Wine You Will Love

I know its been awhile since my last post and I promise I have been busy! This past fall I had the opportunity to work my first grape harvest with Tawse Winery in the Beamsville Bench, and it was sure a big eye opener. 

Often we buy a bottle of wine and as consumers our decision is primarily based on appearance and appeal. However if each individual consumer was educated enough to know the journey from grape to bottle I feel our choices would be much different, and our experience much more enjoyable. It is through my harvest experience at Tawse in which I discovered the type of experience I want to give readers. I have been asked countless times, "What is a good bottle of wine to buy right now?." This question is just as overwhelming for me as it would be for anyone. With all the choices out there today its hard to determine good winemaking from good marketing, and unless you have industry knowledge it is almost impossible to decipher.

From here on in I am going to make a promise to you, my readers. I promise to inform you as much as I possibly can on each bottle I blog about. From the types of farming practices used in the vineyard, the weather during the harvest vintage season, viniculture techniques used during the winemaking process, why the style of bottle may have been chosen, the decisions behind the labelling and marketing of the bottle, various characteristics you will find on the appearance, nose, and palate, where it is available and why you should go out and buy it...today! 

A little bit of Italy, here in Niagara. 

The Foreign Affair 

"The Conspiracy"

2011 Red blend

Before I get into the details I want to clarify two terms for everyone:

1. Appassimento is a technique used by winemakers where they pick the grapes and then lay them to dry and shrivel before pressing, which concentrates the colour and flavour in the end product, typically called Amarone.
2. Ripasso means the winemaker passes wine (often wine that has already come from appassimento style grapes) through, or makes contact with the skins of another appasseminto style wine, this includes unpressed grape skins. A double whammy if you will.

The Foreign Affair is a winery in Vineland, Ontario that has been operating since 2004 and heavily practices Northern Italian winemaking techniques such as appessimento and ripasso. Typically the types of grapes used in Northern Italy are Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, and Molinara....but we don't grow those here so instead they take popular vinifera varieties and use the same dried style methods to make a rich, full bodied bottle of wine. Pomace from Amerone style Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grapes were used to extend maceration of this Ripasso style wine and the result is something that may throw a wild card in at any blind tasting. 2011 was a pretty hot summer but lots of rain during harvest caused a lot of rot problems for many grape growers. Using dried style techniques can really help in these situations.

When you sip the wine it appears 'sweet' but that is simply the ripasso method speaking through your glass. I'm really not sure what the conspiracy about the bottle is? Maybe there is more to it then meets the eye, or perhaps its because they really don't say what grape varieties are in the bottle. Either way it was great on it's own but I could imagine would be even better with a warm winter dish with tons of root veggies, and red meat. Or throw it on the table with a charcuterie platter, easy!

At only $19.95 this is an affordable bottle that you can keep on your wine rack for another 5 years (if it makes it that long!), a great gift for a host/hostess, or something for YOU to enjoy...tonight! And of course, it's local.

Cheers Friends!