31
May
2009
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
Hot dog (probably the only food not available for tasting today) a wine and food festival with a twist. The twist? It’s fruit wine, the 10th Annual Archibald’s festival that brings local area eateries (in and around Bowmanville) together with Ontario fruit wineries. This year there were 10 participating wineries. Some, like Southbrook, Muskoka Lakes and Rush Creek are annual attendees, while others like Countryman’s and Moon Shadow are relatively new to the festivities. This is by no means all the fruit wineries of Ontario – for that Archibald’s would have to clear out their entire parking lot and set the tents up there … but it is a good representation of fruit wineries in the area, and from a little further. I have to hand it to Archibald’s, this year’s event was well thought out and spacious as compared to last year’s. Last year there was one long tent with wineries and foodries up and down each side, causing a over-crowding situation where you always felt like you were in the way and stepping on your neighbour-taster, combine that with the heat and flash of a heavy downpour and the tent became stifling at times. This year the tents, yes plural, were set up in a “U”-shape with the wineries and food stations on the outside perimeter, and the interior had lots of tables, chairs and plenty of room to move about and enjoy your sample without feeling rushed or in the way; kudos to the organizers (Archibald’s) for realizing the need for a much better set-up.
So Who Was There …
Applewood, Countryman’s, County Cider, Kawartha Country, Moon Shadows, Muskoka Lakes, Ocala, Rush Creek, Southbrook and of course the host, Archibald’s. My foodie took the day off, so I was on my own for food selections, and those who know me know that food takes a back seat to a good glass of wine, but there were some interesting and tasty dishes to be had – keeping in mind that sometimes simple is best.
Food First …
Chanterelle Bistro (Bowmanville) served delicious mini lamb burgers that were succulent and juicy topped with a mint jelly. Everything from the bun to the jelly was homemade.
A gentleman by the name of Eben Vanderstam, who goes by the moniker “Chef Eben”, had the most sought after treat of the day: Durham Pork and Beef Meatballs Walsaka. Everybody was carrying at least one of these delicious squash ball sized meatballs around, smothered in a delicious sweet and tangy sauce; if you were unlucky enough not to be carrying one around (or hadn’t tried one yet) you sooner or later found yourself asking someone, “where did you get that?”
Steamers Catering (Newcastle) had the dessert of the day to die for: Chocolate Crunch Trifle … chocolate cake, chcolate pudding with toffee-almond crunch mixed in, all topped with whipped cream and a cherry. I suffered through one, but would have gladly suffered through a dozen more.
Now, The Wine …
Ten wineries pouring a minimum of three wines each, though many were pouring more, and the choices of what to try seemed endless. But the wine of the day went to Applewood Farm Winery for their Mac Meade ($12.95) – there is no doubt as to why this wine won it’s Double Gold status at this year’s All Canadian Wine Championships (its second in as many years).
Other delights included ... (Read more)
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
30
May
2009
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
WARNING: Some language may not be suitable for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
What would you do it I told you to get the ‘F’ to Beamsville and take part in an F’in wine tour. I suspect, depending on my tone, you might just tell me to F-off. But that’s precisely what three F’in wineries were telling you to do on the weekends of May 2 & 3 and 9 & 10. They wanted you to pry your lazy carcass off the F’in couch, pile your F’in bones (and any other effer you could talk into going with you) into the car, and come on down to the Beamsville area and take part in the “F’in Winery Tour”. The effers I am referring to are Flat Rock, Featherstone and Fielding – and I would not be wrong in calling them Mother-Effers because May 10 was Mother’s Day – coincidence? I think not.
For this event each winery had cooked up, or at least concocted, an F’in dish to pair with their F’in wine, and each dish was based on a pasta that start with the letter “F”.
Featherstone went with a hot Fettuccine dish, they called “Featherstone Fettucine” – they showed real creativity here in the naming. Owner Louise cooked it up right in front of you, using garlic and gorgonzola, along with flour and fettuccine. I have to admit what it lacked in name it made up for in flavour; it was F’in good, and paired nicely with one of my favourites, their 2007 Gamay.
Flat Rock showed a little more iniative when naming their Fusilli dish, “Flat Rock’s Fabulous Fusilli”, a cold pasta salad with prosciutto, asparagus, olives, green onions and asiago cheese paired with their two Twisteds, 2006 Red and 2007 White. The white was good on its own, while the red paired well with the salad. As an aside, I recently got a taste of the 2008 version of Twisted white and it’s frickin’ phenomenal.
Finally, Fielding freaked everyone out by dishing up “Feel-Good Farfalle” (as a kid I used to call this pasta “Fart-Full” – just cause it sounded funny) – the dish contained red, yellow and green peppers, olives, sausages, herbs, balsamic and oil. It was served in a fiesta-sized cup and paired with 2007 Red Conception and/or 2008 Rockpile Pinot Gris.
The F’in Winery Tour was a fun frolic for friends and family, a simple event worth the two-fivers you would have paid for it; and thankfully something these F’in wineries will be continiuing for years to come. When asked about the name and the reactions they have been getting to it one winery told me that they had just one complaint about it. One customer emailed to say that this type of event “debases the winery” and the “seriousness of what they are trying to achieve with their wines and the industry”. Obviously this is the same guy who called the FCC about Janet Jackson’s boob during the Super Bowl a few years ago (it debases the seriousness of the sport; as if the cheerleaders aren’t showing enough of their own goodies; not that I’m complaining, but I digress).
This F’in Tour is lots of fun, worth the price of admission and I’m glad to see wineries taking iniative and banding together to create unique and fun filled experiences, with food, that lighten up the mood and make wine, for lack of a better term, “fun”. Taking the seriousness out of wine and putting a free-spirit back into it. As for my overall impression of the F’in Winery Tour, I’d say I had a fuckin’ good time.
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
