Sep 25 2009
WineCampTO2
This past Tuesday night in Toronto I joined the group gathered at the Fine Wine Reserve for WineCampTO2. My first Camp experience and I had a really great time. Met lots of great people, tasted some really great wines and learned lots from some of the areas best.
First, wine critic/write extraordinaire (and VP of Wine at WineAlign.com) David Lawrason was on-hand to chat about the Ontario wine industry – where it’s been, where it’s going. David touched on the current hot topic of Cellared in Canada wines, which he said outsell VQA wines 6:1 in Ontario. I tried to get David to secretly tell me the winner for Winery of the Year at Canadian Wine Awards, which he just finished judging recently, but no luck. David was tight-lipped about the overall winner. He did share that the pinot noir was the best in the eight years the awards have been running and that Syrah was the ‘killer flight’.
Ann Sperling, Director of Winemaking and Viticulture at Southbrook Vineyards was also at the event and told us of her childhood on a winery in the Okanagan and riding horses through the vineyards – she clearly has wine in her blood (lucky)! Ann she talked about Southbrook’s journey to becoming a bio-dynamic winery, which some say is like being “organic but with hocus pocus”. Whatever it is, it’s working for Ann and her team at Southbrook. We were among the first to taste the 2008 Estate Merlot, which was delightful.
Ann mentioned the Southbrook has a Cellared in Canada license, but abandoned the use of it years ago.
No wine event would be complete without cheese. Krista Broadhurst, a rep for Ravine Vineyard and Assistant Sommelier at Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar brought some amazing selections of cheese to pair with a 2006 Riesling from Ravine. The Riesling was delish on it’s own, but I’m never going to say no to cheese with wine. Krista brought Niagara Gold and 1608 with her – both artisan semi-firm wash-rind cheeses. The 1608 was my favorite.
I can’t finish this without mentioning the AMAZING venue that WineCamp was located in. It was like Fort Knox for wine. Millions of dollars of wine inside individual cellar spaces for those who are really, REALLY serious about their wine collections. One false move and alarms would sound. I would have loved a tour – hopefully at WineCampTO3.
I find it hard to say no to cheese period. But wine and cheese? I would have never stood a chance either! Glad your first camp experience was fun!
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