Tuesday | March 25, 2008

Another Pinot..Oi

Today is Good Friday and it is awful out. I just wish that the winter will end and we can get on with life.


But, even so, we made a nice meal. Roast duck, a personal favourite, mashed potatoes and stuffing. What more could you want, Not only do you get a nice meal, you get duck fat. I realize that the Jewish kitchen revolves around shmaltz (chicken fat), but I just think the French have got this nailed.


The music started with Robert Plant and Alison Krause. A wonderful album. Now, Allison is from Union Station which is a Bluegrass band and Robert is from Led Zeppelin. Don’t let that fool you as Zepp always had an appreciation of music and wasn’t a run of the mill metal band and she is a wonderful artist. The album is a jewell. After that we went to Michele Petrucciani, Live at the Village Vanguard. He was an exceptional pianist whom I had the honor of seeing man years ago. He was simply wonderful.


The wine….(ooops I forgot again) was Malivoire Pinot Noir. I just love their wine and a stop at the winery is a must when I am in Niagara. We actually invited the staff to come down for the Wine Fest and I bet the will. They are really cool.


This wine is wonderful. The aroma is not overwhelming but what there is is wonderful. Nothing stands out but we knew it was good,


The taste is similar. No outstanding element but boy is it good, This is what good wine should taste like. Very subtle and good. I just wish alot of winemakers would go there and see what they do. It is just soooo right. With the duck it just went with it. Didn’t overpower, didn’t make anything else but sooo nice.


I just wish I had more. Probably there is more around but I just became one with this wine.


What is really cool as it reminds me of Sprucewood’s Pinot, so we opened some. More alcohol on the nose, lighter and not as complex, but still good. This is a complement by the way as the Maliviore is way more expensive. I just love this wine and as usual they have Hit It right.



BTW Malivoire doesn’t make BIG WINE..the use gravity feeds and make good wine mainly white but this Pinot is just their best and one of the best I have had.


Posted by jim small at 21:03:44 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Alsatian Beauty

Quite a lovely day...cold rain and windy. I just love it. But to cheer myself up, I decided to open a nice bottle of Alsatian and have some trout.


Anyone who regularly reads this knows that I am enamored with Alsatian wines. Give me a Pinot Blanc, a Gewurtztraminer , or a Riesling and I am happy.


This wine is from my secret store, a 2004 Reserve Gewurtztraminer from Huniwihr. Funny isn’t it, that this is French wine when everything about it is rather Germanic. Well Alsace is on the Rhine and it did change hands a few times. WW1 it was German. WW2 it was French. Wonder how the old legion halls were on a Saturday night. It could have been fun.


Music is Mel Torme and George Shearing, Top Drawer. These two made several excellent albums and the quality is wonderful. I have the house to myself so its nice.


Food was trout, just pan fried in butter and rice. Very simple.


The Wine


The aroma reminds me of a tropical garden. All kinds of exotic fruit and spice..very nice and polite. This is not an in your face wine.


Colour is a nice golden and this wine is a wee bit thick but very nice.


The taste is wonderful. It is round, thick and unctuous. The wine engulfs the tongue and just grows. First hit is fruit then a spice kick at the end. This is a finely crafted wine. The taste lingers like a good red and just greets you. I taste all kinds of eastern fruits, like lichees and kiwis (mumsy likes kiwis, so that was about the only fruit we got..not quite true btw) 


With the food it just went so well. The wine just cut thru the trout and engulfed it like it should. Similar to the Malivoire Pinot Noir, there isn’t a stand out point, it’s just good.


To me this is similar to really good stereo equipment. When its really good you just don’t notice it there but you enjoy the music. This wine doesn’t shout it just does it’s thing. Very unassuming but good.


I suggest that any fellow Gewurtz junkie venture to get a good bottle at vintages. It may set you back a few quid but it will set up your taste buds and calibrate them. Oh yes you will enjoy it.


The local wine that is similar? Tr a Mastronardi or a Pelee Reserve. I think the Mastronardi is closer in philosophy...yes I really like that wine too!!


Posted by jim small at 20:58:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday | March 16, 2008

March Restaurant Review

This months restaurant review is one you wouldn't expect. Terry and I love good Mexican food and we were once told that the Mexican food in Leamington is good. We tried to find some and the were always closed, then one day we tried an unlikely choice....Family Kitchen.

Is it just another family restaurant serving up mediocre fair...... not really. First is the choice of food. Mexican, Mennonite and Canadian. Well this should be interesting.

Historically Mennonites are a Religious group that is very prominent throughout Southwestern Ontario. But Mexican???? Well a colony from Winnipeg up and moved to Mexico in the early part of this century. They have been trickling back and many live here.....hence, Mexican food.

The Mennonite food seems very similar to German food and I bet it is good, but we haven't gotten past the Mexican.

The restaurant is very clean and simple. Do not go there if you want atmosphere but if you like good food... well.

The wine list is simple and local. All Pelee Island and all priced nice. Nothing special but local. 

The food is wonderful. Salsa and chips were delivered quickly. The Chips were fresh and hot and the salsas were very good. Fresh nice and seem homemade. Good start!

Our food arrived quickly. We both had chimichangas, Terry's beef and mine chicken. Her beef was actually pulled and she liked it alot. My chicken was very good too. The taste was fresh and clean. A note is the colour of the chimichangas. I have never seen them so light brown. These are deep fried tortillas and the don't have the dark brown greasiness of the ones I've had in Detroit. These were wonderfully done. Excellent! The rice and beans were also...'Fresh'. Thats the best way to describe them. The taste was so clean compared to what I am used to.

Service was excellent. Our waitress was nice polite and just seemed to want to be there.

Then there is the guacamole. This is stunning, simply the best we have ever had!

Well price....don't worry about it. Dinner was $32 with 4 beers included and salsa and guacamole take away...I like that!!!

Simply put, forget about going to Detroit and go to Leamington ( 73 Erie..south of the 4 corners) for your Mexican fix. The taste and quality are simply heads and shoulders above any other Mexican I have had. There might not be as much on the menu but what they do they do very well.

I give them an 80.

SUMMARY

Cleanliness:   Excellent

Menu:   Different to say the least. Limited Mennonite and Mexican choices but more Mexican

Portion Size:   Ample

Food:   Very Good

Wine List:   Good value for money

Value for Money:   Excellent

Posted by jim small at 18:58:34 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Wednesday | March 12, 2008

A Wonderful Wine

The weather outside was awful... ok I won't sing the rest, but it was last weekend, so we decided to cook. It only took us 8 tries to get out of the driveway (after we paid Myles and Josh 20 to clear it). It was so nice having the grocery store to ourselves and we found some sale lamb so a leg it was.

Basic, classic with spikes of garlic implanted, salt, pepper, olive oil and herbes de provence. Just soooo nice with lamb. I have a new favourite celebrety chef, but I didn't have 3 days to prep and cook, so I started real low and slow for a while then I turned it up a wee bit. It was just so tender and unxious. So nice.

Why did I follow Heston on this? Well, I wanted a bottle of Marynissen 2003 Cabernet. An '03 it wasn't rushed and was allowed to be good, like Heston's chicken. This is a classy wine, from one of my favourite wineries. Its across the road from Inniskillen, but its way better. This is real wine made the right way. It is big, tannic but not overdone. This is the way wine should be.

An aside is that the have a winery cat. This cat has the run of the place and is (as I am told) rather mean. A cat that hangs in the wine rack .... bottles are move so that the feline can get to the pillow. A good sign for me. Along with that the winery isn't 'special', It isn't a castle, its a place to make wine. And having 35 year old vines doesn't hurt either.  

Aroma, well I smell oak and dark fruit....like black prune plums...oh don't go there .... prune plumbs are beautiful, I love them when the are in season. Terry smells: 'drink me'.

It is dark and red and wonderful. It just hangs in the glass in its darkness. This wine has legs. I just enjoy the smell and the look. It's dark thick but it smells like it looks, good..good.

The taste. There is an envelopement of taste. It grows and lingers, I taste oak and wonderful things. I am just amazed how big this becomes. Its not big in the 'blow our head off' big this just grows.

I taste the oak but there is so much more. There are all types of notes, Tannins...yes the are there...oh my tongue feels them...but it is so nice. Oh this is dark, just so dark...black...wonderful. Dark fruit.....these grapes must have been black.

The wine held up to and added to the food. Oh yes, roast lamb. Just as my new pal, Heston does, I roasted it low and slow...not 5 days but, it works. The lamb was rich and soft and the wine just grew with it. Aided not overpowered. This wine is just so food friendly. The food needs body to go with it, but the lamb just worked with it. Complimentary, not overpowering......this wine is made well, the old way. I wouldn't have this with sole, but with real meat ...nirvanna.

BTW aerate this puppy, it needs time to bloom and you will be rewarded.


Wonderful simply wonderful.

Posted by jim small at 22:19:57 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday | March 01, 2008

Gewurztraminer Challenge

We decided to have our 2nd challenge. If you look back, we tried several Italian reds and were pleasantly surprised. It was amazing to see the quality available in the sub $8 range. After aeration, these reds gave a good showing for themselves.

This challenge is for the white lover. A wine that I certainly love and one I find surprisingly versatile. Gewurztraminer is the wine of choice. From Alsace this wine is luscious, round, spicy and fruity. Food friendly and a wonderful wine on its own.

Test procedure: several potential wines were chosen the day previous and placed in the same shelf of my wine fridge. This allowed a randomness in wine chosen (by our guest  panelists) and avoided any predisposition from myself to choose specific wines in specific order to alter outcomes. Wine glasses were standard white wine glasses...nothing special. 

A control wine was chosen….ie: one which I have known very well and is thought a good sample from the real region. In this case we used Pierre Sparr rather than my ‘ringer’ as two participants do not like my ringer….I just don’t get it but it may be used in part 2. 

Food started with an antipasti platter, then dinner. Dinner consisted of veal rolls stuffed with artichokes braised in red wine and tomato sauce, boiled baby potatoes and a cabbage pie. Dessert was creme brule with blueberries.

Guest testers were Tom and Carolyn. The had just gotten home from skiing after Chicago and seeing the Spice Girls...they claim that they only took their girls and they went to dinner….yeah right!!!! So when they arrived I slapped in a cd of Spice girl music we had downloaded and had Bend it like Beckham on the tv ( sir david and posh make a cameo at the end). Well, Tom disappointed us as he didn’t wear his Posh t-shirt...oh btw we survived all 3 songs. Better music was played thru the night.

Wine #1: Angel’s Gate     It’s from the Bench in Niagara. The winery is simply beautiful. You can see the lake and the vines go down the escarpment. This would imply that the wine has a great chance to be good due to the slopes….like Alsace.

RESULTS: it appears that the nose was well liked by all, but the wine really did not impress. Comments range from: pedestrian to ‘would not buy’.  This is not a good start and I was really disappointed as I always liked this winery.

Wine #2 Niagara Teaching College Well the college is somewhere in Niagara on the Lake, but don’t ask as I got really lost getting there (is that something different LOL!). I was really impressed with the enthusiasm of the students and they were so proud of their work.

RESULTS: The nose was very aromatic. Everyone commented on that. The mouth feel was nicer and it was very fruity slightly light but all liked it. This one is a keeper. The difference between this one and the first was dramatic. This simply is a much better bottle of wine(ok my imput).

Wine #3 Pierre Sparr This is the control wine. From Alsace, it should be the real thing. It is not expensive and I really enjoy this wine. Peppery, fruity, just a good bottle.

RESULTS: All liked it, yet one person preferred the Niagara College wine. 3 of 4 had very positive things to say. Fruit aroma, light taste, tangy, refreshing, mild were the comments. As expected it was well liked. It was assumed to be sweet but it really isn’t. Very well liked.

Wine #4 Mastronardi A favourite of mine. Made down the road across from Colosanti in Ruthven. I find that they make great wine. So the first local wine was making me be very anxious as I wanted it to do well.

RESULTS: All agreed that the nose was wonderful…..floral aromatic ...very nice. One noted that it would be great with spicy( food which is what Gewurtz is acclaimed for) so they ‘hit it’. Another noted that it should have been the dinner wine. Light, floral, clear et someone noted Big Bold so there is personal taste. 

Simply a wonderful wine.  

Wine #5 Pelee Island Reserve This is from the good line at Pelee. If you buy Pelee Island I suggest this range as it is much better than the lower lines. 

RESULTS: Well the results by now may be not as good as early ones but this wine was also universally liked. Aromatic perfumey nose, fruit taste. Results were consistent that the taste was very good and fruity. A well liked wine and after the rave comments for the Mastronardi this wine was well liked therefore it is very good. Being available in the licbo is also a plus.

OVERALL: It appears that the favorites were Niagara College and Mastronardi. Terry loved the College, and our guests were more for the Mastonardi.

What can I say…...I was disappointed with the Angel’s Gate, really liked the Niagara College and always liked the Mastronardi. Can I pick a winner????? Well, I would happily drink Mastronardi ever day, its that good…...but I like Pierre Sparr too and the College and Pelee…...I am so conflicted.

So here are my personnel rankings: 

A+   Mastronardi

A Niagara College, Pierre Sparr (an old friend)

A- Pelee Island Reserve

B- Angel’s Gate

Round 2 is forthcoming and I will use my ‘ringer’ with Mastronardi against the Harrow wines with Smith and Wilson and some more Niagaras. We have a standing invite to some friends from down the Arner so they now have to come. 


Posted by jim small at 18:48:42 | Permanent Link | Comments (3) |