bloor St. W.,

guu-izakaya.com) is drawing the same crazy line-ups as the first on Church

...

Ray & Celina Blanchard have closed Strada

(2279 Bloor St. W.) after just over 5 years in business, but their next door restaurant Villa remains open

...

Say ciao to Divino

owned by chef Kyle Deming (Starfish, Ceili Cottage) and his wife Lorraine

(1 Balmoral Ave., 416-515-0003), a new trattoria from the owners of

Winchester Kitchen & Bar (51A Winchester St., 416-323-0051,

Brownes Bistro in a spot that previously held the midtown location

...

winchesterkitchen.com) is the latest attempt to make something stick at

of Terroni ... Speaking of which, Terroni Bar Centrale (1095 Yonge St.,

this second floor Cabbagetown address that once played host to Al Capone

416.504.1992, terronicentrale.com) is now open, with a menu and

...

Venerable butcher shop Royal Beef (1968 Danforth Ave., 416-421-1029,

atmosphere designed for quick snacks and casual drinks

royalbeef.ca) celebrates 25 years in business on May 14th, and is also

...

welcoming back Paul Bradshaw, a former apprentice at Royal who is

Eaton Centre is now home to the fourth and highest profile location

returning to fill the head butcher role after a decade at other shops including The Healthy Butcher

...

Less than a year after launching to

near instant accolades, Guy Rawlings has amicably left the tiny kitchen at Brockton General (1321 Dundas St. W., 647-342-6104, facebook.com/ brocktongeneral) to start planning his own establishment, and Alexandra Feswick (ex-Earth) has been brought in as his successor

CityBites_Spring2011_1:CityBites

4/15/11

2:42 PM

Lest you think Terroni is the only hip Italian chain in town, the

of Mercatto (220 Yonge St., 647-352-3390, trattoriamercatto.ca)

...

And if higher-end Italian is

more your thing, check out Aria (25 York St., 416-363-2742, ariaristorante.ca), a new ristorante from the owners of Noce.

Page 1

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GREG CLOW is the co-publisher, news editor, beer writer and head dishwasher at Taste T.O. (tasteto.com), a website that reports on anything and everything to do with food and drink in Toronto.

Natural Food Market 416.466.2129

info@thebigcarrot.ca

Wholistic Dispensary 416.466.8432

dispensary@thebigcarrot.ca

Organic Juice Bar New Menu!

348 Danforth Avenue 1 block west of Chester subway

Mon-Fri 9-9 • Sat 9-8 • Sun 11-6

6

CityBites

Bits and Bites

Billy’s Best Bottles: The App You’ve been waiting for it, and now it’s here!

Taking Billy Munnelly’s patented no-nonsense and no-pretensions approach into the digital sphere, this is a fun and easy-to-use iPhone and iPad app that helps you located great-value wines according to themes (“Pinot Pretenders”) or mood (“Schmooze with a big red”). There are more than 300 recommendations, and each includes a bottle photo and product code.

Best of all, the app works without an internet connection, so when you’re stuck deep in the bowels of an LCBO, you can still get your Munnelly fix. $3.99 at iTunes Store.

Snacking with Chefs Seems the people just can’t get enough of watching chefs cook.

Or duke it out. Or perhaps it’s the bargain haute-snacking?

Last Sunday, the Cheese Boutique’s annual Festival of Chefs kicked off with Rob Gentile of Buca.

The Pristine family will be hosting nine more of Toronto’s finest chefs every Saturday, Sunday and holiday Monday from noon to 4 p.m. through the rest of May. Your donation (minimum $5) goes to the Famous People Players Scholarship Fund and gets you samples and sips.

Sips come courtesy of 13th Street Winery, Cave Spring Cellars, Malivoire, Norman Hardie, Rosewood Estate and Stratus.

Rosewood Estates: Winery and Meadery If you’ve never tasted mead, you’ll be forgiven.

Man’s first alcoholic beverage isn’t exactly beating Red Bull and vodka as a contemporary drink of choice. But, and this is a big but, prepare to be agog. CityBites columnist Konrad Ejbich declared Rosewood Estates 2009 Mead Blanc as his pick of the month on his CBC Radio show in March. Innovative, he called it, noting its brilliant tropical flavours. The wine is a blend of gewurtztraminer and Rosewood’s own mead recipe (they produce all manner of wax and honey products). Try it with exotically spiced global cuisines. The wine is available at the winery, or you can have a taste at Café du Lac and Café Taste.

Schedule of Chefs

CCOVI: Get Schooled Wine geeks and wannabe wine geeks alike should know about Brock University’s CCOVI Lecture Series for… wine geeks. The live lectures are open to the public, but even better, the entire series can be viewed online.

The 2011 edition just wrapped up with a lecture titled “Botrytis: The Jekyll and Hyde Fungus.” CCOVI stands for Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute. brocku.ca/ccovi

n

May 8 Ruby Watchco > Lora Kirk May 14 Four Seasons Hotel > Thomas Bellec May 15 TOCA by Tom Brodi > Tom Brodi May 21 Enoteca Sociale > Rocco Agostino May 22 Biff’s Bistro > Basilio Pesce May 23 Globe/Earth > Kevin McKenna May 28 Real Sport’s Bar & Grill > Tony Glitz May 29 The Black Hoof > Grant van Gameren

rosewoodwine.com

Top

May 7 Le Select Bistro > Albert Ponzo

Dirty But Aren’t 5 Things That1.Sound Uranus

Light, fruity and well-balanced, with a fresh, clean finish.

An everyday wine for wine lovers and casual fans alike

2. Pianist 3. Joystick 4. Masticate 5. Kumquat Check out the Daily 5 at funfwines.com

Fünf Riesling $9.95 LCBO #175026 Spring 2011

7

stuff

By Signe Langford

Like Chocolate for Cheese

The folks who make Brix chocolates for wine in extra dark (70%), medium dark (60%) and milk chocolate (40%) would like wine lovers to skip the cheese course and enjoy a tipple with chocolate instead. We think compromise overrated. Have both. $13.95/8 oz at Longo’s Maple Leaf Square, 15 York St., 416-366-1717, brixchocolate.com

Pimp my Poutine

New York Fries is gilding the lily with aromatic butter chicken in a mild tomato-cream sauce and tender, slow braised Angus beef in a red wine reduction—poured over Quebec cheese curds, of course.

Eaton Centre South Food Court and other locations $4.75/med and $5.75/lg, newyorkfries.com

Smooth Operator Twisted Sipper

Attention all extreme wine geeks: the Twister Aerator Wineglass is the latest way to aerate without decanting—and it’s way cool. With nine “continuous aeration channels” and a nifty wineglass-inside-a-wineglass design, this will either totally impress your friends or have them looking at you funny. $19.99 at The Cook’s Place, 501 Danforth Ave., 416-461-5211, thecooksplace.com

Vinturi Wine Aerators (in red and white) do what they promise to do: soften harsh elements and open up the wine’s aromas to bring out the best from your bottle. And it’s fast: You can even use it for just a single glass. In acrylic and black silicon, it includes a drip-catching stand and filter for bits of cork or sediment. $49.95 at The Wine Establishment, 250 The Esplanade, Ste. 104, 416-861-1331, thewineestablishment.com

Greek Tycoon

The ever-peckish Christine Cushing is sharing her latest discovery with us. This fire-roasted sweet red shepherd pepper purée in extra virgin olive oil from Sparta is sweet, savoury and delicious right out of the jar. But don’t be a little piggy: you should share too. Boil up some pasta and toss it in with a little shaved pecorino. $7.99/270 g at Fiesta Farms, 200 Christie St., 416-537-1235, fiestafarms.ca

8

CityBites

the gourmudgeon

By Stephen Temkin

Salt on the wound

Illustration: Pierre Lamielle

A sad parable of needlessly poor hospitality I use to joke with out-of-town visitors that the name Toronto is a native Canadian word that means village of the lousy waiters.

Not anymore. Toronto’s restaurant scene is now brimming with enthusiastic, competent and knowledgeable servers.

Wine service has especially improved. Thirty years ago when I plied this trade at Fentons, the waiters were sorely ignorant about the wine list, and there was no sommelier to be found. Admittedly, it was barely necessary: most of the customers were equally clueless.

That won’t wash anymore.

Good service is crucial for any restaurant hoping for repeat business. Of course, despite their best intentions, the smooth operation of any restaurant can occasionally break down, and we should be somewhat forgiving of these inevitable lapses.

However, willful, inexplicably inhospitable service is unforgivable. I recently experienced one of the worst examples I’ve ever encountered.

A couple of friends and I decided to have an early dinner at Salt, on the Ossington strip.

We booked a table for 6 p.m.

When we arrived, the restaurant was empty. Nevertheless, we were ushered to the worst table in the room. We weren’t pleased but we accepted their reasons.

A couple of minutes later, the server returned to inform us that, “by the way,” we would have to vacate the table by 8 p.m.

I would have none of that. I informed her that when we made our reservation, we were not advised about this condition, and that we would therefore not feel obligated to leave by eight. This got my blood simmering,

but it was not the event that would bring it to a rolling boil.

We decided to order wine from the by-the-glass list. I placed my order, determined to let the early irritations be forgotten.

But then, the server returned with a truly unprecedented bit of information. She told me that they only had a couple of bottles left of the wine I ordered, and the manager has decided to reserve them for potential customers who choose to order by the bottle.

I was gobsmacked.

“The wine is on your by-the-glass list,” I pointed out.

“Yes.” “And you do still have some?”

“Yes but….” “… but I can’t have any?”

“Well,” she tried again, “we only have two bottles and the manager wants to keep them for customers who order by the bottle,” as if repeating this harebrained indignity would make it sensible. I asked for the manager.

He arrived at our table, stone-faced and void of graciousness, and reiterated what I had already been told.

I pursued my complaint. He would not budge. “I’ve been meaning to change the list but I haven’t gotten around to it yet,” he said, as if arbitrarily changing the wine-by-theglass list in his mind was all that mattered, customer be damned.

Well, here’s my advice to all restaurant managers, albeit exceedingly obvious to most of them. If a wine is on your list by the glass,

and if that wine is in stock—even just a single bottle—and a customer orders a glass and knows you have it, never do what this thoughtless manager did. Just serve the wine and do it with good cheer.

That’s what hospitality is: accommodating your guests to the best of your abilities within reason. Satisfying my wishes in this matter was not only within reason, it shouldn’t even have been an issue.

I suppose we should have stomped out, but we stayed, finished our meal, and left a good tip for the servers who seemed embarrassed by their manager’s shabby performance.

I should mention that we each received a free glass of dessert wine after dinner, so somebody in the place felt remorse about something.

But freebies are an appropriate gesture when inadvertent mistakes have occurred; they don’t heal the wound of such a pointless and deliberate dearth of accommodation.

I’ve never felt so demeaned in a restaurant.

Needless to say, I won’t be returning to Salt. CB When not eating, drinking, or writing about eating and drinking, Stephen temkin makes fedoras. stemkin@rogers.com

Spring 2011

9

COMPETITION

By Alan McGinty

Smells like victory Battle of wine tasters yields big prizes

10

CityBites

notoriously dark and earthy red. Blind tasting is about pulling out characteristics typical of a grape to help in its identification. He correctly deduced an atypical blend of sangiovese, cabernet and merlot: “I got the sour cherry and humus of the sangiovese, the herbaceousness of the cabernet, and the merlot gave the plumminess.”

Evan describes his win as “very gratifying.”

Prizes include $5,000 cash, a week in Bordeaux, five days in southwest France, dinner for eight with sommelier Will Predhomme at Canoe and dinner for four at Vineland Estates. The competition is sponsored by a long list of local and international businesses, including Via Allegro, B&W Wines, Spiegelau and CityBites Media.

A contributor to Tidings magazine and a wine instructor, Evan gets to taste way more wines than most people and, crucially for competitions such as these, he does it regularly.

Past winners are all industry people who taste

Evan Saviolidis took top prize at the Wine Tasting Challenge.

daily, which can only help. “It does. The more you practice, the better you become. When I wasn’t tasting wines for nearly a year, my palate was shot. But when I got back into the rhythm of it, it came back quickly.”

After beating out more than 250 competitors, it seems safe to say Evan’s palate is “back.” CB

Up to the Challenge?

Held every November, the WTC aims to encourage excellence in the hospitality trade. Amateur enthusiasts are also welcome. There is no fee to enter, but space is limited. Registration starts in October at winetastingchallenge.com. Prizes for 2011 will include a trips to China, Greece, Italy, France and California.

photo: Alan McGinty

Identifying wines blinds—aka, sight unseen—is a talent and an art. And, some would say, there’s no small amount of luck involved.

Especially at a competitive level, where the wine gods might deliver up aromas and flavours that are very familiar to the taster’s palate... or not. It certainly works both ways.

Niagara-based wine writer Evan Saviolidis relied on all of his talents, knowledge, memory and a few hunches to lock up the top spot at the 2010 Wine Tasting Challenge, held last fall at the Four Seasons hotel and organized by the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University. The annual event is the largest wine tasting challenge in the world, with a prize purse exceeding $150,000 in cash, trips, scholarships and stemware.

This was Evan’s first Wine Tasting Challenge since the event’s inception in 2006. He nailed the South African pinotage, which he says “smelled like a north-facing cow on a bad Texas day.” That pretty much sums up the

foreign correspondents

By Signe Langford

The world is f lat A culture of pancakes As Dr. Phil likes to say, “I don’t care how flat you make a pancake, it’s always got two sides.” Two, wondrous flat sides, perfect for stuffing, saucing or topping. Flapjacks, hotcakes, crêpes, pancakes, griddlecakes… whip out the old culinary atlas and you’ll find that many cultures enjoy a fried or steamed up puddle of batter. In Tibet it’s chataamari, in India, pooda. Mexico has cajeta, the Dutch call them pannenkoeken, and in Germany, pfannkuchen. Here, if we’re over the age of four, we eat them with a knife and fork, but in some cultures, the pancake is the cutlery—or even the plate.

Pearl’s

PEARL COURT >> china 633 Gerrard St. E., 416-463-8778 Moo Shoo Vegetable | $9.50 Bland and steamed, these saucer-sized discs are made for filling and folding. Moo shoo 101: a) smear crêpe with hoisin sauce; b) pile a mound of smoky-good moo shoo filling in the centre; c) fold into a package and eat.

photos: Pat Anderson

Barberian’s

BARBERIAN’S STEAKHOUSE AND TAVERN >> FRANCE

PHIL’S ORIGINAL BBQ >> VENEZUELA

7 Elm St., 416-597-0335, barberians.com

philsoriginalbbq.com

Crêpe Suzette for Two | $40

Cachapas | $5.75

This place rocks the kitchen old school, with

Courtesy of Phil’s Venezuelan wife and

this French classic as part of the “after theatre

business partner Gloria, this luscious corn

menu” serve from 10 p.m. until closing. Sweet

pancake is tender, sweet and savoury, creamy,

crêpes are folded around cherry preserves

studded with fresh corn and stuffed to

then blessed with Grand Marnier, a splash

capacity with all manner of goodness, from

of kirsch and flambéed tableside.

gooey cheese to Phil’s BBQ titbits (add $3).

383 College St., 416-532-8161,

European Bistro and Wine Bar

Phil’s

Private dining room for parties up to 36 Brunch Saturday and Sunday 12-4pm 1/2 Price Oyster Mondays Live Jazz Sunday 8-10pm Three blocks south of Eglinton at 2075 Yonge St. Toronto On. M4S 2A4 Ph. 416 322 6767 CoquineRestaurant.com Spring 2011

11

the urban farmer

By Arlene Hazzan Green

Contain Yourself!

No backyard? No problem! they have to be watered often. Try planting in self-watering pots that have a reservoir at the bottom, forcing the plant to drink from below through its roots. If drainage is poor, plants will are vulnerable to root rot.

You need to strike a perfect balance between draining and retaining.

Water water everywhere

Size does matter

Container growing means more frequent watering. A pot is a relatively small space compared with a garden bed and is more likely to dry out. Those pretty terra cotta pots are notorious for absorbing water so

The pot must fit for the plant. Plants with shallow root— like lettuces and greens—are ok in shallow pots, while tomatoes, peppers and eggplants prefer large vessels so the roots can spread out.

Success is in the soil Keep it light and fluffy. A pot filled with triple mix will turn into a cement block after a few good rains, and that’s not good for airflow or healthy root growth. Start with a good quality organic potting soil and amend it with something nutritious such as vermicompost (worm castings).

Think vertical Containers can be placed on shelves or tables and that means less stooping. Another benefit: because each plant has its own self-contained ecosystem, you’re less likely to be hit by a major bug or weed infestation. Add a trellis to your containers for climbing plants like peas and pole beans. Bamboo hoops can support a shade cloth to cool your plants at the peak of summer—and you can switch to clear plastic sheeting to create a mini greenhouse when temperatures dip in the fall.

Arlene Hazzan Green co-owns The Backyard Urban Farm Co. in Toronto. Visit bufco.ca.

St. Lawrence Market presents

The Executive Chef Series Eat. Meet. Mingle with top executive chefs

Launching May12!

An evening inspired by BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL: Andrew Carter, Executive Chef of The Queen and Beaver Public House, May 12, 6-8 pm, $95 per guest

Patrick McMurray, Owner of Starfish Oyster Bar & Grill, May 26, 6-8 pm, $80 per guest

Trevor Wilkinson, Owner & Executive Chef from Trevor Kitchen & Bar, June 9, 6-8 pm, $95 per guest

Peter George, Executive Chef of 360 The Restaurant at the CN Tower, August 25, 6-8 pm, $95 per guest

Timothy Palmer, Restaurant Chef of the Fairmont Royal York restaurant EPIC, September 15, 6-8 pm, $95 per guest

The executive chef series includes a five or six-course tasting menu, wine and food pairings and all gratuities.

Register at kitchen@stlawrencemarket.com or call 416-860-0727 stlawrencemarket.com facebook.com/stlawrencemarket Special thanks to our partners:

12

CityBites

photo: Arlene Hazzan Green

You’re dying to grow your own food but you don’t have a plot to plant in. No worries.

There are many options for the space-starved.

Container gardening has been around for centuries, not only because it’s practical but also beautiful. Even a small collection of pots can transform an empty patio, balcony, driveway or deck into a lush and edible landscape.

A humble bucket, a recycling bin or even an old teapot can make a great home for salad greens, peas, beans, tomatoes and peppers.

Most fruits, vegetables and herbs can be grown in containers as long as they get enough sun, a proper-sized pot with drainage holes and the right soil. One nice thing about containers: you can move the pots to follow the sun.

VITICULTURE

By Heather Li

Spirited wine Call it hocus pocus, but biodynamic viticulture is in Niagara If you haven’t heard of “biodynamic” wine yet, well, it’s about to become as ubiquitous as “sustainable” fish.

“What differentiates biodynamic wine is how it brings the life back to the vineyards,” says Paul Pender, winemaker for Niagara’s Tawse Winery. “Wine is considered its own organism, so with minimal intervention— no use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and so on—you get a more pure, truer sense of the wine’s unique taste.”

Tawse spent four years upgrading its Ecocert organic-certified vineyard to a biodynamic system, modifying their soil preparation, pest and weed control, harvesting, barreling, bottling and every other aspect of wine production. Meeting International Demeter Standards for biodynamic farming, the winery was officially certified this April, joining Canada’s first biodynamic winery Southbrook in leading the industry in holistic farming.

The biodynamic method is sometimes ridiculed for its spirituality—astrological charts play a big part, as do ritualistic practices such as the burying of manurestuffed cow horns among the vines. “People can take what they want from it, but we are affected many ways by the moon,” Pender says. “The biodynamic approach is just one more tool for good viticulture and to give wine a sense of uniqueness.”

Pender also points to the greater ecobenefits of biodynamics. “Niagara grape producers are heavy users of fungicides because of the humid environment,” says Pender. “The Niagara escarpment flows down to Lake Ontario, so eliminating harsher chemicals equals long-term sustainability, preservation of the Great Lakes and is good for our basic health.” CB

Work with We seek eager ad sales reps to join our team.

Email info@citybites.ca.

Tawse’s first official biodynamic wines, the 2010 Quarry Road Riesling and the 2010 Quarry Road Gewurztraminer, will be released on May 10 at the Somewhereness wine event in Toronto (see p. 31). Then on May 14, the wines will debut at select Ontario restaurants, including Canoe and Splendido.

Spring 2011

13

fresh

By Heather Li

Spot on!

Sustainable, delicious spot prawns

thrill of the

grill

Spot prawns from B.C. are so delicate in flavour they’re often served raw like sashimi. “It’s like eating… candy,” says Steve Johansen of B.C.-based fish supplier Organic Ocean. The prawns are also one of the most sustainable sea products on the planet. They live in the Pacific Ocean, easily regenerate and are commercially harvested in long-line traps with no damage to the ocean floor.

Most B.C. spot prawns used to be exported to Japan, but as their reputation grew among Vancouver and Toronto chefs, the prawns started swimming onto local menus. The season lasts about eight weeks, starting early May. Toronto chef Jason Inniss of Cross Town Kitchens likes a ceviche of spot prawn with lemon juice, shallots and chili. The less prep the better—they really are that good.

The cold-water spot prawn: fast growing and tasty.

JUNE 17-19

muskoka’s hottest barbecue weekend!

Eat some!

The Harbord Room

No ideas yet, but it’s a safe bet Chef Cory Vitiello will keep his prawns sweet and simple.

chefs’ throwdown duel & dinner with Executive Chef, Rory Golden vs Steve Adams, 3-Time Canadian BBQ Champion

inclusive weekend package from only $379* per person

One great price includes everything you want for a complete 2-night getaway — accommodation, meals, wine & beer tastings, workshops, food producer tours & more!

89 Harbord St., 416-962-8989, theharbordroom.com Great Cooks on Eight

Executive Chef and Top Chef Canada competitor Andrea Nicholson has yet to solidify her approach, but says the spot prawn is too good to mess around with too much.

410 Bay St., 416-861-4333, greatcooks.ca

Chef Scott Vivian deepfries the prawns in a buttermilk batter and serves them po’ boy style on rolls made from scratch with coleslaw, mayo and

Buy some!

Hosted by Deerhurst Resort and *Some conditions apply. See details online.

14

CityBites

Pangaea

Ocean Wise poster boy Chef Martin Kouprie will give his prawns the luxe treatment on green and white asparagus with an olive oil béarnaise sauce, Abitibi or sturgeon caviar and chervil.

1221 Bay St., 416-920-2323, pangaearestaurant.com C5

Beast Restaurant

CALL 1-800-461-4393 CLICK deerhurstresort.com facebook.com/deerhurst | twitter.com/deerhurstresort

96 Tecumseth St., 647-352-6000, thebeastrestaurant.com

Executive Chef Ted Corrado dresses them up with cilantro yuzu soba noodles, Cookstown rainbow carrots, maitake mushrooms and pea tendrils.

Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, 416-586-7928, c5restaurant.ca

Prices may vary.

Diana’s Seafood Delights | $13-15/lb.

2101 Lawrence Ave. E., 416-288-9286, dianasseafood.com Hooked Inc. | $20/lb.

888 Queen St. E., 416-828-1861, hookedinc.ca

Bill’s Lobster | $19/lb 599 Gerrard St. E., 416-778-0943 Seafront Fish Market | market price St. Lawrence Market, 93 Front St. E., 416-365-8086, seafoodfishmarket.com

photo: Dan Donovan

Featuring the new

oven-cured tomatoes

trend

By Signe Langford

BYOB hotel Intercontinental juices its menu

photo: Courtesy Intercontinental Toronto Yorkville

Andrew Gajory is feeling left out. The general manager of Intercontinental Toronto Yorkville on Bloor West wants to be a player in Toronto’s serious dining scene. But it’s hard getting noticed when you’re tucked away inside a hotel lobby.

“We don’t have an entrance of our own, we can’t get to the street, so it’s very hard for hotel restaurants… to compete with standalone fine-dining establishments.”

Well, his attitude seems to be: If you can’t join ’em, beat ’em!

To celebrate the hotel’s 20th anniversary, Gajory is inviting diners to bring their own bottle to Signatures Restaurant corkagefree from Monday to Thursday. (At other times, the fee is $15.)

A new wine-focused menu features set entrees crafted to match six popular wine styles, such as Chablis (chardonnay), Bordeaux (cabernet) and pinot noir (Burgundy).

It’s a calculated move to attract Torontonians who love food and wine. Cities like New York and L.A. don’t seem to have a problem attracting locals to their dining and drinking venues.

Even the hippest feel no shame, indeed, they are drawn to drink and dine at their city’s hotels. So, what’s stopping us?

Well, more often than not, hotel dining rooms look more like time capsules than shrines to edgy haut-cuisine. And, more often than not, hotel kitchens lack flair and personality. They tend to be run by desk-bound executive chefs preoccupied with the bottom line and out of touch with the trends of the local food scene. Though a few exceptions come easily to mind: David Garcelon at Fairmont Royal York, Anthony Rose at the Drake, Patrick Lin at Senses, David Chrystian at Le Germain—and now (wait and see…) Joseph Rabba at the Intercontinental.

Recognised by the Ontario Hostelry Institute in 2007 as one of the Top 30 Under 30, Rabba brings his experiences in Spain, France, Italy, Holland and Greece to the table. His dishes are both playfully modern and classical. Think: sea bass Thai yellow curry paired with your favourite sauvignon blanc ($28); vanillapoached lobster with a crisp Chablis ($30); or peppercorn-braised bison short rib matched to a spicy shiraz ($28).

Hey, you could turn this into something of a blood sport by bringing in really challenging wines and putting wine wrangler Rami Zok to the test. CB

• special offer • Free delivery at wineonline.ca! Just enter “citybites” at checkout.

The CityBitesWineOnline Club Welcome to Dick’s Wine Picks, a special offer for our readers. Get free delivery on these great wines, plus the entire catalogue at wineonline.ca.

Just enter the code “citybites” at checkout.

Domaine Sainte Eugénie 2009 Le Clos Vin de Pays d’Oc

Domaine Sainte Eugénie lies in the sweet spot of Corbières within the foothills of the Pyrénées. This wine has a generous nose of red and black fruit. Joyous in the mouth, lovely balance and tangy acidity. Fine tannins, ready to drink.

A complex wine, superb value.

Bottle: $15.95 | Case: $191.40 (12x750mL) Bodegas Nekeas 2009 El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa

Robert Parker and Stephen Tanzer have both remarked on the stunning value of these wines. This is made from old vines garnacha. Fresh red and dark berries are delivered in a solid structure of mineral, chocolate and more black berries. Silky tannins. Drink now, drink often.

Bottle: $21.95 | Case: $263.40 (12x750mL) Poggiofoco 2009 Cecco DOC Sovana (Organic)

Pure gorgeousness! A silky wine that shines ruby red, with fruity, fresh snap, relatively low alcohol and lovely structure.

Some very nice herbal notes, juniper, thyme, currants.

Drinkable right now, with fine tannins.

Bottle: $24.95 | Case: $299.40 (12x750mL) Vieille Julienne 2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Tiny yields make this biodynamically produced wine a real killer, boasting incredible concentration. Minimal interference here in the winemaking, which lets the aromatics shine. Black cherry, cassis, charcoal… all the elements you need! Always a Robert Parker favourite, this vintage gets 95 points.

Bottle: $114 | Case: $684 (6x750mL) Domaine Arnoux Lachaux 2009 Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

Burghound.com calls this a wine “of grace and finesse.” Really, any review can stop right there.

But the 95-98 point score is justified by “very fresh red berry and plum aromas” and “fine middle weight flavors that are wonderfully seductive, complex and hugely long.”

Bottle: $859 | Case: $2577 (3x750mL)

Free delivery for CityBites readers almost anywhere in Ontario!

HST included. Bottle deposit extra.

Wines must be ordered in case lots (6 or 12, as available) unless otherwise noted.

Signatures Restaurant at the Intercontinental.

Spring 2011

15

Books

By Signe Langford

Read ’em and eat

16

Tales of a Gypsy Hotelier

Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One

By Christina Synnott

By Joe Yonan

Perhaps every young cook’s dream: globetrotting from kitchen to kitchen racking up once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Not the most sophisticated read, but dreamy-eyed cooks will find inspiration.

Verbatim: “I sat on the terrace overlooking the Serengeti Plains. […]

I realised … this is where we all came from and that anything is possible.

I didn’t have to continue working in a little cubicle as a catering manager in a Toronto hotel.”

(Authorhouse, $17.99)

For single folks, weeknight eating is mostly lame.

Popcorn for dinner or a whole cauliflower.

Washington Post food editor Joe Yonan gives Onesies a collection of easy, fresh, non-microwavable meals for one.

Verbatim: “There I knelt, hatchet in one hand and a living, breathing chicken in the other.

I held it by its feet. ...

It didn’t cluck, didn’t flap. It was calm— certainly calmer than I.” (Random House, $25)

CityBites

Momofuku

By David Chang and Peter Meehan

With anticipation of the charmingly cranky noodle maven set to join The Donald’s Shangri-La, let’s revisit this 2009 book. Slurp up chef-on-chef adventure tales and recipes from the simplest of noodles to experiments with meat glue.

Verbatim: “It’s weird to be ‘famous’ for something. Can you imagine being Neil Diamond and having to sing “Cracklin’ Rosie” every time you get on stage for the rest of your life?”

(Random House, $49)

Kitchen Scraps: A Humorous Illustrated Cookbook

By Pierre A. Lamielle

The recipe names are fun—Aphrodite’s Hot Greek Goddess Salad, The Blessed Eggs of St. Beneductius, The Bastard Child of Mr. Croque— and the award-winning, quirky, slightly dark illustrations are delicious!

Verbatim: “Even the other bankers thought Mr. Sprout was an old fuddy-duddy because he always wore the same limp green tweed suit and bowler hat every day.”

(Whitecap, $29.95)

Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work

By Aki Kamozowa and H. Alexander Talbot

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen without a slide-ruler, callipers and jug of nitro, along comes this cookbook/ science manual. Of course, it started as a luscious-looking blog.

Verbatim: “The speed of their reaction depends on the amount of available polyphenoloxidase, the amount of polyphenols, the level of oxygen, the temperature and the pH.” (Random House, $28.95)

May 7-14, 2011

Spring into Salut Visit our website for full festival event listings and ticket information.

salutwinefestival.com or call 1.800.656.0713 salut wine + Food festival Event Highlights at a Glance Canadian Cheese Champions with Canadian Wine Champions

Crush Wine Bar/ Market Kitchen

Global Pinot - Chasing The Heartbreak Grape

Crush Wine Bar/ Market Kitchen

Salut Sommelier Smackdown

Crush Wine Bar

Tuesday May 10

Origin & Finca Decero Winery at Origin’s Warhol Private Room

Origin Restaurant

Wednesday May 11

Lifford Grand Tasting & Salut VIP Red & White Icons Reception

Wychwood Art Barns

Salut To New Zealand Wine Makers Dinner

Hôtel Le Germain

Thursday May 12

New Zealand Wine Fair & Salut VIP ‘Meet The Principals’ Reception

Design Exchange

Friday May 13

Salut Ontario Toast To Terroir

Evergreen Brickworks

Saturday May 14

Salut Visa Infinite Grand Finale Dinner with Rob Feenie

Truffles Restaurant

Sunday May 15

Burger Wars! The Ultimate Salut Wine + Food Festival Wrap Up Party

m:brgr brgr bar

Saturday May 7 & 14

Saturday May 7 & 14 Seminars

Wednesday May 11

Canadian Cheese Champions with Canadian Wine Champions

Lifford Grand Tasting & Salut VIP Red & White Icons Reception at Wychwood Art Barns

May 7, Crush Wine Bar • May 14, The Market Ktichen

Global Pinot - Chasing The Heartbreak Grape May 7, Crush Wine Bar • May 14, The Market Ktichen

Salut Wine + Food Festival Presents Sommelier Smackdown!

May 7, Crush Wine Bar For more details visit salutewinefestival.com

Tuesday May 10 Origin & Finca Decero Winery at Origin’s Warhol Private Room Join a select few Salut guests on May10th for an exclusive evening in Origin’s private Warhol room with winery principal Stephanie Morton-Small, of Finca Decero and Origin chef de cuisine Steve Gonzales to explore contemporary global cuisine and Argentine Malbec wine. 7:00 pm • $145

Enter to win a trip for 2 to France Courtesy of: Visit salutwinefestival.com to enter.

Salut guests will have the opportunity to get up front and personal with winery representatives from two iconic wineries - Cakebread Cellars from Napa, California and Craggy Range from New Zealand.

Directly after the special Salut VIP Reception, you will enter the Lifford Grand Tasting and sample over 250 wines from more than 45 winemakers/winery principals attending, taste delicious food, and all for a great cause. This is an event that makes the average wine tasting seem, well... average. All proceeds from the Grand Tasting will benefit Delisle Youth Services. 5:45 pm • $200

Wednesday May 11 Salut To New Zealand Wine Makers Dinner at Hôtel Le Germain Come embark on a journey across New Zealand as each course is complemented with carefully selected wines from Marlborough

by Blind River & Kim Crawford, Waitaki Valley by Ostler, Waipara by Kim Crawford, Hawke’s Bay by Elephant Hill. Enjoy an extraordinary gourmet meal created by Chef David Chrystian of Victor restaurant located in the Hôtel Le Germain. 7:00 pm • $145 For additional event information, seminar listings, or to purchase tickets please visit salutwinefestival.com or call 1.800.656.0713 Schedule subject to change.

Attentive cabin crew, gourmet cuisine, champagne in all classes, 5-star service on long-haul flights

ƆźƄƂƇƀ ƍƁž ƌƄƒ ƍƁž Żžƌƍ Ɖƅźżž ƈƇ žźƋƍƁ www. airfrance.ca

16212_Salut_Wine_Festival.indd 1

11-04-25 11:10 AM

Thursday May 12

Saturday May 14

New Zealand Wine Fair & Salut VIP ‘Meet The Principals’ Reception at the Design Exchange

Salut Visa Infinite Grand Finale Dinner with Celebrity Chef & Iron Chef Champion, Rob Feenie at Truffles in the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto

This is a chance for Salut guests to meet with the travelling winery principals in an exclusive one-on-one VIP reception before the New Zealand Wine Fair. Directly after the reception, you will enter the New Zealand Wine Fair and sample over 140 wines from proven performers to stars in the making at this once a year tasting 6:00 pm • $80

Friday May 13 Salut Ontario Toast To Terroir at the Evergreen Brickworks Join Salut for a culinary collaboration of Ontario’s top chefs, hottest wines, micro beers, cheese producers, farms and agricultural regions. This festival styled tasting will be hosted by celebrity Chef Brad Long at his new Café Belong at the Brick Works. Chef Long will be roasting local heritage pigs on a spit as you enter the Brick Works and then you’ll find a host of his chef friends, local producers, growers and artisans wines showcasing the best of Ontario.

6:30 pm • $50

Join Celebrity Chef Rob Feenie for a delightful evening Saturday, May 14th. Canada’s first Iron Chef Champion will make a rare appearance in Toronto to be the Chef of honor at the Salut Wine + Food Festival Grand Finale dinner. Chef Feenie will be working alongside Four Seasons Toronto Executive Chef, Thomas Bellec to create a magical gourmet experience.

Guests will be welcomed to the chic Four Seasons Truffles private dining room for a elegant Champagne reception followed by an exquisite multi-course menu featuring the finest ingredients sourced through local purveyors and paired with exceptional wines.

6:30 pm • $165

As a Visa Infinite Cardholder, you will receive 20% discount on your ticket purchase to select Salut events. To receive your discount when purchasing tickets online, please enter your first 6 digits of your Visa Infinite card on the Promo Code section.

Presented by Dairy Farmers of Canada LOOK FOR

allyouneedischeese.ca

receive a 20% discount on select Salut events. at Salut, Visa Infinite® cardholders have the opportunity to attend an exclusive dinner with cocktail reception and get a 20% discount on select Salut events. to purchase tickets visit salutwinefestival.com

*Visa claim based upon global number of general purpose cards, number of transactions and purchase volume. The offer described above is only available to Canadian Visa Infinite cardholders. Offer is based on availability and additional terms and conditions may apply. Cardholders are responsible for the cost of dinner, wine, and any additional items. See Festival Guide for a list of events eligible for discount. Visit visainfinite.ca for details. Visa and Visa Infinite are registered trademarks of Visa Int.; Visa Canada is a licensed user. Aeroplan and Aerogold are Registered Trademarks of Aeroplan Canada Inc. CIBC Authorized Licensee of Marks. Aventura is a Registered Trademark of CIBC. ® Lion & Globe Design, RBC and AVION are registered trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada.

wine

By Julie C. Trubkin

Hard to say, easy to drink Greek wines get top billing at Maléna Cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and… agiorgitiko? One of these things is not like the other.

The process of ordering wine in a restaurant can be intimidating enough, so introducing impossibly unpronounceable names can only make matters worse, right?

And yet one Toronto restaurant is more than up for the challenge of educating its customers. Maléna, located on the swish stretch of Avenue Road near Yorkville, champions Greek wines, offering six made in Nemea.

Typical diners may not be familiar with the majority of Maléna’s selection. “We did that on purpose,” says owner David Minicucci of a strategy he and co-owner Sam Kalogiros employ. “So that we can get involved and kind of teach and talk about wine. It heightens the experience.” Though not exclusively focused on Greek wines, the duo have become oenophilist trendsetters.

“In a perfect world every dish on the menu should have something by the glass that works well with it,” says Minicucci. And that’s precisely the world they’ve created at Maléna, where Greek wines are a natural complement to the restaurant’s Ionian cuisine.

Maléna’s sommelier Zinta Steprans really couldn’t predict how well the wines would be received. “Where retsina used to be the Greek staple, people are now focusing on boutique wineries with different varietals,” says Steprans. “I think it’s fun to sort of let people try it without knowing what it is. And then they end up loving it.” She’s aware of the cynics, but not bothered. “There are some people that immediately say ‘no we’re not doing Greek,’ and that’s fine. But there are a lot of people who say ‘I’ve never had Greek wine.’” And Steprans is poised to pleasantly surprise these neophytes, with a bottle of moschofilero at the ready when a diner asks for a pinot grigio or prosecco.

photo: Julie C. Trubkin

Greek wines are very avant garde because they don’t follow the trends.

And there’s no shortage of Greek wines with which to impress. But among the 300-plus indigenous grapes grown, Greece is really promoting just four to the rest of the world—two whites and two reds, each of which can be sampled at Maléna.

Xinomavro and agiorgitiko are the reds, assyrtiko and moschofilero the whites.

Maléna sources the majority of its Greek wines from the Kolonaki Group. Steve Kriaris, a self-described “premium Greek wine ambassador,” proudly proclaims that “even the LCBO calls [us] looking for Greek wines.” He predicts that the Greek wine industry in Toronto will double its growth in the next 10 years. “Greek wines are very avant garde,” he says, “because they don’t follow the same trends like all the other emerging wine countries.” He travels to Greece every year, tasting up to 200 wines.

Maléna is just one year into its mission to spread the word on Greek wines. Now it’s just a matter of mastering the terms. Steprans’ pronunciation is, as you’d expect, casual and effortless. Her advice for the phonetically challenged? “Just practice!” CB

Zinta Steprans: converting wine lovers a glass at a time.

Zinta’s Picks Difficult to find at LCBO/Vintages, these wines can be tracked down via the agents noted below. You know how to Google, right?

2009 Ktima Tselepos Moschofilero Vintages #724583 | $15.20 A fresh, crisp white made from moschofilero, which can express a range of styles. This has lovely white floral notes, fresh apple and zesty citrus. A hit with fans of pinot grigio. By the glass at Maléna.

Kolonaki Group 2009 Ktima Pavlidis Thema White Vintages #178442 | $17.95 A great wine for Greek neophytes, blending assyrtiko and sauvignon blanc. Fresh and zesty with lemon and white grapefruit and subtle tropical fruit.

Kolonaki Group 2005 Gaia Estate Agiorgitiko Vintages #168021 | $35 A Vintages Online Exclusive, we serve it by the glass at Malena.

A lovely medium bodied, plush wine aged in French oak. Vanilla and baking spices enrich fresh red fruit aromas of cherry and raspberry.

Small Wine Makers Spring 2011

21

CHAMPAGNE

By John Szabo MS

Small but powerful More bang for buck at these tiny Champagne houses Decoding the label

Look for the two-letter code beside the company name. “NM” stands for “Négociant-Manipulant,” a house that buys and manipulates grapes into wine. “RM” stands for “RécoltantManipulant,” a house that harvests its own grapes and produces Champagne.

Prices for licensees; add about 10% for retail.

Stephen Cohen is not the only importer of Champagne in Ontario, but he is one of the most passionate.

You might think that representing Champagne houses is a lucrative and easy gig, given the marketing muscle and immediate brand recognition of the “big” labels. Except that in one tiny niche of the Champagne market—known as “grower” Champagne—there’s less flash and cash.

This is where Cohen places his focus.

Champagne, more than any other region in the wine world, is divided between grape growers and negociant houses. More than 90 percent of Champagne’s 34,000 hectares are farmed by 15,000 independent growers—and most of them don’t make Champagne. At least two-thirds of each harvest is purchased by a handful of large Champagne houses in the form of grapes, juice or occasionally still wine. They transform these raw materials into Champagne and put their label on it. This system, say the large houses, allows them to make a consistent product that reflects the characteristic style of each brand year after year. The chef de cave can blend lots from literally hundreds of vineyards across the entire region, different grapes and even previous vintages, in order to assemble a dependable house style.

The large houses have a near-total stranglehold on the market, with les grandes marques accounting for 90 percent of Champagne exports. And, for the most part, these are not bad wines. It’s just that they seem the antithesis to the rest of the wines produced in France, a terroir-obsessed country.

So, what to do if you’re a wine lover seeking a bubbly that’s a little more idiosyncratic—one that reflects the expression of a specific terroir and the vision of a single winemaker? Go for “grower” Champagne. These are sparkling wines made from individuals who grow their own grapes, make their own base wine and then transform it into sparkling Champagne using the traditional methods proscribed in the appellation.

Not every grape grower is a great winemaker, but the best are well above standard. These are wines of great personality, individuality and variability. Many of these wines are drier than the big brands, as they are made from riper, more concentrated grapes and find natural balance at lower dosage (which is the sugar added before shipping), making them great food wines.

“When people taste these wines, it’s hard to go back to the large houses,” says Cohen. Even more important than their individuality is their killer value. “These are tiny, family-run estates.

The price you pay for a bottle is all in the grapes. There’s no money for the marketing budget.”

Here are the notes from a recent tasting, though likely small quantities remain. Contact Stephen Cohen gsoleil@rogers.com to reserve some of the next shipment. Scores out of 100 points. CB

These are wines of great personality and variability

22

CityBites

Andre Clouet Rose NV 92 points | $45.95 André Clouet owns eight hectares in Bouzy—all grand cru pinot noir vineyards. This is an intensely savoury, mineral, almost smoky example of rosé, with a long, winey finish. The fruit is perfectly ripe, with no hard edges.

Andre Clouet Silver Brut Brut Nature 93 points | $45.95 Tremendous value in a bone-dry, highly mineral style. The wine is nonetheless fleshy and highly flavourful, not at all lean.

Jacquesson Cuvee 734 93 points | $64.95 This is the 734th Champagne blended by Jacquesson, made from the 2006 vintage, though not labeled as a vintage Champagne.

Quite a sweet, caramelized style, like peanut brittle, quince paste and Chinese vie-spice—great complexity. The palate is full-ish, rich, much sweeter than the previous wines. Long finish. A unique, distinctive style.

Georges Laval Cumieres Brut Nature 94 points | $75 Laval is “the best grower Champagne you’ve never heard of,” according to journalist Peter Liem.

Half chardonnay partially fermented in old small barrels, and zero dosage. Really curious but captivating bean sprout, freshsteamed edamame, soy bean, toasted wheat bread flavours, but the intensity and length are extraordinary. Highly idiosyncratic, but delicious.

For more, please turn to p. 31

photo: Courtesy Bereche et Fils

The family at Bereche et Fils.

Bereche et Fils Brut 93 points | $45 Bereche is a tiny house located in Ludes on the Montagne de Rheims, all premier cru vineyards. Raffael Bereche, 26 years old, is considered a rising superstars. Dominated by Pinot Noir, one-fifth vinified in barrel. Mineral, but more intensely creamy, like fresh chanterelle sautéed in butter. Dry, sinewy, firm and taught, riveting acidity— a real food Champagne.

FLAVOURS

By Deacon Dr. Fresh

Same wine, different day

Illustration: Pierre Lamielle

Suffering from house-wine arrest?

Time to mix it up To me, life is annoying in more ways than I can possibly itemize. Drivers irritate the hell out of me, either hovering four inches off my back bumper at 100 km per hour, or risking my life by turning the Don Valley Parkway into their own personal video game. Line-ups at the rapid checkout counter drive me nuts, as do (in no particular order), littering, Justin Bieber’s hair, and anyone who calls AC/DC a heavy metal band. There really is a lot to be pissed off about on any given day when you think about it, and I’m sure you have your own list of pet peeves. But nothing, and I mean nothing, bothers me more than when a host declares a particular wine to be their “house wine.”

The Great Canadian House Wine is a fairly recent phenomenon. A few years back, everyone was going crazy over a wine that I called The Best Damn Floor Cleaner on the Planet. Now I’m not going to name that wine, but let’s just say it comes from the Southern hemisphere and features a colourful marsupial on the label. It’s actually a brilliant job of marketing, and fits the rum-and-cola crowd to a T. It’s sweet and round and inoffensively bland, to the point of being blandly offensive. Everywhere I went, hosts and hostesses would produce a bottle with a flourish and proudly proclaim that this was their “house wine.” In fact, the wine became so ubiquitous that many people actually believed that it had set a new standard and that’s what wine was supposed to taste like. Consequently, it was served with everything, from pasta to pork chops, and calamari to scallops. North Americans bought it by the truckload.

The same thing happened with Fuzion two years ago. All of a sudden Malbec was the only grape worth drinking, and even the normally viticulturally sane French began planting, harvesting and vinifying acres of Malbec in a New World style. I cringed when I saw a man order a fruity, sweetish Malbec in an Italian bistro in Manhattan. He ordered it with penne in a delicate sauce, and the explosive fruit flavours must have totally overwhelmed the subtle pasta. You see, it was his “house wine.” His default go-to. So why would he order a slightly bitter Montepulciano d’Abruzzo that would pair perfectly with this simple plate, and elevate it to sublime status?

Drinking only one wine or being a fan of only one grape makes as much sense as playing only one song. I love the music of Black Sabbath,

especially the early stuff. But over dinner, I’d rather listen to Glenn Gould or Loreena McKennitt, instead of defaulting to my house song, “War Pigs.” The texture of life comes from variety.

So what am I proposing here? Experiment!

One of the most enjoyable ways of shopping for wine is by Air Miles. Just buy whatever gives you the most points and you’ll automatically be trying a bunch of new stuff, and it doesn’t need to be expensive to be good. I know it’s fashionable to trash the LCBO and join one of those snobby little wine societies with a pretentious name, but here’s the reality: Nobody has the frickin’ buying power of the old Lick-Bo. I toured Burgundy a few years back, and visited winery after winery that had already been

cleaned out by the superpower buyers from Ontario. So if your cutesy little wine club has a special wine that the LCBO doesn’t stock, it’s only because they didn’t want it, or they’d have bought it all.

So go wine shopping and stock up on adventure. Somewhere near you is a brightly lit store, bursting with cherry ripe sangioveses, oakey chardonnays, clean assyrtiko and bombshell petit syrahs. I hereby proclaim that you are without excuse. Get out of the house and travel the world, one bottle at a time.

You heard me. CB The musings of Deacon Dr. Fresh live at deaconwinelist.blogspot.com.

Spring 2011

23

ITALY

By John Szabo MS

Chianti Kudos Once a joke, now a serious force. Time for a re-taste.

Chianti. Historically celebrated, mistreated in the industrial era, and now lovingly cared for again as one of Italy’s top drops, this old and wrinkled Tuscan beauty has undergone a serious makeover.

The rolling countryside between Florence and Siena was first demarcated for Chianti production in 1716, though wine had been made there since Etruscan times. Chianti was the nobleman’s tipple. But post-Second World War, when farmers were traded for tractors, Chianti became a cheap and ubiquitous red wine in a straw-covered flagon.

Then comes the wine boom of the 1990s, along with modern winemaking techniques. A forward-thinking “Chianti Classico 2000” research project identifies the best clones of sangiovese and other local red grapes such as canaiolo and colorino, as well as the best combinations of these grapes with rootstocks and soils and winemaking methods. Winemakers begin to take Chianti seriously once again.

In another twist, significant modifications were made to the Chianti recipe in the mid-nineties. Among those, white grapes were banned from the mix, and the door was opened to foreigners.

Chianti can contain 20 percent non-Italian grapes—and this changes the game entirely.

Purists might lament the loss of Chianti’s distinctive Italian-ness.

I’m a believer in pure sangiovese and I love acid, but admittedly this naturally lean and tart grape can occasionally benefit from the plumping up brought by the foreigners. Whatever your philosophical take, the once-dangerous minefield of Chianti—with rarely good, often average and sometimes diabolical wines—has been swept. Chianti is now a green zone for wine buying.

At its inexpensive best, Chianti is a juicy, deliciously tart red cherry, food-friendly wine, perfect for picnics and pastas in red sauce, served with a slight chill. At its expensive best, it’s serious, brooding but never heavy, full of red and black fruit, dried herbs and measured wood spice.

Here’s a guide to the good side; all currently available in Ontario.

Google the agent name to get ordering info. All wines were tasted blind. Full notes for all 35 wines submitted by the agents are posted on winealign.com. CB

Traditional 2006 Cedro Chianti Rufina (Organic) 91 points | $19.99 A smoky, spicy, savoury Chianti with loads of traditional appeal, dusty-earthy notes, and great intensity and complexity. Beautifully balanced, with richness, fleshy fruit and firm, saliva-inducing acidity.

Wine Lovers Agency 2006 Fattoria di Grignano Chianti Rufina 91 points | $19.99 A pale garnet colour belies its complexity and depth.

There’s plenty of dried herbs, wet stone, floral notes, and firm acid-tannin.

Pitch-perfect, balanced, timeless Chianti.

Lifford 1998 Ventesimo Montiverdi Chianti Classico Riserva “Gold Label” 91 points | $37.95 If you like mature wines, this is for you. Fully ready to go, evolved, savoury, highly complex, with wet earth, mushroom, forest floor, dried herb, baked berry fruit, and lots of soy sauce and other umami-rich notes.

Thompson Vintage Trade 2008 Ruffino Aziano Chianti Classico 90 points | $18.60 Evident complexity and wood on the nose, with inviting dried herbs, red cherry, strawberry, dusty earth. The palate is evolved, firm but silky, classy and elegant.

Vintages #307025, Charton Hobbs

Modern-Leaning 2006 Fattoria Lornano Chianti Classico Riserva 90 points | $18.95 Stylish and ripe, with balanced wood, polished texture and highly appealing plush red and black fruit flavours. Vintages #208447, Frontier Wine Merchants 2005 Valiano Chianti Classico Riserva 90 points | $24.99 Ripe, spicy, concentrated, densely packed. Plush, full-bodied, with big, velvety tannins, generous alcohol, a broad range of red and black fruit flavours and noted coffee ground/wood influence.

Wine Lovers Agency 2008 Fattoria di Felsina Chianti Classico Berardenga 89 points | $37.95 Solid and flavourful in a bold and chunky style, more power than finesse. There’s plenty of fig and prune and dried cranberry notes, while the palate is fullish, ripe and plush. Lifford

Value 2009 Principe Corsini Chianti Camporsino 88 points | $13.95 A savoury and juicy, classic food style Chianti with high drinkability. Diamond Estates 2008 Castello di San Sano Chianti “Vigneto della Rana” 87.5 points | $14.95 When tasting, I thought: “A perfect picnic wine.

I hope it’s under $15—I’d buy.” And so it is. Basic but highly enjoyable juicy, fruity, dusty red berry-cherryraspberry-flavoured. Mani Agency 2008 Sefiro Chianti Colli Fiorentini 87 points | $16.95 Discreet nose, simple but inviting. Mid-weight, firm, with juicy acid, balanced alcohol and light but firm tannins. The Vine

Wine storage experts for 15 years.

Visit our showroom at 339 Olivewood Road, Toronto 416.285.6604 . 1.888.253.6807 www.rosehillwinecellars.ca

Wine Cellars 24

5:&B&%BDG LQGG CityBites

. Wine Racks . Cooling Units . Cabinets . Stemware . Accessories . Gift Certificates 30

INDIA

By Lindsay Groves

Postcard from the edge A Canadian sommelier explores India’s wine industry Wine isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of India. But consider this: most people I talk to abroad are surprised to hear Canada makes wine. So, if anyone can sympathize with Indian wine producers, it’s the Canadian wine industry.

With absurdly high taxes on imported wines and a middle class nearly twice the population of Canada, the local industry in India is, in theory, well situated for success.

The heart of India’s wine industry is centered. In the state of Maharashtra, the area of Nashik is known as India’s Napa Valley, and it’s home to 40 of the country’s 60 or so wineries.

The states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh also have significant area under vine. But particularly in Nashik, producers are discovering the potential for cellar-door sales and wine tourism. Initiated by Sula Vineyards, many wineries now offer wine tastings, dining, lodging, music and arts festivals.

The market holds a lot of promise but the challenges are daunting. Alessio Secci, director of Fratelli Wines, explains: “The wine industry is trying hard to spread wine culture in India, but producing wine in India—where the consumption is growing but it is still just a niche— is a great challenge.”

Nick Van Aarde, a South African winemaker working with Vallée de Vin, says that past quality issues have deterred locals from supporting their own. “Most Indians would rather drink imported wine if they could afford it.”

And then there is the challenge of determining which grapes are best suited to Indian terroir. Most producers are still experimenting and have yet to find their focus. But certain varieties do seem to be emerging as the better candidates: sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc and viognier for whites. Syrah and sangiovese lead the reds.

Indian producers hope to find fans abroad. For people seeking new and interesting regions and producers, Indian wines offer an exotic twist. They also offer great value for money. “We do in fact believe that our wines can meet international quality standards and be appreciated by foreigners,” says Secci. “[They] will be surprised to discover the quality of Indian wine.”

Some producers are already finding success in foreign markets.

“Our wines are exported to 20 countries and have found a place on many prestigious wine lists around the world,” says Cecilia Oldne, head of international business for Sula. “Our sauvignon blanc is available in the Armani Hotel in Dubai and… Daniel Boulud’s threeMichelin star restaurant Daniel’s listed our chenin blanc.” CB

Celebrating 25 years!

Join Us May 14th Welcome back our new butcher Paul Bradshaw.

Meet & greet our local farmers & sample some of our new products.

Now serving local, hormoneand antibiotic-free beef and certified Alberta angus.

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Get them

Picking grapes in India’s Nashik wine region.

The 2009 Sula Sauvignon Blanc is at the LCBO for $11.95. The 2008 Sula can be ordered from Kolonaki Group, 416-630-7392, kolonakigroup.com.

Spring 2011

25

COCKTAIL

By Kate More

A makeover for Ms. Spritzer The wallflower of cocktails gets gussied up

How would you give the spritzer a makeover?

You’d be amazed what a few slices of fresh fruit placed in the body of the drink will do.

St. Germain liqueur is a wonderful additive to bubbly cocktails. It holds mildly sweet elder-

flower essence and keeps the drink refreshing.

Experiment with making syrups. A great spritzer syrup can be created easily using a reduction of equal parts water, sugar and an ingredient such as lemongrass, sage or citrus fruit.

Wine spritzers are usually made with pretty bland wine. Is this because adding flavoured ingredients will ruin the sanctity of a finer wine?

In nearly 12 years bar tending, I have only been asked what wine I was mixing the spritzer with on two occasions. So I’d assume many believe this to be true.

But, the beautiful thing about nailing a great cocktail recipe with a specific wine is that it creates the exact opposite effect of de-sanctifying. The cocktail should showcase the wine’s subtle nuances with the help of unique ingredients that complement and highlight the winery’s intentions.

A toast to elevated dining Our award-winning wine cellar now boasts a new interactive wine list of over 500 international labels. Enjoy an expanded selection of spectacular wines and champagnes by the glass with our state-of-the-art preservation system, and get the perfect pour every time.

For an unparalleled food and drink experience with city views to match, join us at Toronto’s 360 Restaurant.

Reservations recommended. 416.362.5411 cntower.ca Complimentary elevation with the purchase of a main course.

26

CityBites

The New Wine Spritzer 3 oz. sauvignon blanc 3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice 1/2 oz. Green Chartreuse 1/2 oz. St. Germain 2 dashes grapefruit bitters (or try any bitters) 6 sage leaves 2 oz. soda 1 oz. Prosecco Fill a martini shaker with ice and all ingredients except the Prosecco and soda.

Shake vigorously 30 seconds, strain into a 20-oz. wine glass filled with fresh ice.

Top with soda and a float of Prosecco.

“Spank” sage between hands to release aroma.

Place in cocktail to garnish.

photo: James Kachan

“Always a bridesmaid never a bride”—a sentiment the wine spritzer would express if it were a girl.

While bartenders frequently and enthusiastically marry classic cocktails with new and eccentric ingredients, wine spritzers get the cold shoulder. These after thoughts are usually a predictable mix of generic house wine and soda.

The tragedy deepens as the mixology trend rises.

Next to a bar menu of balsamic lavender cosmos and tobacco cinnamon manhattans, a wine spritzer looks like a plain Jane at best, an old maid at worst.

We asked Michael Webster—professional barman at The Drake Hotel and consultant for Kindling Cocktail Events—for tips on sprucing up wine spinsters. Sorry, spritzers.

The Masters

By Kate More

The Three MS-kateers Canada’s top sommeliers spill about wine

John Szabo

Bruce Wallner

Jennifer Huether

Trump Toronto and Terroni

Paese Ristorante

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment

JAMES OATLEY

Until last year, CityBites’s own columnist John Szabo held the distinction of being Canada’s only Master Sommelier. Szabo was joined by Bruce Wallner in 2010. And, just a couple of months ago, Jennifer Huether made the grade. All three live in Toronto. We brought them together for a quick chat on what it all means.

What’s the most common misconception people have regarding the title Master Sommelier?

Huether: That it is very attainable.

Szabo: There’s still the lingering misconception that a sommelier, master or not, is out to get you, up-sell you and empty your wallet.

Wallner: That an MS has a super human tasting ability. The reality is that we practice more.

What differentiates a Master Sommelier from a sommelier?

Wallner: A series of exams.

You taste an average of 100 wines a week. Have you ever experienced love at first sip?

Huether: 1988 Krug Champagne, with tempura battered shrimp. Absolutely killed me.

Wallner: I spent one Christmas morning in Vancouver with a great friend, drinking a bottle of 1979 Krug ‘Clos de Mesnil’ from the bottle. I had no idea what I was drinking, but it was magic.

Szabo: Spain, 1994. Picnic on the Costa del Sol, two close friends, my mother and a $17 bottle of Tinta Valbuena [made by legendary producer Vega Sicilia]. We had no glasses, so the bottle was passed around. Made me want to write a song.

Is there a wine region that you admire most?

Wallner: Wachau [Germany]. Even the big co-op there is fastidiously focused on quality.

And a prestigious region of the near future? Rio Negro [Argentina].

Huether: Of course, as a Canadian, I am very excited about what is happening in Niagara and B.C. Szabo: More than any region, I admire any producer who strives to make something distinct and original. The wine world has become way too commercial…. Make it and they will come.

Spring 2011 JOTT City Bite MAY issue.indd 2

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28/03/2011 12:34:44 PM

KITCHEN

By Kate More

Elevate your dish Leftover wines make cooking fine Wine leftovers: 1) A multitude of ¾-empty wine bottles about to expire. 2) The result of ADD wine drinking; i.e., an inability to choose which wine you are in the mood to drink.

In the name of curiosity, wine lovers are uncorking more fine wines than they can swallow. The result, come Sunday night, is a kitchen counter full of soon-to-perish wines, destined for the drain or, worse, an ill-advised jungle juice binge. Waste not, want not becomes too much and too wasted.

When cooked properly, fine wine adds tremendous complexity to a dish.

Here’s how to turn a situation into a plan: use your fine-wine leftovers in recipes. Sure, you’ve cooked with wine—usually the cheapest you can find. Here’s your chance to try a dish with a truly great wine.

Some people think that since cooking with wine reduces alcohol content via evaporation, it also reduces the wine’s flavour. Not so. When used properly, fine wine adds tremendous complexity to a dish. But you need to exercise patience.

To retain flavour, fine wine should never be cooked at more than

180°F, should be reduced as slowly as possible, and never to less than one-quarter of its original volume.

It is best to cook with younger wines. They have more power and hold up better under heat. Older wines are fragile and may expire in the pan.

Here’s how to start. First, revisit the bottle on your counter. When tasting, pay close attention to the flavour notes lingering on your palate.

Imagine how these notes might behave as ingredients. The recipes you create should contain ingredients that emphasize, echo and support the flavours in the wine. + Loire Valley sauvignon blanc, known for citrus fruit and herbaceous ness, is an ideal starting point for lemon and parsley steamed mussels. + Tuscan Chianti Classico, with rustic, earthy notes, is a harmo nious base for simmering mushrooms and Arborio rice for risotto. + Tropical, buttery California chardonnay melds nicely with passion fruit purée for a beurre blanc over black cod with mango salsa. + Australian pinot noir often contains hints of black pepper and field berries and reduces superbly with black cherries when used to deglaze a filet mignon’s pan. + Niagara riesling, famous for honeyed fruit flavours, warmed with brown sugar and lots of butter, is a lovely bath in which to poach pears.

Kate More works with the iYellow Wine Club. Her blog is Local is the New Black.

Lifford Wine Agency is hosting the fifth annual Boys’ Night Out event. It’s a celebration of guy’s stuff cleverly disguised as a sophisticated wine tasting. Hot cars, boats, golf, fine wine, steaks, live entertainment, oysters, motorcycles, music, bbq, auctions and much more.

Proceeds will benefit prostate cancer research.

Audi Downtown Toronto, 328 Bayview Avenue.

Thursday, July 14th, 7pm to 10pm.

Tickets: $100. To order or for more details, visit www.LiffordBoysNightOut.com or email wineevents@liffordwine.com. Tel. 416 440 4101

JEROBOAM SPONSOR

28

CityBites

MAGNUM SPONSORS

head to head

By Zoltan Szabo

Ontario vs. World Try these side-by-side explorations and learn a little something PINOT NOIR Delicate 2009 Norman Hardie County Pinot Noir Unfiltered Prince Edward County | $35.20

Bright, spicy bouquet, with delicate texture. In a word: velvet.

Vintages #0125310

Compelling 2007 Carrick Pinot Noir Central Otago, NZ | $34.95

Cherry, vanilla, and forest floor aromas.

Juicy with a firm tannic finish.

Vintages #919837

chardonnay Lean 2008 Le Clos Jordanne Chardonnay â&#x20AC;&#x153;Le Clos Jordanneâ&#x20AC;?

20 Mile Bench, Niagara | $40

Full 2007 Robert Mondavi Reserve Chardonnay Napa Valley, CA | $44.95

Flint, mineral and smoke notes, integrated oak and lovely acidity.

Mineral, like Meursault.

Vintages #0033910

Fruitier, riper and fuller. A great Napa Valley example with composure and poise.

Vintages #258186

cabernet Finesse 2007 Stratus Red Niagara | $44.20

Driven by cab-sauv, complex with juicy acidity, silky tannins and delicate oak.

Vintages #0131037

Sexy 2002 Chateau Musar Bekaa Valley, Lebanon | $51.95

Bouquet of raspberries, rose petals and leather. Velvet tannins, spicy truffles and shiitake.

Vintages #0109413

Spring 2011

29

Cool Chardonnay

By John Szabo MS

A Shocking Play in Three Acts Fact meets fiction when Canadian chardonnay goes on the road

The Scene, The Characters [New York City, 50th Floor of the Mcgraw-Hill Building in Manhattan. Twenty-seven proud winery principals have gathered to present 54 of Canada’s finest chardonnays from 31 wineries in Ontario and British Columbia.

These ambassador wines had been selected by a panel of Canadian experts, headed by the “dean” himself, Tony Aspler. Legendary Canadian ex-pat sommelier Paul Grieco, now Manhattan-based, can be seen in the corner of the room, head down in his notebook, his extraordinarily long goatee occasionally dipping into his glass of chardonnay as he furiously pens his notes, with an expression now rapturous, now pained. Music suddenly fills the room, serious music. A deep, melodious, disembodied voice (think James Earl Jones) begins speaking.]

Deep Voice: Chablis, Chassagne-Montrachet, Canada… These are the places on planet earth where the finest chardonnays are made…. [a vinyl record scratching noise interrupts the speech].

Bewildered bystander: Canada?

Deep Voice: That’s right baby. Canada. Eh.

Act Two:

Media Showdown [Meanwhile in the back boardroom, some intrepid Canadians, including Seriously Cool chardonnay mastermind Bill Redelmeier, winemaker Thomas Bachelder, Tony Aspler and John Szabo (who was lost and ended up in the wrong room), are sitting with a group of the most serious media scribes. There are ten glasses filled with wine in front of each. Konrad “the Ej” Ejbich lurks in a corner, his camera, recorder and computer deployed to capture every whisper, every wipe of a sweaty brow. The following conversation was recorded by him.]

Redelmeier: We’re here to put Canadian wine on the map in the U.S, and show you that Canada makes great table wines! [Not just frozen wine.]

Tony Aspler: I know that New York wine critics are as tough as those in London [England, not Ontario], but you seem to be reacting to the Canadian Chardonnays with surprise and delight. I wager that you’re impressed by their minerality and fine acidity–a refreshing change from your overblown fruit-driven California Chards. [Atta boy, Aspler.]

Bruce Sanderson of Wine Spectator: No

30

CityBites

comment, Tony. [Turns to ask server if there’s anything with more fruit and oak available to taste.]

Robert Parker: I hope these wines weren’t selected by some precious sommelier trying to sell us some teeth enamel removing wine with acid levels close to toxic, made by some sheep farmer on the north side of his 4,000foot foot elevation vineyard picked two months before ripeness, and made from a grape better fed to wild boar than the human species….

We all know the type—saving the world from drinking good wine in the name of vinofreakism… [Well, actually, yes Bob, they were.]

Ed McCarthy, co-author of Wine for Dummies, but he’s no dummy: Admittedly, I haven’t really explored the wines of Canada and am generally impressed with the chardonnays. This tasting makes me believe I have to explore Canadian wines more thoroughly.

I am really glad I came today as this is an eyeopening experience. [Better believe it, Ed.] Joshua Greene, editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine: Yes Ed, I agree. These wines are much more about the nature of the soil than about winemaking. That really appeals to me.

[Greene famously dislikes wines that don’t taste like a handful of wet stones. He’s one of us].

Tom Claire, associate managing editor of Ladies Home Journal: It appears you Canadians are putting a lot of thought, patience and talent into what you are producing. I think there is incredible potential and I’m looking forward to Canadian world-class success with these wines. [Thanks Tom, don’t forget to tell the ladies]

Act Three:

The Most Seriously Cool Chardonnays Contact winery for availability.

2006 Huff Estates Cuvee Peter F. Huff Blanc de Blancs | $39.95 One of Canada’s finest bubblies.

Yeasty, minerally.

2008 Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace | $40 A tough year for pinot but a great vintage for chardonnay. Concentrated mineral essence; ageworthy 2007 Flat Rock Cellars Reserve | $35.20 A fine, modern example, ripe, plush, woody, with lots of tropical fruit.

2008 Tawse Winery Quarry Road | $34.95 Outstanding, superbly balanced between stones, fruit and discreet wood, Long finish. Energetic.

2008 Norman Hardie Cuvee ‘L’ Unfiltered | $49 Controversial inclusion for NYC, but this wine generated the most positive comments. Hardie’s “dirty” winemaking (loads of lees contact) gives this a seriously yeasty-leesy-reductive profile, kinda like top notch Meursault, about which nobody complains.

2008 Rosehall Run Cuvee County | $21.95 Another brilliant county chardonnay: lean, taught, Chablisienne style.

2008 Burrowing Owl | $25 The richer B.C. style shows nicely here, more “West Coast” ripeness and tropical fruit.

2006 Quails’ Gate Stewart Reserve | $29.99 Ageing nicely, showing the slightly cooler climate of the northern Okanagan 1998 Southbrook Poetica (in Magnum) | $154/750mL Yes, Canadian chardonnays do age.

And well.

illustration: Pierre Lamielle

Act One:

EVENT

By Michael Pinkus

A funny word for wine ‘Somewhereness’ event touts Ontario terroir It sounds like a funny word, “Somewhereness.” I have a friend who calls it “Somewhere-else”— probably due to the ever-changing location of the annual event—but The Somewhereness Ten. the word actually describes a word the French use all the time when describing wines from a particular region, soil type and/or climate: “terroir.”

“Somewhereness” is a term coined by Wine Spectator columnist Matt Kramer in 1992. It has become the catchword concept for six Ontario wineries, who in 2007 developed a group dedicated to terroir-driven wines. The original six are Charles Baker, Stratus, Malivoire, Flat Rock, Norman Hardie and Tawse. After that first magical tasting, a movement Somewhereness 2011 was afoot that any winery worth its seeds and skins would want May 10 at the Japanese Canadian to get involved with. This year four wineries were added to the Cultural Centre, 6 Garamond Court. roster: Cave Spring, Southbrook, Hidden Bench and 13th Street.

Tickets are $99 and include the For the fourth event in five years, the tasting and educational keynote and structured tasting seminar takes place at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in at 6:30 p.m. followed by a walkaround tasting at 8 p.m. Info at Toronto. This year’s keynote speaker is Ian D’Agata, the Canadianvintages.com/somewhereness. born contributor to Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar and Decanter. He cut his chops tasting wines bought at the LCBO before moving on to the wines of Europe from his home base in Rome.

In mid-April the media got a sample of what is to come at this year’s Somewhereness, complete with mini-talk (via video) from Mr. D’agata and a selection of wines from the participants. CB Michael Pinkus is a wine writer and creator of OntarioWineReview.com.

Cave Spring 2009 Dolomite Riesling 93 points | $16.95 Super acidity and flavour, really shows what Ontario rieslings are all about.

Malivoire 2008 Moira Chardonnay 90 points | $39.95 Good balance of tropical fruit, buttery oak and good acidity, delicate and ageworthy.

Charles Baker 2009 Picone Vineyard Riesling 90 points | $35.00 Mingles fresh fruit and mineral: peach, green apple and good balancing acidity.

Hidden Bench 2009 Bistro Rosé 88+ points | n/a This restaurant-only wine is one for summer lovers looking for a pink on the patio.

Continuerd from p. 22

Bereche et Fils Instant Le Cran Ludes Premier Cru 2004 95 points | $79.95 Just over half Chardonnay, from a premier cru-rated vineyard called Le Cran, aged in 205L barrels, with partial malolactic fermentation. Un-fined, unfiltered, zero dosage; this is truly extra brut. Really explosive, intense, with plenty of yeasty-toasty brioche, saltwater taffy, butter croissant.

Long, mushroom-flavoured finish— an outstanding wine.

Andre Clouet 1911 96 points | $89.95 1911 bottles of this cuvée bear a label from the year 1911 made by Clouet’s great grandfather, who was a printer for the French royal family. This is slightly more idiosyncratic than the other Clouet Champagnes—a Champagne lover’s Champagne. The length, depth and flavour intensity are quite extraordinary: pure mineral essence.

A bargain prestige cuvée.

Guy Charlemagne 2002 Mesnillesime 96 points | $110 Charlemagne’s flagship wine, from the clos next door to Salon, made from 100 percent grand cru chardonnay.

Open, forward and exotic white and dark chocolate, humid cigar leaf, fresh sweet herb. The palate is likewise explosive and intensely flavoured, with an extra-long finish. Highly yeasty, fresh baked croissant.

Extraordinary.

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Spring 2011

31

the ej

By Konrad Ejbich

An Organized Crime?

Wine fraud a first for Ontario’s liquor monopoly

280 bottles were confirmed to be counterfeit Once the fraud became public information, additional bottles unwittingly purchased by consumers began to surface. LCBO media liaison officer, Chris Layton, told CityBites the number of counterfeit bottles could reach 1,000.

New liquor board policy requires that two store employees scrutinize any unopened returned bottles before accepting them.

The case now has become a criminal investigation by the York Regional Police, as most of the returns were carried out in that area of the province.

Police are reviewing security video from stores and conducting interviews. They have no suspects at this time.

Steven Campbell, who purchased Schiarelli Agencies last September, told me he was very upset by the recent events.

32

CityBites

Is this the real Amarone?

“Negrar is a quality producer,” he said. “It’s the first winery to use the name Amarone on its bottles back in 1939.”

He added that Negrar’s Amarone has been available in Ontario for more than 40 years averaging 1,500 to 2,000 case sales per year. Campbell said he was worried this incident would hurt the brand’s image.

Last week, Schiarelli Agencies sent me a bottle of the 2007 vintage, which was in the process of entering distribution channels when the scandal exploded.

I can confirm the bottle of 2007 I tasted seemed as genu-wine as all the great Amarones written up in my dusty notebooks.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this assessment. Here are my not-yetdusty notes on the new vintage...

Cantina Negrar, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2007 (15% alc.)

Dark, deep, plummy garnet hue; powerful, expansive nose of bitter cherries, plum butter, soy, bitter chocolate, figs, and well-aged Christmas cake; the taste is tough, sharp and alcoholic at first, then bitter and slowly the fruit begins to emerge. After almost a week—open!—it is radiating with fruit. If you drink this now, have it with richly spiced stews, pepper steak, leg of lamb or barbecued joint of elephant. This is a cooler weather wine—forget about summer sipping unless you’ve turned the A/C on high. Better still, cellar at least 5 years. Drink 2015 to 2025. $34.95 CB Konrad ejbich is a member of the Wine Writer’s Circle of Canada. He writes for Style at Home magazine and answers caller questions on CBC Radio’s Ontario Today. He’s currently updating his Pocket Guide to Ontario Wines, Wineries, Vineyards & Vines.

Follow twitter.com/WineZone

photo: Konrad Ejbich

I always thought “organized crime” referred to the provincial government, or at least, to the liquor monopoly it created.

Meanwhile, they think we are the organized criminals every time we carry bottles of booze across provincial borders, evading their precious tax dollars.

Turns out, there’s a new contender for the moniker.

Sometime in mid-February, an astute LCBO product consultant who was placing some customerreturned bottles of Cantina Negrar 2006 Amarone back onto the shelf for resale, noticed their packaging didn’t jive exactly with the bottles already there.

He notified Quality Assurance and sent the bottles downtown to the liquor board’s Quality Assurance department—the most sophisticated liquor lab in the world—for inspection.

At QA, someone noticed that all the bottles carried an identical serial number, a violation of Italian DOC wine laws. The glass bottles were smaller and the packaging revealed differ-ences from an authentic bottle. Chemical analysis showed the wine was not consistent with Amarone, the classic Italian twicefermented specialty. The fake had an alcohol level of only 12 percent, whereas genuine Amarone normally hovers around 15 per cent and higher. Furthermore, an internal tasting panel deemed the contents to be wine, but substandard, and likely produced locally.

QA immediately contacted Resource Protection—an internal security department—for further investigation. Examining the board’s return records, a pattern began to emerge.

Stores were notified to remove all bottles from shelves and return them to head office for inspection. Two-hundred and eighty bottles were confirmed to be counterfeit.

On February 25, LCBO called Schiarelli Agencies, which represents Cantina Negrar wines in Canada, to inform them of the fraud. At the same time, mainstream media outlets were being notified.

libations

By Stephen Beaumont

When Whisky Meets Wine

(&5 -6$,: 58*$&

barrels of fun Once upon a time, Scottish whisky was aged in barrels that had previously contained sherry.

The reason for this was simple: Britons were consuming a large amount of Spanish sherry, which was shipped in the barrel from Spain and bottled in the U.K. The sherry wood benefited the whiskies greatly, contributing richness and fruitiness to the spirit, and the practice became the industry norm, at least until British sherry consumption began to drop precipitously. Luckily there was another barrel source waiting in the wings.

By law, bourbon must be aged in new, charred white oak barrels, meaning that every one of the thousands of barrels used by the American whiskey industry annually may only be used once. This switch from sherry to Bowmore 16 Year Old Wine Cask Matured ($119.95). bourbon wood started around the 1960s, with Glenmorangie being an early and still enthusiastic proponent. The light and creamy style of single malt, which the distillery has become known for, partners well with the heavily vanilla-accented American oak, and even today the 10 Year Old remains exclusively bourbon barrel-aged.

Fitting it is that the Highland distillery led that original wood revolution, since it was some 30 years later that Glenmorangie again cast its influence on the single malt playing field, this time by introducing a range of â&#x20AC;&#x153;wood finishesâ&#x20AC;? featuring barrels that had previously held port, Madeira and sherry. These whiskies would be aged for 10 years in the American oak before being transferred to barrels that had previously contained the noted fortified wine for their final two years.

The practice took off, as anyone familiar with the malt whisky market will know, and Glenmorangie now features multiple wood finished whiskies, including Quinta Ruban (port wood), Nectar dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Or (sauterne wood) and Sonnalta PX (Pedro Ximinez sherry).

As noted, however, the wine wood finishing of single malts hardly ended at Glenmorangie, and today the LCBO abounds with such whiskies, including some unexpected gems. One such find is Springbank Claret Wood Finish ($99.95), a 12-year old that spent the final quarter of its maturation in Bordeaux barrels.

Even at 54.4% alcohol, this unusual expression of the Campbeltown classic shows dryly spicy fruit in the nose and flavour, which, when watered a bit, explodes with peppery vanilla, dried cabernet lees and wood smoke. Throughout, the fruit and vanilla and tannins of the wood integrate seamlessly into the moderately smoky, spicy character of the Springbank.

More unusual still is the 1992 Bowmore 16 Year Old Wine Cask Matured ($119.95). While hardly one of the peatiest Islay whiskies, Bowmore is no slouch in the smoke department and mixing it with French wine oak from Bordeaux seems a recipe for disaster.

And sure enough, at its full, 53.5% alcohol bottle strength, the wine and whisky and peat flavours seem to want to fight to the death. Add water, however, and everyone wants to play nice, with the peatiness becoming a cherrywood fire, the deep fruitiness of the whisky blending with the grape of the wine and an altogether extraordinary sensory experience emerging.

King of the cask finishes is Bowmoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Islay neighbour, Bruichladdich (say â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brook-laddieâ&#x20AC;?), with small quantities of no fewer than nine such whiskies currently in the LCBO system. I tried the 16-year old Chateau Lafleur ($99.95) Paulliac finish and was delighted with its tannin-rich, dryly fruity and herbaceous character, buoyed Stephen Beaumont by vanilla and peat smoke dancing in the backlikes and respects the ground. Like the Springbank and Bowmore, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Springbank distillery ideally suited as a dessert dram, but also more but thinks Campbeltown enjoyable almost anytime, and a testament to must be one of the the intermingling of whisky and wine. CB most boring cities in

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Spring 2011

33

One last bite

By Signe Langford

The Grape Protector A feathered friend indeed

more starlings than grapes—well, it might feel like that to Louise Engel, co-owner and falconer of Featherstone Estate Winery—Amadeus is one busy bird. He took 57 last season.

A mere drop in the bucket when we’re talking about the European starling, a highly adaptable, hardy and numerous species with a taste for fruit in the fall. But it’s not about the count. Just the sight of a bird of prey is enough to keep everything from berry-snatching songbirds to bunnies at a healthy distance. And Amadeus, an eight-year-old Harris hawk, is just one element of the natural and holistic approach to viticulture practised by winemaker and coowner David Johnson—he also introduces lambs into the vineyard to take care of leaf-thinning, fertilizing as they go.

The lambs are seasonal workers and, come September, can be found on the menus of local restaurants—and on the table at the local Slow Food harvest dinner. And Amadeus?

If all goes well, he’ll be around for another 15 years.

34

CityBites

photo: my yen trung

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