Delaforce – A Force To Be Reckoned With

Last Christmas, I received a Delaforce 1994 vintage port as a gift. I have yet to open it, and hopefully I can control myself from opening it for some time. In 2002 Roy Hersh reviewed the ‘94 vintage and said it may just be the best Delaforce since the 1963 vintage.

Somehow the LCBO got their hands on a limited number of the 1963 vintage and released them for sale in late October as part of the vintages release. The bottles were priced at $215 and less than a month later, there are no longer any available.

The food and wine expo had LCBO vintages available to sample. The ’63 Delaforce was 14 tickets (aka $14) for a sample. I wasn’t going to spend that much on one small sample. As luck would have it, my fiancée found 33 tickets on the ground. She surprised me by telling me that she wanted to get it for me after I had been eying it.

Back in 1989, James Suckling of the Wine Spectator rated the ’63 Delaforce a 93, saying it was the best Delaforce in three decades and that it will continue to improve. After tasting this, I tasted my idea of perfection. It blew me away with subtle scents of caramel and sweetness. There was a very nice balance between caramel, sweet and alcohol. It was smooth and mature. JC100

The Gourmet Food & Wine Expo – Cali Cabs and a Couple of New Countries

Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $34.95. Beringer makes a lot of different Cab Sauv’s at different price points. This is the ‘fourth level’ (from the bottom) on their offer. There were strong scents of floral mixed with wood; plum and cherry notes on the palate. While drinking this, I could sense that it was well made, however it didn’t taste as good as I had hoped given the price level. JC86

Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $18.95 at the LCBO and US$14.00 on the Liberty School website. This wine had a nice oaky scent. It was a fruitful wine with a smooth finish. Enjoyable! JC92

Gnarly Head Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $14.95. This Californian cab has a tomato sauce smell. There are strong tannins and it is not a smooth tasting wine. JC85

The same winemaker also makes a Zinfandel that is sold at the LCBO for $16.95. Unfortunately by the time I got to this booth, the zin was sold out.

The following two wines are from a relatively small Argentinean winery. Neither of these wines are available at the LCBO and the price quoted for the Melbec is the price the distributor told me. Ontario residents are able to purchase this through the distributor in half cases at minimum.

Vina Amalia Gran Reserve Malbec 2006 $28.95. There were notes of coffee and plenty of fruit taste, however it was a dry wine. JC89

Vina Amalia Gran Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2007. Tastes of black cherry and a nice smooth finish. An enjoyable Cab. JC90

At the expo there was a large display of wines from Georgia. I’m pretty sure I never had a wine from this country before, so I thought I’d give it a try. The wines tend to use grapes local to the country that were new to me. I tried the Besini Mukuzani 2006, which used the Saperavi grape. It had nice oak and floral scents with a rich smooth taste that reminded me of a nice cab sauv. Overall I was impressed. JC89

Another country that I had not previously tried a wine from was Austria. I had heard positive things about the gruner veltiner grape. There are some very highly rated expensive Austrian gruner wines. I tried an entry level wine: Grooner Gruner Veltiner $13.30. From the subtle floral notes, it reminded me of a sauvignon blanc. It was a nice white, although I didn’t love it. I’m curious to try a more pricy gruner to see how it compares. JC86

Ideally, when you taste wine I think it’s good to go into it with no expectations. However this can be difficult if you know details of the wine beforehand, such as where it’s from, the type of grape(s) used, the vintage and the price point of the wine. Because of this, sometimes I will try a wine that I have high expectations for, such as the Beringer Knights Valley, and be disappointed that it didn’t meet them in the end. Other times I will try a wine like the Besini Mukuzani from Georgia and be pleasantly surprised as my somewhat low expectations were blown out of the water.

Other times I will go in with high expectations and will still be blown away. That’s what happened with the final sample from the Expo that I want to share on my blog. Stay Tuned!

The Gourmet Food & Wine Expo - Continued

Victoire Brut Prestige Campagne $39.95. This French sparkler had pleasant apple notes and maintained a nice balance of not being too sweet or too dry. JC90

Santa Margherita Prosecco $17.95. This Italian sparkling wine is in the Vintages Essentials at the LCBO. It has tasting notes of peach and is somewhat sweet. It smells sweeter than it tastes. I would personally look for a dryer sparkling wine, but it was decent. JC85

Paumanok Assemblage 2007. This is the first wine I can recall having from New York State. It is not sold at the LCBO. The Assemblage is a blend of three grapes: 69% Merlot, 22% Petit Verdot and 9% Cab Franc. It has scents of plum and oak. It tastes full of fruit and with a nice smooth finish. JC93

Ravens Wood Zinfendel 2009 $17.95. I believe this is a Vintages Essentials at the LCBO. I’m not too familiar with Zinfendel as it tends to come mainly just from California. I’m not aware of an Ontario winery producing it. There was a jammy scent, a smooth taste and it was a little sweet. JC87

More to come...

The Gourmet Food & Wine Expo (Toronto, ON)

This weekend I went to the expo for the first time and quickly realized that it is the best event held in Toronto. There was a massive floor of exhibitors with a ton of wines, lots of food and also a good selection of beer and spirits. On the Friday I volunteered at the event and got to scope out all the vendors and figure out what I wanted to hit up the next day.

Entrance tickets were $20 at the door, or $15 beforehand online using a promo code. I had first obtained my tickets online, but then found out about a special alumni deal through my undergrad university. It was $30 for a ticket that included entrance to the event and a Tutored Tasting – Vitners’ Barrel Tasting by four top winemakers in the Niagara Region, a $70 value.

On Saturday, I got to the event with my fiancée at noon, when it opened, and went to a few places that I had been wanting to try out from the day before. One of note was Jack Daniel’s Honey. This product had a smoother, easier drinking taste than the original JD. I enjoyed the sample, although I’d be interested to see how it tasted with coke or if I get sick of it after a couple of drinks.

At 1pm we attended the Vitners’ Barrel Tasting. The first winemaker was Paul Pender of Tawse Winery. We got to sample both the 2007 and 2010 Cabernet Franc.

2010: Intense floral scent, not a strong tasting wine but smooth. JC88

2007: Deeper scents, minty, fruitier taste, not as smooth but still very nice. JC86

The second winemaker was Derek Barnett from Lailey Vineyard. Similar to Paul, he also picked Cabernet Franc to showcase. However Derek decided to bring 2010 and 2002.

2010: Subtle floral smell, very smooth, not a lot of flavour yet. JC89

2002: Strong smell, ashy, very smooth, a bit of a vegetable taste, a lot of sediment in the glass. JC86

The third winemaker was Emma Gardner from Thirty Bench. Emma picked the 2010 and 2007 Red. The Thirty Bench Red uses the same three grapes as the Trius Red and other traditional French-based meritage wines: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

2010: This wine had a composition of 62% Merlot, 19% Cab Franc and 19% Cab Sauv. It had a smoky scent; it was a nice tasting wine with notes of cherry and a little bit of green vegetable. JC88

2007: The wine had a composition of 65% Cab Sauv, 18% Merlot and 17% Cab Franc. It had a leather smell, with blueberry tasting notes. Again, it was a nice smooth wine with a long finish. JC88

The fourth winemaker was Ann Sperling of Southbrook. Ann selected the 2010 and 2007 Whimsy Cabernet Sauvignon.

2010: Strong floral scent with a nice fruitful flavour. It was very tasty. JC90

2007: There was a not unpleasant whisky smell; the wine was very smooth with red cherry notes. JC91

It was a really nice tasting event. All the winemakers seemed really down to earth and were great answering all the questions people had.

Other than the 2007 Southbrook Cab Sauv, which retails for $33.95, none of the other wines from this tasting are currently available at the LCBO. The tasting finished at about 2:30. Now it was time to go back to the exhibitors at the expo and sample some more products!

A lot more material coming as I get a chance to write it...

Summerhill Sampling

I went to my favourite LCBO (Summerhill) today to buy some different beers to enjoy tonight at a friends' potluck, but had a stop by the sampling area for a couple of tastes.

Simi Landslide Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $44.95. This wine smells delicious. It had somewhat spicy flavours and was slightly sweet. A good balance and well made. JC90

Warres Warrior Reserve Port $15.15. This port had a very sweet smell. It was easy drinking, and smoother than other ports I’ve had in this price range. It was also a lighter tasting port than what I was used to. JC86

Monte Antico

Monte Antico 2007 $15.95. A wine from Tuscany, this is part of the Vintages Essentials at the LCBO. This wine is made up of 85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot, therefore a Chianti style of wine, however not labelled as such. This wine had ripe cherry and plum scents, with a nice smooth full fruit taste of raspberries and cherries. I enjoyed it with pork tenderloin as well as roast chicken the next night. JC88