Wine Festival - Alliance Loire Lunch

Finally the time of year has come when everything wine and food hits Moncton! The World Wine and Food Expo (wineexpo.ca) which is its 22nd year, brings along wine, food, knowledge, learning and lots of fun for everyone. From the beginner to the expert, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

From the Prestige Dinner, held this past Saturday at the Tate House in Shediac that kicks of the festival every year, to the lunches throughout the week at the Moncton Market, to the final Grand Tastings on November 9th and 10th. There is something to learn almost everyday.

I started the week by attending the Alliance Loire Luncheon at the Moncton Market. At 30$ a ticket, it was more than worth the price. A great tasting of 7 wines from the Loire Valley in France as well as having 3 courses prepared by Chef Emmanuel Charretier from L'Idylle in Dieppe.

 Loire, in the west side of France, has a particular interests for Atlantic Canada. It has roots for many Acadians as well as being home to great seafood, similar climate conditions, and great access to the Atlantic Ocean.

Since the climate is cooler, it makes for the perfect place to grow white grapes, in particular Sauvignon Blanc. This is one of their best known grape varieties. Crisp, refreshing, and light, the Loire Valley has great wines to offer. With the Alliance Loire heading our way, a co-op of wine producers and makers, we will hopefully be able to have access to more and more of their products.

I have to say that not knowing too much about this region going into the lunch, I came out with a great wealth of knowledge and appreciating the wines far more than if I wouldv'e tasted them on my own. One of the great things about these lunches is that the price of the tickets are pretty much the same as a lunch and a drink anywheres downtown.

Great value, learning new things, drinking wine at noon, tasting great food, in my eyes nothing is wrong and everything is right at anyone of these events.

A Little French experience

A friend of mine recently invited me to a French wine tasting. Finding French wines complicated, and being in a part of the world that doesn't always represent French wines very well and are usually on the pricey side, I welcomed the invitation with open arms.

Starting with a whites, the Chateaux Lamoth de Haut from Bordeau was a fun little wine. We followed this one with two Chardonnays from Burgundy, both browned bagged. In doing this, we got to not only not discuss the wine in depth without having the knowledge of the cost of the wine, but got our minds going on how a producer could affect a wine even if in the same region. There was a Bourgogne and  a Pouilly Fuisse, same grapes, but one had a more pronounced vanilla oak flavor and the other although lighter, had more of an acidic freshness to it.

The reds were what interested me! Starting with a Beaujolais, a wine that I learnt celebrates the harvest and can also determine the price of the future crop, was a very light red and had a light smell of purple. The challenge of the two others which were blind, was to try to uncover which one was a Gamay or a Pinot Noir. One was light, dry and had no sense of its ability to age. The second, a bold, darker hue and slightly heavier red, had to sense that it could hold age as well as complexe notes. My first extinct was to say the the light was the Gamay, since Beaujolais usually dont't  age well, but the interesting thing was the nose of the lightest and the heaviest was very similar. As well as the purple hue that surrounded the glass on a slight angle. And after discussing, it was unveiled that the light and the heavy was one in the same.

And that's why I love wine so much, one grape from the same region made in a different manner can taste and react so differently but at the base of the wine, their soul is the same.

First Blog

Trying to find food and wine that entice the palate and excite the senses!