It has been a while since the economic meltdown happened in the United States (and other less fiscally responsible countries). I think it has been proven that our banking and lending systems in Canada are sound, and having real criteria to be met for credit is a good method. We are not doing that badly as we come out of the fear-laden days behind us. Jobs are more stable now, interest rates are low, but looking to rise gradually. The real Estate Market is still as strong as ever, but penny pinching has become a habit again as a nation.
I am not advocating anyone living beyond their means, and have always believed in having a safety net of money put aside to cover expenses for the traditional 3 months. What I don't understand is the paradox of paying a lot of money for some goods or services, and nickle and diming others.
I will use fine dining as an example - In a fine dining restaurant you get top quality food, properly prepared by a qualified chef, served to you by a trained and professional server. None of these people were born doing this job. It is not menial work, it is a profession, with skills and experience gained through years of hard work. In many cases, you will not be paying much more to eat at these restaurants than you would at a chain, formula type restaurant using pre-prepared or frozed food, served to you by your local student population earning spending money.
If you value having dining options including fine dining available to you, think about whether it is worh the extra $5 - $10 total to have this experience. Make use of fine dining choices in your area, and repect what has gone into making them the refined and elegant option they are. Make reservations, and honour them - don't just not show up. Be on time. Treat your server like the professional they are - finger snapping, saying "I'll make it easy on you", acting surprised when your professional server tells you about the features saying "how do you remember that dear" - all NOT GOOD.
A word on tipping - servers did not make the custom of tipping, but because of it they do not get paid even minimum wage. There is a special minimum wage for servers that is substanially lower than everyone else. There are no raises available, no cost of living increases, no pay increments for seniority. The only way to increase their income is through tips. Provide better service, get a better tip. Even then, not all of that tip goes to the server. A cut goes to the Maitre'd, another cut to the busboy, another cut to the kitchen. In many cases these cuts are based on sales, not on tips, and can be as high as 5 - 10% of sales. That makes your average 15% tip dwindle to 5 - 10%. If the customer only tips 10%, guess what! The server gets 0 - 5%.
If you got great service from a professional server, tip them accordingly. 15 - 20%
Break the sterotype of Canadians personified in the old joke, "What is the difference between a Canadian and a canoe - a canoe will tip!"
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sorry it's been so long!
I know it's been a while since my last post, but there have been some goings on at Vitis Vitae. I needed a new, larger vehicle to transport my Tasting glasses and supplies to conduct wine events, and I don't like minivans or SUV's. I searched all available choices and found the perfect vehicle. A 1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD - large 4 door sedan, room in the trunk for a multitude of boxes of glasses, and diesel operated. Absolutely perfect! The car was listed at a corner car lot as "mint" - probably peppermint, because it needed a lot of work, but I knew that, since fast talking car dealers aren't known for truth.
It has been a labour of love restoring Dieter - yes, he has a name - Dieter the Diesel! He needed new front discs for his brakes, valve cover gasket, rear stabilizer link, compression test, vacuum test, valve adjustment (twice!), new timing chain, fuel injection pump adjustment, complete re-timing, power seat switch, new front bumper chrome, door stop, front caliper replaced (seizing!), transmission adjustments, new tach modulator, new tires, some rust fixed - mainly around the sunroof, and side trim, stone chips touched up on the rest of the car. I'm into the car for about $10,000 in repairs and restoration, but this car has lasted 26 years with hardly anything being done, so with all these repairs, he should last another 26 years. The nice thing about Mercedes is when you fix them, they stay fixed! He's only got 321,000 km on him, so he's good for about another 680,000 km. He has qualified for his first level High Mileage Award from Mercedes, the next level is at 500,000 km.
If you see a beautiful silver classic (legally antique!) 300SD cruising around Guelph, It's Dieter.
It has been a labour of love restoring Dieter - yes, he has a name - Dieter the Diesel! He needed new front discs for his brakes, valve cover gasket, rear stabilizer link, compression test, vacuum test, valve adjustment (twice!), new timing chain, fuel injection pump adjustment, complete re-timing, power seat switch, new front bumper chrome, door stop, front caliper replaced (seizing!), transmission adjustments, new tach modulator, new tires, some rust fixed - mainly around the sunroof, and side trim, stone chips touched up on the rest of the car. I'm into the car for about $10,000 in repairs and restoration, but this car has lasted 26 years with hardly anything being done, so with all these repairs, he should last another 26 years. The nice thing about Mercedes is when you fix them, they stay fixed! He's only got 321,000 km on him, so he's good for about another 680,000 km. He has qualified for his first level High Mileage Award from Mercedes, the next level is at 500,000 km.
If you see a beautiful silver classic (legally antique!) 300SD cruising around Guelph, It's Dieter.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Friendly, fun, and CHEAP!
Jacqueline Brisley CSW owner of Vitis Vitae, website www.vitisvitae.com
These are words I love to hear used in relation to a wine. Not all wine needs to be super-serious, and I call these fun wines "Tuesday night wines". When you open a bottle on a weeknight, just to have a tasty drink with dinner, your expectations from that bottle are less stringent than from a bottle opened to go with a meal you spent hours preparing.
I have a list of cheap and cheerful wines I always have on hand, just for opening when I feel like it, or to serve to impromptu guests.
My new number 1 on the list is Fuzion - a shiraz/malbec blend from Argentina for $7.45 a bottle. I don't have exceedingly high or unreasonable expectations at this price level, but I do expect it to be drinkable, enjoyable, and please the majority of palates. Fuzion does just that. It is fairly fruity on the nose, with a hint of oaky vanilla, it has pleasing acidity, enough tannin left to make it obvious you are drinking red wine, and a bit of length. It is definitely styled as a new world wine, and as such doesn't have much in the way of any earthiness or non-fruit characteristics. It comes in a handy screw top, to make it even more convenient to open for those in my house not versed in the safe and proper opening of a wine with a corkscrew. What it boils down to is - this is tasty, non pretentious wine, delivering excellent value for the price tag. I am ecstatic to find a wine under $10 with good drinking potential, at under $8, fill up the cart!
My previous #1 was Cono Sur Pinot Noir, from Chile now at $10.90. About a year ago it was $10.10, so I'm miffed about the almost 10% increase in price. I notice these things, but I still buy it. It's the cheapest Pinot Noir in the LCBO, and not bad either. It has the basic characteristics of bright red fruit - cherries? on the nose, good acidity, low tannins, all of which make an easy quaffing wine. Sometimes too easy - the second bottle seems to open and pour itself as you chat, which can be a bit dangerous. Again with the handy dandy screwcap!
I still like Montepulciano d'Abruzzo as a cheap and cheerful wine. Again at $7.45, but not long ago it was $6.95 - sneaky Mr. LCBO at it again! Inflation is 2%, so the correct increase should have been $.14, not $.50 . My go-to is Citra for this Italian red, partly out of habit, partly because it also comes in 1.5l bottles, eliminating entirely the pesky opening of a second bottle. I use this wine to make Sangria in the summer for my Sangria Sundays, since a vat of Sangria is a great crowd pleaser, and can be diluted with soda to match the time of day (at noon, you dilute it, at 5:00, it gets drank straight from the pitcher). My Sangria Recipe - quantities are vague as I just pour and mix until it tastes right!
1.5l red wine
about 1/2 bottle triple sec
about 1/2 bottle brandy (preferably Spanish)
about 4 cups clear fruit juice (apple, cranberry, cranapple etc.)
thinly sliced oranges, lemons, limes
mix and taste - should be sweet enough, but if not, add some superfine sugar - also called fruit sugar (don't confuse this with icing sugar!). Regular granulated sugar works, but needs more stirring to dissolve it.
Serve over lots of ice, and top with soda if desired.
I'm missing my Sangria Sundays right now, since I'm convinced winter will never end. Today it's raining, but the forcast is for the temperature to plummit this afternoon, and back to the freezer with all of us.
I'll continue with great value wines later, please share any of your favourites!
These are words I love to hear used in relation to a wine. Not all wine needs to be super-serious, and I call these fun wines "Tuesday night wines". When you open a bottle on a weeknight, just to have a tasty drink with dinner, your expectations from that bottle are less stringent than from a bottle opened to go with a meal you spent hours preparing.
I have a list of cheap and cheerful wines I always have on hand, just for opening when I feel like it, or to serve to impromptu guests.
My new number 1 on the list is Fuzion - a shiraz/malbec blend from Argentina for $7.45 a bottle. I don't have exceedingly high or unreasonable expectations at this price level, but I do expect it to be drinkable, enjoyable, and please the majority of palates. Fuzion does just that. It is fairly fruity on the nose, with a hint of oaky vanilla, it has pleasing acidity, enough tannin left to make it obvious you are drinking red wine, and a bit of length. It is definitely styled as a new world wine, and as such doesn't have much in the way of any earthiness or non-fruit characteristics. It comes in a handy screw top, to make it even more convenient to open for those in my house not versed in the safe and proper opening of a wine with a corkscrew. What it boils down to is - this is tasty, non pretentious wine, delivering excellent value for the price tag. I am ecstatic to find a wine under $10 with good drinking potential, at under $8, fill up the cart!
My previous #1 was Cono Sur Pinot Noir, from Chile now at $10.90. About a year ago it was $10.10, so I'm miffed about the almost 10% increase in price. I notice these things, but I still buy it. It's the cheapest Pinot Noir in the LCBO, and not bad either. It has the basic characteristics of bright red fruit - cherries? on the nose, good acidity, low tannins, all of which make an easy quaffing wine. Sometimes too easy - the second bottle seems to open and pour itself as you chat, which can be a bit dangerous. Again with the handy dandy screwcap!
I still like Montepulciano d'Abruzzo as a cheap and cheerful wine. Again at $7.45, but not long ago it was $6.95 - sneaky Mr. LCBO at it again! Inflation is 2%, so the correct increase should have been $.14, not $.50 . My go-to is Citra for this Italian red, partly out of habit, partly because it also comes in 1.5l bottles, eliminating entirely the pesky opening of a second bottle. I use this wine to make Sangria in the summer for my Sangria Sundays, since a vat of Sangria is a great crowd pleaser, and can be diluted with soda to match the time of day (at noon, you dilute it, at 5:00, it gets drank straight from the pitcher). My Sangria Recipe - quantities are vague as I just pour and mix until it tastes right!
1.5l red wine
about 1/2 bottle triple sec
about 1/2 bottle brandy (preferably Spanish)
about 4 cups clear fruit juice (apple, cranberry, cranapple etc.)
thinly sliced oranges, lemons, limes
mix and taste - should be sweet enough, but if not, add some superfine sugar - also called fruit sugar (don't confuse this with icing sugar!). Regular granulated sugar works, but needs more stirring to dissolve it.
Serve over lots of ice, and top with soda if desired.
I'm missing my Sangria Sundays right now, since I'm convinced winter will never end. Today it's raining, but the forcast is for the temperature to plummit this afternoon, and back to the freezer with all of us.
I'll continue with great value wines later, please share any of your favourites!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
How important is glassware anyway?
I get asked all the time about glassware, and the effect it has on wine. I have attended a Riedel Tasting, where wines are tasted out of the "wrong" glass and then out of the "right" glass, and yes, there is a perceptible difference in the nose and taste perception of the wine. But, who of us can afford multiple shapes of glasses for the myriad of grape varieties out there?
I propose that most people can afford three types of wine glasses. Proper champagne flutes are a must, as any other shape destroys the "mousse" or bubbles in the wine, and basically, it's the bubbles you paid for.
The next essential glass is a tulip shaped multi-purpose glass. It should have a generous capacity to allow swirling of the wine, it should have no beaded rim, and the glass should be as thin as possible. The rim does interfere with the tactile perception of the wine. If you don't believe me, try tasting wine from a clunky water glass, then from a rimless glass and see the difference. The top of the glass needs to be narrower, to trap the aroma molecules and allow us to more easily smell them. This shape of glass will work with almost all white wines, and most reds will taste just fine from it. Fancy names for this shape of glass are "Bordeaux", or "Cabernet" glasses. Since wines from the Bordeaux region are mostly blends, you can see why this works as a multi-purpose glass.
The next most important glass is a bowl shaped glass, sometimes called a "burgundy" or Pinot Noir" glass. The same guidelines for size and rim apply. This glass is best for - obviously - Pinot Noir, but it also works well for Barolo, Chateauneuf du Pape, and single varietals included in that catchall name - eg. Grenache. It also works well for White Burgundy, which is - Chardonnay! It brings out the oakiness in wine produced using similar techniques to those used for the fine white wines of Burgundy, so if you want to emphasize the oak, choose this style of glass.
To get more technical, smaller tulip shaped glasses are important to enjoy Port and Sherry, and they also work well for Dessert Wines like Icewine, since a 2 ounce serving of these is all you want at a time. These glasses are available as ISO 9001 wine tasting glasses.
That's about all you need, and all I have. I would rather put my money into wine than glasses!
I propose that most people can afford three types of wine glasses. Proper champagne flutes are a must, as any other shape destroys the "mousse" or bubbles in the wine, and basically, it's the bubbles you paid for.
The next essential glass is a tulip shaped multi-purpose glass. It should have a generous capacity to allow swirling of the wine, it should have no beaded rim, and the glass should be as thin as possible. The rim does interfere with the tactile perception of the wine. If you don't believe me, try tasting wine from a clunky water glass, then from a rimless glass and see the difference. The top of the glass needs to be narrower, to trap the aroma molecules and allow us to more easily smell them. This shape of glass will work with almost all white wines, and most reds will taste just fine from it. Fancy names for this shape of glass are "Bordeaux", or "Cabernet" glasses. Since wines from the Bordeaux region are mostly blends, you can see why this works as a multi-purpose glass.
The next most important glass is a bowl shaped glass, sometimes called a "burgundy" or Pinot Noir" glass. The same guidelines for size and rim apply. This glass is best for - obviously - Pinot Noir, but it also works well for Barolo, Chateauneuf du Pape, and single varietals included in that catchall name - eg. Grenache. It also works well for White Burgundy, which is - Chardonnay! It brings out the oakiness in wine produced using similar techniques to those used for the fine white wines of Burgundy, so if you want to emphasize the oak, choose this style of glass.
To get more technical, smaller tulip shaped glasses are important to enjoy Port and Sherry, and they also work well for Dessert Wines like Icewine, since a 2 ounce serving of these is all you want at a time. These glasses are available as ISO 9001 wine tasting glasses.
That's about all you need, and all I have. I would rather put my money into wine than glasses!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Restaurants and the truth about wine service
Since my business Vitis Vitae (Vine Life) is an infant that I am trying to grow into a viable,dynamic wine based company offering Wine Tasting Events, Consulting, and Education Provider, I am still working full time as well as running the business. I work in the only true Fine Dining Restaurant in the Guelph area - The Aberfoyle Mill. I have never believed in cutting off your nose to spite your face, and I happen to love working in a great restaurant. The dynamics of giving great service are fascinating to someone like me - I love making that first contact with customers, and reading their needs to judge what style of service will best make their experience the best I can. Some people want active participation, conversation, hints and ideas, or just plain help deciding, wheras others want silent, seamless service with no chit-chat. Both are completely correct, it just depends on the customer.
The one thing that should have no variation or room for interpretation is proper wine service. The customer may request help in choosing the bottle, or ask for advice, but the service part is critical. The bottle must be presented to the person who ordered it from their right hand side where possible, label up, and verbally repeat the name of the wine and the vintage to ensure this is the wine the customer ordered. Upon acceptance, remove the foil capsule below the ridge to ensure that the wine when poured will not contact the foil. The cork is to be extracted using a double lever corkscrew, ensuring the cork doesn't break (sometimes happens no matter what!). The bottle should be opened in the air beside the table in restaurants that do not have a gueridon or wine service cart. The top of the bottle should be wiped with a clean white cloth, around the rim and just inside the opening. Pour a small 1 - 2 oz. sample into the glass of the person who ordered the wine for approval. All beverage service is done from the right of the guest to avoid crossing your arm in front of them. The host will taste the wine and approve or reject the bottle. Not liking the taste of a wine is very rarely a reason to return a bottle - the purpose of the taste is to ensure the wine is in good condition before pouring for the guests at the table. The order of pouring is to start with the guest of honour, or the most senior female at the table, and move in a clockwise fashion aroun the table, ending with the host. Wine glasses are not to be overfilled, and judgement is needed when pouring to ensure equal pours, especially if one bottle has been ordered for 6 guests - nothing worse than overpouring, and not having enough to fill the host's glass.
Some wines require decanting, special glassware etc. and these services should automatically be given when the wine requires them.
Hints for ordering the best wine from a wine list - for a large group, pick something that will go with a lot of food choices, not too expensive will do, as conversation will be more important that the quiet enjoyment of a great bottle of wine. Look a the mid-priced selections to find interesting, good value wines. A good selection in the $40 - $60 range means the restaurant really cares about wine, not just offering high priced prestige selections. If wines are offered by the glass as well as the bottle, try something different! If you like it, order the bottle, because if you need a bit more to get through dinner, but not a full bottle, a single glass or 1/2 litre will be available.
The profit on wine is substantial, but not exorbitant. The general mark up is 2 to 2 1/2 times, unlike liquor which is about 6 times cost. This has to cover the costs of holding inventory, glassware (which does break), training service staff, and allows for the possibility of a corked or out of condition bottle.
Beware of restaurants with what looks like a good wine list, only to find out they are out of stock of many selections, ones that substitute vintages, or don't list them in the printed wine list, and ones that charge full mark up but don't offer proper service or glassware. This is cheating!
Restaurants offer wine to compliment the food they serve, not to rip you off. They will survive on food sales alone, but choose to keep wines to enhance your experience. Make your selction carefully, and enjoy yourself! Life is too short to drink bad wine.
If you have had a poor wine experience in a restaurant, let me know, and perhaps I'll contact them to offer training and consulting to improve your dining experience. My company is Vitis Vitae, and my website is www.vitisvitae.com . I can help them, they just need to admit they need help! (Sounds like treatment for an addiction!)
The one thing that should have no variation or room for interpretation is proper wine service. The customer may request help in choosing the bottle, or ask for advice, but the service part is critical. The bottle must be presented to the person who ordered it from their right hand side where possible, label up, and verbally repeat the name of the wine and the vintage to ensure this is the wine the customer ordered. Upon acceptance, remove the foil capsule below the ridge to ensure that the wine when poured will not contact the foil. The cork is to be extracted using a double lever corkscrew, ensuring the cork doesn't break (sometimes happens no matter what!). The bottle should be opened in the air beside the table in restaurants that do not have a gueridon or wine service cart. The top of the bottle should be wiped with a clean white cloth, around the rim and just inside the opening. Pour a small 1 - 2 oz. sample into the glass of the person who ordered the wine for approval. All beverage service is done from the right of the guest to avoid crossing your arm in front of them. The host will taste the wine and approve or reject the bottle. Not liking the taste of a wine is very rarely a reason to return a bottle - the purpose of the taste is to ensure the wine is in good condition before pouring for the guests at the table. The order of pouring is to start with the guest of honour, or the most senior female at the table, and move in a clockwise fashion aroun the table, ending with the host. Wine glasses are not to be overfilled, and judgement is needed when pouring to ensure equal pours, especially if one bottle has been ordered for 6 guests - nothing worse than overpouring, and not having enough to fill the host's glass.
Some wines require decanting, special glassware etc. and these services should automatically be given when the wine requires them.
Hints for ordering the best wine from a wine list - for a large group, pick something that will go with a lot of food choices, not too expensive will do, as conversation will be more important that the quiet enjoyment of a great bottle of wine. Look a the mid-priced selections to find interesting, good value wines. A good selection in the $40 - $60 range means the restaurant really cares about wine, not just offering high priced prestige selections. If wines are offered by the glass as well as the bottle, try something different! If you like it, order the bottle, because if you need a bit more to get through dinner, but not a full bottle, a single glass or 1/2 litre will be available.
The profit on wine is substantial, but not exorbitant. The general mark up is 2 to 2 1/2 times, unlike liquor which is about 6 times cost. This has to cover the costs of holding inventory, glassware (which does break), training service staff, and allows for the possibility of a corked or out of condition bottle.
Beware of restaurants with what looks like a good wine list, only to find out they are out of stock of many selections, ones that substitute vintages, or don't list them in the printed wine list, and ones that charge full mark up but don't offer proper service or glassware. This is cheating!
Restaurants offer wine to compliment the food they serve, not to rip you off. They will survive on food sales alone, but choose to keep wines to enhance your experience. Make your selction carefully, and enjoy yourself! Life is too short to drink bad wine.
If you have had a poor wine experience in a restaurant, let me know, and perhaps I'll contact them to offer training and consulting to improve your dining experience. My company is Vitis Vitae, and my website is www.vitisvitae.com . I can help them, they just need to admit they need help! (Sounds like treatment for an addiction!)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Will Winter Never End?
I don't know about you, but I'm thoroughly sick of winter! Any nice sunny days of meltdown seem to be just to make room for more snow. The only positive I can come up with is spending time in front of the fireplace, with a hearty meal and a robust bottle of wine. That's exactly what we did yesterday, along with a few favourite movies.
The meal was broiled T-bone steaks, roasted potatoes, mushrooms, and peppers, and garlic green beans, the wine was a bottle of 2005 Kilikanoon "The Medley" - Barossa Valley and Clare Valley. This is a Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre blend from Australia. It seems funny that a hot country like Australia makes perfect wines to enjoy in the winter, but this blend of Rhone Valley varieties done with an Australian over the top take, is a perfect Winter Wine. It's a big, super-ripe wine displaying all the alcohol potential of a 50% Grenache blend - alcohol 15%!! The nose was full of jammy dark fruit, with a sweetness to the aroma telling the story of these grapes ripening to all their full potential under the hot Australian sun. The colour was dark and inky, opaque saturated dark purple, all the way to the rim. The tears seemed to hang as though gravity did't affect them at all. The wine was rich and mouthfilling, with soft ripe tannins, nothing astringent or mouthdrying here. Acidity was moderate to low, and the taste was a repeat of what was promised by the nose - tons of ripe dark fruit. There wasn't a huge amount of complexity, or new flavours or tastes on the finish, but it did last quite a long time. The similarities to a fortified wine were astounding, although the wine was dry, the ripeness of the fruit played tricks making you think of sweetness. I had some left after dinner, and finished it off with some blue cheese, normally a perfect Port companion, and it worked very nicely.
This is not a very food friendly style of wine, because it tends to dominate your tastebuds - screaming with ripeness, but it was great on a cold night in front of the fire. I don't buy a lot of wines of this style simply because they are hard to drink with a lot of meals, but we did enjoy it a lot yesterday. It's a good wine from a good producer, and that made it as balanced as it could be. I suppose national characteristics do show in wine styles, because this wine was as brash and unashamed of it's in-your-face profile as the stereotypical Australian personality.
What I want is the weather to change, and bring my mind back to enjoying my more usual favourites in the world of wine - a delicate, fruity Pinot Noir - elegant and subtle, the same light finesse displayed in a Cru Beaujolais, the austerity of a Rhone Valley Syrah (as opposed to Shiraz), the structure of Bordeaux. It just goes to show you that there is a wine for all seasons.
The meal was broiled T-bone steaks, roasted potatoes, mushrooms, and peppers, and garlic green beans, the wine was a bottle of 2005 Kilikanoon "The Medley" - Barossa Valley and Clare Valley. This is a Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre blend from Australia. It seems funny that a hot country like Australia makes perfect wines to enjoy in the winter, but this blend of Rhone Valley varieties done with an Australian over the top take, is a perfect Winter Wine. It's a big, super-ripe wine displaying all the alcohol potential of a 50% Grenache blend - alcohol 15%!! The nose was full of jammy dark fruit, with a sweetness to the aroma telling the story of these grapes ripening to all their full potential under the hot Australian sun. The colour was dark and inky, opaque saturated dark purple, all the way to the rim. The tears seemed to hang as though gravity did't affect them at all. The wine was rich and mouthfilling, with soft ripe tannins, nothing astringent or mouthdrying here. Acidity was moderate to low, and the taste was a repeat of what was promised by the nose - tons of ripe dark fruit. There wasn't a huge amount of complexity, or new flavours or tastes on the finish, but it did last quite a long time. The similarities to a fortified wine were astounding, although the wine was dry, the ripeness of the fruit played tricks making you think of sweetness. I had some left after dinner, and finished it off with some blue cheese, normally a perfect Port companion, and it worked very nicely.
This is not a very food friendly style of wine, because it tends to dominate your tastebuds - screaming with ripeness, but it was great on a cold night in front of the fire. I don't buy a lot of wines of this style simply because they are hard to drink with a lot of meals, but we did enjoy it a lot yesterday. It's a good wine from a good producer, and that made it as balanced as it could be. I suppose national characteristics do show in wine styles, because this wine was as brash and unashamed of it's in-your-face profile as the stereotypical Australian personality.
What I want is the weather to change, and bring my mind back to enjoying my more usual favourites in the world of wine - a delicate, fruity Pinot Noir - elegant and subtle, the same light finesse displayed in a Cru Beaujolais, the austerity of a Rhone Valley Syrah (as opposed to Shiraz), the structure of Bordeaux. It just goes to show you that there is a wine for all seasons.
Friday, February 20, 2009
So many ideas!
There are times when my head won't stop spinning with ideas as to how to provide wine related programs in the Guelph area. I have recently started offerring classes in conjunction with the Upper Grand District School Board Continuing Education. The first set of classes was An Introduction to Wine Appreciation - 3 weeks, 4 wines per week to find out how to taste wine and develop your personal taste profile. This class will be offerred again starting April 28th (Tuesday) for 3 weeks, 6:00 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. A new offerring is Wine 101 - Beyond the Basics, same nights but for 4 weeks, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. The last class will be a field trip to the LCBO to learn how to shop for wines. Registration can be done on my website http://www.vitisvitae.com/ , or through the School Board.
This is something I love to do - teach about wine! I have visions of further courses - Wine 201, an in depth concentration on one wine producing country per session, and Wine 301 - What makes a wine GREAT - tasting premium, prestige wines from around the world.
While I don't have a problem with the LCBO in general, I do have issues with courses and tasting sessions being run under the guise of education from a company whose mandate is to sell wine. Are products being presented objectively? Or is the goal to increase revenue and sales based on the latest releases? I have attended tasting sessions at the LCBO, and found them to be not very informative, and the setting was cold and sterile. The whole point of wine is that it is completely democratic, with everyone's opinion counting. Just because I like a particular wine, will you like it? Maybe, but not liking a wine is fine, since we all have different tastes. We don't all like the same foods, so why would it be the same with wine?
Time for a small rant about the LCBO. Don't think I haven't noticed the small price increases on some of my favourite budget bottles - I saw you sneak the prices up! In this economy, it takes nerve to do that! It's not like we have a choice as to where we purchase wine, so manipulating the prices by a small amount may not change my mind about a purchase, it does annoy me.
I spend a lot of money at the LCBO - it's part of my job and responsibity as a Sommelier and Wine Educator to taste as much as possible. I do get annoyed at empty shelves, product not shipped, discontinuations etc., but what really annoys me is the method of Vintages Releases. Not all stores receive all the listings in the Release Magazine, and pre-ordering sometimes doesn't work, as the central warehouse ships product as they wish. I had an experience with a particular Cotes du Rhone wine I wanted - I ordered a case before the deadline, but it wasn't shipped, so I checked inventory, and found multiple cases in stores in Toronto, but almost none outside the GTA. I had to e-mail the LCBO, and remind them they were the Liquor Control Board of ONTARIO, not just Toronto, and lo and behold, my wine arrived! If anyone else has had similar experiences, I would love to hear them.
This is something I love to do - teach about wine! I have visions of further courses - Wine 201, an in depth concentration on one wine producing country per session, and Wine 301 - What makes a wine GREAT - tasting premium, prestige wines from around the world.
While I don't have a problem with the LCBO in general, I do have issues with courses and tasting sessions being run under the guise of education from a company whose mandate is to sell wine. Are products being presented objectively? Or is the goal to increase revenue and sales based on the latest releases? I have attended tasting sessions at the LCBO, and found them to be not very informative, and the setting was cold and sterile. The whole point of wine is that it is completely democratic, with everyone's opinion counting. Just because I like a particular wine, will you like it? Maybe, but not liking a wine is fine, since we all have different tastes. We don't all like the same foods, so why would it be the same with wine?
Time for a small rant about the LCBO. Don't think I haven't noticed the small price increases on some of my favourite budget bottles - I saw you sneak the prices up! In this economy, it takes nerve to do that! It's not like we have a choice as to where we purchase wine, so manipulating the prices by a small amount may not change my mind about a purchase, it does annoy me.
I spend a lot of money at the LCBO - it's part of my job and responsibity as a Sommelier and Wine Educator to taste as much as possible. I do get annoyed at empty shelves, product not shipped, discontinuations etc., but what really annoys me is the method of Vintages Releases. Not all stores receive all the listings in the Release Magazine, and pre-ordering sometimes doesn't work, as the central warehouse ships product as they wish. I had an experience with a particular Cotes du Rhone wine I wanted - I ordered a case before the deadline, but it wasn't shipped, so I checked inventory, and found multiple cases in stores in Toronto, but almost none outside the GTA. I had to e-mail the LCBO, and remind them they were the Liquor Control Board of ONTARIO, not just Toronto, and lo and behold, my wine arrived! If anyone else has had similar experiences, I would love to hear them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)