The Onophile’s dilemma

It’s that time of year again and the city is bubbling over with excitement about Wine Fest. This annual 4 day event gives the oenophile quotient of the city the opportunity to taste a good selection of wines, some of which are not even available in the local markets – yet.

Tonight is the first night of tastings. Looking through the little book of wineries, I know there will not be any “heavies” on display but there will be enough variety to keep even the largest wine snob happy.

Tonight is really about the buying. Most, if not all of the good wines on offer will be snapped up after tonight. If I am lucky, I should be able to snag a few bargains or even a couple of potential gems to add to my ever appreciating collection.

On another note, I bumped into an acquaintance this week and talked shop – it is always about wine. He was “lamenting” the fact that over the summer he had the opportunity to travel to Bordeaux last summer and taste from all of the Premier Cru houses in the region. He mentioned that he traveled with a friend in his mid 70’s, and had this thing that suggesting that anything younger than wine made in 1985 was off limits – and not drinkable.

We laughed as we know that 1995 and 2001 were great years for growth and produced some exceptional wines around the world. By all accounts the 2005 wine futures are predicting good things for that vintage – but we’ll have to wait another 10 years or so to really see if that is true or not.

Anyway, they get together once and a while to drink what they euphemistically call “barnyards” – they are generally older wines and ones which have the potential for “turning” – a little brown on the edges and has that faint whiff of mushroom.

As we were chatting, my wife asked if he enjoyed Canadian wines -and he flatly said they were crap. So I asked if he had tasted a wine from Vineland Estates. So I told him the truth – that he believes all Canadian wine is crap because he’s drinking from under the escarpment (that’s the Niagara Escarpment, part of the reason wine can be produced in the Niagara region of Ontario) whereas Vineland is located on top of the escarpment.

He was intregued by my answer and so posed the notion – a simple trade. One bottle of your best from Vineland for a “barnyard”. So I have accepted the challenge.

I have no idea what I will be getting – it could be stellar – or it could taste like it was strained through week old socks. No matter. The thrill is knowing that I’m getting a surprise, and he’s getting something that might change his mind. Who knows – only time will tell.

—–

copyright 2008. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work on this site will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.