16
Nov
2008
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
Sitting in a small anteroom at the LCBO’s Summerhill location (just south of St. Clair on Yonge, Toronto), less than a dozen of us sat down to get the low down on Vina Carmen from a member of it’s winemaking team, namely Sebastian Labbe. Vina Carmen is part of the Santa Rita group of wineries who make up the fifteenth largest exporter of wine in Chile. These labels should be no mystery to those who regularly, or even semi-regularly, prowl the aisles of our liquor monopoly - both the Santa Rita brand and Carmen brand have both general list (available all the time) and occasional Vintages products (special small lots wines) go through the board. Carmen is an autonomous entity from Santa Rita with its own facilities, vineyards and winemaking team – though pooling/sharing resources and knowledge is not unheard of. During the tasting Labbe called their style, "a marriage of old world and new world."
Before tasting Sebastian took us on a brief photographic tour of Chile, showing us pictures and graphics of the Maipo (which has less rain than Bordeaux, Tuscany and Napa); Rapel (great for reds) and the Leyda Valley (cooler climate, good growing conditions for Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc). He also told us about new growing regions like Limari (in the north) and the Elqui Valley (growing Syrah and Carmenere). Carmen has five different labels under its umbrella: Classic, Reserve, Nativa (organic grapes), Winemaker’s Reserve, and Gold Reserve (single vineyard) - we tried at least one wine in each tier.
Sebastian was proud to mention that Carmen has won winery of the year from Wine and Spirits magazine eight times ... here are some of the reasons why: (Read more)
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
02
Nov
2008
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
A friend of mine insisted that I just had to get to Southbrook, and soon, to try the new and limited time "pulled pork pizza". Seems he had been doing a little talking with the chef the night before and knowing my love for pulled pork called me immediately. As it turned out I was in the area for the Wine Festival and had an opportunity to drop in and try this much-lauded creation.
Upon my arrival I bumped into one of my favorite sommeliers in the area, Archie Hood; you'd recognize Archie in a heartbeat - it's the mustache that's his claim to fame. He greeted me with his usual warm, jovial smile.
"Archie," I said, after our hellos and long-time-no-see greeting, "word on the street is you've got a pulled pork pizza." Archie's smile widened.
"Yes we do." He replied. "Word travels fast I see; we just launched it yesterday - would you like me to set you up with one?"
Archie disappeared out the door to the outdoor patio/kitchen (as opposed to the indoor event kitchen) where the wood burning pizza oven is located. A number of tables are set up out there for people to enjoy their pie and a glass of wine – but it was rainy and cold today, so I opted for the indoor eating experience.
Archie came back and offered up a glass of wine with "lunch" (it was about 2:00, Southbrrok serves till 3pm) ... he poured the 2006 Triomphe Syrah, a fairly light bodied red with nice flavours of sour cherry and, surprisingly, pink grapefruit (I swear it).
The pizza came, made on a vinifera additive dough (you have a choice between regular or this special variety), it's loaded with iron and reservatrol because the flour has the pips and skins ground up and added to it, and it also gives the dough a brownish-red color. Archie informed me that Southbrook offers three pizzas on a two week cycle - meaning that there are always three different pizzas every couple of weeks … so don't get too attached to one; each is paired with a wine: white, red or sweet. The pulled pork proved very popular, so popular in fact that the chef had to come back on Sunday morning to make a new batch of pulled pork for the toppings because they ran out on Saturday. Here’s hoping it comes back because it was very good.
To read about more interesting adventures thru the world of wine check out the On the Road With the Grape Guy blog.
