12
Jun
2008
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
California has been coming to town a lot lately … it’s part of the on-going push to get California back on top of the new world wine heap. This time the Foster’s Wine Group organized their Winemakers on Tour program: 9 wineries, including Beringer, Etude, Stag’s Leap, Greg Norman and Cellar No. 8 along with their winemakers, took time out to pour, taste and talk about their wines. A California Cabernet seminar preceded the tasting, but my invitation got lost in the mail, so I will be reporting only on the wines I tasted.
Cab rules California, so you’ll find tons at any tasting where California wines are the focus. I start any California tasting believing that most will taste the same, so it is up to the winery/winemaker to prove they truly have done something really different and interesting with this grape ... (Read more)
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
03
Jun
2008
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
For those who haven’t been to Archibald’s lately, you’re missing out on an extraordinary place. The main store seems to have expanded and there’s now a golf course on the property. It has been a few years since I have attended their fruit wine festival, and the last time I did I discovered one of the more unique wineries in all of Ontario – Moon Shadows Estate Winery – the first maple syrup based winery – and potentially still the only.
Today, nine wineries from as far a field as Haliburton, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Buckhorn – to as close as Whitby and Stouffville converged on Archibald’s (located in Bowmanville) to pitch their wares under the greenhouse roof. There were also 15 different eateries/producers/specialty shops with a variety of foods: from the sweet - pastry and mousse, the savoury - beef-pesto and spicy chicken skewers, and the downright delicious - beef Wellington and mini-buffalo burgers. All while lounge act Simon Maxwell (complete with winks and points out to the crowd) gave perfect renditions of jazz standards. Then the rains came, in buckets and in waves, but thankfully there was enough cover that the greenhouse didn’t get over-crowded and nobody ran screaming for cover – there was plenty of room for people to sit, eat and drink while waiting for the inevitable return of the sunshine.
