Chances
are there’s a Grüner Veltliner in
your future. That’s if it hasn’t happened already. Austria’s
mainstay white grape can make a surprisingly complex, often delicious
white that’s capturing the attention of sommeliers and chefs the
world over.
Grüner
has been winning more than hearts and minds: most notably, in a 2002
blind tasting orchestrated by British wine gurus Jancis Robinson and
Tim Atkin, it beat out some serious Burgundies and other highly rated
Chardonnays from Australia and Napa.
I have
never understood why Port, always known as “the Englishman’s
drink,” has not been more popular here in Canada. Surely, with our
brutal winters, we need its heart-warming qualities even more than
the English do. It appears, though, that Canadians are increasingly
discovering the joys of this elixir. Interestingly enough, Quebecers
are the runaway leaders in Port consumption in Canada.
No wine region in France’s southern Rhône is more recognized than Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The history of the appellation dates back to the fourteenth century when Pope Jean XXII chose Châteauneuf as the location for his summer residence (Rome is nice, he must have thought, but Nice is nicer — well, close to Nice anyway) and proceeded to have some vines planted there. And in 1929, the the fifty-five vineyards surrounding the Pope’s “new castle” were granted the appellation of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Milk
was my poison back then but, even so, I began a lifelong fascination
with Champagne one evening when my father let me stay up way past my
bedtime to watch Goldfinger, ABC’s Sunday Night movie that
week.
While
I’d never heard of James Bond or Champagne, it didn’t take long
for my elementary-school logic to work out that whatever was inside
those bottles 007 was pouring made a very positive impression on
girls wearing bikinis.
Braving oh-so-tough days of great German wine and tireless portions of food is starting to take its toll on our intrepid writer as he journeys through the Rhineland, wading through never-ending seas of Spargel.
May 9: Mosel-Saar-Ruwer
In the village of Bernkastel, Weingut Dr Pauly-Bergweiler sets up a
glorious breakfast buffet for us. The owner’s son Stefan Bergweiler
greets us with a glass of the 1969 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling
Auslese (“select late harvest”) in hand, a solid 95-point wine. The
wines here are very aromatic, ripe and fruit-forward. I would describe
them as Californian in style. The 2005 Grosses Gewachs (“great growth”)
and the 2006 Riesling Sp‰tlese (“late harvest”), from the same vineyard
as the 1969, are truly impressive with their floral, peach,
tropical-fruit and lime qualities.
When presented with the opportunity to join a Canadian contingent of journalists on an annual week-long tour of Germany, I jump at the chance. Unfortunately, five minutes before takeoff “Flu Boy” sits down beside me, and my heart sinks. A wine journalist’s worst fear is to lose the acuity of his senses due to illness. And a stuffy nose, deadened taste buds and drippy eyes await me. So I pop a few pills, close my eyes and pray to the wine gods floating around the aircraft for deliverance.
May 6: the Nahe
Bacchus is on my side, and I land in Frankfurt
no worse for wear. There, I hook up with the rest of our group and we
board the van for the one-hour drive to the Rheingau. Arriving at the
Hotel Schwan, we unpack and meet downstairs for brunch. Ron Fiorelli,
our leader from the German Wine Bureau, orders for us: white Spargel
(asparagus) and potatoes. Served with Hollandaise sauce, it hits the
spot. Ron informs us that the Rheingau and the Pfalz are the prime
growing areas for Spargel and that we all should expect to eat tonnes
of the stuff over the next week — that isn’t going to be a problem.
Where we come from gives us our sense of being. But where we’re from is more than just geography. It’s our parents, our environment and the many individuals who influence us over the course of our lives. It defines us, forms our personality and contributes to that element which determines who we are, what we believe in and how we live our lives … our soul.
Of the thousands of wines I have experienced over the course of my lifetime, I cannot think of any that possesses the soul of Barolo. “The wine of kings and the king of wines” has captured the imagination, palate and emotions of wine lovers everywhere — not just me. It is Italy’s most famous wine and perhaps its most complex and difficult to understand.
