a year ago...

. . . I had just arrived in the greatest city on earth. In the middle of all that I love. A long lunch, lots of wine, and yes, a little self-indulgently, enjoying an afternoon cigar at the Jardin du Luxembourg. Life is pretty shit, but we'll always have Paris.

DF

Frankfurter Kranz I eat you again!!

It's here again!!! Oh FK, I've loved you for so long, so long. The way it's creamy but not overly rich, sweet but just so . . . how it crumbles and lingers in your mouth. They use two round stickers, one on top of the other, so when you peel it off, you don't rip the wax paper. Those short bastards think of everything, don't they? It figures, for the Japanese to perfect the perfect Bavarian treat.

DF

later bro

My bro leaves today. So that was it huh . . . three weeks done and done. Like I said yesterday, it's not a time to feel sad because everyone's got their own shit going on. But it's been good to see them again, spend some time together, indulge in the drink. Family, wine, and ham. So later bro, take care, and we'll see each other in Tokyo.

DF

last dinners and almost goodbyes

This was my aunt's last dinner in Toronto last week. Her favourite, fried quail. Marinated simply, then fried until crispy, remaining tender inside. Leaving on a high. Tonight was my cousin's last dinner here. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to eat with him . . . can't just drop everything right? But that's ok, we've had more than his (and my) share of wine, beer, and barbecue these past 3 weeks. Something about being poor as shit, but it's tacky to discuss that in front of your guests.

He's had a good vacation. I don't feel sad to see him go, not because I'm a heartless fuck, but because we're young and there'll always be time to chill again. Until then, hard to work again.

DF

grilled and boozy

Just came back from a walk. It's sort of time to wrap things up . . . my cousin leaves on Tuesday, and as far as last weekends go, it's been a good one. We had a last big barbecue last night, doing mostly fish, but also some pork chops that he likes. We found fresh sanma, which somehow are completely different than the cured pieces my aunt brought over. Lots of beer and mojitos to go along . . . and that was before we headed out downtown.

Saturday was the last night for night performances at Buskerfest. My first time even hearing of the festival, and we got there just in time to catch the last fire shows. The performance was a big letdown, but then Australians do tend to have a high opinion of themselves. The afterwards was better.

I finally went to C'est What brewpub. And yes, this actually lived up to expectations. Started with coffee porter, Neudstadt lager, a rye ale, and a weissbeer. Unique beers, with the lager probably showing the best beer character. Then, a raspberry wheat beer for my cousin, while I finally got a taste of the legendary Neudstadt 10W30. Definitely a winner, with that lovely bitter English ale flavour. Food wasn't all that exciting, but you can only do one thing really really well at once, right?

It was a good night. We had roast duck for dinner, and a bottle of Mercurey Les Varennes. Another round of mojitos in a bit, then bed. Have that minor inconvenience we call work tomorrow.

DF

out on the town

The two bros at it again. We may not have the chance to drink together again for a few years, so when we see each other, I make sure we have a drink. In anticipation of his visit, I went to my friend's place to pull some wines out of the cellar a few weeks ago. Some good stuff. Lots of gems from Niagara, old rieslings, and Champagnes. And being the good Jap that he is, my cousin's a big beer drinker so I picked up a few cases of interesting Ontario IPA's for him to taste, as well as some good craft lagers and ales. He's been enjoying himself so far, especially now that my aunt's gone. We've only got a few days left, only a few days to make sure he consumes as much alcohol as safely possible.

It's been a good weekend. Friday night was an early dinner at home, then out with some friends to Toronto's Bier Markt, on the Esplanade. Some solid Belgian brews to start, de Koninck, Grimbergen Abbey Ale, and Jupiler Blond Lager. The wait was long, but my friends are awesome and got there early to grab a table as we stumbled around lost, looking for the right street. Beautiful night to be out on the patio. We (actually my cousin) did the Belgian sampler, 6 beers. Pretty much downing it himself, he gave the nod of approval to Hoegaarden and a strawberry lambic. Happy to see the tolerance, not so much for the choice in brews. Finished with a pint of Hoegaarden, while I tasted the Lost Coast Indica IPA. American craft brewers were the first to really revolutionize IPA's - Dogfish Head IPA was one of the first great beers I came across. I'm so excited to see the quality of Ontario brewers reach that level. Our IPA's can match anyone's now in character and quality.

Did a cheese platter. It was a good night, except for a brief hiccup from the TTC, which shut off its subway just a few stations from our stop, forcing us to take a 50 minute circular bus ride. We're driving tonight. Out to see Buskerfest, then some more beer. My bro is going to turn into an alcoholic. High five!

DF

the winning trio

For my aunt's last barbecue here last week, we drank these three beauties. A trio of 2006 Le Clos Jordanne chardonnay's: the Village Reserve, Claystone Terrace, and Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard. A wonderful expression of the grape, and drinking beautifully.

I opened them the night before, to give them some air without decanting. Being selfish, I went downstairs late at night to drink a glass of Village Reserve. The rail on the fridge shelf broke, and the bottles tipped over. I didn't realize the stopper had come off on the Claystone Terrace until the fucking bottle was half empty.

The aroma was exquisite as I knelt down and greedily lapped at the spilled wine.

DF

king of cattle

Just a sneak peek for now. Look what my aunt brought for me. I'm still slowly waking up from my wagyu coma. With the most amazing Champagne . . . photos and video soon.

DF

learn to cook

Love to cook. And I haven't been feeling inspired for many months now. That's a problem.

It's not so much that I don't have the equipment or whatever - it's more this lack of interest/motivation/inspiration to go out in search of fresh ingredients to cook with. You know I haven't been to a farmer's market yet this year. Not that I was ever really big into that whole thing, but it was nice when I was at least excited to go out on weekends to shop for food. Some good news coming up though . . . my aunt and cousin will be visiting from Tokyo in 10 days. And they're going to be bringing me some interesting things to cook. Yes, not just to eat, but to cook. Until they pass through customs intact, I think it'd be prudent to keep my mouth shut.

This is probably something really petty, but I can't stand when people call themselves/others chef. You're not a fucking chef. Neither is your friend. The word chef means chief/leader/boss, and in a kitchen, there is only one chef, who incidentally does very little cooking. Conceptualizing and creating the menu, yes. Leading the different stations, definitely. And giving each dish a final inspection, most certainly. So take a long, hard look at yourself if you call any idiot who picks up a spatula a chef.

If I was rich. I'd do culinary tour through Spain. Start in the north with the shellfish and squid and continue south with all the jamón ibérico of my fantasies. I'd come out with bad cholesterol and a fucking macerated liver but I'd be happy. And ready to die. One can dream.

DF

prepping the sweet

                 

It's an absolute thing of beauty. A bottle of Sauternes, a bottle of Tokaji. Two kings of the wine world, and we were going to drink them over dinner. Yes, where these sweet wines belong. Just look at that colour, those bottles, those corks. Double decanted, put on ice . . .

DF

skewered

          

I'm slowly learning how to grill seafood. Fish and tentacles and shellfish on hot coal is infinitely more interesting than meat. How is it that whenever people do bbq, it's all shitty burgers and chicken, dry and tasteless? I did squid a few weeks ago. Seasoned very simply, finished with the most amazing raw olive oil. Flavour, aroma, texture . . . it was all there. With mojitos in the other hand, just beautiful.

DF

In Montreal again

I've arrived in Montreal, staying for a night. I don't know if it's the flight or something else but I have a raging headache. Heading out later to meet with a friend. It's so humid here. But Montreal is always fun.

Another look at Clos des Goisses. I miss the French countryside. French people too. Real French people.

DF

Being a smartass

I'm not a partisan of ice wines. Labour-intensive, if made in the right way, definitely. But the wines are chronically boring, just a confected mass of sugar and alcohol with little complexity and no finesse. As more than a few ice wine producers have told me, it's just concentration isn't it, chuck it in a freezer and you'll get the same result.

Let's put that to the test.

I learned to freeze grapes from my university roommate. We were in school for a summer term, stuck in a residence with no air conditioning. As these things go, southern Ontario experienced one of the hottest summers that year. We had to get creative to avoid heat stroke. Frozen grapes came out sweeter, with the added bonus of being like little ice pellets. So I tried to recreate something similar here, except to make it into a drink. Muddle the frozen grapes, strain out the juice, rum and soda water.

I failed miserably. It tasted awful. They say it takes the fruit of an entire grape vine to make a single glass of ice wine. It only took a handful this time to make this smartass look dumb.

DF

soleil d'hiver

Madame Benezit described this as so poetic. Christine Thouzeau's soleil d'hiver was displayed in the window of the gallery - love at first sight. It belongs to the collection Les saisons. And it is full of whimsy, of poetry, and of French-ness. Somehow, it looks better sitting on a table than it does hanging up. Or maybe it's just the house.

I know what I want next time I'm in Paris . . .

DF

pianissimo

You recall the beautiful piece I bought in Paris, my little angel. I found this one in the same gallery, produced by an arguably more well-known artist by the name of Christine Thouzeau. The gallery owner showed us some of her commercial work - she's apparently huge in Japan. I'm willing to take her word for it, because I fell in love with these pieces.

This one, titled pianissimo, is from the same collection as petit ange pianiste . . . they both are part of the La Musique exhibit. And from this print, I learned a bit more about how beautiful the French language can be. Madame Benezit described this particular work as being full of lovée. Or at least that's what I think she said. Far too subtle and far too French to translate, she described it as a sense of not only hearing the music, but being in it.

As a piano teacher, I get it. Sort of.

DF

Tasting at Lailey

Could I possibly be any more enthusiastic about Lailey? Could I possibly find another superlative to describe how I feel about these wines? Search for all my pieces about Lailey and all the hyperventilating will make sense. These wines fulfill all the criteria for what a great wine should be - typicity (of varietal), singularity (of time and place), and ageability.

I try to schedule my tasting with Derek as my last stop. I generally spend the most time here, as Derek is always very generous with his wines and his knowledge. My last visit was sadly a year ago, to taste the 2008's. I was eager to taste the 2009's now that they were in bottle, as well as to get a first look at the embryonic 2010's, focusing as always on pinot noir and syrah.

2009 Lailey Pinot Noir: floral rose petals and red fruits on the nose, so elegant on the palate; roses follow, spice on the finish; 660 cases production

2009 Lailey Brickyard Pinot Noir: brushy rose petals, elegant, acid lifts on the palate; clearly needs time; perfumed and lean, so delicious; bottled January 24, 130-140 cases production

2009 Lailey Old Vines Pinot Noir: bit reticent now, roses on an elegant palate; high toned acid, spices on the long finish; bottled end of January, only 90 cases production

2009 Lailey Canadian Oak Pinot Noir: oaky initially, giving way to rose petals and cranberries; oak needs to integrate on palate, good concentration and fine structure; a lean wine, but very elegant; 70 cases production

2009 Lailey Lot 48 Pinot Noir: initial whiff of white pepper, very elegant fruit, showing slightly more colour; ends near jammy in fruit on finish, fine acid lifts on finish, needs time for alcohol to settle; 100% from Doug Woody property, made only in 2004 and 2009 vintages, 50% new French oak

2008 Lailey Canadian Oak Pinot Noir: creamy oak, rich in depth, creamy ripe fruit; sweet but so elegant and round on the palate, soft finishing on long ripe strawberries; seductive and very approachable

2008 Lailey Old Vines Pinot Noir: bright lively ruby colour; sweet ripe fruit, almost candied but fresh; lean and elegant palate, fresh and long; absolutely delicious, acid provides great structure

2008 Lailey Syrah: spicy bouquet, high acid, lean and very linear on the finish

2009 Lailey Syrah (cask sample): oak on nose, sweet fruit, shows a degree of jamminess on the palate; rich, round, so balanced, absolutely delicious; 3 weeks from bottling

2010 Lailey Syrah (cask sample): dark in colour, lots of black pepper, dense fruit on palate; crushy, very ripe, spicy on finish; a big wine, very concentrated, will be interesting to see how this develops; put into cask on November 4, will spend about another 12 months in oak

As can be seen, all the wines reflect time, place of origin, and to a lesser degree, oak treatment. 2008 and 2009 were relatively cooler vintages, with 2009 being the slightly more concentrated wine. 2010 is looking like a monster right now, but in the right hands, should remain balanced and elegant.

More than anything, this tasting confirmed what I've been feeling for quite some time - that syrah can be done very well in Niagara. These wines show what I feel are the true characteristics of syrah, a peppery, savoury personality that is completely opposite of what most New World syrah wines are like. This is a wine to keep an eye out for.

DF

Visiting Stratus

In May, I went to Niagara on my first tasting trip of the year. I was eager to taste through some of the 2009's, and get a first impression of the 2010's. I was fighting a head cold, but the palate was functioning sufficiently well. My first stop was at Stratus, to meet up with Charles Baker and taste his riesling. I knew it was going to be a good tasting - what I hadn't counted on was how good Stratus' 2007 red wines were showing, across the board. All ripe but balanced, showing great varietal character yet dense and concentrated, clearly built for aging.

2007 Stratus Sauvignon Blanc: grassy, herbal nose, deep colour; the 100% new oak shows on the creamy palate, very round and weighty; could mistake this for a (good) dry white Bordeaux

2007 Stratus Cabernet Franc: nice dark colour, graphite minerality, round and elegant palate; soft, fine tannins, good length; a beautiful wine

2007 Stratus Red: ripe fruit, round, structured with good balance

2007 Stratus Cabernet Sauvignon: dark, smoky bouquet, round and fruit forward; soft but linear structure

2007 Stratus Petit Verdot: lots of graphite minerality, slightly green, tense and almost hard; acidity provides great structure on the finish; very interesting interpretation of this varietal

2009 Charles Baker Picone Vineyard Riesling: what I came here for; well chilled, absolutely steel on the nose, minerals and all that; so pure and fresh, acid rises so angular on the finish; extraordinarily complex yet with a transparency on the palate that articulates how stunningly beautiful riesling is; long, extracted acidity on the finish

What a great tasting. The CB riesling is magnificent. He's made wine from another vineyard, to be released in a few months - look out for it. Before they run out, as production of the 2009 was almost half of the already miniscule 2008 . . . order a case. I'm so sick of this bullshit about people complaining how Niagara doesn't make real wine. Or even worse, people who get so turned on by a trip to wine country that they claim any $8 plonk is great. When true great wine like CB Picone Riesling is being produced, you have to support it. No excuses.

DF

Since it grows together

...then surely it must go together. The most amazing live abalone, gently poached in chicken broth, finished with a sauce reduced from its own juices, and sprinkled lightly with a layer of dried lake shrimp roe. Then, live striped prawns, arrived in the morning of from B.C. Quickly boiled, and served with a simple dipping sauce of soy, rice vinegar, coriander, and a touch of sesame oil. And what to drink with it all? Of course, nothing else but 10 year old Shaoxing wine.

So simply prepared it seems almost . . . too simple. But who was it that said, perfection is achieved not when you can no longer add anything else, but when you no longer can take anything away.

DF

Nothing like charcoal

I'm going to relearn how to cook with charcoal this summer. There's something so primal, so visceral about cooking on open fire. Bought myself a proper grill and learned how to light charcoal the right way (no gasoline!!). And just like the Viets do, shucked some clams, and fired them until their juices started boiling. With a touch of green onion and a simple seafood sauce, they were magnificent. What to drink in the backyard? As if that question needed to be asked - nothing but the most amazing, fresh mojitos.

DF

The taint trio

Regardless of the stupid, morally questionable shit I sometimes give in to, I generally consider myself a good, decent person. Which is why I was blown away a few weeks ago when I uncorked not one but three consecutive bottles done in by TCA taint. This does not happen to good people. I can accept one at a time, but three bottles of cabernet sauvignon wine?

That's just ridiculous. Maybe the wine gods are trying to tell me something.

DF