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This video was introduced to me on a hot summer’s day in Brooklyn, by my (dead and alive!) cat loving friend, Ryan. To clarify, he is not dead, but very much alive. Not only a super talented guy who has articulated several skeletons for me, but he is also a silversmith (who has designed for Ralph Lauren, among many others). Check out his awesome art here:
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South Africa
I have crushes on booth of these guys. ( as seen in the epic rugby match of South Africa Vs. New Zealand in post apartheid South Africa. This match was the first time blacks and whites were united in peace through sport in this country.)
Over the past few days, I have had the pleasure of seeing some of my wonderful friends from South Africa. One, is probably the funniest guy I know ( www.richardpoplak.com), and he could make reading the side effects of Advil have me keeling over laughing on the floor. The other, is the boyfriend of a dear friend of mine. Always a gentleman, and of course, has that killer sense of humor that seems to run in the South African veins.
Perhaps this is why, consciously or not, I purchased a few bottles of South African wine the other day. Not for the faint hearted, I affectionately refer to South African red wines as ” booze bombs.” While most wines have a respectable 10-12% alcohol; the wild child that is S.A. wines range anywhere from 13 to…… 17 ( !!!) %. So, if feeling legless after a glass is your thing, get thee to the wine store and pick up a red and a white of:
- A cheeky take on Cote Du Rhone wine from France, try a nice rich bottle of Goats Do Roam for $12.95 (718940).
- And for white, I pick from the same vineyard, making fun of the Cote D’or region for $14.95 is South Africa’s Goats do Roam 2005 Goat Door Chardonnay (684506)
( All prices from the LCBO)
Oh ! And did I mention that most wines from South Africa are organic, even if they aren’t labeled as such? The farmers take such pride in their crops, that little to no pesticides are used. Most also can’t be bothered to pay the exorbitant fees that come with having a certified organic label on the bottle… so for you all you hippies out there, you can drink guilt free.
And finally, I recommend you crack open a bottle on a rainy night and watch this great doc I saw on TSN this weekend. Called The 16th Man, its an incredibly moving short doc all about the epic rugby game played by South Africa vs. New Zealand in just barely post apartheid South Africa. Even if you have never seen a rugby game in your life, it will bring anyone to tears, sad at first and then happy at the end.
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In Praise of Beer.
Citadel Hill, Halifax NS. A great place to drink beer on a warm afternoon.
Happy, Happy Monday!
I have been thinking a lot recently about how much stigma wine aficionados have as being up tight, boorish and pretentious… kind of like a money-ed, British aristocrat in a ascot.
Yes, these people DO exist, and they can really put a damper on your evening. I once appeared on an episode of a show on the Food Network, along side a very accomplished and incredibly intelligent sommelier ( in laymans terms, a sommelier is a master of all things wine, consulted by chefs to create wine lists; amongst many other things). I was 23 at the time, and after greeting one another, he discovered I was not in fact, a PA on set, but would be appearing with him on this show. At this point in our conversation, I might as well have had fresh herpes sores oozing from my face, because he literally wouldn’t talk to me the entire shoot; which needless to say, made on air banter between us and the host very trying. As I was leaving, I overheard him have a hissy fit to one of the producers saying, and I quote ” HOW DARE YOU PUT ME ON THE SHOW WITH THAT INCOMPETENT CHILD!”.
Now, thankfully I have met very few of these types. One of my gurus (http://www.winedoctor.ca/) was telling me a while back how at the last tasting he was at in Bordeaux, France he tasted over 900 wines( swoon!). Now of course, so you don’t die, you don’t swallow anything when tasted at that caliber. He did say right when things wrapped up, he made a bee line to the bar and got a cold pint of IPA. How civilized!
Spring is here and takes me back to my Nova Scotia days, when nothing was better than taking some beer up to the top of Citadel Hill in Halifax on a sunny afternoon with some good friends. We would crack open some amazing Propeller ale, and spend the afternoon watching the ships in the Harbor go by.
Did I mention Propeller is now available in Ontario?
GET SOME !!!
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Wine to drink by the appleblossoms
Happy, happy Merlot Monday! If you were lucky enough to be in Toronto the past few days, I hope you got a chance to make it to High Park to take in the absolutely spectacular apple blossom trees in bloom. My sister was the one who brought up the great idea of pairing wine with the very Jane Austen-y, fragrant, hopeful and down right pretty white blossoms ( sorry dudes and tomboys, you will have to embrace your femine side for this post). This made me think of none other than a lychee filled, green, shiny bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and my favourite Tuesday Night ( meaning in wino/ perhaps just my own crazy world; a bottle of everymans’ wine. Something affordable that you wouldn’t think of putting away to age, but just to enjoy as soon as you can) would be this gem called Monkey Bay($ 14.45 @ the LCBO in Ont), available at all decent liquor stores… I even saw this while driving through rural, rural, RURAL Cape Breton Island. In a tiny, teeny town that had a wine store/sears/grocery store/drugstore all in one, in about the size of my apartment. Here, for your salivating pleasures is a link for all yummy New Zealand White wines you can get in Ont: http://www.lcbo.com/products/sections/newzealand/index.shtml
The LCBO also used this interesting slogan for New Zealand Wines: wines offer a taste you’ll never forget and an experience you’ll always remember.
Wouldn’t it be funnier if it was : New Zealand Wines offer you a taste you’ll never remember and an experience you’ll always forget? Maybe not… but hire me as a copywriter, LCBO!
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If you are in Toronto…
If haven’t been to Cafe Taste (http://cafetaste.ca/) in Parkdale, well… what are you waiting for!?
I first stumbled upon this place because of my wonderful sister, who lives right around the corner. It is a dramatically affordable, mysterious and has incredible service.
As much as I love going with friends/my boyfriend/etc… its welcoming if you just need some alone time with a good book or people watching out the window.
Anyone can be comfortable here. I believe in fact, most of the staff might have been punk or goth in the not too distant past.
Jeremy, ( the owner and wine expert of the place) will forget more about local Ontario wines than I will ever know. His enthusiasm and lack of pretension makes for a hell of a good time. In fact, instead of picking at random from the menu, ask him to choose a flight ( an assortment of 2 oz samples of white or red) for you, and I promise you won’t be disappointed. Niagara and Prince Edward County have some stunning products that could fool any aficionado that they were drinking some old world wines.
Enjoy!!!
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” tired and emotional”
Mom’s home in Chester, Nova Scotia
A very wise man ( my dad) once informed me that when he was growing up in England, when a lady had a bit too much to drink, the man of the house would hide her away in an upstairs nook, and annouce to present company :
” Lady so and so had to step away… she is tired and emotional” Which is code for drunk as a skunk! I saw a lot of this in University, men and women alike.
I had one of these moments last night ( minus the excessive drinking part, I really was just tired and emotional… I swear!). I get a bit down this time of year, as I lost my mom a few years back when I was 21. She was a true lady of leisure, and when I would come home from a usually awful day at high school, (which I hated and didn’t fit in at all) there she would be with a bottle of champagne chilling on ice. She would pour me a glass and we would talk about my day/ cry about all things teenage girls cry about.
This time of year, when the sun shines through the window into the living room around 5 or 6, the flowers start blooming and those old school tweeters are tweeting outside, I think fondly back to those days and remember all the great things about mom.
Sharing wine with awesome people is just the best. I always end up associating that particular wine with the event, and then the wine maker has a fan for life.
So tonight, I will popping a bottle of Segura Viudas (http://www.seguraviudasusa.com)
and toasting to a very special lady.
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Well, aren’t you pretty!
Hi there. Hello? Hello. Thanks so much for stopping by. I have tried this blogging thing a few times and got a little bored along the way and flat out gave up. I am sure if you google hard enough ( but I know/hope you have better things to do with your time) , you could find a blog or 5 that I have written and abandoned. But like a debutant on her 4th marriage, I promise to commit to this one, and try not to cheat.
I am here to spew my thoughts about my favorite subject in the whole wide world: wine. I love wine because in one bottle is a sensual mix of history, geography, chemistry, blood, sweat, and tears made by many very talented and passionate individuals. But, much like a 4th husband, if you don’t treat it with respect, you will feel awful the next morning, and maybe even longer ( drink it in moderation, is what I am saying, friends!).
I have spent the last 3 years working in the wine business, and have wine makers on both sides of my family; on either sides of the globe. But, don’t let that fool you… I still know very little about this stuff and HATE wine snobs… Actually, I hate snobs in generally, but especially wine snobs.
I hope to share basic wine tips and tricks, as well stories and exciting developments in the wine world. Please, feel free to send your own recommendations and questions as I would love to hear from you!
