Author: cpgrisold

This past Tuesday I attended une soiree fantastique.

Taking place at Marben Restaurant on Wellington west of Spadina, this was the second in a series of four Bordeaux After Work Parties offered by the Bordeaux Wine Council in partnership with iYellow Wine Club.

The four wines available for sampling and purchase included:

CHÂTEAU FAYAU BLANC 2009 AOC BORDEAUX SAUVIGNON / SÉMILLON
LCBO 205542 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 11.95
12.6% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Bordeaux, France
By: Jean Médeville et Fils, Vign.
Tasting Note: A refreshing, floral nose; notes of melon, grapefruit, gooseberry and citrus with a bit of grassiness; lots of ripe fruit, balanced, crisp

MOUTON CADET 2008 AOC BORDEAUX SAUVIGNON BLANC
LCBO 2527 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 13.45
11.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Bordeaux, France
By: Baron Philippe De Rothschild S.A.
Tasting Note: Pale straw yellow colour; soft pear and grassy citrus aromas; light fruit flavour with a slight refreshing bitterness on the finish

CHATEAU COURTEILLAC 2009 AOC BORDEAUX MERLOT/CABERNET
LCBO 360552 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 11.95
Wine, Red Wine
12.2% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Bordeaux, France
By: Crus & Domaines De France
Tasting Note: Ruby red colour; light red currant aroma with a touch of vanilla & spice; dry, light body; ripe currant and plum flavours, well balanced with soft tannin finish

CALVET RESERVE 2008 AOC BORDEAUX MERLOT/CABERNET SAUVIGNON
LCBO 44032 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 12.95
Wine, Red Wine
12.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Made in: Bordeaux, France
By: J. Calvet & Cie – Bordeaux
Tasting Note: Bright ruby/red; aromas and flavours are bursting with cassis, plummy fruit and earthy undertones; dry, med-bodied, with ripe fruit supported by moderate tannins, balanced acidity and a vanilla/oaky backbone; light coffee/smoke on finish; good length

Marben provided oysters (with an amazing mignonette sauce), pork croquettes, and pulled beef on crostini. Plus great music, and even better company. The crowd was young, stylish, and an equal mix of men and women.

The wines were incredibly popular, as was the party itself; a constant line-up at registration moved quickly but remained throughout the two-hour promotional event. Entry was free to the first 75 oenophiles who RSVP’d on Bordeaux Wine Council’s Facebook event page.

To learn more about Bordeaux wines in general, click here! The next two parties will take place this Fall. Keep checking Bordeaux Wine’s Facebook page, www.bordeaux.com or iYellowWineClub.com for updates!

Summerlicious at Café Moroc this evening with my friend ME. Café Moroc is the name of the bar / front area of The Sultan’s Tent restaurant. It is decorated in Moorish style, which I love (can’t wait to go back to Benadalid in the Andalucian Mountains of Spain and stay at that Moorish villa with my English friend SP et al again, sigh!) plus it totally adds to the experience. A few years ago I went to The Sultan’s Tent for a birthday dinner. We had the $45 prix fixe menu, which included an hour of belly dancing. It was so fun! And I’ve yet to see a prix fixe menu with as many choices as theirs.

Looking towards the Front Street windows from our table

The crowd was young, twenty- and thirty- somethings, with an equal number of couples and friends. Background music was fusion (pop, French, Arabesque); both ME and I wished it was heavier on the French/Arabic than contemporary. Even some Thievery Corporation would have been more condusive to the atmosphere.

Sliced smoked duck breast salad

For my starter, I selected the duck breast salad because (a) duck is my favourite meat, and (b) I really needed some greens. Three slices of smoked duck breast came on top of “baby lettuces, dressed with a Champagne, pomegranate vinaigrette, tossed with fresh fine cut vegetables, cherry tomatoes and sliced mango, finished with parmesan, asiago and Romano cheese.” It was quite good– the balance of flavours playing out perfectly until the last bite. I wasn’t sure about the duck-and-cheese combo, but it worked; the pomegranate vinaigrette provided enough sweetness to cut the cheese, if you will. Heh heh. ME had the maftoul, hand-rolled Moroccan “cigars” of spiced beef, cashews and raisins in hot pastry. The two (thin) cigars were topped with chipotle mayo, which ME found unnecessary because like he said, and I concur, we weren’t in a Mexican restaurant. I would have liked to try the harira soup, with tomatoes and chick peas, but it was just too damned hot out today.

Braised lamb feast

Both ME and I chose the lamb for our main. I don’t eat chicken, although the Chicken Marrakesh sounded tasty; ME didn’t order it because he hates olives. The lamb was a GREAT CHOICE. The meat was so tender it fell off the bone. (Reminded me of a braised bison rib I had once at Tundra, and ate with a spoon.) The prune demi glace was amazing, and although the lamb tasted quite bland without it, it was sufficient to cover almost every bite. Under the lamb was a bed of tagine-spiced couscous and roasted root vegetables. As you can imagine, both of us licked our plates clean.

Baklava and Moroccan Treats

Dessert was somewhat disappointing. ME chose the Moroccan Treats: “traditionally made Moroccan cookie and pastry accompanied with Latshin, a light and refreshing traditional dessert of fresh orange slices sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon.” He said the cookie tasted of rose-water, and the pastry of lemon. The Latshin, which I had read good things about, appeared as two slices of orange stacked so only one of them had any sugar-cinnamon sprinkling. And it was a THIN sprinkling at that. My baklava was labelled as gluten-free on the Summerlicious menu online, but when I asked my server about it he said that must be a mistake. The manager came over and apologized for the error and said he would update the website. Luckily I’m not on a strict GF diet. Regardless, the baklava was dry, had way too much pastry (like a slice of pie), and I have never said this before in all my years of baklava-eating, but it could stand to be sweeter! A LOT SWEETER. It tasted like sugar-free baklava. Boo-urns.

However, overall the meal was definitely good value for the price. My major complaint is that Café Moroc is not authentic enough. Which is ironic because it’s such a nice place. (I read a review online that said it was like eating at a Moroccan resto at Epcot in Florida, which was supposed to be an insult, but only made me like it more because I LOVED the world showcase at Epcot Centre when I was a kid!) But here at Café Moroc, it’s like they almost get to authenticity… but then they fall short. It could be that they are afraid of scaring off the customers. But, you’d think in Toronto (foodie central), authenticity would only draw them in? Nonetheless, I highly recommend dining at either Café Moroc or The Sultan’s Tent at least once. Especially if you’re like me and can’t afford the trip to Morocco.

Price: $25 prix fixe
Duration from sitting down to standing up: one hour
Drinks: budget for $10 extra per drink
Wine: specials available on Inniskillin red & white
Total cost for 2ppl with one drink each, including tax & tip: $90

Afterwards, we sauntered back out into the 35C heat (at 9pm no less), and headed towards Union Station to take the train home.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

Shahia tayeba!

x

This summer, British Columbia’s Mission Hill Family Estate will host an art exhibit by renowned French sculpteur Nathalie Decoster. Available to the public at no additional charge, the Sculpture Exhibition will run until October 2011, featuring more than 50 of Decoster’s brut works of steel, bronze, aluminum, and concrete. Her signature hoops reminded Proprietor Anthony von Mandl of the rings that bind wine barrels.

“What immediately struck me about Mrs. Decoster’s art were the curved hoops that cradle her human forms to create a strong visual connection between the art and the outside world,” said von Mandl. “These curved hoops are akin to the metal hoops that hold together the precious barrels that age our wines and are essential to crafting exceptional wines.”

Decoster’s works have been exhibited in Paris, London, Vienna, São Paulo, and Venice; Mission Hill is her first Canadian showcase. The sculptures will be situated throughout the Estate: in the vineyards, wine cellars, and tasting areas.

“We hope Mrs. Decoster’s work resonates with visitors as she plays with the notion of sharing dreams to build connections between people,” said von Mandl. “We believe this same connection speaks to what we are trying to accomplish as winemakers. The parallels are undeniable and we invite art lovers, or the merely curious, to visit Mission Hill to discover the magnificent work of sculptress Nathalie Decoster.”

Decoster lives and works in Paris; her early work with decorative art studios led her to perfect her sculpting technique with an old-school master. She employs vocabulary recognizably her own: an “art brut” figure is her messenger represented in minimalist geometric structures which convey philosophical messages about the human condition. Nathalie Decoster makes us conscious of the absurdities in our modern human lives.

A great pairing with wine, indeed!

Mission Hill Family Estate is world renowned for its award-winning wines, stunning setting, architecture, and Cuisine du Terroir-influenced Terrace Restaurant. For more information, visit www.missionhillwinery.com or follow the Estate on Twitter @missionhillwine.

I’m not surprised that a lot of people find French wines intimidating. Having made it since the 6th Century B.C., they’ve had around 2,600 years of experience. Here in Ontario we can trace our viticulture all the way back… to the 1800s. And, although we do make some AMAZING wines now, timeline-wise it’s not much of a comparison. Reading about the history of wine in Bordeaux alone, it’s hard to even comprehend the saga that goes into every sip. For instance, did you know that Celtic warriors planted the original Bordeaux vineyards in the 1st Century A.D.? Or that when Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, married Henry Plantagenet in 1152, the new relationship between Aquitaine and the British Isles allowed the export of Bordeaux wines to flourish? (To me, Henry Plantagenet exists solely on the pages of my Complete Works of Shakespeare anthology… but in Bordeaux he swishes and swirls in every wine glass.)

By the 18th Century, England accounted for only 10% of Bordeaux wine exports, due to increasing trade with the Caribbean. And in the 19th Century (whilst we in Ontario were just getting started), in the midst of two disasters: oidium (a powdery mildew) and phylloxera (an insect that fed on the roots and leaves of grapevines), Bordeaux entered a period of great prosperity. This was greatly due to the Industrial Revolution and subsequently, a free-trading spirit.

Through all these struggles, it’s no wonder Bordeaux and other French wine regions sought to protect themselves when, in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, widespread fraud and a drop in prices created another crisis. This is when legislation relating to the geographic origin of wines came into being; quality control was later added to create the appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) system. Based on the concept of terroir, the AOC is the official French certification granted to geographical indications for wine, cheese, butter, and other products. Under French law, it is illegal to manufacture and sell a product that is labelled as being from one AOC region, without complying with the respective criteria.

Terrific Terroir

Bordeaux is the préfecture (or head city) of the département (somewhat like a province) of Gironde, which itself lies in the region of Aquitaine. People who live in Bordeaux are called Bordelais.

So, what makes wine from Bordeaux different from other French regions anyway? The interaction between the climate and the topography found in the Bordeaux region creates localised “mesoclimates” (the area surrounding the vineyard). The resulting quality of Bordeaux’s terroir produces what are commonly known as the Crus. This French term, which means “growth place,” is an indication of the quality of terroir and grape variety – but also of the wine producer’s talent.

The Blend Trend

The distinctive feature of Bordeaux wines is that they are made from a blend of several varieties. It is the complementary qualities of each varietal that give Bordeaux wines their unique finesse. When blending cabernet sauvignon and merlot, for instance, the cab sauv gives the merlot greater aging potential by strengthening its tannic structure, and the merlot tones down the cab sauv’s tannins. The varietals grown in Bordeaux include: merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, sémillon, sauvignon blanc, and muscadelle. These varietals combine to create six wine “families”: Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur; Médoc and Graves; Saint-Emilion / Pomerol / Fronsac; Red Côtes; Dry white; and, Sweet white.

Bordeaux is clearly appropriately labelled as the world’s major wine industry capital. Its wine economy moves around €14.5 Billion per year. And because of its storied past, the jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion is part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Wine me and dine me…

French wines were made to be paired with food. Red Bordeaux are perfect with red meats such as beef, lamb or game, but also pair well with grilled turkey and pasta. Camembert and brie compliment red Bordeaux flavours nicely. Bordeaux sweet wines are amazing with les fromages bleus.

Here’s a quick article from Snooth.com on pairing food with Bordeaux wines.

From Bordeaux to Ontario

So, now that we know where it comes from, and what to serve it with – the question remains, can we find it here?

Yes! Canada is the 7th largest importer of Bordeaux wines, and as of 2009, Bordeaux represented 9% of all French wines sold in Ontario. The LCBO carries a wide selection of Bordeaux wines, ranging from a $10 Beaujolais to such rarities as a 1986 Château Margaux, priced at just over $2,000. They even sell an informational DVD called “Discover Wines of Bordeaux.”

But, the best way to experience Bordeaux wines, short of travelling to France, is to TRY THEM. And where better to do just that, than at a Bordeaux After Work Party? These parties are offered by the Bordeaux Wine Council in partnership with iYellow Wine Club. The next Party takes place on Tuesday July 19th at Marben Restaurant in Toronto. RSVP via the link above if you’d like to attend, or follow the conversation on Twitter with #bordeauxafterwork.

As anyone who’s been to an iYellow wine event can attest, they are definitely sans frontières… and who knows, you might just discover French wines aren’t that intimidating after all.

For more information on Bordeaux wines, visit www.bordeaux.com.