WESTMEATH — Six Canadian wines, as well as various Ontario artisan cheeses, were tasted during the Wine Tasting Event hosted by the Riverview Seniors Social Club at the Westmeath Community Hall last Thursday evening.
Paul Stewart noted this is the final speaker in the series hosted by the club with financial help through the New Horizons Seniors Grant program. There were 27 events held since last June, he said.
The winter program will be completed with this wine tasting.
James Russell, a product consultant with LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) working at the Kanata store, was the guest speaker. He has been employed with LCBO for 18 years, much of it involved in the wine and spirits area developing his knowledge.
“I don’t make apologies for recommending Canadian wines now,” was how he began his discussion on Canadian wines.
They may be young wines, but they have come a long way in a short period of time. As a matter of fact, Mr. Russell noted, “Canadians are the only ones who think Canadians can’t make good wines.”
There are premium growing areas for grapes in Canada, he said. However, if someone is going to compare Canadian wines from warmer areas where grapes are grown, they will be disappointed.
“This is a cool, climate production zone,” he said.
It would be compared to central France, Germany and Italy, he said.
However, with climate change occurring, Canada could be come a warmer climate for grape growing, he noted.
Each of those attending had six wine glasses in front of them with one ounce each of three red and three white wines. The white wines were Sprucewood Shores 2013 Pinot Grigio; Mission Hill 2014 Reserve Chardonnay and Featherstone 2015 Black Sheep Riesling and the three red wines were Black Print 2012 Merlot; Henry of Pelham 2014 Baco Reserve and Biabolica 2014 Red Blend.
To ensure the proper taste test was conducted, Mr. Russell said between each taste, the tasters should eat some cheese and bread. He also gave them a choice of spitting out the wine or drinking it.
However, before doing the taste of each wine, Mr. Russell went through the routine of checking the colour of the wine, sniffing the wine, which meant your nose going into the glass; twirling the wine and letting the aroma escape and finally tasting. Depending on the person, each taste took about a minute, however, there was much discussion in between as Mr. Russell spoke about each wine – where it came from, why he chose it, what makes it unique, etc.
By evening’s end, there were some people who knew they were going to try more Canadian wines, even some of those tried this evening.
