WineAlign

David Lawrason

The end of 2009 is upon us. The last year has been so intense and consuming and exciting that I don’t quite want it to end; the busiest, most stimulating and rewarding of my 20+ years as a wine critic and educator.

The single most important reason has been WineAlign. It has been rejuvenating, and it has re-focused me on the simple goal of tasting and reviewing as much wine as possible, and presenting it in a new, exciting and meaningful format to thousands of people.  (See some newly added picks below).  By December 27, after just one year, we hit 6,000 registered users, far beyond the start up numbers for any wine writing project with which I have been involved.

WineAlign has also pulled me deeper into  social media and the online world; teaching me to use Google, Twitter, Facebook and blogging to greater effect. It would have been easy – as a long time newspaper and magazine writer – to dismiss all these new channels as chatter and noise. There is a lot of that, but these media are rapidly re-shaping my professional landscape and I am glad I have at least one foot on the running board.  Their information gathering and disseminating power is immense.

The other great pleasure of 2009 was travelling  often within Canada, and grasping the depth of the quality of our people, our food and our wine. As wine advisor to Gold Medal Plates – a culinary competition that has so far raised $3.5 million for Canadian Olympians –  I travelled to six cities and tasted the work of over 50 chefs, and 65 different winemakers.  Corporate events took me to other top restaurants across the land.  I fell in love with Quebec City and the Eastern Townships on a weeklong culinary excursion.  I could barely keep up with the flood of new wines on my doorstep in Prince Edward County, where the number of wineries is doubling to 30 in the 2009/2010 season. And a week in Niagara in December revealed an unending push to improve despite all the woe around surpluses and ruckus about Cellared in Canada wines.

I have used a lull over the holidays to add or update the vintages of about 50 LCBO general listings on WineAlign.  Many have been inexpensive reds, plus some sparklers and winter warming ports.

On Christmas day someone on Facebook asked what her friends were drinking that day.  I had several wines during a large family gathering, but I responded that none was a more perfect match than Warre’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port with a sticky toffee and  date cake.  Port is so sadly overlooked nowadays, perhaps because its sweet and high in alcohol (yet at 20% it’s only half that of spirits). But if you are not driving – as the vast majority are not  - what’s the downside?  Check out other easily available port buys at WineAlign by searching Graham’s and Taylor’s. My personal favourite is the Ferreira Dona Antonia, that bridges tawny and fruit port styles.

I did some sparkling wine tasting as well, but nothing jumped out.  If there is one readily available French Champagne to take to a New Years celebration  I would make it Pol Roger Extra Cuvee de Reserve, which is elegant, generous and complex . It captures some of the glory and balance and subtlety of the world’s best bubbly region at a comparatively fair price.  Moet & Chandon 2003 Vintage Champagne is very fine indeed, but a stretch at $85 and on New Year’s Eve it’s subtlety will be completely missed.

The red wine tastings over the holidays were focused at a much more modest price level. Under $10, check out the following: Cusumano 2008 Nero d’Avola from Sicily,  Flichman 2008 Misterio Malbec from Argentina, Passion of Portugal 2008, and Long Flat Shiraz 2008 from Australia.  Over $10 look for Angus the Bull 2006 Shiraz from Australia and the Quinta dos Carvalhais 2006 Duque de Viseu from Portugal.

In the first week of 2010 watch for my reviews of the January 9 release, wherein almost no selections are over $20.

And may your New Years Eve and 2010  turn out exactly as you wish them to be.

David