On the Road with the Grape Guy

On the Road with the Grape Guy is a on-going feature that follows me from event to event ... I post my thoughts, feelings and reviews of what happened and what I tasted ... basically it is here that I review the events I attend and the things that thrilled me.

Report from - Germany - Uber Wine Tasting ... May 6, 2008

14 May 2008

 

With winery names well beyond the pronunciation capabilities of your average North American, Germany has long been a tongue twister of a wine region for many.  Unfortunately, I’m not about to facilitate anything.  Having sat through a lecture on Terroir, Ripeness and Style – with each presenter getting up and speaking better English than I could ever speak German, rhyming off names of vineyards, wineries and regions which rolled off their tongue like butter on a hot roll and then they’d segue back to English with ease.  I still can’t get some of these names out, and I heard them being said a few times; the good news is you don’t have to be able to pronounce it to enjoy it – you just have to be able to find it.

Riesling is still king in Germany (20,627 ha); Pinot Noir seems to be her Queen (11,371 ha) and the rarely-seen-on-a-label (over here anyway) Rivaner, their prince, in the middle (14,983 ha).  Today I tried a few Rieslings, but also looked at a grape not even listed in the top 8 of Germany’s white grapes:  Gewurztraminer, with some very good results.

Riesling … (Read more)

 

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

 

 

Report from - Wine and Herb Festival 2008 – Niagara-on-the-Lake ... May 3, 2008

12 May 2008

 

I have to start off by saying that The Wineries of Niagara on the Lake host the best festivals in the Niagara area:  Taste the Season in November and the Wine and Herb Festival in May.  They are well organized, have great themes and allow patrons to set their own pace, plus they have impressed upon their members a uniformity of quality at each winery; not just talking about the wines here now, this is more in respect to the food pairing.

Each year there is a subtle tweak that improves the event.  This year’s tweak was a big jump in innovation – though a very simple idea.  Three weeks prior to the event they had a winery get together, where the food and wine pairings were on display for the other wineries to get a taste of.  This seemingly little thing paid off big dividends with lots of cross-promotion between the wineries, it was like nothing I have ever seen before in the area.  Inniskillin told me to try Sunnybrook; Cattail pointed me in the direction of the other wineries doing goat cheese pairings (Hillebrand and Reif); Reif told me about Lailey’s Sausage combination – and so on and so on.

At the beginning of the day we set our sights on 8 wineries, based on the herbs we liked.  By the time the dust on the day had settled we had hit 14 wineries with very few disappointments along the way.  Now, this festival is designed for all month enjoyment – your passport is good for each weekend in May – but we did not have another free weekend day to come back so we had to fit this all in on the one day … I remind you, do not try this at home, I am a professional.

The “we”, this time round, are Erica (a Riesling fanatic and foodie) and myself.  At the end of our 14-winery assault we each picked our favourites, put them in order and discussed the outcome.  Amazingly our final decisions paralleled each other, in most cases:

Best Wine … (Read more)

 

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

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