Michael Pinkus Wine Review - On the Road with the Grape Guy

Report from - Gourmet Food and Wine Show Media Launch - October 23, 2007

03 Nov 2007

Details: Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

As they used to call their writers in MAD magazine, and as I am apt to say on occasion at a tasting, when asked who else is in attendance, “just the usual gang of idiots”. And they were out at this year’s media launch for the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo taking place in November (15-18) at the usual place, Metro Toronto Convention Centre; but while MAD used it as a joke I use as a term of affection to mean, “the gang’s all here”. This year’s Gourmet launch brought us all together again to show off what is to come at the show this year. This year’s focus is Chile, a country whose rise to wine-stardom has been on an upward trajectory for the past 5 years or more. The launch had the wineries you’d recognize from the Chilean section of the LCBO: Concha Y Toro, Casa Lapostolle, Errazuriz, Cousino-Macul and many others, who will be there flogging and tasting their wares in the heart of a city that loves its Chilean wines … (Read more)

For more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.

Report from - Hungarian Renaissance Tasting October 23, 2007

03 Nov 2007

Details: Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy

On Tuesday it was off for lunch and a formal tasting of some Hungarian wine. Hungary is best known for its’ Aszu wines: sweet dessert wines that can range in sugar content from 60 grams per liter all the way to 180 grams per liter; after that it’s Esszencia which can range from 180-800 grams … that’s a lot of sweetness – some Esszencia can be as thick as syrup but the aromas and flavours that come out are outstandingly beautiful. These wines come from a region called Tokaj; you may have even seen Tokaji on a label of those cute 500ml bottles – the “i” just signifies “from the region of” – so Tokaj is the region and ‘i’ is just the indicator. These wines are all made from local grapes, Furmint making up 60% of the grown varieties in the area, with Harslevelu making up another 30 … that leaves only 10% for grapes such as Sarga Muskotaly, Zeta, Koverszolo and others. Very few plantings of more well-known vinefera grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah are planted – and if they are it’s for private home-winemaking use only. Don’t try to tackle those local grapes names on your own, had they not put them up on the overhead at the front of the room I wouldn’t have ever understood them as grape varieties or even as real words, let alone known how to spell them. It was like they were speaking a foreign language (which they were).

Hungary is all about white wines ... (Read more)

For more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.