FOODISM meets Christopher Sealy - A Day in the Life of a Sommelier

I recently sat down with the people over at Foodism Magazine for an interview and conversation about a day in the life of a Sommelier. My days are filled with interactions with people, flavours and spaces.
Catch the vibe in the video below. or Link here
A collaboration with Foodism & George Brown School of Hospitality & Culinary

PARCELLE WINE STUDIO : THE EXPERIENCE IS A MOMENT OF RESTORATION

Parcelle Wine Studio as a platform, as an experience is a manifestation of my many years in the hospitality world. My initial dream was to be a French Teacher first, save my money and open some sort of cafe, photo gallery, eatery where all my passions can be exercised in one space, or many!

Many years later, the path as you know may see it, has been a brand focused on wine, wine travel and Christopher Sealy, a sommelier/educator in a fine dining restaurant called Alo in Toronto.

When in reality it has been preparation for this fluid and nimble platform called Parcelle Wine Studio.

Creating experiences, a space in time where we come together, exactly as we want to be and have a moment together. It is not about being the best, it is about moment that feels different, that leaves us restored. Parcelle - like the ‘plot’ of a few rows in the vineyard, the fruit from these vines produces a wine so notably nuanced and different that it has its own singular bottling. To taste it you remark it, you carry that memory, and the next taste in the next vintage, the next experience with friend or lover, will be familiar in energy but different. As nature intended.

DREAMS : a Christopher Sealy x PorcheCanada x Michelin Guide Collabo.

In the months after receiving my individual, and the first ever Canadian, Michelin Star Sommelier Award, the team at Michelin contacted me with a proposal to produce a video story highlighting elements of my journey in wine.

The series is driven by a collaboration with PorscheCanada celebrating 75years of ‘DREAMING in colour’.

3 videos in total were produced. Providing some insight into the how and why of what I do in the world of Hospitality as a Wine Professional. Come take a drive with me. I guarantee new adventures in flavours!

Below Videos - 3 x 1 minute sessions of insight into my arc of flavours.

Video Part 1.

Video Part 2.

Video Part 3.

The Remixed Edit Video.

BREAKING THE CODE : Conversations for New Narratives in Wine

In 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic and a ‘racial reckoning’ instigated by the senseless murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, swept across the world. Recognition of the daily racism experienced by Black people became a catalyst for change. In the wine industry, the charge has been led spiritually and intellectually by several inspirational Black women who sought to revolutionize access and education in the wine world and called out the wine industry for its lack of inclusion of BIPOC. This group of educators and experienced wine professionals includes Julia Coney (Black Wine Professionals), Tahiira Habbibi (The Hue Society and The Roots Fund), and Ashtin Berry (Radical Xchange), to name a few. Would-be gatekeepers quickly promised a fundamental re-think and wider partnership in the industry, but how much has really changed in the wine world since 2020?

As I write, the worst of the pandemic appears to be behind us; restaurants in Canada and further afield have reopened for business. But post-2020, I wonder if the racial reckoning has really delivered on its promises? I am a sommelier and Wine Director in one of Canada’s top fine dining restaurants with more than 15 years’ experience in hospitality. Nonetheless, during dinner service and as I go about my business I am still frequently reminded that as a Black man I am an oddity in this environment. Where are you from? You speak so eloquently! How do you know so much about wine? Where did you go to school? These are just a few examples of some of the more “innocent”, but nonetheless quietly insidious questions that I am confronted with almost daily.

Christopher Wilton, a sommelier, consultant, and wine educator in Peterborough, Ontario, explains that with these types of questions, “what is happening is an establishment of a relationship of power. The White Person is questioning the fact that you are not from here or if you really belong in this space, as you don’t ‘look’ like one of us.”  It is assumed, in short, that wine is a “white” (and predominantly male) space. Wilton elaborates on this point with greater clarity: “the sommelier occupies a dynamic space in the restaurant hierarchy. A sommelier has a specialized technical knowledge. When you are a Black sommelier you also execute and present in a manner that could be interpreted as equating to ‘whiteness’ even to a white person, and frankly quite often [more intelligently] than the average white person.” Despite all the professed awareness of the last 2 years, the continued frequency of these questions reflect the reality of being BIPOC in Canada, where the experience of racism is subtle and entrenched in notions of exceptionalism.

Sadly, it is not just in in the restaurant or in the tasting room that the intelligence, knowledge, and humanity of the BIPOC wine professional comes under scrutiny. Microaggressions often begin in the classroom through instructors, educators and curriculum, and even continue with mentors and peers in the industry. As Beverly Crandon told me recently, for BIPOC a racist encounter “sneaks up on you and makes you realize how others see you. Women, especially women of colour are viewed as Party Tricks at wine events. Especially in rooms with the ‘highly educated elite”. As in so many other fields, systemic racism is baked into the wine industry at every level.

The reality is that the challenges of racism we face today in the wine world are very much the same challenges of yesterday. Dorothy Gaiter, the prominent New York-based wine journalist, author, and critic, has witnessed the growth of the US Wine industry in the current era. She espouses a big picture perspective in her view that “diversity, equity and inclusion in an industry is not charity”, it is “plain good business sense…addressing all individuals in meaningful and lasting ways…will equate to businesses surviving and growing by appealing to as many markets as possible”. This way of thinking requires good faith and participation on a real, human level, but outside of the BIPOC community there have been few progressive shifts in the industry, and regrettably these have been mostly token efforts. As Ashtin Berry, a New Orleans-based hospitality activist, writer, and educator, puts it “People [have] tried to copy-paste equity into their structures without questioning why their structures were so white in the first place!”

It will come as no surprise that the gatekeepers of the wine world have historically been, and in many cases continue to be, white people. They control and decide upon the quality of language employed in a classroom, the choice of the instructors, the content that is delivered and how, and ultimately who deserves a pass and what constitutes a fail for accreditation. After many years of working, teaching, and training in the wine industry, it is clear to me that despite plenty of well-meaning statements of allyship and promised change, this code was one that was never designed to be broken.

It is this realization that must inform how we as BIPOC in this industry now approach the future of the wine world. Although we can begin by questioning leadership, the ‘gatekeepers’, and asking why there is continued resistance to change, Berry, for one,  has made clear that she “can’t be concerned with their fears” and that “centering them in this conversation” is the problem for the advancement of BIPOC. Instead, we ‘‘must understand that we are all adults in this conversation, ‘white people’ are responsible for their own feelings. …Their weaponized incompetence is no longer acceptable!”

Yes, gatekeepers are at the root of resistance to significant change, but pressure is much better concentrated elsewhere. As Wilton puts it, “White people need to challenge white people”. There can be no real change in the gatekeeper community until it happens behind those closed gates.

This brings us to the classroom and the institutions for wine education that provide certification. The Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) or the Court of Master Sommelier (CMS) are two of the most prominent of these, but there are many other international partner organizations, including colleges and universities, that offer general and specialized education in wine and use the WSET or CMS as their standard. When I returned to wine school last January to upgrade my certification, I was shocked that by-and-large the instructors, though accomplished wine professionals, were often not thoughtfuleducators. The syllabus did not aim to enlighten or clarify, it did not reflect the world outside the classroom, instead it seemed in many cases to fall little short of a marketing text. 15 years ago, I was the only person of colour to graduate from my wine certification course; although the student body now spans all spectrums of race and identity, their experiences and interests are noticeably absent from the curriculum, and the teaching style has remained more or less the same as when I first began. This is a problem.

I raised this issue with Beverly Crandon, a certified sommelier based in Toronto and a co-founder of VinEquity, which focuses on advocacy, equity, and scholarship for the BIPOC wine community. She believes that, especially in Canada, “educators should look like the audience, the student body. Even like the outside world”. A truism which bears repeating is that diversity in instruction can create trust, credibility, and safe spaces in the classroom. It helps immensely when instructors and mentors have similar lived experiences to the students they are teaching. Dorothy Gaiter has observed that enrollment in wine institutions has been on the rise everywhere in the last 2 years, and “…that for many BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people, these certifications serve as a sort of armor that they feel they need to work in the wine industry.”  A useful armour indeed, especially when dealing with micro-aggressive table-side questions, dismissiveness from a peer, or more generally when navigating an industry that is so heavily associated with white Europeaness.

Armour aside, the question of whether these institutions are still relevant and whether wine accreditation is delivered as education or indoctrination, remains a pertinent one. Ashtin Berry again offers a response. She tells me that it is “essentially a hierarchy of schools of thoughts, that give you entrance into a fraternity…if it doesn’t teach a full history and have a range of models relevant to the regions then it’s indoctrination.” Though Berry is not entirely against classroom education, she is quick to point out that considerable resources are available to help the aspiring wine professional learn successfully on their own. Chasity Cooper, for instance, is not convinced that institutional wine education was necessary for her. Chasity is a Chicago-based certified sommelier, wine writer, and journalist. She admits that although certification on her way up gave her “the tools to navigate and translate the language of wine to her many different audiences”, she tells me she would not do it again without first seeing significant changes in the curriculum. Beverly Crandon puts it more bluntly “… going to wine school is useless if only for a certificate you earn so you can just talk to one another, one needs to take that information, process and apply it in meaningful ways.” In other words, we should be addressing the difference between an education that elevates and an accreditation that merely indoctrinates.

When we speak of indoctrination in wine education, the elephant here, as it always is when we discuss such dyed-in-the-wool notions of ‘elite’ culture, is the whiteness in the room. The bottom line is that some of what is currently being taught in wine institutions is no longer relevant in a post-2020 world and certainly not without institutional change. Berry again: “Are these institutions and instructors willing to ‘acknowledge that colonialism is an integral component of the history of wine?’ Are these Institutions capable of ‘reassessing the [disproportionate] valuations they have given to different regions?”

Decolonizing wine’s rigid and biased language as well as its non-European history requires transparency and an acknowledgement that wine’s culture and past is not “neutral” or apolitical. Being transparent also means that at a minimum we acknowledge the labour on which port towns such as Bordeaux and Nantes relied to gain their economic head start during the 1700s; we discuss that wine production on the Canary Islands in the 1500s displaced its indigenous inhabitants; and we recognize and accept that the transatlantic ships that brought Madeira wine to America also carried cargo more precious and more poignant than wine.

As in society and education at large, there is also a history of misinformation and whitewashing in wine education that should be countered. Language, for instance, is a hot topic in the world of wine. There is growing acknowledgement that the tasting notes that we are currently tested against and are forced to assimilate to, are working at a deficit. Most of the citrus fruits (Middle Eastern), cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla spice (South Asian) and countless other tasting notes and flavours do not originate in “white” Western food world history. They are appropriated or shared. To tell someone that they don’t taste cinnamon when they may have spent their whole life tasting cinnamon in other contexts, borders on the absurd. Reflecting more deeply upon these accepted interpretations and developing new variations in how we talk about taste is one concrete way to challenge the language of wine and the exclusionary Eurocentrism within the culture.

In both the United States and Canada, BIPOC are organizing and preparing for a more inclusive wine industry with or without the self-appointed “gatekeepers”. In Canada, organizations such as Vinica in British Columbia and VinEquity in Toronto are taking action to effect permanent change. Through these and many sister organizations in the United States we will begin to shift the language and culture of learning within wine institutions and break down the barriers to true inclusivity. There is more wine being made and consumed than ever before and there is room for everyone. As we know, there is strength in numbers – diversity from the ground up is the key.

ONE STAR GENERAL : RECEIVING THE MICHELIN GUIDE TORONTO 2022 SOMMELIER AWARD

September 2022.

I had no idea that I was to receive a Michelin Star at the inaugural Michelin Guide Toronto Ceremony. I was not aware that there was a category for Sommelier! To my surprise I found myself by being awarded a star. I had been invited to attend, via a forwarded email thread.

I decided that it could be interesting to attend.

I arrived on the night of the event, relaxed in my KangolxKith bucket hat and New Balance Harris Tweed limited edition sneakers, of course I would participate on my own terms. There were plenty of industry ‘hi’s and how are you’s’ and ‘long time no see’. Desperate for a glass of wine, I found myself sipping some Cave Spring Riesling at the only booth providing wine at the event. The VQA Ontario Wine booth was situated in a very remote corner of the room. With something fresh and bright in my hand, I was able to catch up with wine industry peers, Jenn Heather (Master Sommelier), Elsa McDonald Master of Wine) and Magdalena Kaiser-Smith of VQA Ontario.

As the ceremony began and my name was called for the Sommelier Award, I was awestruck, it was Magdalena who ushered me up to the stage to receive the award. I hopped on stage, off camera as you may have seen on the live Michelin YouTube screening, with a Riesling bottle and glass in hand, quick thinking on my part, this fact was intentional. Sober as I was, yet astonished to be caught off guard and in front of industry peers, I may have looked less composed than usual. What would you do if you received a Michelin Award? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t kneel to the alter of Michelin, nor San Pellegrino or Canada’s Best Restaurants. It is funny that a guy like me is up there getting recognition. I just do what I do in all honesty. I do feel that in recent history, since the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, I been a more complete version of myself in front of guests. Why? Well wine, for me, is a dynamic medium in which, at precise moments creates spaces for brief, yet intense moments of human connection with the person in front of me! These moments bring to light the many undiscussed realities and issues on how we engage with the world around us. Concepts of language in wine, gatekeeping of any sort, our respective culture(s), the memory of taste and experience are all subjects that can be explored over a glass of wine.

I mean, if and when we meet, I am sure we may perhaps experience such moments.

To me this award is a validation, it is encouragement to continue. We shall see what the future holds.

Ase

BALANCE AND STYLE : ONTARIO CABERNET FRANC COMES OF AGE

Wine Writing…for the first time.

In the summer of 2021 Gurvinder Bhatia, the Editor-in-Chief of Quench Magazine reached out to me to become a contributing writer for the Fall ‘back to print’ relaunch of the Magazine. Quench is one of North America’s longest running Food & Beverage and Lifestyle Magazines. Now owned and operated by Gurvinder he is actively enlisting new voices and faces to contribute to the magazine, particularly in this post-Racial Reckoning of 2020 Era. More to come, but for now please enjoy my first article on one of my favourite red grapes, Cabernet Franc. Cabernet Franc was and still is one of those grapes the has always intrigued me as a student and consumer of wines. Amongst the many glasses I had to taste and evaluate in Sommelier School, Cabernet Franc of the Loire was the most charming and complex to me. In all its various forms, easy drinking red and rosé to vin de garde styles Cabernet Franc holds it’s own at the dinner table. Today I am happy to say that Ontario is a leading producer of fine Cabernet Franc wine in all styles! Read below…

Originally published in Quench Magazine Fall 2021.

BALANCE AND STYLE : ONTARIO CABERNET FRANC COMES OF AGE

There has never been a better time to fall in love with Cabernet Franc, the black grape of the Loire, Bordeaux – and Ontario. Yes, you read that correctly – Ontario! When the right balance is achieved Cabernet Franc produces wines of nuance – from fresh berry and herbal savoury tones to a riper darker fruit and black currant intensity – and retains its dynamic aroma in the glass. It has all the ingredients of a charming and complex wine in youth, while also being cellar worthy – and Ontario is [finally!] getting it right. 

Any Ontario gardener will tell you that planning a garden in spring can be a tricky and humbling business, just a touch too ambitious or a few weeks too soon and you will wake up to a raised bed full of dead seedlings. While other wine-growing regions have seasons that allow the vine to grow with little or no unpredictable weather shifts, a cool climate zone and short growing season present a number of challenges for Ontario winegrowers. Where Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon struggle to survive an Ontario winter, Cabernet Franc is stable, which goes some way toward explaining why Cabernet Franc is the most planted variety in Niagara. Put simply, it suits our climate and can therefore play its best cards at just the right time.

It hasn’t always been this way. In the beginning, Cabernet Franc was merely the grape best positioned for volume. At a time when a demand for wine in and from Ontario was on the rise and Niagara was putting down its roots, so to speak, many producers took advantage of its vigour and energy, harvesting as much as they could and getting as much wine to market as possible. This overproduction generated a style of wine reminiscent of the Loire Valley, though without the charm. The wines were fresh, lean with bright fruit, and angular with ‘herbal’ flavours. It was like garlic to a vampire, however, and the market recoiled. The solution was to blend in Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, creating a style of wine – the Cabernet/Merlot blend – unique to Ontario. This combination was either oaked to give a ‘bold’ New World flavour or unoaked to create an easy-going entry-level wine. Though an efficient way to work with the surplus of planted Cabernet Franc and to build experience with the grape, winemakers had yet to learn to tune in to what the land was giving them and what the vine and vineyard needed to express. New ways take time to establish roots, but older vines – and more experienced winemakers – are now evolving together. 

Tawse Cabernet Franc Merlot Blend 2010

To the question of whether the Ontario climate creates a Bordeaux or Loire Valley-style Cabernet Franc, I would reply – neither. Ontario creates its own unique Cabernet Franc – one that has emerged and is now rightly gaining attention for its elegance, perspective, with an allowance for the quirks of soil and place. In the Ontario microclimates unique to our wine-growing regions, Cabernet Franc can live its best life and, depending on how warm or cool the vineyard area is, can present a new or unexpected tone.

Stratus Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake is a great example of a winery that is leading the way in this diversity of expression. Cabernet Franc can be full bodied, there is no shame in that. The Stratus vineyards are in a pocket of the Peninsula that is quite warm: on any given day it can be 5–10 degrees warmer here than on the Bench, a 30 min drive in the opposite direction. This allows winemakers to create a riper and bolder profile of Cabernet Franc that can be harvested into late October and November. Even when it’s cold outside the sun’s energy still warms the grapes, achieving optimal ripeness and balance for an expression that veers toward a desirable fuller-bodied style. For those looking for the nuance of Cabernet Franc in Ontario, tasting through ‘single vineyard’ allows us to enjoy these wines in diverse expressions. The single vineyard is like isolating the voice in the choir. Tasting through ‘cooler’ sites around the region from the lakeside vineyards up into the escarpment makes room to smell and taste the ‘voice’ of that vineyard.

Tawse ‘David’s Block’ Cabernet Franc 2013 w/ the late great Paul Pender.

Tawse Winery has had a long run with some of the most notable vineyard sites for Cabernet Franc. Any soil nerd knows that the grape is uniquely expressive on various soil types, from red clay and limestone to sand, and this expression allows winemakers to re-examine what can be made new. This is now happening both at longstanding wineries such as Vineland Estate Winery, a pioneer with Cabernet Franc, and at the next generation wineries, such as Fourth Wall Wines or Fogolar Wines. The story here is that it’s never too late to make a shift. Cave Spring and Malivoire, both with a history of offering everything from Chardonnay to Gamay, have wisely made Cabernet Franc a new focus. Some of these wines are sourced from varying soil types and vineyards adjacent to the lake and up into the escarpment, and Cabernet Franc has provided a variety of fruit with which these and many other wineries have been able to craft wines that reflect the region and the winery as a brand. So, is there a distinct Ontario style? Yes, and the style is about balance.  Wines are not perfect; they can only ever be an expression of where they are from and a reflection of the vintage, and Ontario cannot build a reputation for fine wines on marginal production or with grapes that only barely make it to ripeness. When married with attentive wine growing in the vineyard and clarity in winemaking, Cabernet Franc, more than many others, is a grape that can produce great wines of balance in areas of Ontario. 

With all its vigour and energy, Ontario Cabernet Franc is finally being taken seriously, and it should be. To paraphrase Drake, another Ontario-born style icon, if you are reading this, it’s not too late… to grab a bottle.

Link to Quench Magazine online published version

Tasting Verticals of Malivoire Cabernet Franc with winemaker Shiraz Mottiar

Tasting Notes

Cave Spring Rosé 2020, Beamsville Bench VQA ($24.95)

Estate Grown. 100% Cabernet Franc. Deep salmon pink in colour, the nose displays nuance of fresh from the field strawberry and raspberry. The palate is dry with a vibrant streak of verve and wet stone down the middle with elements of strawberry and raspberry playing on either side. Finishes with a slight piquant energy of spiked watermelon, weighing in at 14% abv.

Southbrook Vineyards ‘Triomphe-Organic’ Cabernet Franc 2018, Niagara Peninsula VQA ($21)

Harvested from organically farmed Laundry Vineyards & Saunders Family Vineyards, this is a Cabernet Franc with all the Cabernet Franc-ness, floral, cherry, raspberry and bramble fruit with intense pot-pourri of purple and red floral. There is a lightness of being with this wine. It is a fresh and medium bodied wine with true to form blue currant, blueberry leaf, all the ‘herbs’ but just enough, rather tart and I know we hate to say it, but it’s crunchy…lets’ say croquant, as the French would. Layered and complex. Winemaker Anne Sperling collaborates with family grape growers to offer the best organically farmed grapes for this wine!

Fourth Wall Wines ‘Meta’ Cabernet Franc, Lincoln Lakeshore VQA ($29)

87% Redfoot Vineyards / 13% Il Vigneto – co fermented, aged in demi-muid. Made in partnership with Pearl Morissette. A semi-opaque ruby verging on purple, the charming aroma

of Cabernet Franc, combining a fragrant purple floral aroma, interchanging with blue/black fruit of the forest and the garden. It teases you with herbaceous reflections on the palate which is dry, with tension of more of that dark berry fruit, herbs and spice of sage, open and engaging. Fourth Wall, from sommelier Joel Wilcox is one of many new, up-and-coming virtual wineries in Niagara.

Grange of Prince Edward Cabernet Franc 2017, Prince Edward County VQA ($32)

Estate Grown. The unique Prince Edward County entry raised from their Northfield Block planted in 2003. This corner of the estate experiences a warmth in microclimate which is evident in this wine. The nose expresses nuances of plum, currant, fig with cardamom spice. Concentrated and in full bloom is the palate verging on a fuller bodied red with dark berry and dried plum. With a decant, the subtle spice of mint, spearmint and dried herbs over time creeps in on the finish. A wine richer than expected from a cooler climate corner of Ontario VQA.

Cave Spring Estate Cabernet Franc 2019, Beamsville Bench VQA ($35)

Soil nerds will find delight in this wine raised on limestone and clay at the estate of Cave Spring. Appropriately reflecting a depth of berry aroma, the limestone soils provide a certain piquant tone and the clay weighs in with a robust fruit expression. There a is tension in the currant, plum to wine gum scent with an added mint spice. The palate delivers bracing minerality within a fine boned structure with chalky, salty, mineral, blue fruit that one can expect from this vineyard that sits in the sun at the base of the escarpment. A serious effort from winemakers Angelo Pavan and Gabriel Demarco. Worthy of the cellar from one of Ontario’s founding winery families. OG written all over.

Vineland Estate Winery ‘Cab Ride’ Briar Creek Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2016, Four Mile Creek VQA ($35)

Vineland Estates is one of the pioneers of Cabernet Franc in Ontario. This wine has a certain polish and finesse. Deeper extraction in colour and fruit, but not an overly heavy wine, blue forest berry and bramble support the classic floral tone of the grape, oak is evident but not a distraction. The palate is firm, fruit flavours are tart but rich, ripe and generous.

Vineland Estate Winery ‘Cab Ride’ Smith Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2016, Niagara Lakeshore VQA – clone 214 ($35)

The wine has a striking floral tone, with the tart bramble fruit and herbal aroma, and just a tinge of baking spice. The wine has lift and sufficient intensity in aroma. The palate shifted to cool blue and black fruit, generous with its time and energy underlined by herbs. The wine is a very good expression of Cabernet Franc – there is a freshness that sits in a good space presenting clarity in structure and intent. It is Cabernet Franc from one of the ‘godfathers’ of Ontario Cabernet Franc.

Stratus Cabernet Franc 2017, Niagara-on-the-Lake VQA ($39)

The soul of the Stratus Winery portfolio of Estate production is Cabernet Franc from winemaker J.L Groux. A Loire Valley native, here he understands that he can get the maximum out of Cabernet Franc. The wine kicks off with aromas of rich, creamy currant, to raspberry with an oak and lemon pepper spice with dash of tomato leaf. There is gentle embrace freshness with zest that fills the glass before dipping into an equally rich palate of black and ripe red fruit, with a firm palate of gripping and muscled tannin. Bold & beautiful for some, this is a full throttle expression of the Cabernet side of the Franc. 

Pearl Morissette ‘Racines du Ciel’ Cabernet Franc 2018, Creek Shores VQA ($43)

From vines on the ‘Home’ Vineyards, the initial journey of flavour meanders between fragrant florals of the night garden to forest berry, ripe plum and black cherry, with a distinct herbaceous and savoury aromatic persistence. All of this sits on the palate, poised and nuanced. It gives what you want! If you need delightful mouth play from your Cabernet this is the one! The ethos of winemaker Francois Morissette & Co. shines within this Cabernet Franc. It did what needed to be done!

Thirty Bench ‘Small Lot’ Cabernet Franc 2016, Beamsville Bench VQA ($75)

This wine is Uptown Top Ranking* – A truly opulent wine from the Bench. I had to pinch myself to wake up from the reverie in aroma that took me to a hybrid land of Bordeaux Right Bank meets Tuscany in a cool climate. Aromatically the wine keeps one in this stasis field of ripe, yet fresh, black and red berry fruit aroma, cherry, currant. It is Franc-ly Cabernet. Palate is all dusty cocoa powdered covered blue currant, plum candy, laced with soft wood spice. All the notes sit in balance between the vineyard offering and a mastery in winemaking. Emma Garner is the winemaker who has won international accolades (2015 vintage) for this isolated small vineyard organically farmed Cabernet Franc located further up in the Bench. 214 cases made.

*reference from Uptown Top Ranking by Althea & Donna

Tawse Winery Lowrey Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2020, St. David’s Bench (barrel sample)

St. David’s Bench is a sub-appellation of Niagara-on-the-Lake. This was a barrel sample from a single vineyard historically intended for the Growers Blend. Floral, with crunchy blue and bramble fruit, the palate was showing some sweeter bramble berry fruit with gentle tannin and medium acid, with the Cabernet Franc signature herbaceous element. A lot of energy and purity in flavour.

Tawse Winery Il Vigneto Cabernet Franc 2020, Lincoln Lakeshore VQA (barrel sample)

Single vineyard barrel sample, potentially destined for the Growers Blend. The aroma is dense with dark bramble fruit, mineral stone and dusty coming from clay and limestone soil. The palate had great structure, gripping tannin and a nice backbone of acidity. You would think you were in Niagara-on-the-Lake, though it was the brightness and verve of the wine that brought us back to the Lincoln Lakeshore.

Tawse Winery ‘David’s Block’ Cabernet Franc 2020, Twenty Mile Bench VQA (barrel sample)

Single vineyard barrel sample, the foundation for Growers Blend and on occasion single vineyard bottling. Of all the samples this had an impression of still waiting to reveal itself.

Aromatics were cool to the touch, yet bright and quiet in fruit expression. The palate was sweet bramble fruit in its baby fat, but gripping.

Tawse Winery ‘David’s Block’ Cabernet Franc/Merlot 2010, Twenty Mile Bench VQA (library selection)

Entry into the aroma of this single vineyard wine was floral, evolving into dried plum and violet with dried fig. The Merlot dominates the intensity of the perfume on this wine. The palate was soft and engaging with fresh juicy dark fruit, the acid intensity of the wine was falling off. Reminded me of Bordeaux.

Tawse Winery ‘Growers Blend’ Cabernet Franc 2013, Niagara Peninsula VQA (library selection)

A wine in full stride with a floral intensity, herbs and spice around tart currant, plum and bramble. A distinct mineral and ‘iron/graphite’ like intensity invaded the glass. Perhaps verging on tea leaf or orange pekoe. The palate was equally expressive with structure and flavour in balance, gentle and steady blue and dark red fruit.

Malivoire Winery ‘Wismer’ Cabernet Franc 2020, Twenty Mile Bench VQA (barrel sample)

A wine still very much showing primary fruit aroma, crunchy bramble fruit, raspberry and berry fruit. The palate is bright, a tart blend of all the berries – still searching and creating its identity.

Malivoire Winery ‘Wismer’ Cabernet Franc 2018, Twenty Mile Bench VQA ($27)

This wine was made just after winemaker Shiraz Mottiar took a trip to the Loire Valley. The aroma presents lifted floral, bright red berry fruit. Aromatics are clean, spritely and energetic. The wine presents the fruit spectrum of the Cabernet Franc grape, while the palate is easy going, gentle and pleasing. Medium – to light in body.

Malivoire Winery ‘Wismer’ Cabernet Franc 2016, Twenty Mile Bench VQA (library selection)

This wine was an example of early work with Cabernet Franc. It has more in line with wines tasted recently for this article. The current style of Wismer Cabernet Franc has moved in a seemingly opposite direction. It seems a reflection of its maker. This wine is ruby and garnet in colour, certainly in evolution with blue fruit, currant and the Cabernet Franc tone coming through. The oak is well integrated. The palate is still showing riper cherry and black berry fruit, firm and fine tannin spice and herbal yet still medium bodied on the palate.

LCBO & YOU (AND ME) - CHRISTOPHERS' SPRING SIPS

I hope you are all well. It can be a challenge to emerge into the light of Spring, with this fog of Covid hanging over our heads!

I have been busy with launching my own series of ‘Virtual Wine Tastings’ - I have a planned Arc of Flavours focus on the grape Garnacha aka Grenache! May 15th 8pm. There are a few spots left!

A few weeks ago I was asked by the LCBO to host a tasting of 6 pre-selected wines Spring Sipping Wines. Wines to take you on an adventure in flavour, to different regions and a few different wine styles…rosé and rosé sparkling included. See the link to the LCBO YouTube Live Recording.

But…I decided that I would introduce my own Christopher Sealy - Arc of Flavours - Sipping Wines for you that could be found in the LCBO. Yes, the LCBO, one of ‘the’ largest retailers of wine in the world. It is sort of like buying records from the old HMV or SAM the Record Man - commercial interests are definitely driving factors in what is placed on the shelves. Though every now-and-then you can find some hidden gems in the rare groove or urban music section of the store, just like going through the Vintages Section. I prefer, and almost always shop at the 49 Spadina and Front Street LCBO. There is a greater and deeper selection of wines. Wines that many industry and wine professional enjoy and are happy to promote. The LCBO can be useful at times. If you know how to shop!

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Fattoria Nanni ‘Arsicci’ Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 2018. Le Marche. Italy.

Verdicchio is one of Italy’s most noble and age worthy white wines. The region has history of great wine making notably in the world of white wines. This part of the Italian peninsula over-looks the Adriatic Sea. Vineyards at various elevations on limestone, clay and granitic slopes are exposed to the sun and sea, making for a sun kissed lemon, citrus, apple and gently herbal toned wines. There is a certain mid palate weight to the wine. Saline and mineral with a touch of fruit ripeness that seems slightly creamy, like nectar. This is a great aperitif wine and an easy going sipper with weekday meals. Let’s try something other than Pinot Grigio. Which is fine, but variety is the spice of life!

I somehow misplaced my receipt. The wine is approx $25-27 in the 49 Spadina LCBO. Limited bottles remain. There is also a higher end Verdicchio from another producer Garofoli ‘Podium’. I believe retails for $25-30 and is an excellent wine for the price with elegance and complex flavours.

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Lavradores de Feitoria Branco ( Blend of Malvasia Fina, Gouveio, Siria) 2019. Douro.

Lavradores de Feitoria is a co-operative winery in the Douro Valley, Portugal. They continue improve in quality and complexity with each vintage. I did have an opportunity to visit this producer a few years ago. The wines caught my on the LCBO shelves and I had to taste the present, while I looked back to a wonderful past visit.

On this trip, I met with Olga Martins, a chief protagonist, in this organization. Dirk Niepoort is an influence in this project. Inspiring the many families involved in this project to form like Voltron in order to bring the power of the collective to the wine market.

A blend of grapes in this Branco : Malvasia, Gouveio, and Siria. Producing a wine that is warm in aroma with cantaloupe and melon, with pear and puree of apple. The tone of the wine is gentle and with volume. This is a light to medium bodied wine and un-oaked, in order to preserve freshness and brightness in flavour. Palate continues with melon, pear, apple with a gentle acid and mineral backbone. A pleasing entry level white wine from the Douro. I believe it retails for sub $25.

Go get some, there is plenty on the shelf!

The Garden at the HQ for Lavradores de Feitoria. I recall they mentioned this chateau was once owned by the Mateus Wine Family.

Tasting with Olga Martins (CEO, Commercial Director) and Paulo Ruao (Wine Making Director)

The Lavradores de Feitoria - Portolio of wines.

A SANGIOVESE TUSCAN TOUR WITH UCC Parent Social Nights

UCC PARENT SOCIAL - SANGIOVESE TUSCAN TOUR

I and the UCC Parent Social Committee organized a fun and adventurous series of wine tastings. A zoom social gathering to catch up and see each other in this Covid Lockdown #3. It was an engaging way to dream and imagine travel in the comfort of our homes. Tasting, I would say, some elegant and fine wines based on the Sangiovese grape. We started with a great expression of Chianti Classico from Tenuta Bibbiano’s 2018 vintage in Castellina in Chianti. Castellina a south lying commune, with a slightly warmer climate. This ‘first’ wine from Tommaso Marchesi Marzi, is a combination of fruit coming from his two single vineyards that hug the historic cantina. These vineyards are of two different exposure and from vines planted in the 1950’s and from some vines most recently planted in 2000 and 2005. This is a head and shoulders above the rest expression of Chianti Classico from one of Italy’s oldest wine making regions!

Tommaso of Tenuta Bibbiano, from a 2017 visit to his winery.

We then cruised down, virtually and in our minds, to the town of Montalcino for a Rosso di Montalcino from Canalicchio di Sopra. Francesco Ripaccioli and his siblings currently are at the helm of this winery. They are the grand children to Primo Pacenti - an OG of Brunello history. The new generation of wine makers are making waves in a manner that upholds ‘family tradition and the values of Sangiovese in Montalcino’ and have also evolved with the times. Embracing a positive and future vision of how the wines of this region, need to be better! This Rosso di Montalcino is a brilliant example of the hidden beauty of Sangiovese presenting a dusty rose, and cherry scented wine, with a certain lift and medium body weight, that on the palate, hits you with acid and fine tannin and gently brings you in with sweet black cherry, red currant and a touch of light tobacco leaf.

Francesco in the winery from a trip with the Brunello Consorzio in 2019.

It was with great pleasure that I was able to introduce the final wine. Brunello di Montalcino from Donatella Cinelli Colombini! The Grand Dame of Montalcino. She was the first woman in wine in Montalcino, from an era when it was unheard of a woman to work the vineyards and make wine. She changed the game and is consistently making great wines all across the board. We tasted her 2015 Brunello di Montalcino. A wine I believe is ready to drink now, and may offer more finesse with 5-7 years more ageing. This wine was deeper and richer, from a warm vintage, with plum and blue-ish fruit flavour - black black cherry with the finest drops of vanilla, minted chocolate and underbrush to mushroom. Tannin and Acid were pronounced, though in my recent observation of Brunello, recent history has presented winemaking and wines that allow for approachable and ready to drink energy in their youth with supple fruit, yet with enough structure to hold for several years. You much choose your producer wisely, as there are many that are tightly wound. This 2015 is a worthy addition to your cellar and is also only the ‘first’ Brunello from Donatella. Her upper tier wines offer some serious flavour and energy!

Donatella at her Fattoria delle Colle Winery and Restaurant. A visit in 2017

PORTUGAL : AT A GLANCE! THE FIRST ARC OF FLAVOURS SESSION - SOLD OUT

BOM DIA!

it was such a pleasure to have sold out on the first ever Arc of Flavours : Guidance and Conversation in wine. April 24th…

We began the arc with a tasting of 4 wines from one of my favourite wine ‘spaces’ in the world, PORTUGAL.

There is a big appetite for the tasting and exploration of wines from this rather small country. A country with a large library of grape varieties making very distinct wines on various terrains and different climates. Cool, sunny and rainy in the Atlantic North with crisp wines of Vinho Verde to the full throttle flavours of red wines from the hot dry and arid flatter landscape of Alentejo! So much to discover. We will do a Part 2, and 3 and…!

Here are pics of the 4 wines we tasted. All from avant-garde / classic producers…can I say that! Constantly perfecting their craft vintage after vintage. Collaborators and protagonists, they are, consistently making great wines. Anselmo Mendes of Vinho Verde, Alvaro de Castro of Dão, Dirk Niepoort with a Dão wine, though he makes wines all over Europe, and Antonio Maçanita of Alentejo.

Anselmo Mendes ‘Contacto’ 2019, Alvarinho. 6-7 hours skin contact, with a floral and citrus impact laced with luscious salinity. What more do you want. Dry! not sweet!, Elegant! not fizzy!

Saes by Alvaro de Castro ‘Branco Reserva’ White, full bodied, barrel ferment Encruzado, nutty, almond & honeyed apple. From altitude mountain vineyards in the Dão, representing the finer side of wines of Portugal.

Dirk Niepoort ‘Conciso’ Baga field blend with tones of dark cherry, plum and herbs, whole cluster / foot trodden in lagares - A combination of Dão old vine vineyard with much potential.

Fita Preta ‘Tinto’ by Antonio Maçanita, a blend of Aragonez and Alicante + others, presenting a classic Alentejano wine of dark plum, black currant/berry flavours with classic acid intensity and structure. Rich!

Domaine 'Alzipratu 'Pumonte' 2018 Corse Calvi AOC. Corsica, France

Grape : Vermentinu/Vermentino

Soils : Granite

Lieu-dit: Pumonte, at the foot of Mt. Bonifatu. Corse Calvi, Corsica

Pale lemon green - day bright!

clean, med intensity. youthful, primary fruit of lemon, lemon peel white grapefruit, lemon grass ,herbal, garrigue, salted rockstone, white floral notes.

palate dry, high acid, zero tannin + slightly bitter,, med + alcohol

med + body, youthful, lemon citrus, grapefruit-white, sweet pear honeyed peach and apricot, with some herbal , garrigue, salted rock saline. some bitter lemon peel…some texture. Long finish.

Supple, with nice weight in the mid-palate and structured like a tailored summer linen suit!

Youthful and engaging, very good, drink now but has potential for ageing 16 / 20

tasted Jan 2021

Domaine 'Alzipratu 'Fiumeseccu' Corse Calvi 2018 . Corsica, France

Let it be known that I am a big fan of wines of the greater Mediterranean Basin. The Basin is comprised of all the seas of this quasi ‘middle earth’. Stretching from the shores of Lebanon to South France to the northern coast of Morocco. The many wine regions and islands that are within this oceanic wonderland, vineyards that hug the shores and are also found just inland all benefit from sunshine, constant sea breezes, soils and vineyards of young and old vines. A vine and wine history that has existed here from before the birth of Christ!

The wine history of this middle earth is complex and deep, I love it all and find particular interest in the freshness and energy these wines present.

I stumbled upon the wines of Pierre Acquaviva and his family. Domaine ‘Alzipratu has been growing and selling grapes since the 1990’s, and only recently has Pierre taken up the mantle to produce wines under the family name. The domaine is situated close to the convent of Alzipratu, and the vineyards in and around are home to indigenous grapes such as Sciacarrellu. Niellucciu, Vermentinu and Biancu Gentile, with several others and a peppering of the French mainland grape duo of Grenache and Syrah!

I can not share more details about the winery and the wines, as I have yet to visit the island, though I enjoyed a bottle of the Domaine ‘Alziprtu ‘Fiumeseccu’ Corse Calvi 2018 at home over dinner. For sure, I can tell you about that! I didn’t know what to expect, but I was very very pleased. This wine of Corsica is a combination of 4 red grapes, Niellucciu, Sciacarrellu, Grenache and Syrah. From appearances the wine has a clear ruby, garnet colour, with an aroma of fresh sun kissed blackberry, warm strawberry and other field berries. Youthful in expression with jovial vigour. The palate doesn't disappoint with ripe-not-sweet fruit of blackberry and other red berries, medium in body and good structure and soft tannins. There is a certain spice of cinnamon, nutmeg to red liquorice on the palate. An easy drinking wine with enough complexity and openness to enjoy now or hold for 3-5 years. 16.5 / 20. Jan 2021.

WINEPOD : A PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE

MIDSUMMER COVID CHAT

Deep into the Toronto Summer of Covid, I sat for an interview, over the phone, with Adrian Caravello. Adrian is the Coordinator of Hospitality and Tourism Management Programs at George Brown College, here in Toronto. He and his team are presenting a new podcast series called the Wine Pod - a podcast. A Weekly release of discussions with various personalities in the World of Wine, local and global. The idea here is to give Culinary and Hospitality Students at George Brown an opportunity to listen to different personalities talk about their paths to success. The intent is to inspire and offer insight, especially in a time of uncertainty.
I have listened to all of the current podcasts, they offer curious backstories and details we may have not have ever learned without this podcast.

I was a recent guest. Here is a link to the words I shared.

Christopher Sealy - Wine Pod. George Brown College

MY STORY IN WINE REVISITED : A VINEQUITY - PATHS IN EDUCATION WEBINAR

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 10th

A WEBINAR (link to recording) ; Moderated by the team at Vinequity, a Toronto based not-for-profit that serves as a directory for Black, Indigenous and People of Colours, LGTBQ+ in an effort to lend more visibility and promotion to students and professionals in wine at all levels in Canada. They will also be offering a scholarship and mentorship program in the new year to selected candidates.

The webinar was hosted by one, of the 8 co-founders of Vinequity, Nabila Rawji and included panelists such as myself and 4 others. Andrea Backstrom of A+M Consulting. Shiraz Mottiar the head winemaker at Malivoire Winery in Niagara. José Luis Fernandez who is currently a CMS-A Masters Candidate and Elsa Macdonald, a Master of Wine.

VinEquity instaPhoto and promotion. Nov 2020

it was an engaging hour of conversation where we each shared a glimpse of our personal stories of how we arrived at this moment in time. My words/story is shared below:

This is one of the few moments where I, with pleasure, will share and explain the classic question ‘Where are you from? No really where are you from?’ and ‘How did you learn wine?’  

I am Canadian, my parents are from Barbados. I was born in Mississauga. 

We moved to Guelph, when I was high school aged. 

I grew up ‘middle class’ my parents worked hard, with the expectation I would go the college route, job, family – sekkle down . 

I was one of 4 black kids in my high school. I had my typical ‘small town’ experience around being black, nothing physical – all microaggression, verbal… psychological. I learned to navigate, assimilate, eventually ‘code-switch’. 

I fell in love with the French Language after a March Break School Trip to Paris and the South of France and I aspired to be an architect. 

I was accepted early to UofT, on the basis I would play basketball, I didn’t have the grades for Architecture [that is another story] but…

1999 - I happily graduated with a French Language and Literature Degree. 

I found a job in Customer Service at an International Investment Company, the intention to pursue a ‘Securities Route’ with my language skills in hand. I learned how to communicate in a ‘Sorry to Bother You’ ‘How can I help you!’- kind of way. Though from my cubicle, I realized this world was not for me.  

The events of 9/11 came – resulting in lay-offs, I was offered a decent severance package, then in 2003 I was off to Paris on a ‘young persons-working’ Visa.  Following a dream. 

I was 27years old- I was curious and open, I had my local markets mapped out, with my produce guy from Tunisia, to my Cheese Monger from the Jura and a circle of friends from all corners of the world. I played soccer in a men’s league, I was a casual DJ at a tiny lounge, I bartended and served, I was a photographer’s assistant – and I cooked and dined with friends when possible. 

LET’S TAKE A MOMENT TO REFLECT

We assimilate into the idea that ‘the standard of hospitality is based on European technique and notions of quality’ – but I observed that we all exercise the sharing of food and drink in the same way…ingredients and customs are only different in nuance and ratio. One is not better than the other. I do what I do in a ‘West-Indian’ way.  

BACK TO THE STORY

2005, back in Toronto, via an internet search I discovered the term: Sommelier – an expert of wine and beverages. I felt this was a direction I could explore.  

Where to study: George Brown College / CAPS – Canadian Association of Professional Sommelier. 

I spent the summer reading about wine. 

I contacted the school, got in by the skin of my teeth on an evaluation test and a late acceptance.

LISTEN

I had no family history in wine. I never worked fine dining. 

At this point, I worked at an Italian Eatery, that only served 6 wines BTG and was only open for lunch. I learned to love Italian wines during my study as I worked side by side with the wines. I was lucky. 

I didn’t have a tasting group to participate as the majority of my classmates were fine dining people. Wine class for them was in addition to what they already had, not a path of exploration. And I was the only black person in class! Kind of like first year French, when you realize all your classmates have French Speaking Parents and the reason they are here is for ‘an easy’ grade!

I didn’t have a mentor to guide me. I knew more about wine than my service manager. 

I would get my local LCBO agent to brown bag ‘testable’ wines, so I could taste them at home by myself’ 

I was curious, I would ask questions. I would go over to see Jamie Drummond at the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar and taste flights of wine blind, after my service or as a ‘night’ out. 

I graduated, I passed, I felt slightly out of place. I wasn’t the best student…

but look at me now. 

I did notice that my ‘fine dining’ peers took a lot for granted because of their positions and bias.

I was not blinded by Burgundy or Bordeaux being the best wines of the world. 

I saw how they played the game. I would play it slightly different. Growing up in Guelph, travelling alone to France. I was not afraid of ‘their’ world – or those who identified or acted with what I recognize as ‘white privilege’. 

I was confident, I had nothing to lose. That was the difference, that was my edge.

I was open to the world. I endeavoured to chart my own path!

NOTE: in all my lectures, seminars, travels, - I have been 95% of the time – the only black person in the audience, in the vineyards, and on that ‘wine dinner’ table. Think about how that might feel AND I have never had an instructor who looked like me. 

Continuing…

Sommeliers – Yes was becoming a thing, there were a few gatekeepers, but I carried on. 

I helped open and manage a few restaurants. I presented wines off the beaten path such as Portugal, Greece, Italy, South-France for example. 

Finally opening my own wine bar in 2012…I tried my best, learned, made many mistakes and left the business… 

I didn’t have the right mentorship or partnerships…was it about colour or personalities, I think both. 

Meanwhile, I felt I hadn’t cut my teeth in ‘real’ fine dining or with a ‘big’ program. I got a part time job at big restaurant – with a large F&B Program. I soon after took over the wine program and con-currently started to travel and work with ‘wines’ I had studied for. 

I created my website and began posting pictures and stories from trips. 

This restaurant began hosting the Court of Masters - Introductory and Certified courses. I took the courses, passed, did horrible on service. I was a mess. 

Then in late 2015 - A new Fine Dining Tasting menu restaurant had just opened, there was a need for a ‘head sommelier’ I was contacted by associates who managed and worked there and was convinced to join their team. 

So, 5 years later, Directing 3 wine programs from fine dining to casual. Many trips and working with some talented and interesting people. I was recognized by Canadas 100Best Restaurants as the top sommelier in 2019. I call it my Obama moment. LIKE REALLY THE FIRST TIME YOU EVER SAW A BLACK FACE UP IN THAT MAGAZINE .

I started wine education when I was 30…I am now 44. I have a family, a partner, two girls 10 and 7. The journey was not without its challenges. 

ON THE SHORES OF LAKE ONTARIO, NOVEMBER 2019.

IN THE END THIS IS NOT A WOE IS ME MOMENT.

To sum it all up and to address a big part of why I am here with you today is that I had my awakenings only in the last 3-4 years. Like ‘woke’ feelings. Reading James Baldwin and reading Ta-Nehisi Coates…Retrospectively I started to open my eyes to the reasons I had many unnecessary and necessary challenges, that I eventually overcame… 

1.    If I was ‘white’ or had the right guidance would I be an architect today? 

2.   Had I not gone to France, I would not have been questioned on my identity. I was just me. Simple. But everyone else wanted to know if I was American, British, French West Indian, certainly not French African…my French accent was ‘too perfect’. I was Canadian. To this day I still have to explain this. 

3.   I have the knowledge but not the colour? If I got the jobs in fine dining that I applied for during and after my studies, and were I a different hue, would I be further down the road, earlier, with finances and stature and maybe in the Court of Masters or hosting Wine Seminars? – I did placements, and staged, but I found them lacking in care and respect and it seemed mostly smoke and mirrors. I was also mature and had less tolerance ‘for working from the bottom up’. 

4.   Had I looked the part would I have been invited to those tasting groups, even when I repeatedly asked…I realized I was not a ‘bird of a feather’ 

5.   At that ‘big’ restaurant with a nicely funded F&B program, would I have stayed if they worked with me to commit to my program of proposals and salary request, instead of opting to pay me on a consulting/invoice month to month…no commitment to me…meant no commitment to them when the time came. 

6.   I still face challenges to today. I still get the ‘where are you from’, where did you study, you are so articulate, you’re so well dressed and then there are the moments at tasting and when you ask a question of certain ‘whine’ people there is a disregard and cold shoulder, because I don’t look the part.  

I am here, at the ‘highest level’ (whatever that is supposed to mean) and I still feel there is more to do and more to learn. I have since surrounded myself with good people, my close circle is filled with people who see me for me, and allow me to be me…so that I can approach my wine study and work with ‘me’ in mind and make decisions with ‘me’ in mind… Prior to this I admit I looked for approval from my peers, mainly white! I compromised my behaviour and decision making to a certain extent. 

But no longer. 

I have always used wine as a lens through which I examine the world this ‘very very small’ slice of the world. In the grand scheme of things

it is the people and stories of the land, and how it can make you feel that is of the greatest human interest. 

We all taste, we all have questions, we all have dreams! 

KETTERN + D+D NIEPOORT 'TEPPO' RIESLING MOSEL 2018

TEPPO RIESLING MOSEL 2018

31 Days of Riesling…Covid 19 aside, I say why 31 and why in the middle of summer in Toronto, when we virtually have 0 access to the great wines of Germany. It has been the same issue every year. So let us start talking about Riesling all the time. 365 days of the year.

Teppo Riesling from the Mosel is a project driven by 3. Dirk Niepoort as the ‘artiste’ of Portugal fame, Daniel Niepoort his son ,in collaboration with Philipp Kettern of Germany. The winery project is called Fio, based in the Mosel.

A wine of minimal intervention, aged in fuder and left on the lees. This wine is is not defined by the laws of ‘natural’ wines, though it is a great example that wine of this ‘nature’ can be profound, ‘clean’ and direct. Let us call a spade a spade!

Complete circle.

It is a wine that is built to age over time, though tasting on the day, this Riesling offers up precision, elegance and delicatesse!.

Check out the wine label designed by the renowned graphic artist Joao Noutel. His work can be seen on many of Portugal’s avant garde wines. For all you consumers who only buy wine based on the ‘attractiveness of a label’ the graphics match the quality of the wine and vice versa!

Teppo - [ = time, or is a reference to the arquebus firearm of the 1500’s introduced to the Japanese by the Portuguese]

Aromatics are persistent and intense. 24 hours later the Riesling charm of lemon, citrus, green apple candy, floral still lingers…a slight lactic/lees tone reminds me of the underlying aroma of richness and energy that is often associated with high end Muscadet!

A remarkable wine, in this display of finesse and elegance. Well crafted and bright. Bone dry Riesling that shares some spiritual connection with Ontario Riesling yet speaks of a place that you can imagine and see in your mind.

The palate is gentle with nice sweet-tartness of lemon segments…like the little micro tear drops of a lemon’s flesh that combine to make the lemon whole. Brilliant bright mineral acid on the palate. Lengthy and persistent…with a naturalness that is clean and precise.

Pow! (fire cracker emoji)

NOTE: Tasting 4 days later at room temperature, left on the same shelf when this photo was taken , with a quarter of the wine left in bottle…the wine is fantastic and drinks as brilliant as any ‘fine Riesling’ open on the day! I dig it! Let us revisit in a few years! A new bottle I mean!

QUINTA de SAES TOURIGA NACIONAL 2016 DÃO

Álvaro Castro - QUINTA de SAES - TOURIGA NACIONAL

So yes, everyone knows me as this ‘promoter / lover’ of Portuguese wines.

You see me, I have no vested interest with the Wines of Portugal. Yes I have been very fortunate to travel to the wine regions of Portugal, top to bottom, on several occasions. What I have seen and tasted, the people I have met and spent time with on these travels are deserved of a greater spot light at the ‘World of Wine Table’. It still amazes me when I have guests, who are totally ‘colonized’ by the brands of Chardonnay and Cabernet, wonder at the quality and character of these wine of Portugal. It’s like how many guests wonder at me doing what I do in the world of hospitality with wine. Your mind and palates have been ‘colonized’! To your detriment. You get me.

Here is a bottle of wine I recently enjoyed over a period of 24 hours. Yes…if a wine has the endurance and the structure, a well made wine will show all sides of itself over this time and more. It’s like spending a week with a new friend. So this Touriga Nacional from Álvaro Castro, one of the great protagonists for quality Portuguese wines stands up to the reputation of the maker. A master of his craft and terroir.

You can google him, I have yet to meet him but have tasted many of his wines over the years.

Sweet violet floral notes, with aroma of fresh picked sun-warmed dark berries and currant still dusty from the field. Caramel apple. Underlined by chocolate and the natural sweetness of dried dates. The palate comes around with all of the above but slightly more savoury cum a soft bitter herbal note of pine and sage. Tasting the wine too cold shows a bitter angle, left to warm up to the environment reveals a gentle balance and fruit that is all pleasing but teasing.

This wine is a tremendous example of Touriga Nacional. As a benchmark for balance in aroma and palate, this wine sets the bar very high.

Note: Dão is an appellation at elevation with a continental climate and variation in soils somewhat different from the rest of Portugal. Some say this is the birthplace of Touriga Nacional.

GRAHAM'S PORT 200 YEARS CELEBRATION

Graham’s Port Bicentenary

I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the Graham’s Port 200 Years Celebration. The Symington Family, owner operators of the famous port house that we know as Graham’s, launched a series of Instagram Live chats with top Sommeliers the world over. I had my 30minutes of fame in a conversation with Vicky Symington, one of the newer generation of the Symington Family, and also their Manager of Brand Marketing.

Instagram Link to the recorded conversation below

Christopher Sealy Graham’s 200 Years

Wednesday 13th of May, we debuted, talked, and tasted through a few of their new port wines to an IG Live audience. I had a tremendous amount of fun in this laid back approach to talking and tasting wine.

We introduced a wine which was initially exported to the UK market last year. This was the Graham’s Blend No.5 White Port (meio-seco). This wine is quite exuberant with orange, peach, apricot and muscat notes. The concept behind this product is a port wine blended with freshness in mind to be used for the popular Porto Tonico. Porto Tonico, a cocktail that combines White Port with Tonic. This cocktail has become a massive sensation in Portugal over the last few years and one might consider this cocktail as the equivalent to the Italian - Aperol Spritz. I had mine, actually two in the IG demonstration, one with a cucumber soda and the other with a blood orange soda. A leaf of lemon balm and some mint picked from the garden garnished both of them and we were off to a nice chat about port, my story in wine and the love I foster for Wines of Portugal.

We then introduced the first ever Canadian appearance of their Natura Reserve Port, sourced from organic estate grown grapes. As far as ports go, some can be quite intense in that rich ‘port’, chocolate, ripe fruit flavour that some appreciate or dislike. On the other spectrum some Port wine can be thin and show only the intensity of the brandy that fortifies the wine. I would say that this was a wholesome and balanced port verging on the side of lighter rich, with ripe raspberry tones, a touch of pink peppercorn spice and playing nicely on the palate - for a younger styled port. I can certainly see this wine performing well paired with any version of chocolate with candied raspberry or strawberry.

I was also given a cute bottle of their 1990 Single Harvest Tawny Port - Lodge Edition. Delicious and so precious…in a good way. It will be a great addition to the 1972 Single Harvest Tawny Port I received as I was voted #1 Sommelier from Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants (Magazine) of 2019.

AUSTRIAN WINE ONLINE ROUND TABLE May 7th 2020

THE ART, THE WINE, THE EARTH

Friends, Wine Lovers and the Curious.

Join me on Thursday May 7th - 2020 from 2-3pm for an Austrian Wine Webinar with a few of my Sommelier Colleagues from our Toronto Wine Community.

What we all share is a love, passion and curiosity for Austrian Wines.

As spring is in the air, we are all craving a zesty, vibrant and engaging bottle of wine to herald the change that is around the corner.

Sign up and register! Free to Participate!

LINK UP HERE - Austrian Wine Online Round Table

AUSTRIAN WINE ONLINE ROUND TABLE (photo credit : Austrian Wine Marketing Board)

Stone Lightning : Nigl 'Gärtling' Grüner Veltliner 2018

Nigl ‘Gartling’ Grüner Veltliner 2018. Austria

Nuanced and engaging qualities remind you of something

you have had before

but the flavours here might be completely new

synthesized and compressed

out of water, stone and earth

along the river banks and at the foothills of the mountains.

Chimère of the Langhe : Marco Porello Langhe Nebbiolo 2018

Marco Porello Langhe Nebbiolo 2018.

It is with fond memories that I revisit this wine from Marco Porello, his Nebbiolo from Roero, Piemonte. My first ever wine trip was to the country side of Piemonte, the event Nebbiolo Prima in the town of Alba. This example of Nebbiolo, not the popularly referenced wines of Barolo or Barbaresco (Twin B’s) is from the oft-overlooked though equally beautiful appellation of Roero to the north of the town of Alba. Wines, both white and red, from Roero could be defined as being slightly more fruit forward, decidedly more fine and less tannic than the twin ‘B’s’ to the south, mainly because of predominantly sandy soils and combinations therein, which in the end aid in producing a more fragrant and seemingly youthful wines. This Marco Porello Langhe Nebbiolo is not to be confused with his top tier appellation wines under the Roero DOC ( a DOC designation with more delimited/strict methods of production, much like Barolo and Barbaresco). You might consider this a ‘village’ wine in the Burgundy sense etc, etc.. In fact one might taste a Langhe Nebbiolo wine as a snap shot of the vintage before investing in the top tier wines. I like to enjoy Langhe Nebbiolo at any time with fine to simple cooking or meditating over a game of Scrabble during this Covid-19 Lockdown! So strange these times.

My feelings on this wine are as such…aromatically the wine presents pomegranate, to grapefruit and citrus peel with a distinct Red flavoured Life Saver spiced candy tone. Expanding on this red fruit aroma is like smelling a creamy frutto di bosco/wild berry medley. Underlying all of this is a gentle rose and mineral tone of earth and garden. The palate is immediate and full of pleasure - currant, ripe strawberry, pompelmo rosso. The tannin is gentle like fine chalk with moderate acidity holding up the fruit. This is quite an enjoyable and pleasant wine.

Go get some at Terroni Sud Forno e Produzione on Sackville St. close to the Distillery District.

KNOW THE RIDGE Part : 1 - Ridge Monte Bello Vineyard Sonoma

RIDGE SOMMSYMPOSIUM 2019

It was June 2019, I had been invited down to visit Ridge Winery in California. This trip would be my first ever trip to California wine country. Sonoma to be exact, visiting the 3 major Ridge Family Estates of Monte Bello, Lytton Springs and Geyserville. The entire Ridge Family of wine makers and sales team host an annual Symposium with invited Sommelier from across America, I think I might have been the first Canadian invited and I had the pleasure of meeting China’s only Master Sommelier, Yang Lu among the esteemed guests. Over the 3 days starting in Los Gatos, with a meet and greet at ‘The Bywater’ for a champagne dinner, we would on the following days taste and tour the Monte Bello Vineyards near Cupertino and then finally travel up to the Estates at Lytton Springs and Geyserville Vineyards close to the quiet town of Healdsburg.

Ridge, and their Chief Wine Maker Paul Draper are world renowned for their legendary high altitude Monte Bello Ridge Vineyards of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. In fact Ridge Monte Bello 1971 was one of the wines presented by Stephen Spurrier at the famed ‘Judgment of Paris’ Wine tasting of 1976. An historic blind tasting hosted by Spurrier whereby he invited French Wine Judges to rate and rank wines of quality that included Chardonnay, both French and American in one flight. In the second flight, Cabernet Sauvignon/Bordeaux Blends of French and American origin . France had up until this point reigned supreme in global recognition for quality and heritage. Ridge Monte Bello ranked in the top 5 overall and the Ridge reputation was sealed. I would also add that the reputation of quality has certainly been maintained!

Ridge is also known for being a key player in pioneering the way for the ‘elevation and promotion’ of the grape Zinfandel in the region. See ZAP. Both Lytton and Geyserville Vineyards are dedicated to old vine and Heritage Zinfandel. These vineyards are special because of the unique DNA of the Field Blend. Field Blended Vineyards, historically, are a combination of different vines planted to ensure a ‘balanced’ crop and a wine of equally balanced flavour. Ridge has focused on Old Vine Zinfandel sprinkled with a blend of Southern France grapes such as Carignan, Grenache, Mataro (Mourvedre), Viognier to name a few. These Field Blended Vineyards had been acquired with an already pre-existing map of planting. That is to say the vineyards had been intentionally planted this way and have been since studied and maintained to give the Ridge Zinfandel blends their unique identity, style, let alone freshness! A freshness that is not always experienced while drinking the ‘other’ often high octane Zinfandels of California.

Day 1: We began our wine journey at the sleepy town of Los Gatos, the day opening up with a dry summer heat, very reminiscent of being somewhere in the Mediterranean. Departing for our first vineyard stop on an ascension (enter John Coltrane) up into the Santa Cruz Mountain AVA above Cupertino to see the Monte Bello Vineyards. These vineyards sit somewhere at 400 - 800 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l) and sit on one of the only places in the region that are of limestone soil. It is this limestone outcrop, sitting on top of the San Andreas Fault, which gives that special profile to Monte Bello Red (re: Cabernet Sauvignon + blend) at altitude. As I would soon learn, it is also here that they make their fantastic Monte Bello Chardonnay.

The Monte Bello Vineyards in its entirety is comprised of 4 different sub-vineyard. The lowest altitude vineyard, and where we had our introductions to the full Ridge team, is ‘Klein’ which sits at 500 m.a.s.l,. we then rise to ‘Rousten’, ‘Torre’ and ‘Perrone’ - home to the the historic Old Stone limestone cellar sitting at 800 m.a.s.l.

Klein Vineyard

View of Perrone from Rousten Ranch Vineyard

Paul Draper and his story at Ridge

The Vision : to make world class chard and cab from the same sight!

Eric Baugher, COO and wine maker at the Ridge Monte Bello Vineyards took us through a proper master class of Monte Bello Chardonnay and Cabernet. I can think of few better things to be occupied with at 10am in the morning. The tasting was hosted in the upper level of the original ‘Old Stone Winery’ that had been owned originally by the Perrone Family back in the late 1800’s. Dr. Perrone established Monte Bello Ridge by creating terraced limestone vineyards and a cellar carved into the limestone earth. Monte Bello Ridge became ‘Ridge’ Monte Bello in the 1940’s when the original founding members purchased the then abandoned cellar and thereafter started to plant Cabernet on the Perrone and the then acquired Torre Vineyards. The first commercial wine sales of Ridge Monte Bello was in 1962. It was in 1969 that Paul Draper became the winemaker at Ridge and it was his hand that crafted Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet 1971 for the famous Judgment of Paris : Stephen Spurrier tasting of 1976!

Ridge Monte Bello Chardonnay Vertical

All wines were tasted June 2019.

2014 Ridge Monte Bello Chardonnay : This Ridge Chardonnay was made in a reductive style, with tones of lightly buttered popcorn, to apple and orchard fruit. Lashed with lemon, citrus peel and sweet honey comb. The palate is quite flinty, saline and mineral driven. ( I did add a note that this wine is less saline than the following vintages we would taste). The fruit on the palate is gentle of sun-sweetened golden apple as a defining character. I felt the wine be best described as clean and clear. Clarity. There is a very pleasing overall presence on the palate with quite a long finish.

2015 Ridge Monte Bello Chardonnay : 2015 showed less reduction than the 2014, with fleshy lemon and golden apple driving the wine. Orchard fruit of bruised apple and pear exhibiting sighs of evolution from bottle age and that honeycomb, lemon is softly layered with something like oat and cereal. The saline mineral note is much more apparent on the nose. The palate gives way to some texture, with fresh but less intense fruit of apple, lemon and touches of banana and spice. The wine feels warmer due to the vintage. Medium length on the finish.

2016 Ridge Monte Bello Chardonnay : 2016 carries a nice balance of reduction to fruit, with distinct golden apple, lemon and honey with an added layer of savoury herb. The mineral tone on the nose is more defined as Loire Sancerre like - silex/flinty. Bright! Palate is fresh and mineral balanced nicely with the sweet-ish apple, lemon, add lemon zest, and spice notes. I did not mention the notion of phenolic bitterness in the previous wines but it is here present, more intense yet gentle. Think light notes of popped corn and roast almond. This was by far the most complex and expressive of the Chardonnay wines.

2017 Ridge Monte Bello Chardonnay : Bottled Sample of 2017 mimics the 2016 with its veil of reduction. The fruit element here is sweet golden apple, lemon clean and clear with a feeling of the Mediterranean coast with herbs and floral aroma. The palate was less complex but direct with weight and intent.

NOTE: Please enjoy these next few photographs. I might encourage you to grab yourself a glass of Chardonnay or Cabernet, or whatever and jam to this dj. Osunlade mix…skip to the 1hour4min mark and turn full blast!, on whatever sound system you. [ a new window will open so stay with me ]

The Ridge Monte Bello is a rather classic Bordeaux Blend dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon with the additional spice and zest of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Upon tasting the wines one can not but remark at how fresh and mineral in drive these wines present in comparison to other California wines of the same pedigree and history. Paul Draper is strongly opposed to the UC Davis Wine Education as an approach to wine, with the argument that this UC Davis approach ‘messes with flavours’ and masks the potential of the true identity and character of California terroir and wines. All that remains is a mask of ‘oak’. It might be like Coca-Cola/Pepsi versus Chinotto or ‘real’ Root Beer.

The winemaking at Monte Bello embraces sustainability and organics. The wines are made with natural yeast, that undergo a natural malolactic fermentation from each of the 45 sub-parcels. Each varietal is made into wine separately. Then blended. How is Monte Bello made from so many parcels? In the early days all of the parcels would go into blending to make Monte Bello. The fear was to not ‘waste’ any of this wine. They soon realized that this was ‘forcing’ the wines into being Monte Bello, whereas now they watch and meticulously taste each barrel for better balance before blending. Tannin is managed at another level of detail with the use press fractions to complete the Monte Bello wine in any particular vintage.

Ridge Monte Bello Vertical

2012 Ridge Monte Bello : the 2012 greets you immediately with bright, and evenly ripe black and blue berry fruit notes followed by floral, and savoury herbal tones of the Mediterranean, with a sage like aroma dominant. From a balanced use of oak, one can sense spice, vanilla, and a subtle cumin, warm spiced feel. Overall the wine felt medium to full bodied, with firm tannin and bright acid holding up the nice forest bramble berry fruit. Gentle and savoury. A fine tuned and balanced wine reflective of site and elevation.

2013 Ridge Monte Bello : this 2013 presented deeper and darker, still waiting to reveal it’s true self. The same dark fruit was denser, concentrated on the nose with mint and bay leaf, yet still giving floral and fresh-cum-mineral tones on the aroma. The palate reflected the same intensity with firm, intense tannin with notable high acid, the fruit is latent but present. Overall the component varieties in the wine express themselves and perform as they should.

2014 Ridge Monte Bello : 2014 was harvested in September. An early summer that was hot, with drought and moving into rather mild conditions up until harvest. The wine presents up front with plum/damson, ripe confected berry, raspberry and currant. There is a freshness and floral tone that reminded me of Tuscan Sangiovese with some dusty rose aroma rising from the glass. The palate makes a seamless transition from aroma. It tastes like it smells. The tannin and acid are elevated giving way to an angular structure, the wine is sharp and justly balanced by the generosity in fruit.

2015 Ridge Monte Bello : 2015 was a result of a similar vintage as the 2014 though harvest took place in October. Perhaps altitude and exposition aided during a summer that experienced heat spikes, drought and wildfire in other areas of California wine country. This wine in fruit and aroma presented notes of ‘what-one-might-think’ as ‘classic-Bordeaux’. Truth be told that this wine is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Clean and bright with layers of aroma, from berry to spice and a slight cooked, maderized, coulis layer of fruit. On the palate the wine is wrapped up with fine tannin, firm and so direct, but lashed with with tart plum, plum skin to prune, with a leafy herbal and savoury finish.

2016 Ride Monte Bello : 2016 complex and precise in its floridity, with currant, bramble fruit, baked fig, prune, subtle cumin - sotolon, pine and green herbs with the distinct floral and mineral freshness. Moving to the palate the same quality of intense bramble berry, plum, with sandal wood and great freshness/minerality. Again an intense yet complex wine. You can see from my notes that this is the most brief. I can say that the overall presentation of the wines from their structure - tannin v. acid, and fruit quality are all consistent. Like looking at a BMW 5 Series or the reliability of a Toyota Camry with all the bells and whistles. Though this last wine had the details, more than just the leather interior and hard wood, but also having a proper ‘EQ’ed’ audio system for your jazz, house music, or U.K grime!

2017 Ridge Monte Bello : Bottle Sample of the 2017 in its youth was bramble berry, with dried cassis, and currant. Underlying notes of upfront vanilla, baking spice with lower complexity, though intense. The palate reflected the intensity of youth in this wine, with bold tannin, notably high acid and the fruit flavours following notes of the aroma. A wine that needs to mature with time to see it true potential.

All wines were tasted June 2019

More to follow in Part 2 with a few words on Zinfandel at Lytton and Geyserville Vineyards.