…from Tony Aspler’s article ‘Top 2009 Wine Finds’ in City Post Magazine
“BEST NEW WINE INITIATIVE
WineCamp.ca
Not boot camp but bottle camp. WineCamp is an opportunity for “techies” to combine drinking wine, learning about all things wine and networking. The brainchild of Sandy Ward of bringmywine.ca, the site that tells you which restaurants in Ontario permit you to bring your own bottle and their corkage fees.” May 2009
The scent of ripening grapes is wafting over from Niagara, it’s obvious that we need more WineCampTO. Who wants more WineCampTO?
The first WineCampTO was a huge success with a packed room at the Fine Wine Reserve with 34 wine lovers in a room to tastes six fantastic Ontario wines.
The most popular wine of the night was Niagara’s Lailey 2007 Syrah a fantastic Ontario wine that cost $25 a bottle. The second most popular wine was also an Ontario red but this one is from Prince Edward Counry. The Black Prince 2007 Cabernet Franc which has been winning awards and making people beleive in Ontario wine…at a price of only $15.95 per bottle.
You can find some great pictures from there event on Flickr
Look for the second WineCampTO to happen in September or October! Please send over any suggestions…
Wine #4 – Forget about your ABC’s
There is a growing trend amongst some wine drinkers that I think can only be characterized as prejudice, pure and simple. It’s called ‘A.B.C’ or Anything But Chardonnay. I have one word for this type of behaviour, ridiculous. Chardonnay is a classic grape variety and like all of the classic varieties, it’s wines have a time, a place, and a context for being consumed. In my case, the time is 7pm, the place is my apartment, and the context is ‘damn I worked hard today, give me something delicious and cold‘.
This is all to say that generalizations are silly, and that Chardonnay in the hands of a talented winemaker can be thoroughly enjoyable. Take, for example, our 4th wine selection for WineCamp, Henry of Pelham 2007 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay. To imply that it’s only for quaffing would be a great injustice to this wine. Red and white wine drinkers alike will be wow’ed with it’s power and warmth. This is ripe Ontario Chardonnay grapes mingling effortlessly with their old friend Oak Barrel, and I think you’ll enjoy every minute of it.
Full-time Internet geek and part-time wine geek who thought it would be a good idea to combine two passions. Follow Sandy on Twitter or check out his full time gig running HomeZilla.
Full-time wine geek and part-time Internet geek Justyn is taking his passion for Ontario wine to the tech community by helping to organize WineCamp. Follow Justyn on Twitter.
A sparkling second selection for WineCamp – Henry of Pelham, Cuvée Catharine Brut Non-Vintage
Have you tried a nice Ontario sparkling wine recently? No, not talking about the Baby Duck at Grandma’s house over Christmas, nor the Hochtaler that you were persuaded to buy based on their snazzy commercial!
Few in Ontario have been able to achieve the level of quality and general ‘yumminess’ in sparkling wine that Henry of Pelham has with their Cuvée Catharine Brut. And this is no easy feat, it’s not the kind of thing that a winemaker decides one afternoon while stirring his Chardonnay, “I’m going to get a big bicycle pump and make a gorgeous sparkling wine to give those frenchies a run for their money”. It’s a laborious 3+ year process riddled with opportunity to ‘pop the cork’ at every turn. Henry of Pelham uses the traditional method of Champagne but it’s Ontario Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes that make this wine so special.
The most recent release, which we’ll be tasting at WineCamp, is way too good to hide away just for special occasions. Seriously, it’s awesome the range of food this will work with – you barely need an excuse to whip it out any given Monday through Thursday night. I mean, it’s mandatory for every weekend, but I guarantee it will make a weeknight at least 75% more enjoyable.
Today we are annoucing the first wine we have purchased for WineCamp.
This wine is produced in Ontario’s Prince Edward County and is a fantastic wine that everyone seems to enjoy. Have you tried this wine? If some leave a comment and let everyone know what you think!
The date for WineCamp is Wednesday March 11th (final date). At the Fine Wine Reserve, from 6:00pm – 9:00pm.
There are only going to be 30 tickets for WineCamp so book early! Look for a post here on Wednesday morning for the EventBright link. It will also be Twittered from my personal twitter account.
Tony will be speaking about the history of the Ontario wine industry. Both production and consumption have seen huge changes. In 1981, one in five bottles of wine sold at the LCBO was ‘Baby Duck’… how crazy is that?
For those of you who haven’t heard about Tony Aspler. Tony Aspler has been writing about wine for more than 30 years, and today he is the most widely respected wine writer in Canada. He was the wine columnist for The Toronto Star for 21 years and has authored 14 books on wine and food.
Tony is the creator of the annual Ontario Wine Awards competition, an honorary governor of Cuvée and a director of the Independent Wine Education Guild. In 2007, Tony was made a Member of the Order of Canada for “his contributions as a leading authority on Canadian wines who has been key to the development of the Canadian wine industry.”
I can’t wait to hear Tony’s stories…
Justyn Szymczyk, of WineryToHome, has joined the WineCamp team to help organize the event. Justyn is an expert in Ontario wines and a damn nice guy. Look for Justyn to be blogging about the wines to be poured at WineCamp.
