Written by the Tidings Staff | 23 March 2011

Chile has forged a reputation as the go-to country for affordable wines of consistently high quality. As many of the writers here at Tidings can attest, Chile has been the country to watch over the last number of years. With over 450 years of wine-making history, the wine's success is really no surprise. Travelling to Chile? You'll find that five regions (Casablanca, Maipo, Colchagua, Curicó and Maule) have forged wine routes that allow visitors to get a sense of the diversity of wine and food produced in each area.

Founded in 1993, Chile’s Cono Sur Vineyard & Winery is an example of what Chilean wine makers are producing. Combining the creative use of technology, orientation towards quality, and respect and commitment to the environment, Chile produces a range of varietal table wines that have struck a chord with Canadians. In fact, Cono Sur is the largest selling Chilean wine brand in Canada with over 300,000 cases sold as of the end of 2010.

“The success of Cono Sur,” says Chief Winemaker and General Manager Adolfo Hurtado, “lies in understanding the origin of New World wines: expression of soil and climate melded with intense aromas of the fruit, yielding the elegance and concentration of full, fresh and well-balanced flavours.”

Are you a fan of Chilean wine? Take this quiz and find out.

 

Written by Matthew Sullivan | 18 March 2011

Every two weeks, the wine critics of Toronto gather at an old warehouse by the expressway. One by one they trickle into the foyer, squeezing past deliverymen and other people who work for a living. They sign in at one security desk, and then another, and then they wander down a corridor into a brightly lit room simply called “the lab.” There are no beakers or Bunsen burners in this laboratory. Instead, you will find stemware and spittoons. This is the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s tasting clinic, where the media come to review wines. At any given session, there are about 140 open bottles on the lab’s counter, arranged in a long queue that begins promisingly with sparkling wines and ends in an uphill slog of non-vintage port and grappa.

I like arriving late. You can learn a lot about what’s there by examining how much is left in the bottle after the other writers have picked their way through. As you would suspect, Barolo and fine Burgundies attract scrutiny. By way of contrast, there are always some wines whose waterline barely slips below the neck: Moroccan wine, Moldovan wine, Macedonian wine, just to name the M’s. In other words, bottles from the margins of the international market. The critics may sample these wines, but no one I know dilly-dallies with them. No one except me.

I love bottles from the neglected corners of the wine world. Strange, indigenous grapes and new, experimental terroir is the best cure for the palate fatigue caused by too much Australian Chardonnay. Not that all marginal wines are superstars. They are usually table wines — and usually rough table wines at that — but for all their rusticity, they offer something that even the best Meursault cannot give: a picture of the vast plenitude of Earth’s viniculture. Like the dark matter of astrophysics, this wine is the unseen, unsung mass that makes up most of what the world drinks.

Written by Rosemary Mantini | 15 March 2011

I must say, I've been remiss. All the times that I've written up a topic for the Wine Tasting Club, only now do I realize that I have yet to say anything about Cabernet Sauvignon. Both in the wine and web world, this is one grape that refuses to be ignored. I thought about this as I was drinking a glass of 2008 Finca Flichman Cabernet Sauvignon.

According to the Oxford Companion to Wine edited by British wine authority, Jancis Robinson, "Cabernet Sauvignon [is] the world's most renowned grape variety for the production of fine red wine." Well, there you have it. If there's one grape you should get to know, this is it. Cab Sauv is revered the world over for some very good reasons. First, it makes up a significant portion of the wines of Bordeaux. Blended with other grapes grown in the region, it gives wine a beautiful deep, concentrated colour and a hint of chocolate taste. Blending is a great use for it. But, this particular grape demands the spotlight, too. Looking for something a little different? Keep an eye out for wine made entirely from Cab Sauv. Winemakers love it for its structure and malleability. In the hands of a skilled artisan, it will reveal the winemaker's techniques, vintage characteristics and terroir. Here's another reason why this grape is such a hit. It's  easily exportable. Plant it pretty much anywhere and it thrives. Finally, its phenolic concentration is such that Cab Sauv survives long ageing exceedingly well. Miracle grape? Indeed.

Written by Gurvinder Bhatia | 11 March 2011

Burgundy is one of the most famous and historic wine regions in the world, yet wine drinkers find it to be one of the most difficult to understand. At face value, it should be easy to comprehend, as there are essentially two grape varietals — Chardonnay for white wine and Pinot Noir for red wine. The difficulty arises with the complex system of subregions, microclimates, appellations and villages, the many vineyard designations and the sometimes not so subtle distinctions between them, and the classification system, which is based on the hundreds of vineyard sites. Burgundy is all about understanding the individual vineyard sites, the soil, the micro-climate, the altitude, the people and the vineyard practices — all of which the locals refer to as the terroir and climat — and how these factors ultimately cause just two varietals to produce wines of such diverse character.

For wine purchasers, Burgundy can be frightful territory. High prices, seemingly undecipherable labels, and tremendous vintage variation make buying these bottles a bit of a crapshoot. And, as much as you read, taste, and speak with winemakers and producers, it is very difficult to grasp a clear understanding of the region without actually going there and standing in the vineyards. Having a good guide is essential.

This past summer, I had an in-depth course on Burgundy from some of the region’s most knowledgeable individuals. I retuned with an understanding far beyond what I had previously, but also knowing, as with anything in wine, that what I learned was just the tip of the iceberg.