It's the second night of the All Canadian Wine Championships - the last night actually - and the farewell dinner. Tonight we are at a trio of restaurants known locally as the 255 Downtown (on Ouellette Ave): Chanoso's / Oishii / Catering - for an Asian/Fusion dinner, complete with wines from around the world.
Let's start with the wines:
I tasted about 6 wines tonight starting with my own donation to the cause a Juan Gill 2008 Wrongo Dongo from Spain - a juicy red and black fruit wine with big alcohol (15%), big fruit and white pepper - a spectacular pairing with the steak main course. The Domaine Schlumberger 2007 Pinot Gris "Les Princes Abbes" from Alsace (France), a lovely apple fruited slightly sweet wine that paired well with the sushi.
Guillaume Turpin, a sommelier from Montreal, brought a stunning bottle of Jean Foillard 2007 Cote du Py Morgon, this is a beautifully concentrated piece of Gamay winemaking. The vines are about 60+ years old, farmed organically, and has lovely cherry fruit with just a hint of white pepper - the wine is unfiltered so it's a bit cloudy but that takes nothing away from the beauty of the fruit in this wine, and adds to the longevity that it could be laid down for. Guillaume admits it is a little expensive but well worth it once it gets into the glass. Probably one of the best wines of the evening.
Not to be outdone another French wine turned some heads, the Foncalieu 2007 La Reserve du Crouzau St. Gervais from the Rhone. Big juicy fruit, another big 15% alcohol wine with good tannins and chocolate liqueur and sweet licorice notes - on the palate there's black fruit and cracked pepper.
Not all wines can be winners and two really proved they were not up to the challenge of being tasted tonight, or any night. A Sandhill 2002 Barbera (Burrowing Owl Vineyard) was too simple with red fruit to be impressive. The Bel Colle 2004 Nebbiolo d'Alba Bricco Reala was part of the 'dead leather office', with absolutely no fruit ... yuck.
Tonight's Food ...
We started with a tray of sushi ...
Then a plethora of avocado egg rolls and traditional spring rolls ... the spring rolls were a real hit with the unknown brown sauce ...
Then there was a choice of steak or pickerel - both locally sourced ...
Finally, dessert was another egg roll of sorts, a banana, walnut and chocolate egg roll.
1 comment:
My name is Lloyd pittonet. The "unknown brown sauce" is plum sauce. it is made exclusively by us. I'm very glad you all enjoyed your meals with us!
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