It’s a tough time to be a factory worker in an Ontario branch plant.
Food and Wine Archives
Wine from… Montenegro? China? Bosnia?
Our latest Wine Tidings magazine has a long and highly entertaining piece on LCBO wines from less-expected locales, and has accompanied it with some highly entertaining reviews. The article is unfortunately not online, but here’s an excerpt: 86: Monte Cheval Vranac 2007Montenegro, $8.35This is an unapologetically rough red that puts the rust back in rustic.continue reading
Timely wine advice
Usually we taste a wine, take notes, and then two months later, when there are no bottles left anywhere close to anyone, we post about it here on Mock. (Well, you get what you pay for…) Here’s a wine that was released just yesterday, and should be readily available pretty much everywhere: Trimbach Pinot Griscontinue reading
Good whites
We drink these wines, and then I wait for a random period before I post about them, so the reviews may not be very useful. But a few white wine notes: Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2009. DOC Alto Aldige. 13.5%/$16.95. Generous nose with ripe bosc pear [not “bosc bear” as I originally typed], hint of minerality,continue reading
Drinking up Niagara, redux
We have been making our way through my Niagara wine purchases from two weeks’ ago with amazing efficiency. Sort of. We haven’t uncorked any of the reds yet, but we’ve entirely finished our Niagara whites, including a 13th Street Riesling I bought from the LCBO here in Toronto. I am still scratching my head wonderingcontinue reading
Too weird
I should have taken the hint from the description of the wine as a red wine that has a profile resembling “a deep purple version of gewürztraminer” (Szabo). It’s an interesting curiosity, and well done as an example of what it is, but the bottle I bought of Giusti Piergiovanni Lacrima Di Morro D’alba 2008continue reading
A few good wines
It’s been a while since we’ve done any wine blogging. Here are a few highlights from our wine notes. All Vintages, current availability unknown. (Not to harp on it or anything, but one of the nice features of WineAlign is that it automagically does an inventory search of stores near you for any wine incontinue reading
Align your wines!
There is a thriving niche market in providing wine advice to the however many million Ontarians who are effectively captive to the Ontario LCBO wine monopoly. Tony Aspler has been doing this for some years on his TonyAspler.com web site. I’ve been subscribing to his reviews for a few years, most recently renewing my subscriptioncontinue reading
The poignant, poignant pain of eating on $225 a month
Apparently OSAP allows $7.50 a day, or roughly $225 a month, for a student food allowance. The Star is reporting on the extreme hardship this produces, and four intrepid students, risking starvation and perhaps even the odd foray into their own kitchens, are blogging their attempt to comply with this limit for three agonizing weeks.continue reading
Reds
A few random notes on recent red experiences: 2006 Farina Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso “Le Pezze” ($14.95, 13.5%). This is currently available at Vintages though stocks in Toronto Central are starting to get low. A good value on a $15 red, with a very fruity red berry nose with a hint of sandalwood and spice.continue reading