GUSTAVE CHOPHOUSE AND BAR - JANUARY 26, 2016

We are here at the new Gustave Chophouse and Bar enjoying California Reds and Whites presented by Chris Price of The Vine.  Chris has a great portfolio of consignment wines and we tasted 2 whites and 4 reds.  All delicious! Good job Chris! And of course there is a world of difference when Casey of The Cheese Gallery in Thornbury pairs  her specially selected cheeses with our wines.  It is the "go to" place for most of our Winetasters of Collingwood members now! For information on contacting Chris or Casey please contact me.

PICKING WINE GRAPES IN OCTOBER AT 4 WHEEL FARM IN GLEN HURON

David and I enjoyed a delightful day with Chuck Magwood and his group picking wine grapes and then enjoying a fantastic lunch including wonderful grape ice cream created and made by Adam a local ice cream maker using Chuck's own grapes.  Plan to attend next year's harvest.  Its a treat you won't want to miss!

NEW ZEALAND TASTING OCTOBER 14, 2015 OLSERBROOK, ROBERT KETCHIN AND CASEY THOMSON OF THE CHEESE GALLERY IN THORNBURY

Despite the 5th game for the Jays (which brought them a wonderful victory) we all enjoyed a very informative and interesting evening tasting 3 Pinot Noirs and 5 Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand accompanied by select cheese from The Cheese Gallery.  The tasting was followed by a delicious dinner created by Brandi and her extremely efficient staff at OslerBrook.  The venue cannot be beat!  Don't miss the next tasting Tuesday November 17, 2015 at Sisi On Main in Thornbury. 

PRIVATE TASTING AT SILVER GLEN IN COLLINGWOOD SEPT. 12, 2015

DAVID LED A TASTING FOR A GROUP OF RESIDENCES GETTING TOGETHER FOR A FUN NIGHT AT SILVER GLEN.  FIRST WE TASTED ASSORTED RED WINES EACH WITH A COMPLEMENTARY CHEESE SPECIALLY SELECTED BY CASEY OF THE CHEESE GALLERY.  THE LAST WINE WAS SPARKLING STRAWBERRY  TOGETHER WITH DARK CHOCOLATE, MMMMM GOOD! THE EVENING CONTINUED AFTER WITH PIZZA, BIRTHDAY CAKE AND CAMARADERIE.   A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!
BOOK YOUR PRIVATE TASTING FOR YOUR GROUP TODAY!

OLD WORLD REDS!

WE HAD A FULL HOUSE AT OSLERBROOK GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT SEPTEMBER 9, 2015.  A DELIGHTFUL EVENING WAS HAD BY ALL!  WE HAD SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER JEREMY HALL REPRESENTING LIFFORD WINES.  AFTER THE TASTING WE ENJOYED A DELICIOUS DINNER AND CONTINUED THE DISCUSSION OF WINES.

WINETASTERS FOURTH YEAR IN COLLINGWOOD!

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE WE ARE ENTERING OUR 4TH YEAR HERE IN COLLINGWOOD!  WINETASTERS HAS BEEN WELL RECEIVED AND EVERYONE WHO JOINS AND ATTENDS OUR TASTINGS HAS A FANTASTIC TIME!  WE ADDED A CHEESE TASTING TO OUR EVENTS WHICH HAS HAD AN  OVERWHELMING RECEPTION AND CASEY OF THE CHEESE GALLERY HAS BECOME AN INTEGRAL PART OF WINETASTERS!  SHE DOES A FANTASTIC JOB PRESENTING HER CHEESES WITH MUCH MORE INFORMATION THAN MOST EXPECT!!!  CHEESE IS AS INTRICATE AS WINE!  AND WHAT A "MARRIAGE"!  OUR MEMBERSHIP HAS GROWN HUGELY IN THE PAST YEAR AND WE EXPECT IT TO GROW EVEN LARGER WITH MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WISHING TO ATTEND OUR EVENTS.  WE ARE SOLD OUT FOR OUR SEPTEMBER 9TH TASTING WHICH WILL BE HELD AT OSLERBROOK AND IF YOU WERE AMONG THOSE DISAPPOINTED THE GOOD NEWS IS OUR NEXT TASTING WILL BE AT OSLERBROOK AGAIN ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14TH.  DON'T MISS OUT!  GET YOUR RESERVATION IN QUICKLY.  STAY TUNED FOR MORE NEWS!

SISI ON MAIN IN THORNBURY JUNE 16.2105

BEST TASTING AND BEST MEAL.  ALMOST 40 WINETASTERS ENJOYED A WONDERFUL EVENING AL FRESCO IN THE GORGEOUS BACK PATIO AT SISI.  WE COULD HAVE BEEN IN TUSCANY !!!  TO TOP OFF THE WONDERFUL TASTING WITH FABULOUS CHEESES CHOSEN BY OUR VERY OWN CASEY FROM THE CHEESE GALLERY IN THORNBURY WE ALL ENJOYED A FANTASTIC FAMILY STYLE ITALIAN DINNER.  CASSIE AND HER STAFF OUTDID THEMSELVES!   WE CAN'T WAIT TO DO ANOTHER TASTING WITH HER!!!  THANKS TO OUR SPECIAL GUEST EDDIE FOR HELPING TO MAKE THE TASTING MEMORABLE.

NEW ZEALAND WINES!

Watch for our announcement for New Zealand Wine tasting to be held in July (date to be announced).  We are fortunate to have Robert Ketchin of Georgian Hills Winery and the Marketing Director for the New Zealand Wine Growers Association  to lead us in this special tasting......stay tuned!!!  If you've been fortunate to have heard Robert speak he is incredibly informative and exceptionally entertaining (even more so than David!).

BIG ITALIAN REDS!!!

Winetasters had another great evening last night at Santini's with a record number of attendees enjoying an incredible Sassicaia (Super Tuscans), Barolo, Brunello  and Amarone.  A terrific Ripasso (Montecorna Valpolicella Ripasso 2012) was enjoyed and well priced at only $17.95.  AND once again Casey Thompson of The Cheese Gallery in Thornbury brought us some superb cheeses.  It is THE ideal place to purchase your cheese!  Casey really knows her stuff. If you haven't yet picked up your April issue of Georgian Life grab one and read all about White Wines on page 6 titled David Margesson on Wine.  Watch for the May issue and you will see yourself if you were among the lucky ones last night!
NEXT TASTING California Reds May 13.  Contact us if you wish to be on our email notification list for future events.

 

SANTINI'S

A special thank you to Chiara and her terrific staff for making our tastings special.  The food and the service has been superb in their private room and plan to continue making Santini's our "home".  Watch for events at Santini's in the newsletter on their website.  santinis.ca

PINOT NOIR FEBRUARY 11, 2015

ANOTHER SOLD OUT TASTING AND FUN WAS HAD BY ALL.  NEXT TASTING APRIL 8, 2015 ITALIAN REDS FEATURING BAROLO, AMARONE AND A SUPER TUSCAN!!!
SIGN UP SOON!  THIS ONE WILL SELL OUT QUICKLY!!!

PRIVATE TASTING SURPRISE CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR THE BAUERS!!!!

LIZ AND RALPH BAUER, TWO OF WINETASTERS NEWEST MEMBERS WERE TREATED TO A WONDERFUL SURPRISE CHRISTMAS GIFT.  A SPECTACULAR EVENING OF DELICIOUS WINES CHOSEN BY DAVID AND DELECTABLE CHEESES PAIRED BY CASEY OF THE CHEESE GALLERY OF THORNBURY.  A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY THE BAUER FAMILY (AND US!) IN THEIR LOVELY HOME AT CRAIGLEITH IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.  WHAT A WAY TO END 2014.  CLEVER DAUGHTER-IN-LAW ASHLEY FOUND US ONLINE NOT KNOWING WE ARE ALL AQUAINTED!  A DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE FOR ALL CONCERNED.  BOOK YOURS TODAY!

CHEERS!!!

WINE AND CHEESE PRESENTED BY WINETASTERS AND THE CHEESE GALLERY

ANOTHER GREAT EVENING WAS ENJOYED BY ALL.  THE NEW FORMAT OF HAVING EACH WINE COMPLEMENTED BY A CHEESE SPECIFICALLY CHOSEN TO ENHANCE THE PARTICULAR WINE SEEMED TO BE A HIT!  WE WILL CONTINUE WITH THIS FORMAT AND HOPE MANY OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT YET ENJOYED AN EVENING WITH US WILL CONSIDER JOINING US NEXT TIME!!!  WE ALSO PRESENTED OUR RIVER BOAT CRUISE THROUGH SOUTH OF FRANCE SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 18, 2015.  FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT US.  TASTING!!!

WINETASTERS 10TH YEAR!!

WINETASTERS IS NOW ENJOYING ITS 10TH YEAR OF SUCCESS PROVIDING A SERVICE TO A COMMUNITY OF WINE LOVERS.  JOIN US SOON FOR A FUN FILLED, INFORMATIVE EVENING.

WE PROVIDE MANY SERVICES INCLUDING PRIVATE IN HOUSE TASTINGS, WINE DINNERS, BRIDAL SHOWERS, STAGS AND ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF.  SUGGEST AN IDEA AND WE'LL ORGANIZE YOUR EVENT!

CONTACT US AT 705-445-4474 OR nina@margesson.com

PORT TASTING GREAT SUCCESS!!!

WOW!  WHAT A TERRIFIC EVENING AT OSLERBROOK GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB.  WE ALL ENJOYED COCKTAILS, A DELICIOUS DINNER AND FINE PORTS ACCOMPANIED BY AMAZING COMPLIMENTARY CHEESES PRESENTED BY CASEY THOMSON, OWNER OF THE CHEESE GALLERY IN THORNBURY.  DAVID AND CASEY MADE A TERRIFIC TEAM FOR A VERY INFORMATIVE EVENING FOR ALL WHO ATTENDED......THIS WON'T BE THE LAST EFFORT FOR THIS TEAM OF WINETASTERS OF COLLINGWOOD AND THE CHEESE GALLERY......STAY TUNED!!!

PORT TASTING NOTES OCTOBER 8, 2104

PORT SPEAKERS NOTES – WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 8, 2014

Port is made by running off partially fermented red wine, while it still contains at least half its grape sugar, into a vessel a quarter full of (often chilled) brandy.  The brandy stops the fermentation so that the resulting mixture is both strong and sweet.  But the wine also needs the pigmentation of the grape skins to colour it, and their tannin to preserve it.  In normal wines these are extracted during the course of fermentation, but since with port the fermentation is unnaturally short, pigmentation and tannin have to be procured some other way – which traditionally in the Douro means by treading.

Treading is a means of macerating the grape skins in their juice so as to extract all their essences.  The naked foot is the perfect tool for this, being warm and doing no damage to the pips, which would make the juice bitter if they were crushed.  Rhythmically stamping thigh-deep in the mixture of juice and skins in a broad stone trough (lagar) is the traditional treatment for giving port its colour, its grapiness and its ability to last and improve for many years. 

Most port producers, or shippers, have introduced some sort of mechanical substitute for treading, either computer-controlled mechanical paddles or an autovinifier, a specially adapted closed fermenting vat which automatically pumps new wine over the skins.

Perhaps three years out of ten conditions are near perfect for port-making.  The best wine of these years needs no blending; nothing can improve it except time.  It is bottled at 2 years like red Bordeaux, labelled simply with its shippers name and the date.  This is vintage port, and it is made in tiny quantities, there is never enough of it.  Eventually, perhaps after 20 years it will have a fatness and fragrance, richness and delicacy, which is incomparable.

A great vintage port is incontestably among the world’s very best wines.  Most other port from near-vintage standard to merely moderate, goes through a blending process to emerge as a branded wine of a given character.  This wine aged in wood, matures in a different way, more rapidly to someth8ing much mellower.  A very old wood port is comparatively pale (“tawny” is the term) but particularly smooth.  The best aged tawnies, usually labelled 20 years (although other permitted age claims are 10, 30 and Over 40 years), can cost as much as vintage ports; many people prefer their gentleness to the full fat fieriness which vintage port can keep for decades.  Chilled tawny is the standard drink of port shippers.

Ports labelled Colheita (Portuguese for “harvest”) are wood-aged ports from a single year, expressive tawnies which are usually drunk as soon as possible after the bottling date, which should appear on the label.

Vintage port has disadvantages.  It needs keeping for a very long time.  And it needs handling with great care.  As the making of the wine does not reach its end until after bottling, the sediment forms a “crust” on the side of the bottle, a thin, delicate, dirty looking veil.  If the bottle is moved, other than very gingerly, the crust will break and mix with the wine, so that it has to be filtered out again.  Vintage Ports are usually chalked to show the side to face up while storing. 

“Ports”  Around the World – so-called Ports are made in the U.S., South Africa and Australia among other places.  These fortified wines, while they may be quite extraordinary (as they are particularly in Australia) are not true Ports.  Like authentic Champagne or Sherry, real Port comes only from its historic demarcated region. 

The Styles of Port There are 10 different styles of Port, each one unique, though their similar-sounding names make it difficult to remember them all.  Before examining the different styles, it’s important to note that all Port falls into one of two major categories, those that are aged predominantly in wood (or in a tank() and those that are aged predominantly in bottles.  Predominantly wood aged Ports are ready to drink right after they are bottled and shipped.

Vintage Port is the most famous type of bottle aged Port.  After this long aging, bottled-aged Ports throw a sediment, which, of course, should remain in the bottle.  Most bottle-aged Ports therefore need to be decanted.

The 10 styles of Port are described beginning, as much as possible with the simplest styles.  Regrettably, organizing the styles of Port into a logical progression isn’t as easy as it might seem since many styles of Port are interdependent in the sense that the prerequisite for understanding one style is understanding another.  Therein lies the rub!

WHITE PORT

White Port is the simplest type of Port – so simple, it’s barely considered Port by many Port lovers.  It’s also a bit of an aberration, being made from indigenous but fairly obscure white grapes.  It represents only a small amount of the total production of Port.

RUBY PORT

This is the least complex style of the red Ports, and its inexpensive.  It receives almost no bottle age before release.  Fruity and straightforward ruby Port is a blend of young wines from different years, all of which have been in barrels or tanks for 2 or 3 years.

YOUNG TAWNY PORT

There are 2 widely different types of tawny Port:  young (unaged) tawny and aged tawny.  Young tawny Port, like ruby Port, is basic and uncomplicated. It is less than 3 years old.

AGED TAWNY PORT

Usually designated on the label as either 10, 20, 30 or more than 40 years old, aged tawny Ports are among the best-loved Ports in Portugal, Britain, and France.  They are drunk both as aperitifs and at the close of a meal.

The wines used for aged tawnies are of the highest quality.  In fact these wines often go into vintage Port in the years when a vintage is declared.  However, because they are made in completely different ways, aged tawnies and vintage Ports taste nothing alike.  Aged tawnies are about finesse; vintage Ports, about power.

LATE BOTTLED VINTAGE PORT

Late bottled vintage Ports – LBVs – are also somewhat confusingly named.  These are Ports from a single vintage that have been aged in the barrel for four to six years and then bottled.  They are ready to drink when the shipper releases them.  Though LBV’s have been barrel aged for four years (as opposed to vintage Port’s two), they are usually not substantial enough wines to have the potential to age for decades more in the bottle (which vintage Port can).  But don’t be misled.  Late bottled vintage Ports, despite their impressive sound name, are not the equal of vintage Ports.  They are wines of very good quality from good, not great years, but they lack the richness, complexity, and sophistication of vintage Port.

TRADITIONAL LATE BOTTLED VINTAGE PORT

Only a few Port shippers still make a traditional late bottled vintage Port which is closer to vintage Port than to the standard LBV.  Traditional late bottled vintage Ports are made like vintage Ports, but they come from good, not great (declared) years.  

VINTAGE PORT

No Port is more sought after- or expensive.  Vintage Port represents only 2 – 3 percent of the total production of Port.  It is made only in very good years when Port shippers declare a vintage.  All of the grapes in the blend will come only from that vintage and from top vineyards in the best parts of the Douro.

Vintage Ports are first aged two years in a barrel, to round off their powerful edges, and then can age a long time in bottle.  During bottle aging the Port matures slowly, becoming progressively more refined and integrated.  A decade’s worth of aging is standard, and several decades used to be fairly common.

To maintain the intensity and richness of vintage Port, it is not filtered.  It therefore throws a great deal of sediment as it matures in the bottle and must be decanted.

The U.S. is the largest market in the world for one sty of Port, vintage Port.

Vintage Port can only be made in exceptional years when the young wines show near perfect balance.  In these years the shipper must first declare a vintage.  In years not declared for vintage Port, Port shippers take the grapes they might have used for vintage Port and blend them into other styles.

According to historical record, the first Ports from a single vintage were made around 1734

CRUSTED PORT

Crusted Port is designated as such because it leaves a heavy crust, or sediment, in the bottle.  This is simply a basic good hearty Port, made form a blend of several different years (the average age of the wines in the blend is 3-4 years), that has been bottled unfiltered.  As a result, it throws a sediment and must be decanted.  Gustsy, full- bodied, and moderately priced, it’s sometimes described as the working man’s vintage Port.

Sisi On Main in Thornbury

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner tonight at Sisi on Main in Thornbury.  I had a delicious appetizer of fig ravioli and a scrumptious (not to mention huge portion!) of Wild Boar Tagliatelle! David enjoyed an appetizer of Calamari and their special of the night main course of Sea Bass and assorted sea food.  And then there was dessert!!!!  Tiramisu to die for made with Georgian Hills Winery's Ice Wine!  

Wednesday nights are special at Sisi.  Live entertainment along with $1 corkage!!!!  All in all a great "find" for good food and good wine lovers!   If you haven't been there this is a must try!  Highly recommended.

	PORT TASTING
	Wednesday October 8, 2014 @ 6.p.m. Presented by:  Winetasters of Collingwood, Oslerbrook Golf and Country Club and The Cheese Gallery in Thornbury. Cost is $75.00 per person including taxes and gratuities For Dinner, Sampling of 8 Port Wines,  4 superb cheeses 8 Different Ports Including: 3 of the finest Ports ever produced with a rating of 100 out of 100 1975 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port 1994 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port 1985 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port Plus white, tawny, and crusted Ports with specialty cheeses from “The Cheese Gallery “ in Thornbury. Tutored tasting conducted by both a Port expert and Cheese expert. Contact Nina or David Margesson - nina@margesson.com or david@margesson.com Seating is limited so book your spot today e-transfer funds to nina@margesson.com  security question – what are we tasting? Answer Port Snail mail – 16 Woodland Court, Collingwood, On L9Y 5B3 or drop in mailbox.