I written about wine lately, but it’s time that changed. I’ve attended wine salons, drank glasses of exquisite offerings at restaurants and occasionally splurged at the SAQ, though I can’t go back to my neighbourhood one any time soon. This has nothing to do with kissing and telling and everything to do with La Grand Dégustation and how it takes a day to recover. Long story. Longer than a blog needs. So I’ll focus on wine.
Here’s what I drank recently that deserves to be drank by others:
Here’s l’Amusette. I drank it at the SAT at the Foodlab on the last day that the terrasse was serviceable. It may have bee open later in the year, but in terms of good weather, this ended the season. So I drank to that. I also drank to the friends from Laval tat I met when my friend/drinking partner didn’t show. That may the first time I’ve ever praised Laval…
Anyway, the wine was refreshing and not oaky and not too acidic. And, well, just right. It was the Goldilocks of wines. You should hunt it down. It may not still be on the SAT menu, but there’s always something interesting on there. Terrasse be damned. (I won’t be saying that come spring.)
Next.
I do love a good Champagne-tasting salon. This was my second ever. It wasn’t as high-end as the Grande Dégustation Champagne event 3 or 4 years ago, but it was much more practical. I thought I was a 100% Chardonnay snob, but the afforable bubbles at this event proved me wrong. The best of the bunch was the Antech brut(pronounced “Ahn-tetch” not “ahn-tek,” said the rep from the winery). It’s incredibly reasonable at $21 because it’s a Cremant de Limoux rather than a Champagne, but it’s made the same way, there’s no yeasty flavour and it has a very clean aftertaste. The problem with Champagnes (!!!! How dare I even write that????) is there’s usually a pinot noir of something with spunk often thrown in.
I hate spunk.
It’s like sushi. I’m a purist. Yuzu and foie gras cream be damned.
I had a point. Oh yes, there it is: Buy Antech.
Next.
The only thing I really liked at the Grande Dégustation tasting salon this year was a biodynamic chenin blanc from South Africa called Reyneke. It was crisp and clean. The SAQ only has a “white” from Reyneke, so I doubt it’s the Chenin Blanc, but the whole winery is biodynamic, I believe. And at $45 a bottle, it’s probably pretty good. Probably better than the $30 Chenin I sampled, actually.
And finally,
Viognier at Toqué! (Its exclamation mark, not mine—though I do agree.)
This was the best thing I’ve drank this season. It was one of the sommeliers’ suggestion when I went to interview chef Normand Laprise. She was very, very right. It wasn’t sweet and cloying like a lot of Niagara (and even French) Viogniers. It had a floral nose but it was dry and just a tiny bit acidic—just enough to cut through the flowers. Gorgeous. Just gorgeous. It’s private import, though. So you’ll have to go to Toqué! and ask for it there.
Leave a Reply