1. Field Berry (Strawberry and Raspberry) Aperitif Fruit Wine from Vignoble d’Oka, QC ($19.95 at the SAQ)
This is a new Quebec winery doing a lot of things right, from using as few fungicides as possible (much less than apple trees, even “organic” fungicides. though it IS possible to not spray strawberries and raspberries), to laying off the added sugars, artificla flavours, sulfites and preservatives so you really taste the berries, to partnering with master chocolate maker, Christophe Morel. The last one is clearly the most important, especially when the man is a demi-god of all things cacao. And check out the fancy marketing and packaging of the wine. You really want to buy it, even though the packaging costs an extra $12 [$40 – ($20 wine + ~$8 chocolate) = $12 packaging]. The owner of Vignoble d’Oka may be new to owning a winery, but he’s not new to business. This is a killer Christmas present idea. Get a bottle of this before the price becomes astronomical. For goodness sake, it’s $20 right now.
2. Yukishibori Nigori Perlan Sake from Daïshichi Sake Brewery, Nihonmatsu, Fukushima ($57.75 in private import – see below – or for more money at restaurants Imadake and Ryu)
This sake uses the Kimoto method (huh?), all organic rice varieties, and what they call a forest of micro-organisms to give it its unique taste. There’s also a second fermentation in the bottle. Sound like Champagne? It should – there’s a tiny bit of carbonation that happens. That means the sugar gets used up and it’s pretty dry. While it’s not unpasteurized (which, as with unpasteurized cheeses, generally has a more interesting flavour), this is an incredible unfiltered sake. That means it’s cloudy and a tiny bit sweeter than other sakes you may know (but again, it’s called “dry”). There was a florality to this particular sake that I loved, and comparing it with another excellent unfiltered nigori (Takasago Nigori-shu), the natural yeasts are much more balanced. This is almost good for you, as far as alcohol goes. And it’s so delicious. As an aperitif, with food, or a little for or with dessert, it’s incredibly drinkable.
Private import from Hana Vin et Sake: 514-276-8151; kachiko_hanano@yahoo.ca (there is still a dearth of quality sake in Montreal. Consumers need to demand change and catch up to Toronto and Vancouver, not to mention New York, Seattle, Los Angelos and San Fransisco)
P.S. They also have a whole webpage on why the sake is still safe to drink even though the brewery is 60km from the nuclear disaster site. And they have a theme park! But it’s not what you think. Ah, Bill Murray and being Lost in Translation.
3. Bacalhoa Moscatel de Setubal, Portugal D.O. Colheita 2009 ($10.55)
The SAQ only has the 2007 right now, but the bottle was a 2009. $10. It was delicious. Not too sweet. Just refreshing, and not too feminine, by which I mean it wasn’t all floral and fruity either. 18% alcohol, so it’s gentler than porto by far, and moscatel is rare for Portugal. It’s aged 9 years in oak but there’s enough acidity from the fruit to cut the potential heaviness. There was one other at the salon, which wasn’t quite as interesting and much, much more expensive. I’m thinking the 2007 is a safe bet too at $10.55.
Unfortunately, only the 20-year ($55) and 40-year ($183.50) are available at the SAQ, but they should be carrying this one. Clean, not too alcoholic or sweet. Full-bodied, and a better taste:price ratio than the forty year aged version. If you like porto, you’ll like this. More interesting was the white porto (branco fino porto bianco dessert wine – $14.20 at the SAQ), but this 30-year is much more refined. With age comes elegance. Seek it out.
5. Black Cove Spiced Rum ($24.75 at the SAQ)
The Grande Degustation had three themes this year – Portuguese wines, cabernet sauvignons, and rum. What a joke! Portuguese I did a few years ago with the Festival en Lumiere. I’m all about Douru. Cab sauvignons are so boring they may as well have just called the theme “red.” But rums! Boy do I love good rum (see “The Great Newfoundland Rum Test”). So I get to the Grande Degustation all ready to be treated to stall after stall of stellar rum. And what do I find? 7 stalls of it, and mostly junk. Mostly. While all the rum producers from Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican and Cuba (I walked away from the Havana Club stall after one sip of their “best” and never walked back) were very friendly (especially flair bartender Sam Dalcourt from Brugal), they were mostly mixing drinks, and an awful rum is just fine for mixing. Where were the Guyanese rums? the Bermudans, the Belize and the Puerto Ricans? You can get them in Newfoundland, but the SAQ is way behind.
Now, for mixing with sodas and juices and sugar you sometimes want the boozy taste, the burning feeling in the throat, and the simple flavours. You probably don’t want subtle notes of butterscotch or vanilla, the former often coming from the use of oak barrels for ageing (Interesting tidbit: Appleton rum’s oak barrels being used Jack Daniels barrels). You don’t want a smooth finish. And for goodness sake, you don’t want spiced rum.
Or so I thought. It turned out the best rum of the event was a spiced “Caribbean” (do they think that’s a country?) rum called X-Isle Black Cove. It’s available at the SAQ. It’s $25. It’s best with a little water, and it’s still very mixable, but you could actually drink this on the rocks. You can actually drink Screech, though, too. Your call.
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