AFTER TASTE Tony Aspler

“THOSE WHO CAN, DO; THOSE WHO CAN’T, TEACH.”

That quote, from Bernard Shaw’s 1905 play Man and Superman, might well apply to me and a lot of my fellow wine scribes. I confess it certainly describes me. The quote could well read, “Those who can, make wine; those who can’t, become wine critics.”

I have tried to make wine on a few occasions.

First, there was the home winemaking kit which I put to use in the kitchen and, ultimately, the bathroom, where the off ending liquid ended up down the drain. Then I tried to make wine with a friend of mine and a near neighbour in London, England. His name was Lionel Frumkin. His father owned a wine shop which I could see from my window in CBC’s London offi ce.

Lionel had studied oenology at Bordeaux University and in 1974 he published a book entitled, The Science and Technique of Wine, which became a recommended technical textbook for Masters of Wine students. The book is still available on Amazon. Lionel Frumkin also has the dubious distinction of being the guy who introduced Bag-in-Box wine to the UK market.

The wine Lionel and I made together from a kit turned out to be passable. This was before wines were judged by numbers. In retrospect, I probably would have given it a charitable 86.

In 1982, when I started writing the wine column in the Toronto Star, I made Australian Shiraz from a Wine Art kit.

Flushed with pride (and chutzpah), I took it down to Inniskillin in Niagara to have it critiqued by the co-owners, Donald Ziraldo and the late Karl Kaiser. I still have their notes – rather like a school report. Karl’s was “Clean, slightly burnt aftertaste. Good colour.” He probably could have written “Should try harder.” Donald Ziraldo’s written comment was more encouraging: “I’m impressed. For an amateur, it’s quite good. I’m surprised.”

On the strength of my fi rst foray into winemaking on Canadian soil, they invited me to come down to the winery during harvest and make a wine with a mutual friend - restaurateur Franco Prevedello. Under Karl Kaiser’s supervision, Franco and I picked the grapes, crushed them and left the must with Karl to fi nish and bottle. He and Donald created a special label for our eff orts: Cantina Franco-Antonio Vidal 1982.

According to the label, it’s Medium Dry but I must confess I can’t recall what it tasted like. The label also reads: “A selected vintage of Vidal grapes, hand-harvested and crushed by Tony Aspler and Franco Prevedello to commemorate and inspire the writing of Vintage Canada.’’

I held a competition for Toronto Star readers and 48 winners each received a bottle. I still have a single bottle in my cellar – Limited Edition No. 119. At 40 years old and well past its ‘Best Before’ date, if it ever had one. The shrinking cork has begun to disappear down the neck of the bottle and I really should bring it back to Inniskillin and ask them kindly to dip it in wax to prevent further deterioration.

Since those heady days, I have left the winemaking to the professionals. I have enormous respect and admiration for winemakers and prefer to sample and critique the fruits of their labours than have my back ache from bending over vines and my hands stained purple from racking barrels and moving hoses.

I do not, however, think of myself as a wine critic, even though I have been writing about wine since 1965. I prefer the term “wine evangelist,” as I feel it’s my job to turn people onto wine – the most complex and fascinating of beverages – rather than turn them off it.

Tony Aspler, Order of Canada recipient, has been writing about wine since 1975. He is the author of 18 wine books, including The Wine Atlas of Canada and three wine murder mystery novels. The best concert he ever attended was Rush with the Tragically Hip as the opening band. His favourite comfort food is milk chocolate and his cocktail of choice is a Kir Royale. At home, he drinks wine (lots of wine).

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