California wine show

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That's me at the recent California wine show with California winemaker Camille Seghesio. Her family's business, Seghesio Family Vineyards, was one of some 100 California wineries at the event. I went with my partner S and we really enjoyed both the wines and the way the event was set up. You paid only once ($60.00 per person) and once in, you could sample as much wine as you wanted from the 350 on offer.

There was also free food! Cheese and cracker bars were set up in the aisles. It was fun to get some wine and then find a blue, cheddar or brie cheese to complement it. There was also a booth where the hotel chefs was serving roast beef buns and horseradish for hungry wine lovers craving something more substantial.


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The wines were really fantastic. I tried some nice samples at Toasted Head. I like their Chardonnay that you can get at the LCBO, discovered thanks to my friend Maria who keeps serving it at her parties! There were also some great wines at Rodney and Strong and the people at the booth were very happy to talk to us. Our friend Calimocho went to the wine show too, and introduced us to this delicious threesome below at Beringer. From left to right the wine became more expensive and more delicious!


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Spanish reds ... vino de crianza!

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My latest wine discovery is a lovely Spanish red called Campo Viejo Crianza. I recently brought it to a girls night where it was received with much enthusiasm.

The first time I drank it, I imagined that I was sitting at the bar of an Andalusian tavern, a wineglass in one hand and a slice of manchego cheese in the other. It was a hot and dusty day, and a wedge of golden afternoon sun was spilling through the open door, ending just short of my bar stool. A very sexy Spaniard was pushing a complimentary dish of marinated olives my way and ... did I mention I was wearing the most perfect LRD (little red dress)?

Sigh.

The morning after, I pulled out my wine book and learned the basics about Spanish wines. Did you know that the most famous wine region in Spain is called the Rioja and that tempranillo is its main grape variety? Reading that brought back sweet memories from years ago of my friend Rachel extolling the virtues of tempranillos over beer in an Irish pub, oddly enough.

Anyway, according to my book, the crianza I drank was aged in both an oak barrel and a bottle before touching my lips in its third year. And Spanish wines get even better once you graduate to reservas, which have spent even more time in the bottle, at least three years, before being released for sale.

Campo Viejo make a reserva, too. Imagine what my daydreams would be like if I ever got my hands on that!

Stay tuned for more uncorked, wine-induced thoughts as future discoveries are made :)

Campo Viejo Crianza
$14.95 at the LCBO

Ottawa's Wine and Food Show

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I had a fantastic time at the Ottawa Wine and Food Show last weekend with S and friends, and my long-lost brother who I haven't seen since Thanksgiving! Some other highlights included (in the photo, clockwise from the top): a mackerel salad from Le Cordon Bleu, learning what's really in ground beef from local chef Duane Keats, smoked salmon from the Pelican Fishery & Grill, and meeting the leader of the Ottawa's Slow Food chapter, Peggy Hall.

First on the agenda was attending a food demonstration by Duane Keats, chef at Luxe Bistro in Ottawa's Byward Market. He taught everyone in the audience a great cost-saving skill: how to skin and fillet a whole fish. He demonstrated on a giant fresh halibut and an equally gargantuan fresh salmon. At 10 lbs, each normally yields 15 portions at his restaurant.

While his sous-chef showed us how to similarly fillet a big hunk of striploin, Duane told us something disturbing about ground beef, namely that it's made mostly from connective tissue called silver skin that's trimmed from cuts like this. It's tough and you can't chew it, like "beef bubblegum," he said. But if you remove it, your steaks won't curl during cooking.

At the demo, I had the pleasure of sitting beside Peggy Hall, the leader of Slow Food Ottawa, an organization that connects people who love to eat with local producers and their foods. She told me that one of her big challenges this year will be to raise the profile of Ontario wines by encouraging Ottawa-area restaurants to feature them on their wine lists.

My personal wine find of the evening was a delicious 2004 Spanish Rioja called Marqués de Riscal Reserve. We also spent a lot of time at the Argentine wine counter and sampled a few tasty Slovenian wines — Cviček and Refošk. I had no idea that Slovenia had such a big wine industry, but it stands to reason as it shares a border with Italy and also benefits from that Mediterranean climate that's so good for grapes.

And of course, the food was sublime. Em served us some mackerel salad at Le Cordon Bleu's booth — so fresh and tasty. She is Le Cordon Bleu's best employee ever. And we had a rich lobster mac and cheese from Foundation, and a wonderful smoked salmon appetizer with red onions, capers and a special sauce from Pelican Fishery & Grill.

As usual, it was magical and I can't wait until next year!

The Ottawa wine and food show

S and I went to the Ottawa Wine and Food Show last week. We tasted the wine of 500-year-old vines and found out which winery made a pact with the devil to keep thieving hands at bay! We also met some local chefs, including The Piggy Market's David Neil pictured below with his girlfriend, a student at Ottawa's Cordon Bleu culinary school. They took part in a 100-mile cook-off hosted by celebrity chef Ken Kostick.

Thirsty for more details? Read the full story in my guest post on Food Network's Food for Thought :)

A Côtes du Rhône wine tasting

S and I joined Susan and the other cooking students after lunch on Wednesday for a Côtes du Rhône wine tasting. Susan introduced us to three whites, three rosés and three reds, and I took away three things — even with a spitting bucket you can get quite tipsy, I should no longer ignore rosés and most importantly, I have expensive tastes. (My favourites were the Domaine Font de Michelle 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape red and the Saint Péray Terres Boisées white ;)


The Côtes du Rhône region makes approximately 420 million bottles of wine a year, and about eight million of those are exported to Canada (2005/2006 statistics). Wines must be made from several grape varieties to get appellation status. Another requirement is that yields must be small to keep the grapes of good quality, so the winegrowers cut back their vines every fall.


From the car, I saw many vineyards with rosebushes growing in front of each row of vines. Susan told me roses fall prey to the same insect pests as grapevines, but show disease earlier, so the roses are a sort of early detection system by which the farmers gauge the health of their vines. The thicker the trunks, the older the vines and the finer the wine.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the popes in Avignon

On our second day in Provence, we went to Avignon to see the Palace of the popes. This is where the popes and papal legates lived for over 400 years, starting with Pope Clement V. He moved to papacy to Avignon in 1309 to escape political unrest in Rome.

They didn't allow us to take photos inside, so instead I've posted some of my favourites from outside the palace and in the courtyard.

One of my favourite rooms is called La Grand Tinel, an enormous hall once adorned with frescoes and where banquets were held on feast days. The pope would sit and eat on a raised platform at one end of the room. There was even a heirarchy in the cutlery; the best flatware was reserved for the pope.

At the other end of the room, a partition hid a preparation area with a massive fireplace. This was where food brought from the kitchen was plated and kept warm.

Inventories at the time record that thousands of sheep, eggs, chickens, geese, pigs and cows were consumed in one sitting. These popes really knew how to throw a dinner party!

They also knew their wine, and this is where the Popes and I have something - perhaps our only thing - in common. We both love Chateauneuf-du-Pape :)

Chateauneuf du Pape, literally translated as "the new house of the pope," is a village just north of Avignon. The chateau here was once a summer retreat for the popes, who were among the first wine producers in the village. The wine they cultivated here regularly made it to the tables in their palace in Avignon. How I wish my house wine could be Chateauneuf-du-Pape!