Issue #45, December 2022

Here we are in the midst of the annual search for stocking stuffers plus something altogether different for December; World Cup fever. It’s one fever to welcome with open arms.  

That said, I thought we should host a friendly; a showdown between some of the great wine-producing countries of the world. The qualifier for getting into this tournament was simply this, if the wine looks good, it’s in. 

So, hurry and grab your usual seat at the old tasting table in beautiful Jim’s Affordable Cellar Stadium and get set for all the thrills and excitement of pulling some corks for the first (and likely last) Jim’s Affordable Cellar World Cup of Wine.

Welcome back to The Cellar.

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Let’s kick things off with Match #1. 

This is a doozy of a tilt between two superpowers of the wine world. 

France vs Chile

Team France has taken to the tasting pitch with this beautiful Syrah, Mourvedre, and Grenache blend. It’s very typical of the French winemakers from Midi to use this lineup of grapes. And why not, they team so well together.

Château Rombeau L’Élevé 
Côtes du Roussillon-Villages 2018
Midi, France
750 ml bottle Vintages #28411
$21.95

This wine is a powerhouse with essences of dark fruit, berries, gunpowder and smoke with a leathery soul. It scored very high at the Decanter World Wine Awards and it definitely has scored early here in the cellar.

Team Chile is a formidable opponent with this Vistamar Gran Reserva from Alto Cachapoal; an amazing micro-climate in the Rapel Valley.

Vistamar Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Cachapoal Valley, Chile
750 ml bottle Vintages #27204
$20.95

Chile has produced a tasty cabernet sauvignon with rich, ripe fruits, some spice and an herbal character. It’s a silky, smooth player that’s full of fruity flavours and lively freshness. This wine will keep France on its toes.

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Match #2 in the schedule is an unlikely matchup, but nonetheless an absolute beaut! 

Australia vs Argentina

Australia is going for an upset win here with its Hollick The Bard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019. 

This entry is captained by the Hollick family who began developing their vineyard in 1975. The wine celebrates the life of famous Aussie poet John Shaw Neilson who once lived in a cottage where the grapes now grow.

Hollick The Bard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
South Australia
750 ml bottle Vintages # 18525
$16.95

Neilson would wax poetic about this classic cab with its ripe fruit, vanilla and tannic backbone. Sadly, this wine is a tad difficult to find. It gets a yellow card for that. But it’s worth the search though.

Argentina has really come to play with Cadus Tupungato Malbec 2018. The grapes for this wine grow at high altitudes in the Gaultallary wine region. The vines are situated at the foot of the Andes as high as 1600 metres above sea level. This altitude means increased levels of sunlight so the grapes produce more tannins and the wine produced from them have intense colour and increased longevity.

Cadus Tupungato Appellation Malbec 2018
Mendoza, Argentina
750 ml bottle Vintages # 482992
$20.95

By all accounts, Cadus is a superb, full-bodied Malbec. Vintages Magazine praises it with aromas of aniseed and a palate that is rich, dense and textured. 

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We could continue to enjoy that Malbec for a while but it looks like Match #3 is about to begin. 

Canada vs England

This is one sweet matchup, literally. 

Canada has fielded one of its signature products; ice wine. Now, before we get too far into this one, you should know I haven’t abandoned the ‘affordable’ part of our raison d’être. Nor did I over-indulge in that Malbec. Simply put, ice wine is damn pricey! But there’s a good reason.

Canada produces some of the world’s very best ice wine. And much of it comes from Ontario because production can only happen in areas with below-freezing weather conditions. Ice wine is produced by leaving the grapes on the vine until a sustained temperature of at least -8 is reached. The grapes are hand-picked and pressed before they thaw.

Low yield + labour intensive = $$$$. The result is juice that’s high in sugar and acidity with rich flavour. 

Lakeview Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine 2017
Niagara, Ontario
200ml bottle Vintages #471813
$39.95

This Lakeview Cellars Icewine is a rich burgundy colour in the glass. It wafts of ripe black cherries and black currant jam. This is a compote of liquid luxury. 

A little splash with your Chelsea Bun on Christmas morning would be a fine idea. It would also be a special gift for someone special. 

England is giving Canada a run for its money with a unique wine that we’ve never seen in the cellar. While we would normally associate the U.K. with dark ale, bangers and mash, so too is it the land of the sweet taste of Mead. 

Mead is made my fermenting honey and mixing it with fruits, spices, grains or hops. It is often called Honey Wine or the ‘Nectar of the Gods’. It was a popular drink in medieval Ireland. In the Old English epic poem Beowulf, the Danish warriors drank mead. But while it was a drink for warriors and Vikings, it’s just fine for kith and kin.

Moniack Mead
Devon, England
750 ml Vintages # 987263
$19.95

Moniack Mead is a classic British mead; rich and sweet with generous aromas of honey, dried apricot and spice. You can serve it chilled or over ice but heated, it’ll make Christmas that much warmer. A little sipper while watching ‘A Christmas Carol’ or ‘Elf’ would be just perfect.

Well, the three matches we’ve covered are probably going to shootouts. And that could take more time than we have here. So, I’m going to leave it to you to determine the winners at the JAC World Cup of Wine. 

One thing is certain. When wine is on the line, this definitely is ‘the beautiful game’.

Before we leave the cellar for Christmas break, I’d like to act like a Pine and get a little sappy. Thanks so much for another year of interest and your monthly visits to our tasting sanctuary. I’d be kind of lonely down here without you. 

I wish you the happiest and healthiest of times. 

See you in 2023.

Until then, keep your glass of wine close and your friends even closer.

Jim

Our readership is continuing to grow! Thanks to all the new sign-ups to my web page where this newsletter is published each month as a blog. If you know anyone who is interested in accessing it, they just have to visit jimsaffordablecellar.ca to submit their email. They’ll be notified each month when each new issue is published. Please let me know if you’d like to share some wine you love with the rest of us. roamingbuffalo44@gmail.com 

Issue #44, November 2022

Ahh, November. It’s a month to take refuge in the corner of a sofa with a glass of sump’m special and get lost in a book. As I mentioned last time we sat around the old oak tasting table, a hearty wine in one hand would do the trick and perhaps a hearty book in the other. You’re probably thinking, what the heck is a ‘hearty’ book Jim? Truth is, I don’t really know. So how about a classic Hardy Boys book? 

The Hardy Boys was a widely-read mystery series (66 books) first published in 1927 featuring the amateur sleuths Frank and Joe Hardy. The books were written under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon, but several ghostwriters actually wrote the stories.

One of those most notably was a Canadian; Charles Leslie McFarlane, from Carlton Place near Ottawa, who wrote 19 of the first 25 stories. 

He was born in October of 1902 and died 45 Septembers ago in Oshawa. 

So, in honour of Leslie McFarlane (father of one-time hockey commentator Brian McFarlane, btw) let’s meet three hearty wines for November presented with a tip of the wine glass to the Hardy Boys.

Welcome back to The Cellar!

If our first wine was in a Hardy Boys book the story might be called,

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THE SECRET OF THE Dão.

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Catedral Reserva Dão
Dão, Portugal, 
750 ml LCBO #21981 
$12.75 

The Secret of the Dão is the story of one, Catedral Reserva. It comes to us from the mountainous Dão (rhymes with ‘now’) region of Portugal; one of the oldest and most established wine-producing regions in the country. The Dão is the home of the Touriga Nacional grape; the principal ingredient that makes port, which for me, puts Catedral Reserva in the ‘hearty’ category.

Frank and Joe Hardy were a tad young for wine but their famous private investigator father, Fenton Hardy would for sure have uncovered this beauty. 

It’s a deep ruby colour with aromas of smoke, licorice, prunes and spice. To taste it is an adventure in lush, round fruit flavours with enough tannin to give it just the right amount of heft.

I think the secret is, how do they make such a nice wine for such an affordable price? For now, that will have to remain a secret.

Our next wine presented with a Hardy Boys twist is,

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THE MYSTERY OF THE OLD DOG

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Shanahans The Old Dog Shiraz 2019
South Australia
750 ml VINTAGES # 13030
$21.95

The story goes that Shanahan’s The Old Dog is a tribute to the grandfather of winemaker John Harris. According to Mr. Harris, James (Jim) Shanahan was a hardworking, kind-hearted, wise and wonderful man. Atta boy Jim. 

Apparently, he was also a man of words. 

He used to say, “It’s the old dog for the hard road and the puppy dog for the footpath.” I think the mystery is, what does that mean exactly?

However, there’s no mystery to the wine. One taste and you immediately understand it as a classic full-bodied Shiraz. It’s loaded with ripe, dark fruit, and savoury spice flavours. But its leading characteristic is how smooth it is.

If butter could be wine, this would definitely be the wine. No matter what, The Old Dog is worthy of being any wine lover’s best friend.

Okay. It’s time to pull our next hearty wine, à la Hardy Boys, off the shelf.

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THE PHANTOM BOTTLE

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Mallory & Benjamin Talmard Mâcon-Uchizy 2021
Burgundy, France
750 ml VINTAGES# 733956
$18.95

The name Talmard has been listed in French wine-growing records dating as far back as the 17th century. So, no wonder this is a classically-styled Chardonnay. Simply put, the wine-makers of Burgundy wrote the book on Chardonnay. Not to mention, Pinot Noir but that’s another story.

The grapes for Mâcon-Uchizy 2021 were harvested from the southern part of Burgundy. It almost seems that as a thank you for letting them live in this beautiful part of the world, those grapes have given us a wine that is full-bodied with ripe, soft flavours, of citrus and spice.

It would be excellent with oven-baked trout or a hearty, roasted chicken. 

Now here’s why this story is called, The Phantom Bottle. The bottle is out there, but it’s hard to find. You’ll just have to channel your inner Hardy Boys and do a little investigating on lcbo.com using the vintages number shown below the bottle.

Wow, this sleuthing business is grueling! According to Brian McFarlane, his father regarded writing the Hardy Boys books as a nuisance.

“My father talked about having to write another of those cursed books, in order to earn another $100 to buy coal for the furnace. And he never read them over afterward.” 

I hope at least that one day he came to understand the escape and thrilling, sense of adventure he gave to generations of young readers. Thank you, Franklin W. Dixon.

As for us wine sleuths, we’ve worked hard this get-together. Good thing we’ve had the sustenance of three tasty wines to remember for a blustery November. 

Thanks to my son Cam for reminding me about Frank and Joe Hardy. And thanks again to my pal Brian Hickling for always making The Cellar look so inviting. 

See you in a month for our festive issue. 

Until then, keep your glass of wine close and your friends even closer.

Jim

Our readership is continuing to grow! Thanks to all the new sign-ups to my web page where this newsletter is published each month as a blog. If you know anyone who is interested in accessing it, they just have to visit jimsaffordablecellar.ca to submit their email. They’ll be notified each month when each new issue is published. Please let me know if you’d like to share some wine you love with the rest of us. roamingbuffalo44@gmail.com 

Issue #43, October 2022

October 31st; the night when children of all ages like to temporarily assume a different persona and wardrobe up to become unrecognizable as their usual selves.

Michael from two doors down might just knock on your door on Halloween night as Max from Stranger Things. Or little Zoey from around the corner could arrive on your porch as Zuul from Ghostbusters.

But presenting yourself with a different name isn’t just the domain of October’s trick-or-treaters. 

It also applies to how various wine grapes are identified around the world, not just at Halloween but every month of the year. What a grape is known as in Australia, can be called something else entirely in say, France. 

So, make yourself comfy around the old, tasting table as we look behind the mask of the double agents of the wine world; the grapes we love, that have more than one identity.

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Welcome back to the cellar.  

A wine lover from Italy and a wine lover from California meet at a wine lovers’ convention. They both decide to enter the ‘Sommelier for a Minute’ contest and try to guess the wine while blindfolded. A correct answer wins a ‘Sommelier for a Minute’ t-shirt. 

They are both given a sample of the same red wine. It’s jammy and bursting with aromas and flavours of blackberry, plums and black pepper. 

The Californian puts his nose to the glass. He sips the wine and swirls it around in his mouth. Then, quite confidently he declares, “For sure, this is a Zinfandel.” 

The Italian closes her eyes and deeply inhales the aromas from her glass. She takes a slow drink of the wine. A knowing smile appears on her face and she says,

“No. This wine is none other than, a Primitivo!”

They both remove their blindfolds as the smiling attendant tells them, “Congratulations! It is indeed a Primitivo.  And it’s a Zinfandel! 

They are one and the same grape.”

He presents them both with a ‘Sommelier for a Minute’t-shirt.  The short-term Sommeliers are thrilled.

Years ago, I discovered I quite liked Zinfandel; my wife too. Wait. I mean of course, I quite like my wife! Oh god, a ‘Who’s on First’ moment. 

What I’m trying to say is, my wife discovered she quite liked Zinfandel too. At any rate, sometime later we both found that we quite liked Primitivo. And as the two wine lovers at the convention found out, there’s a very good reason.

Primitivo is a dark-skinned grape originally grown in Croatia but now grown widely in the southern Italian region of Puglia. It was introduced to the U.S. in the early 1800s under the name Zinfandel. It became very popular and soon was referred to as America’s national grape. But American pride took a bit of a hit when DNA analysis proved that Zinfandel and Primitivo were in fact, the same varietal. 

Here is an opportunity to try a little taste test of our own with these two wines. We now know they’re both made with the same grape. Zinfandel in California. Primitivo in Italy. But see if you can tell which is which. 

Sorry, there are no t-shirts in the offing.

McManis Zinfandel
California, USA
750 ml LCBO# 256735
$19.95

Matané Primitivo 2020
Puglia, Italy
LCBO# 434290
$15.95

My take on these two wines is for sure they have very similar aroma and taste characteristics. But their differences lie not in the grape they’ve been made with but in how they have been made. Simply, the climate and winemakers in Puglia are different than those in California. 

Some have described Primitivo as powerful and Zinfandel as soft, even voluptuous.   

As for me, I would describe them both this way; “Top me up, please.”

Now it’s time to move on to yet another grape that answers to more than one name.

Shiraz and Syrah. 

Of course, if you’re a fan of wine from Australia you are quite familiar with Shiraz. But if you like wine from the Rhone in France, you are enjoying the juice of the same grape, except there it’s called Syrah. 

As with Primitivo (or Zinfandel), this grape is influenced by the climate where it is grown. In moderate climates like the Rhone and Washington state, Syrah produces medium to full-bodied tannic wines with notes of blackberry, mint and pepper.

In the heat of Australia, Shiraz is full-bodied but with softer tannins, jammy fruit, licorice and leather. I can almost hear the Australian accent in the word Shiraz.

Here are two fine examples.

Sidewood Shiraz 2019
South Australia
750 ml LCBO# 446146
$21.95

Sidewood Shiraz 2019 is all about dark berries and wafting herbs, velvety tannins and classy bitters. It’s definitely the full-meal deal in a bottle. Bon appetite.

And now for Shiraz’s alias. Syrah.

Louis Bernard Louis comes from the Rhone Valley. While it’s not a wine made only from Syrah, (here it’s blended with Grenache), Syrah’s signature is quite evident with flavours of cherry, plum, licorice and apple wood.

Louis Bernard Louis Côtes du Rhône-Villages 2020
Rhone, France
750 ml LCBO# 561290
$16.95

It’s time to move on to our next split-personality; Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio.

Pinot Gris is actually a mutation of the Pinot Noir grape and dates back to the middle ages in France. It was introduced to Italy early in the 19th century where the Italian translation of Pinot Grigio was adopted.

Although we’re talking about one grape, its different personalities become evident in different wine-making styles. That is, Pinot Gris is usually based on the French Alsace style; riper and richer, with more alcohol and sometimes a little sweetness.

Pinot Grigio shows its Italian side in wines that are lighter and simpler with less alcohol.

As you might expect, I just happen to have a bottle of each for us to try.

Schreckbichl Colterenzio Pinot Grigio 2020
Alto Adige, Italy
750 ml  LCBO# 293399
$19.95

Wunsch & Mann Premiere Selection Pinot Gris 2019
Alsace, France
750 ml  LCBO# 25334
$21.95

Well, that makes it a whopping six bottles we’ve been through. I think we better call it a day. And someone call me an Uber. 

But before we depart, back to Halloween. If you’re preparing yourself for the hordes of trick-or-treaters at the end of the month, you might want to have a glass of courage by your side. Perhaps a Zinfantivo will do the trick. No doubt it will be a treat.

That’s it for this time. See you in a month when we delve into some hearty wines to warm us when the skies of November turn gloomy. (Thanks GL)

Until then, keep your glass of wine close and your friends even closer.

Jim

Thanks to all the new sign-ups to my web page where this newsletter is published each month as a blog. If you know anyone who is interested in accessing it, they just have to visit jimsaffordablecellar.ca to submit their email. They’ll be notified each month, as will you, when each new issue is published. And the newsletter is a little more reader-friendly there. Please let me know if you’d like to share some wine you love with the rest of us. roamingbuffalo44@gmail.com 

Issue #41, August 2022

As we work our way through the lazy days of August, I feel it is time once again to imbed this month’s wine choices in a little wine story. I hope this is good company for you with a glass of something and a lounge somewhere in the shade.

Forgive me for veering from our regular routine as I bring you,

Vintage Edwina

The note was short.

With that, the lawyer executing my Aunt Edwina’s estate handed me the paper he’d been reading from. The words were hand-written with her perfect, cursive penmanship. Then he pushed over a plain white envelope containing the keys. 

I was my Aunt’s only nephew and really, the only family member she ever chose to spend much time with. There was her brother, my Uncle Seymour, whom she barely tolerated and would only visit because of his well-stocked wine cellar, and only if I went along as her guest and driver. 

A few weeks after leaving the lawyer’s office, I visited the cottagey home. It was too early to know if I would give up my rental and move in. But this visit was the first step to figuring that out. Also, I was intrigued by how she had signed off her message, “Drink it in.” 

It was the smallest house on the street. But the most charming. Guarded from the quiet road by decorative shrubs and ornamental trees, the bungalow was clad in wedge-wood blue clapboard with crisp, white trim. 

Inside, the first thing I noticed was a shiny, odd brass key in the bottom of a glass decanter on her dining table. A note was tucked under the decanter with my name on it.

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Mud House Sauvignon Blanc 2021
Malborough, South Island, New Zealand
VINTAGES#190454
$19.95

After a hurried glass of the very tasty Mud House, with key in hand and very curious, I went to the door that lead downstairs. There was no key-hole and the knob turned freely. Down a short flight, I found myself in a tidy utility space with the usual accessories; washer, dryer, ironing board, some shelves with cleaning supplies, a compact gas furnace and a water heater. It was a small basement for a bungalow but I didn’t think much of it.

Her iron was perched on a wobbly, padded board. Out of habit I placed it securely in the wall mount nearby. As a boy, I nearly brained our cat by knocking an iron off its board.

About to leave I turned back to the iron on the wall. Had I seen something without realizing it? I lifted the iron. Just above the white bracket was a small tarnished brass plate with a circular hole. The key fit. I turned it left, then right.

A mechanized clunk sounded behind me, like it came from behind a wall; the wall with shelves holding various detergents, sponges, buckets and rolls of fresh paper towel. I turned around and moved over towards the shelves just as the wall they were mounted on remarkably swung inward revealing a large, dimly lit room. 

Stepping in, I saw that it wasn’t just a room. It was a wine cellar! 

“Drink it in,” suddenly made sense.

The air was cool. On three walls before me were rustic floor-to-ceiling, open cabinet shelves. Bottles lay neatly in each. There must have been 300 of them resting before me. What an amazing room! An old oak cask stood on end on my right just inside the secret door. On top of it awaited a letter. 

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La Chimera d’Albegna Raffaello Sangiovese 2018
Tuscany, Italy
VINTAGES#25797
$14.95

I did as she told me. While sipping the wine, I read on.

I looked over to the shelf he had identified where three bottles lay. Anxiously, I continued reading Aunt Edwina’s letter.

They were covered with a layer of dust. The labels looked stained and smudged by time with faded words in the script. 

The bottles just looked important. Beside them, lay two unsealed envelopes. I took a folded note out of the first. It was another note from my grandfather to my aunt.

Incredulous, I quickly opened the other envelope. Inside, was another note. 

This one is from Edwina.

I stood there in the cool cellar grappling with disbelief and a case of the shivers while reading a final message from my aunt.

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HER Shiraz 2020
Western Cape, South Africa
VINTAGES# 24247
$14.95

That day I left 3 Burgundy Lane for the first time knowing it now held not only the indelible memories of a very rare aunt, but also the rarest of treasures in a secret place my grandfather simply called, the office.

The End

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I hope you enjoyed that wine-infused detour. While the story was imagined, the price paid for the 1945 Romanée-Conti is fact.

That’s it for now. As ‘The Happenings’ sang in their 1966 hit, See You in September.

Until then, keep your glass of wine close and your friends even closer.

Jim

Thanks to everyone for signing up to my web page where you’ll see this each month as a blog. If you know anyone who is interested in following the newsletter, they just have to visit jimsaffordablecellar.ca to submit their email. They’ll be notified each month, as will you when each new issue is published. And the newsletter is a little more reader-friendly there. Please let me know if you’d like to share some wine you love with the rest of us. roamingbuffalo44@gmail.com 

Issue #40, July 2022

A little over a year ago, we were joined in the cellar by an expert of all that is wine, my friend, Marcel Bregstein.  This knowledgeable fellow is a sommelier and the Assistant General Manager at one of Toronto’s most beautiful places; The Toronto Hunt Club, perched on the bluffs overlooking our magnificent Lake Ontario.

Well, I’ve invited him back to the cellar. This time to talk with us about his favourite type of wine; the sparkling kind.

As I hinted last time, this is a very special month indeed. My daughter is getting married in just a few days! So, what better reason to pop some corks and get to know more about bubbles with the help of our special guest.

Welcome back to the cellar.

Marcel earned his sommelier certification in 2003. To his great credit, he is one of just five Canadians to be inducted into the L’Ordre De Coteaux de Champagne, a Champagne fraternity that began in 1650. He was given the title of, Chevalier. 

We couldn’t have a better guide to help us sip our way through the effervescent world of wine.

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Jim: It’s great to see you, Marcel. Welcome back! I’m thrilled you’re able to join us again for our 40th issue of Jim’s Affordable Cellar. 

Marcel: Thank you so much. It’s an honour to do this.

Jim: I would love for you to tell us about some of the differences between Champagne, Prosecco and Cava.

Marcel: Well, the differences come from the grapes, the processes, the colour and the taste. Champagne is produced using the traditional method called Champenoise, as is Cava. The makers of Prosecco use the Charmat method (after Eugène Charmat) which calls for fermenting their wine in a large steel tank instead of the second fermentation in the bottle, used in the Champenoise method.

Jim: If I placed a glass of each in front of you, how would you identify which is the Champagne, which is the Cava and which is the Prosecco?

Marcel: The first thing I would look at would be the colour of the three wines. Because the Champenoise method would produce a darker juice than the Charmat method. The Prosecco would be a little more green than the darker, yellow colour in the Champagne or Cava. 

Then the bubbles. Definitely, the Champagne and Cava will have smaller bubbles and they will rise more rapidly than the bigger bubbles and slower speed you see in Prosecco.

In terms of comparing Cava to Champagne, I will find that Champagne is more sophisticated, better balanced and has no disrespect to Cava winemakers, but there is more elegance, more finesse and a really complex taste, certainly in a high-level Champagne but even an entry-level Champagne will have some of those components.

Jim: What about the variety of grapes used?

Marcel: Champagne uses one white (Chardonnay) and two red varietals (Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir). Cava is technically made with white varietals. Prosecco is made primarily with a different grape entirely; Glera. 

Jim: If Champagne uses red grapes, why doesn’t it take on a red colour?

Marcel: Because there is no maceration, in other words, no contact with the skins. Unless it’s a rosé Champagne, then there will be contact with the skins.

Jim: Does sparkling wine taste better in a flute?

Marcel: Yes it does. As a matter of fact, most wine will taste better in a flute. The fact is, the opening at the mouth of the glass is small, and we are able to smell more of the juice. And 80 percent of the taste, is smell. So, when we’re putting that small opening up to our noses, we’re really getting to enjoy the nose of the wine more than in a glass that is more open. That is why using a flute is best.

The other factor is that you want to keep the bubbles alive as long as you can and the shape of the flute allows them to do so.

Jim: Has anyone ever tried to count the number of bubbles in a bottle of Champagne?

Marcel: Yes! And I actually knew the number. Let me think about this……It was 49 million bubbles in a bottle of Champagne. And in a glass, 400 bubbles are released per second.

Jim: On a dollar-per-bubble basis, Champagne is pretty inexpensive then. Joking aside, what would your ultimate food pairing be with Champagne?

Marcel: Okay, to be really honest I think Champagne is probably the best pairing for food overall. The reason is because of the acidity; the freshness and the bubbles also activate your palette. 

I always tell people if you don’t have Champagne, at least drink soda water before you eat so it activates your palette.

Quick story. When I was doing my international sommelier certification, when we had to pair wine with food in that section of the exam, I could have said Champagne, Champagne, Champagne with every one of the dishes and I wouldn’t have been wrong.

But of course, people would always look to Champagne to go with appetizers, for lighter style cuisine and especially with seafood.

Jim: What is the rarest Champagne you’ve ever had?

Marcel: I had the opportunity to taste a 30-year-old vintage Charles de Cazanove Champagne, which was terrific. I’ve tasted a Dom Perignon from ’66. I had the honour to sabre a very special bottle for Mr. Taittinger. So, I’ve been really lucky.

Jim: Speaking of sabrage, how many bottles have you sabred in a minute?

Marcel: For the benefit of the Michael Garron Hospital, I challenged the sabrage record of 47. I was sponsored for $1,000 a bottle and I did 55 in a minute. An American from New York broke the record after and set the new record of 66 in a minute. If everything goes well, this fall I’ll be doing a benefit for all the frontline workers at Sunnybrook Hospital and hopefully I’ll do 68 in one minute. 

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While he was sharpening his sabre I asked Marcel to give some thought to a recommendation for an affordable, good-quality Champagne, Cava and Prosecco. 

Here are his picks. 

Champagne Victoire Brut Prestige
Champagne, France
LCBO#:190025, 750 ml bottle
$41.10

That bottle is a tad over our ‘affordable’ threshold, so Marcel offered this thought.

Marcel: It is also important to mention that “Crémant” is really good value. It is made in other regions in France using the same Champenoise method used in Champagne.

Crémant de Bourgogne is made with two of the varietals in Champagne “Pinot Noir and Chardonnay” So it’s as close as it can get to “Champagne” for less than half of the price.

Veuve Ambal Cremant De Bourgogne Grande Cuvee Brut
Burgundy, France
LCBO# 429688, 750 ml bottle
$21.05

This seems like a must-try to me. Moving to Spain, here’s Marcel’s Cava reco.

Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Cava
Spain
LCBO# 216960, 750 ml bottle
$17.00

And finally, here is Marcel’s Prosecco pic. By the way, I have a bottle on the go in the fridge at the moment. It’s soft yellowy green in the flute. Crisp, light and delicious tastes of green apple with hints of lemon zest.  

Villa Sandi Prosecco Il Fresco, DOC Treviso
Veneto, Italy
LCBO# 394387
$16.95

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There we go. Four bottles to become more familiar with. Clearly, we have our tasting work cut out for us. 

Release the Bubbles! 

Sadly, I should let Marcel get back to treating the members at The Hunt Club to his deep wine experience and his ‘sparkling’ personality. 

Speaking of entertaining, next month he’s shooting a pilot for a series about wine. I have a feeling there’s a bottle of Champagne in his future.

Jim: Thank you once again Marcel for joining us here in The Cellar.

Marcel: Absolutely. Call me any time James. I’m happy to chat. 

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That’s it for this month. What a pleasure it was to learn about Champagne, Cava and Prosecco with the great help of Marcel. 

I’d like to keep this get together going, but I’m a little pre-occupied with something else; becoming a father of the bride. How exciting.

See you in August.

Until then, keep your glass of wine close and your friends even closer.

Jim

Thanks to everyone for signing up to my web page where you’ll see this each month as a blog. If you know anyone who is interested in following the newsletter, they just have to visit jimsaffordablecellar.ca to submit their email. They’ll be notified each month, as will you, when each new issue is published. And the newsletter is a little more reader friendly there. Please let me know if you’d like to share some wine you love with the rest of us. roamingbuffalo44@gmail.com 

Issue #39, June 2022

In the last few months, I’ve found myself in a few conversations regarding two controversial ingredients that are in the wine we quaff. Sugar and sulfites. I know you’re probably thinking this guy needs to find more interesting things to talk about. You’re right, but in the mean time I thought we should bring these two rascals to the cellar. I’m no, Bill Nye The Science Guy, but I’ll do my best to make sense of the two S’s. 

So, put on your lab coats and get comfortable around the old, oak tasting table while we fill our beakers with a little viticultural science and of course, three delicious and affordable wines to wash it down with.

Welcome back to the cellar.

I’ve flipped a cork to decide which ‘S’ we’ll tackle first. It’s come up Sulfites. 

Most bottles we pick up at the LCBO have a little poetic disclaimer on the back that goes something like this; ‘Contains sulfites’. 

Of course, this is hardly appealing and many of us wonder why it has to be?  “We don’t need no stinkin’ sulfites.”

Well actually, there is no way around it. Unless heaven forbid, we don’t drink wine. Wine is fermented using yeast, which naturally produces sulfites, so almost all wine contains them. However, most winemakers do add sulfur dioxide (sulfites) in their winemaking process. They do so to protect against oxidation, to prevent the growth of unwanted micro-organisms and to preserve colour. Basically, sulfites are preservatives and antioxidants that keep bacteria from ruining the wine and significantly increasing its shelf life. 

What if you don’t want any added sulfites?  In the United States, wines labeled as organic cannot contain added sulfites. Naturally occurring sulfites must not exceed 10 parts per million (ppm). So, is organic wine the answer? Yes. Well sort of. Because some wines may be labeled, ‘made with organic grapes.’ Which means they may have sulfites added later during processing. And I have yet to see a bottle that states ‘no sulfites added’.  

In Europe and Canada organic wine is defined as wine made from organically grown grapes which also may contain added sulfites. The reality is, they’re as tough to avoid as black flies in May. 

Look for organic wine that clearly states, ‘no sulfites added.’ Or look up the winery that makes the juice you’re interested in and see what they have to say about their process. 

Bonterra Organic Vineyards of Mendocino County, California produces 100% organic and biodynamic wines. I spoke with someone at the winery who told me they do add small amounts of sulfites to their wine but lower amounts than most wineries.  

Bonterra Organic Cabernet Sauvignon
California, USA
VINTAGES# 342428
$21.95

This wine is a blend of grapes, predominantly Cab Sauvignon. It has aromas of fresh cherry, currants and raspberry and vanilla. In the glass, you will find flavours of cherry, mocha and currants. 

It has a fair bit of flavour for sure. So, if you want an organic wine you can bet your Birkenstocks on, this is a good one to spend some time with.

Now it’s on to our other guest ingredient; Sugar. 

The truth is, sugar found in grapes is at the heart of what makes winemaking possible. Without it, we simply would not have wine. Ripe grapes naturally contain sugars but some grapes are naturally higher in sugar than others. For example, the Zinfandel (Primitivo) grape has more natural sugars than Pinot Noir.

When the juice of grapes is turned into wine, most of the sugars are converted into alcohol through fermentation. But some sugars remain after the fermentation process is complete. This is called residual sugar and it’s the primary source of a wine’s sugar content. 

Generally, the residual sugar content after fermentation is inversely proportionate to alcohol level. So, higher alcohol wines have less sugar, and lower alcohol wines have more sugar.

Interesting.

If the winemaker stops the fermentation process early, the wine will have higher amounts of sugar and less alcohol. If they ferment longer, the wine will have lower sugar and more alcohol. C’est ca.

Low-sugar reds to look for are Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah/Shiraz. Low sugar whites are Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Viognier.

We took our sweet time about it, but let’s have our second glass of wine; a white featuring one of those aforementioned less sweet grapes; a very nice Pinot Grigio from New Zealand. 

Oyster Bay Pinot Grigio
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
VINTAGES# 326090
$19.95

Sugar Content: 4 g/L,

Pinot Grigio, also known as Pinot Gris is of the species Vitis vinifera. (Have I been blinded by science?) I read that Pinot may have been given its name because it grows in small pine cone-shaped clusters.

This Oyster Bay Pinot Grigio is floral with tastes of lush grapefruit, yellow plums and refreshing minerality. Perfect for sipping on a hot summer afternoon while brushing up on the periodic table of the elements. 

Moving on. 

Another bottle has been patiently waiting to catch our attention. This is a delicious red that features another low sugar grape; the temperamental yet classy Pinot Noir. This of course is the great grape of Burgundy. But it also seems to quite like the idea of growing in Oregon.  

Underwood Pinot Noir 2020
Oregon, U.S.A.
VINTAGES# 421198
$22.95

Sugar Content: 2 g/L

Pinot Noir’s thin skins and low phenolic compounds (that’s my inner scientist talking again) produce mostly light-coloured, medium-bodied, low-tannin wines. But they can be the most flavourful wines made. 

The Underwood Pinot Noir before us comes bearing elegant flavour gifts of cherries, currants, mushrooms and forest floor after a rain; an enchanted forest for sure. 

In case you couldn’t tell, I like this wine.

Okay, well there we go. Although the cellar isn’t much of a laboratory, I hope you enjoyed our study of the two S’s. And our discovery of three more wines that feature the third S: scrumptious.

See you in July when for very special reasons, we’ll do a deep dive into Champagne, Prosecco and Cava. If anyone has any faves, let me know.

Until next month, keep your glass of wine close and your friends even closer.

Jim

Thanks to everyone for signing up to my web page where you’ll see this each month as a blog. If you know anyone who is interested in following the newsletter, they just have to visit jimsaffordablecellar.ca to submit their email. They’ll be notified each month, as will you, when each new issue is published. And the newsletter is a little more reader-friendly there. Please let me know if you’d like to share some wine you love with the rest of us. roamingbuffalo44@gmail.com 

Issue #38, May 2022

I hope I’m not just talking about me, but we spend quite a bit of time thinking about and celebrating wine. Right? But more than a little credit is due to that 2½ inch stopper that has quietly and beautifully been doing its job preserving and protecting wine since the 1600s. 

The unassuming cork wine stopper, some say invented by the Benedictine monk, Dom Perignon (he must have had a bubbly personality) is sourced from the bark of cork oak trees in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Algeria.

Cork oaks are first harvested when they are 25 years old and every nine years from then on. Only after the third harvest is the bark of sufficient quality to be turned into wine corks.  This process yields high-quality cork while enabling the trees to live healthy lives for more than 300 years.

Harvesting cork bark requires great skill as the bark is carefully peeled away from the trunk and cut into sheets. The oak trees are not cut down, and only about half of their bark is removed at any time. My wife and I travelled through Portugal by train a few years ago and we wondered at the time what was happening with these semi-naked trees. Little did we know we were seeing a tradition that’s been at work for centuries. 

As you know, more and more we are seeing fewer and fewer corks at work in the wine bottles we buy. It has been suggested this is due to a depletion of the cork forests. However, it is also believed the cork plantations in Europe are sustainable and healthy. And that perhaps the wine industry is moving to twist tops and artificial corks as a cost-cutting measure.

At any rate, the last thing I want is to get caught in the middle of a philosophical cork war. All I know is I look forward to pulling a real cork versus twisting a top. So, this month down here in the cellar we’ll meet three wines that are good, that are affordable and still use that most wonderful of stoppers which adds to the ceremony of opening a bottle and the anticipation of pouring the wine it contains.

Welcome back to the cellar.

Our first bottle comes from the Viña Tarapacá Winery in Chile. 

Here’s the cork, along with one of my ancient corkscrews that resides down here in the cellar. 

Vina Tarapaca is one of Chile’s oldest wineries. It was founded when Canada was just seven years into being a country and lives happily producing excellent wine in the foothills of the Andes.

Tarapacá Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon
Maipo Valley, Chile
VINTAGES #18721
$17.95

This tasty Tarapacá is a generous full-bodied offering of black fruits and earthiness. There might even be a hint of mint and chocolate in there. It has a healthy tannic quality giving it depth and character. This wine would be great with meat, like grilled lamb or steak or this traditional Chilean dish; Charquicán. (char–key-can)

This is a flavorful Chilean stew that was originally made with dried and salted llama meat, pumpkin, onions, sweet corn, and potatoes. Modern versions often use ground beef instead of llama meat (due to its strong flavour). The dish is topped with a fried egg. 

Delish I’m sure. 

It’s time to pull another cork.

This one, from a bottle of Gérard Bertrand Réserve Spéciale Viognier.

Viognier (Vio-nyay) is primarily grown in the southeastern region of France known as Roussillon. It can range in intensity from light and spritzy with a touch of bitterness to bold and creamy.

Gérard Bertrand Réserve Spéciale Viognier 2020
Product of France
750 ml bottle VINTAGES #147975
$14.95

This viognier is mellow yellow in the glass. It’s nicely floral, with tones of peach, orange, honeysuckle and apricot.

Gérard Bertrand Réserve Spéciale Viognier 2020 is rich and dry and vibrantly refreshing. Great with grilled salmon and perfect for a sunny, afternoon sip and kip.  

Oh look, another cork has been pulled from duty.

It’s fresh out of a red from the Rhone.

This Rhone beauty is a melding of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre; the quintessential blend of this famed French valley. I love this mix. It’s full and tasty and smooooooth. 

Winemakers create distinctive GSM wines by mixing up the percentages of each of these grapes. While Grenache is the predominant grape in most GSM blends, some winemakers will use more Syrah than Grenache. Generally, Mourvèdre, the boldest of the three grapes, is added in small amounts to the blend.

Whoever said ‘two’s company but three’s a crowd’ clearly hadn’t tried this triumph of winemaking. Here’s the bottle.

Château Le Grand Retour Plan de Dieu Côtes du Rhône-Villages 2019
Product of France
750 ml bottle VINTAGES #224592
$16.95

This is an elegant and complex wine that comes from 45-year-old vines. It’s rich and smooth with lots of fruitiness, spice, and leather. I have a feeling it will probably get better with age so maybe pop a couple in your cellar for a year or two from now. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to open one today. Actually, we just did.

This style of wine goes with a lot of different dishes. Certainly, red meat choices are good but also cheese plates, pasta with veggies and many different chicken recipes will work nicely too.

But it also goes perfectly in a glass with nothing more than the company of you and yours. 

Well, we’ve put that old corkscrew through its paces. There are so many fancy cork pullers on the market these days. Some look more like microscopes than something needed to remove a cork from a bottle. But I love the simplicity of a cork puller from the past. Yes, a little more muscle may be required but what a great sound we are rewarded with when that cork is freed. 

It is the sound of escape. Maybe to wherever the bottles we open have come from. But perhaps it is also the cork reminding us of the place from where it likely came; 

a forest of marvelous and ancient cork oak trees somewhere in Portugal.

See you in June.

Until then, keep your glass of wine close and your friends even closer.

Jim

Thanks to everyone for signing up to my web page where you’ll see this each month as a blog. If you know anyone who is interested in following the newsletter, they just have to visit jimsaffordablecellar.ca to submit their email. They’ll be notified each month, as will you when each new issue is published. And the newsletter is a little more reader-friendly there. Please let me know if you’d like to share some wine you love with the rest of us. roamingbuffalo44@gmail.com 

Issue #37 April, 2022

Needless to say, we’ve all been cooped up inside for a rather long winter. However, we’ve done a pretty good job of making the best of it, by spending some quality time down in ‘The Affordable Cellar’.  

That said, I thought we might like to get out of our cool, comfort zone down here, stretch our legs and experience a few other cellars that most of us have probably never had the opportunity to visit.  

These would happen to be some of the more interesting wine cellars in the world. And while they certainly are interesting, they also have a certain ‘you have got to be kidding’ quality to them.  So, off we go to try some wine and see some of the ways serious oenophiles of the world choose to spend serious money to keep their wine. 

It has been said the best way to know a person is to walk a mile in their shoes. Maybe the best way to know a wine lover is to visit their cellar. 

Let’s go. Btw, I packed a few tasty travellers from the cellar to try along the way because well, that’s just what we do. 

Welcome back to the cellar.

Well, we’re definitely not in Kansas anymore. Actually, we’re in Franklin, Tennessee. Here’s a private cellar that has been referred to as ‘The Gothic Wine Palace’ and ‘The Fine Wine Shrine’. It comes complete with LED lighting and hundreds of translucent, acrylic wine sleeves. Is anyone else hearing a choir of angels? 

This cellar holds 2,000 bottles and is located beneath the owner’s pool house. 

Makes sense, go for a dip, then go for a sip.

As wine cellars go, this one is certainly over the top. And what are those crazy spheres? Are they seats? Alien pods? The owner is leaving that to our imagination. 

No matter what, this certainly is a wine palace but perhaps a more apt name could be The Cathedral Cellar. 

Coincidently, I just happen to have brought along a bottle. 

Cathedral Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon
South Africa
750 ml bottle VINTAGES# 328567
$18.95

Cathedral Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the Western Cape of South Africa. 

This is an ‘Essentials’ item at the LCBO, which means it’s always on the shelves; and good thing, because it’s one of the better value wines around. 

This is a great burger wine. It gives aromas and flavours of blackcurrant and cedar, with a chocolatey, smokiness.

It would look great resting in one of those translucent, blue, sleeves but it looks good on any table.

Now on to our next wine cellar.

This one has a kind of a Kosta Boda meets Blade Runner feel to it.

This ultra-modern space not only houses a countless number of bottles, it features slits of neon light that change colour to suit how the owner is feeling at any given time. So, it’s not only a wine cellar, it’s a mood ring! I would imagine one couldn’t help but feel pretty good all the time in these surroundings.  

I’m sure the owner feels good knowing that a vapour barrier and thermal insulation surround and protect the bottles in here keeping them precisely cool enough to ensure optimum life for the wine they contain. 

It’s hard to tell but there is one thing I have a feeling this cellar may not have; this very affordable and delicious bottle I brought along on our cellar tour. 

My corkscrew is poised.

Rendola Rosso Toscano
Sangiovese Blend, Tuscany, Italy
750 ml bottle Vintages #341115
$13.80

I happened upon this tasty Rendola Rosso Toscano hiding in plain sight recently not in Vintages but on the regular listing shelves. Although the picture above shows a 2009 vintage, the bottles I discovered were 2014s. This wine is made in Tuscany primarily using Sangiovese grapes; the Tuscan grape of choice. 

It’s a bit of a rarity to find a bottle with some age on the general listing shelves. But am I ever happy I did. This Tuscan treat is garnet in the glass and medium-bodied on the palate. It tastes of plum, ripe cherries and vanilla with an extra-dry, pleasant tannic punch. 

A glass or three of this wine is great of course with all kinds of tomato-based dishes, but it’s just great as a solo sipper.

Fear not, even if your cellar doesn’t look quite like the ones we’re seeing today, a few resting bottles of Rendola Rosso will make any cellar look impressive.  

Okay, it’s time to leave this futuristic, wine chamber. 

Our next cellar awaits. 

For this one, I hope you brought your ‘Dr. No’ wardrobe and your white Persian 

lap-cat because we’re not just going to any old wine cellar,

we’re going to an underground lair. 

How cool is this! 

At the push of a button, a see-through circular floor panel opens to reveal 

the spiral staircase that takes us down into a cellar-in-the-round. Here, we are literally surrounded with upwards of 1800 bottles and feelings of serious envy. 

Down in this cellar with bottles circling you, it would be easy to lose your sense of direction. No matter, what a great place to lose it. And as Dr. No said in the film, about directions, “East, west, just points of the compass, each as stupid as the other.”

Clearly, I’ve lost my direction.

At any rate, it’s only fitting that we go ‘down under’ for our next wine tasting. Here’s a very nice Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand that I’ve never seen before. 

Urlar Sauvignon Blanc 2019
New Zealand
750 ml bottle Vintages #22852
Organic
$19.95

Urlar Sauvignon Blanc is made by Gladstone Vineyards in the Wairarapa region (pronounced ‘Why-ra-rappa’) of New Zealand. The region was given its name (meaning, glistening waters) by the Māori; the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand.

This wine is quite aromatic and intense. It’s a citrus bombshell of grapefruit, lime, tropical fruits and fresh grassiness. So, when anyone asks if you’d like a glass of wine from the Wairarapa, the answer is “why not.”

Well, I think we’ve spent enough time creeping other people’s wine cellars. It’s probably time to get back to the familiar and shall we say, slightly more down-to-earth surroundings of the old, oak tasting table in our quaint, affordable cellar. We don’t have a spiral staircase, or translucent LED-illuminated wine sleeves but we do have, each other. Geez, I’m getting a little teary.

See you in May.

Until then, keep your glass of wine close and your friends even closer.

Jim

Thanks to everyone for signing up to my web page where you’ll see this each month as a blog. If you know anyone who is interested in following the newsletter, they just have to visit jimsaffordablecellar.ca to submit their email. They’ll be notified each month, as will you, when each new issue is published. And the newsletter is a little more reader-friendly there. Please let me know if you’d like to share some wine you love with the rest of us. roamingbuffalo44@gmail.com