Pudgy's Space: July 2013

registered

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

registered for the final course in the program. i have mixed feelings about it. on the one hand, i'm absolutely petrified of the service exam that will be part of the final course. the last time i worked in the food industry, i was 17 years old. but this service exam is more like an oral exam on wine knowledge. although i'm okay at the subject, i'm just not good at oral exams .. i tend to freeze up and forget everything. i'm going to need a lot of practice.

at the same time, i'm not about to quit with just one course left ...

Day 5 - last day in Niagara

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

on my last day in Niagara, i went back to Pillitteri to make my purchase. the winery parking lot was packed! luckily, my friend at the winery was able to set me up at the tasting bar again. Justin and i have had wine discussions for a while now and although he works for Pillitteri, we discuss our favorite and not so favorite wines of the region.

after my week long tour, this is what i had to say about the wines we tried and discussed.

Tawse Winery makes the best chardonnay musque in the region. the musque clone means it inherited certain qualities of the muscat variety - which is a very aromatic grape. i've tried the chardonnay musque from chateaux des charmes and pillitteri but Tawse was my favorite.

i was not a fan of Pillitteri's Pic'd line of wines. it didn't wow me in terms of finish, taste, and aroma. the interesting thing about that line is that people can send in photos they've taken and it might end up on a label of one of the wines from the Pic'd line of wines. it's been a popular series and although it's a great idea, i couldn't bring myself to buy one.

as i mentioned before, the Exclamation series cabernet franc was one to buy and i ended up picking up one for the road.

the ice wine trio that i tasted at Pillitteri were quite good. i'm not a big fan of sweet wines but the Sangiovese ice wine was definitely interesting, as were the Vidal and Cab Franc.

Vineland Estates cabernet franc for their Elevation Series is terrific for $25. the general list is okay for $12 but if you have the money, spend it on the Elevation Series. i also think Vineland Estates makes a fantastic riesling. honestly, you can't go wrong with the Cave Spring estate bottled riesling or even Tawse Sketches of Niagara riesling. all three of these are priced in the $18-$20 range.

speaking of rieslings. one of my last stops was at an up and coming winery called Back 10 Cellars. i found them via twitter and decided to stop in since i was in the area. Back 10 Cellars was easier to find than Henry of Pelham even though the winery didn't even have a sign up! i met Andrew, co-owner of the vineyard .. and he was a super nice guy to talk to. he gave me a brief history of how he and his wife ended up in Niagara and the significance of the number 10. their dream of owning a vineyard started 10 years ago and after all these years of buying the land, cleaning it up, preparing it for vines, planting, growing, pruning, and producing fruit .. it has finally paid off. they currently do not have a retail store or tasting room and no bottling facility on site. all of their wine is produced by Featherstone Winery. but already their first riesling vintage has won an award at wine competitions. i got to try their riesling and it was .. interesting. i'm not sure if my glass wasn't clean but there was a distinct ... chicken coop aroma coming from my sample. there was minerality, some tropical fruit notes but definitely chicken coop or some odd barnyard that is not the same as the barnyard from a pinot noir.

nevertheless, i think Back 10 Cellars is a winery to keep your eye on. it just started but i think they bought a gem of a piece of land. they have a cabernet franc coming out in October 2013. if you're in the area, stop in and try it. i know i will.

the drive home was a test of my patience and my patience lost. as much as i tried to avoid taking the 407 home, i eventually caved and hopped on the 407 from Dixie Road to Kennedy. that's going to be one heck of a toll bill. :(

Day 4 - getting lost in Beamsville

after my brief stay in Cambridge, i drove all the way back to Niagara to finish my tour of wine country. this time, my focus was on the Beamsville Bench region. my first stop was Henry of Pelham. according to eugene, this was a winery that i should go see. so i set my gps to find the winery but when i got to my destination, it turned out to be an empty field. Henry of Pelham isn't a new winery so i was expecting an elaborate tasting room and entry way. but i followed the gps and followed the signs but it led me to nowhere. i could not find the winery for the life of me! what's funny is, i spoke to my friend Justin at Pillitteri and he told me that he too has never been able to find Henry of Pelham - and he lives in the Niagara region! :) so it's not just me.

after wasting so much time, i gave up and decided to continue looking for other wineries in the area. i manage to find 13th Street Winery, Flat Rock Cellars, Sue Ann Staff, and Hidden Bench Vineyards before heading to my next hotel. i didn't spend much time tasting at these wineries though. why? well, after tasting the cabernet franc at Vinelands, i decided to go on a mission to taste a bunch of cabernet francs from other wineries. and my luck started to run out after failing to find Henry of Pelham because when i stopped in at 13th Street, no cab franc. i moved on to Flat Rock Cellars - no cab franc. the kind folks at Flat Rock suggested i try Sue Ann Staff down the road. i got to Sue Ann Staff's tasting room and there was nobody there to greet visitors. so i left. i headed off to find Hidden Bench - my other must visit.

there were no visitors so i had time to chat with the lady behind the tasting bar. we went through a number of their wines. i tried their "lightly oaked" chardonnay, riesling, meritage, and rose. their wines are actually quite good but i was most impressed with their rose. i'm not a fan of roses because the roses i've had were usually pink coloured pinot gris .. very acidic. but the rose by Hidden Bench had a beautiful aroma of ripe strawberries. it even tasted like it on the palate. i was so impressed that i actually bought one. i was least impressed with the tasting fee - $10 for 3 samples. most wineries charge a fee and deduct it from your wine purchase. at Hidden Bench, they deduct the $10 only if you buy three bottles. yikes! so my $20 roses became a $30 rose. ugh .. oh well. just once. never again.

Hidden Bench 2011 Riesling

Hidden Bench 2012 Rose - delicious

Hidden Bench 2011 Chardonnay

Hidden Bench 2009 Meritage Terroir Cache

Day 3 - From Vineland, ON to Cambridge, ON

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

i checked out of my hotel to head out to Cambridge, ON. before driving out of the Niagara area, i had a few visits to make before my spa appointment at Langdon Hall. i drove out to Vineland, ON to meet up with a class mate of mine from the sommelier program. we had scheduled a meet and tasting with winemaker, Brian Schmidt at Vineland Estates. the last time i was at Vineland Estates, Brian was out of town so i wasn't able to meet with him. Brian is a brilliant winemaker and i say that because when we talk about viticulture and vinification, he goes right down to the scientific level and that's how you know the depth of his knowledge in the subject. i could listen to him talk for hours.

while at Vineland, i was greeted with a handshake and a glass of their 2011 Pinot Gris - a medium yellow wine with notes of citrus (lemon/lime), hint of tropical fruit (pineapple), and minerality. the medium length finish is punctuated with medium low body, yet high acidity. it was a great palate refresher for what was to come.

Brian led us to the fermentation room. the room was chilled like a refrigerator and housed several tanks of riesling. i was in heaven. :) we sampled a dry riesling that will be bottled for general list, a semi-dry riesling that will be bottled under the Elevation Series (my favorite), as well as the chardonnay that will be bottled under the O'Leary brand. after a lengthy stay in the cool fermentation room, we turned our attention to their signature red - cabernet franc.

cabernet franc has a distinct aroma of green bell pepper. as you may know, i'm not a fan of green aromatics - and that includes the fresh cut grass aroma that is common in sauvignon blancs from New Zealand. i think it's just odd for green vegetal aromatics coming from a red wine. i usually associate red wine with red fruit, dark berries, baking spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, clove), vanilla, leather, tobacco, savory spices like black pepper .. but green bell pepper? cabernet franc is a fairly hearty grape with a thick skin - which makes it an excellent cool climate red varietal. it grows well in niagara so you will find many wineries that produce a single varietal cabernet franc.

anyway, i tasted the cabernet franc from barrel and from tank. it was actually pretty good. we've determined that i have fairly expensive taste because i preferred the cabernet franc that will be bottled under the Elevation Series ($25) over the general list ($12) version.

Brian invited us to stay as long as we wanted and tastings were on the house. i had the opportunity to taste four rieslings from the Expression in D set. i purchased a set a few months ago and they are laying down in my cellar at the moment. there are four rieslings in the set and since i won't be opening them any time soon, i was curious to see what was in store for me. and oh. my. god. the rieslings were delicious! after the rieslings, i tried the 2011 Pinot Meunier. the only other winery in ontario that produces a pinot meunier is Keint-He in Prince Edward County and theirs is awful. Pinot Meunier is one of the three main grape varietals that is used to produce champagne so it is often grown as a blending grape. it's actually very similar to pinot noir but lighter in body and colour.

At Vineland Estates - Tasting the four rieslings in the Expressions in D collection

after a great tasting, i was on my way to Langdon Hall in Cambridge, ON. i heard about Langdon Hall from my friend Eugene. i didn't know much about it but it looked like a nice quaint hotel. earlier this year, it was voted the best hotel in Ontario by a travel magazine. at that point, i knew i wanted to go. i looked up the website and the hotel packages were pretty pricy but to mark a milestone? it was worth it. i gave myself a great gift. i had a spa treatment, a three course dinner, a full country breakfast, and one night stay in a beautiful room. when i got there, i was greeted by the valet guy. i have never handed the keys to my car over to anybody - they don't even do that for you at the Fairmont hotels! it was a different experience for sure. after checking in, i went to my room. the room was beautiful. there was a special plate of brownies with a card from the staff and management. on the coffee table in the sitting area, there was a half bottle of Tawse riesling and a cheese plate on a slab of wood. it was delicious. i couldn't relax for too long because i had a spa appointment scheduled shortly after check in. my spa treatment was a vichy aroma rain scrub. the spa treatment was wonderful. i felt spoiled. it was my first real spa experience.

My room at Langdon Hall. It was so clean and pretty.

after the spa treatment, i went back to my room to prepare for dinner. i brought along a black cocktail dress and a pair of killer shoes to complete the outfit. i wanted to make sure that i was dressed appropriately for dinner. in the entire dining room, i was the only one who ate at a table for one. i didn't feel uncomfortable however, i wasn't sure if it was appropriate to take pics of my dishes at such a high class establishment. i mean, the menu said "please turn your cell phones off". they must mean business. the amuse bouche arrived and here is where dining alone has its perks. the portion was enough for two but since it was just me, i got two helpings. :) for the appetizer, i had the digby scallops. the plate was so pretty and colourful. the portion was huge too .. i was full after the appetizer. for the main, i had the pan-fried turbot. my other choices were halibut, beef tenderloin, and muscovy duck breast. since i've had all of those before, i opted to have the turbot - a delicate white fish. it was served with grilled squid and a clam vinigrette. and finally for dessert, i had the blueberry lemon souffle with hazelnut ice cream. there was also a complimentary cookie plate that included some mini macaroons. the meal was so good .. breakfast took the top prize though. I love breakfast and at Langdon Hall, I had lobster for breakfast!! :). It was on top of brown butter scrambled eggs and chunks of leeks. Included in the breakfast was a buffet of pastries, smoothies, smoked salmon, fresh fruit, and freshly baked scones. Yes, I tried it all .. How could I not?!

It was definitely a night to remember .. It was truly a hotel in a class of its own and proved why it was the best hotel in the province.