What Does a "Good Time" Mean to You?

Let me start by saying that this didn't get posted on the original date which was last Saturday.

So are you looking for a good time honey? Wink wink.

I know what you are thinking. SEX! But, alas, this isn't going to be one of those blog posts. If you want me to write one about it, let me know. I'll make sure to look into it or at lease refer you to a good wine and sex blog.

Sorry, I got a little distracted.

So what what does a "good time" mean to you? And how does a great glass of wine come into play?

Well let me begin with my week of wine. It has a pretty heavy one too.

Monday:
I started my class called Grape Comparison at the George Brown College Hospitality School here in Toronto. This is one of the only courses that I know of that is set up in this format. We will be tasting about 15 different wines in about 2 1/2 hours with proper 100 point scoring (don't get me going on that one again) and all of one variety. 15 Cabernet Sauvgions from different countries and regions around the world. This will give me a break down of what a California Cab compares to a Bordeaux Left Bank. Pretty cool.

Tuesday:
Took the night off for my poor liver to recover.

Wednesday:
My wife has her band practice at League of Rock and I had the girls. Needless to say we ended up going out for dinner and it was $2 off any glass of wine for Wine Wednesday! Had a big glass that night.


Thursday:
Here in Toronto the New Zealand Wine Event took place at the Design Exchange in the heart of the Financial District. All I can say is WOW! The #NZWine event was one of the best I have ever been to. I tasted about 40-50 different wines. There were a tonne of amazing wines and some that still need some work. One of my favourites was Doctors'. Doctors' is an amazing low alcohol Riesling and Sauvgion Blanc. Both have an alcohol content below 10%. Both have an amazing balance that are worth seeking out. Overall was one that I am going to remember for a long time.

Friday:
We had some friends over for dinner and my wife makes an amazing fish oil and celentro skinless grilled chicken. We started with some anti-pesto with buffalo mozzarella, caper berries, mushrooms, and grilled baguette.  Over the course of the night, there were about 3 bottle of red that were thoroughly enjoyed by all.

So here we are on Saturday. I'm a bit sluggish this morning and sitting in my daughter's dance studio listening to some Kimbra writing this blog.

Even tough this week has been really crazy week, looking back, I'm going to have to put this week as one that I had a "Good Time".

Next time you aren't sure if you have a chance to slow down in the hectic live we all lead, look back and it might just turn out that you did have a "Good Time".

Enjoy a glass.
Matt

Hotel Wine Lists - Why are they so bad?

At one time eating in a hotel restaurant what the height of fine dining.  When dress codes were in place and a stain on a white table cloth meant that you would be asked to change tables.

Oh how the times have changed.

This week I spent 3 days in the lovely city of Halifax for work. I love Halifax. I've been there more times than I can count, so I have a pretty good idea on the places to go and have a great meal and those to avoid.

Some of my favourite place to eat are the Economy Shoe Shop. A great place for a decent meal at a reasonable price with a really cool atmosphere. My favourite place for a good beer has got to be the Split Crow. If your form Halifax, I know that you are thinking "what about the Lower Deck?" No doubt, but I have some great memories and some really fuzzy ones from the Split Crow.

So this trip I had some free time and figured I would go throw some money into the Nova Scotia coffers by making a donation at Casino Halifax. I figured I could afford $20 at the blackjack table. Well 2 hours later I was up 110 big ones! I should have stopped a few hands earlier and would have had a bit more. Didn't matter as I was ahead.

So I cash out and am a bit tired and haven't eaten, so I make my way back to my hotel for a bite and a couple glasses of wine to celebrate.




I pull myself up to the bar in the restaurant and the bartender passes me a menu and the drink list. Before I look a the menu I flip to the red wines. My thing when I look at a wine list is for the most expensive price per glass and work my way backwards. The first thing that grabs my attention is $10 a glass for Campo Veijo Reserva. My first reaction is that I can buy a bottle at the LCBO for about $18 off the shelf! Why should I pay 10 bucks for an ok wine that I've had many times before?

Then I take a look at the rest of the wines they have listed and it's abundantly clear. Let me clarify something. The hotel that I'm staying at isn't a Super 8. I'm at the Delta Barrington. Probably one of the more expensive hotels in Halifax. In the heart of downtown and easily accessible to everything by foot.

So what to do. Well I had cash to burn and was hungry oh and did I say tired? Needless to say, I had a couple of glasses and a Southwest burger and salt and pepper chips. The food was pretty good and as close as a match as I could find for a wine.

The moral of the story is for my next trip, buy your own wine at the local liquor store and order in room service.

Enjoy a glass.
Matt

Upset About Not Enough White

So this week has been yet another crazy week for me as I'm sure that it has been for many of us. On Wednesday I held a wine tasting event for about 16 people and there was a great time had by all.

However, at the beginning of the class, I went on to describe about some basics of wine tasting and how the participants can make the wine more memorable, one of the women was visibly upset at the white to red ratio.We were lucky enough to have 10 wines in total with 2 white and 8 red.
She was willing to stay for the event as we had already begun.

She was definitely enjoying the whites that we started with, a Sauvgion Blanc and a Reisling.

As we moved onto the reds she was a little hesitant. We starting with a Pinot Noir, a Cabernet Sauvgion, moving on to a Tempranillo, Shiraz, a few blends, and ending with a Barollo.

Once she tasted the Chateauneuf du Pape, she was warming up to the ideas of some smooth drinking well balanced reds.

Like many others, if you are a novice wine person, you find something that you like and you tend to stick with them. Just like she was doing. She liked her Pinot Grigo and that was it. She would occasionally have a Sauv. Blanc, but was scared to stray off from what she was comfortable with.

So how do you learn what you like without going broke on buying wines and discovering you hate it and dump it down the drain?

There are a few ways to figure out what you like, and many of them without spending a lot of money if any. Here is how I do a lot of discovering of different wines.

Dinner Parties:

Dinner Parties are awesome for trying new wines. People will usually bring a bottle of wine when they come for dinner. As the host, it isn't out of the question for you to make a request of your friends to bring a bottle that isn't what you normally drink.


Wine Tasting Classes:
Taking a wine tasting class is a great way in tasting a number of wines. It may be a themed class, such as all from South America, or a specific region in France, but they are usually fairly inexpensive and can be amazing. (See Classes and More to have me run a class for you.)

Join a Wine Club:
There are wine clubs in cities all over the world. These usually have an annual fee that you will have to pay, but it will include most of the tastings in that fee. The advantage of a wine club is that they may have their own inventory of wines that are at their peek and not available on the market any longer.

Visit a Winery:
Depending on where you live, this can be an amazing day trip. Most wineries have a tasting room where you can sample their wines for simple $1 per sample. If you find something you like and end up buying a bottle (or a case) they will usually not even bother charging you for the tastings. After all, that's what they want you to do. Sample a wine, love it, and take it home.

Many wineries also have coupons on their websites for a free tasting. I know that Coyote's Run and Black Prince, both have them on theirs. Because I live in Toronto, I'm luck enough to be able to do day trips to both Niagara and Prince Edward County.

So where did that leave the woman in my class?
Thrilled. She said that knowing some of the background of the wines and where they were coming from was as important to her as the wine itself. I tend to agree.

But the key thing in this whole blog is this. Don't be afraid to try new wines, and step out of your comfort zone.
You never know what you might end up liking.

After all, that's what wine is all about, the experience.

Let me know if you would like to share a bottle sometime so we can both enjoy a glass.
Matt

Unplugging

The last few weeks for us (me and my family) have for some reason been really rough.

As with many people, I'm not sure if it is the time of year when we start to get on everyone's nerves because we want to get outside and enjoy summer, but can't because Mother Nature isn't agreeing with our timelines.

My two kids have also been driving us a bit coo coo the last little while as well. More than the usual kid stuff too.  From having to deal with a broken leg on a 5 year old and a pre-tween going on 16, all I can say is ARRRRGHHH!!!

It got to the point on the weekend where we had to literally "pull the plug" on TV for a week.

How is a glass of wine going to help me with that?

Do I drink 3, 4, or 5 glasses until I'm so tired and can't function and drift off into a seemingly wonderful slumber, until the next morning? Well, I'm not 20 any more and can't handle the next mornings as well as I used to. So no, I don't do that.

But, here is what I have started trying to do every chance I can.

Once the kids have gone to bed and things are quiet, for at least a bit, I will grab my glass of wine and sit outside on our front porch. No laptop, no iPad, no BlackBerry. Just a blanket and my glass of wine.

Taking that 5 minutes or more to "unplug" has been the most calming and also inspiring time I have had in quite a while. Occasionally having a chat with a neighbour as they walk by, and watching the leaves try and squeeze their way out of the branches.

For those few minutes, sitting and reflecting on the day, and sipping my favourite red has made me appreciate the day, as crazy as it may have been.

The leaves trying to squeeze out!

Now I know why the "older generation" sat on the porch and just sat.

Enjoy a glass.
Matt

Having a Glass of Wine with the One You Love

I want to start off by saying that I am the luckiest guy in the world. Yes, I really am.

Back in 1997 I was given the opportunity to go to an event at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra called Classic Network. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the night, but it was when I was singing in a chamber choir (Yes I did that. That in itself is another blog post.) and a free ticket to the symphony and free drinks to boot was so it an awesome night out.

 Little did I know that it was really singles night at the symphony. A big "any way", I had a very brief conversation with one of the staff members working at the event about my other favourite libation, gin.

15 years and 2 kids later I am lucky enough to still enjoy sharing a bottle of wine with the one that I truly love. We don't have a special bottle, variety, or vintage of wine that we keep going back to, and in fact, she is reaping the rewards of me buying most of the wine in the house. I'm totally good with it too.

But one of the things I enjoy most is sitting down for a great meal or even sitting on our front porch and talking over a great glass of wine.

There is something about how a glass can make the conversation more meaningful and bring back some wonderful memories. I want a lot more memories to come and be able to reminisce over many more.

So next time you open a bottle of wine, ask yourself this. Is the person that I am sharing this a friend or something more?

Friends are awesome, but if that person is something more, hold on to them and make sure you do everything in your power to show them how important they really are.

Be sure to tell them that over your next glass.

So enjoy a glass with someone you love, like I am lucky enough to do.
Matt