How do you follow-up a night of oysters and great blanc de blancs, a carefully-paired gourmet winemakers' lunch and a global tasting featuring over 100 cool climate Chardonnays? Sunday brunch at one of Niagara's most picturesque wineries.
Although the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration officially finished with a tasting Sunday afternoon in Toronto, the Movable Feast brunch at Ravine Vineyards felt like the prefect ending to a great weekend devoted to Burgundy's cosmopolitan gift to the wine world.
Winemakers, wine lovers and wine industry professionals caught up on the weekend's events, the growing season and generally just what's happening in each other lives. They all enjoyed some Niagara hospitality and some of the best wine country food in the region as the sun shone on the vines of St. Davids Bench.
As soon as I arrived I was lured by the sweet smoky call of an outdoor grill. Chef Paul Harber was breaking in Ravine's antique grill truck with one of the best dishes of brunch— succulent peach glazed pork chops finished in the smoker. Similarly to how they reconstructed the Wm. Woodruff House, which is now the heart of the hospitality centre, the Harber family has taken an old pick-up truck and transformed the bed into a grill. The chef told me you'll soon be able to satisfy your hunger with a sausage on a bun fresh off the grill truck during your visit to the winery. The truck adds to the sense of history at Ravine which was the site one of Canada's first commercial vineyards planted in 1869.
Harber and his staff at the Ravine Vineyard Bistro, which is now open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, followed-up with some on-point southern-style dry-rub ribs. Tender without being mushy and with just enough spicing and subtle smoking to enhance the pork's flavour, these were everything I look for but seldom find in ribs.
The good eats didn't just stop at pork either. There was a quiche topped with a freshly sauteed nutty and earthy mix of chanterelles, hen of the woods and lobster mushrooms. Local cheese producer Upper Canada was also on hand slicing tastes of nutty and creamy Niagara Gold as well as buttery Comfort Cream. But the best pure bite came courtesy of local chef Imant Malins. He kindly filled-in slicing Pingue's excellent prosciutto, capicolla and bresaola on top of lovingly hand carving slices of his artisan smoked salmon. His salmon was silky and literally melted in your mouth unlike any other I've had. It was so good it probably could have an Alberta cowboy asking for seconds. For those with a sweet tooth there were plenty of impossibly chocolaty crinkle cookies and other baked goods from the winery's on-site bakery.
The brunch was also a great last chance to catch-up on some wines you may have missed at the other events. Internationally, the Josef Chromy from Tasmania, Australia stood out. Although you probably consider Australia to be a warm climate wine region there are some coastal areas, chief of which is Tasmania, that are thoroughly cool climate. With flavours and aromas of citrus and white peach as well as smokey and vanilla barrel notes, this wine had a nice round richness but also the refreshing acidity to balance it.
Locally the 2009 Reserve Chardonnay from Ravine was a favourite. It single-handedly makes a great argument for barrel fermenting cool climate Chardonnays. This wine balances the creamy and round, spicy oak, vanilla and toasty graham cracker notes that barrel fermentation brings with the bright and crisp, citrus, Bartlett pear and golden apple flavours that the cool climate Chardonnay grapes provide. And all is accomplished with a laser-focused, mouth-wateringly high-level of acidity.
Although a Sunday brunch in the vineyard isn't what you typically think of when you think of a wine country celebration, it was a fitting closing to an event in honour of the coolest family members of the world's premier white wine grape. As renown wine writer Matt Kramer said during the kick-off party at Flat Rock: “Ontario is the world's newest great Chardonnay locale.” And this weekend just may have marked the beginning of the world taking notice.
Wines Tasted
Josef Chromy 2009 Chardonnay
Availability: Vintages (162982)
Price: $29.95
Ravine Vineyard 2009 Reserve Chardonnay
Availability: The winery
Price: $40
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About i4C
Thirty Ontario wineries started the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Association – a not-for-profit group devoted to reinstating the dignity of chardonnay. The i4c is a “coming together” of the finest examples of cool climate chardonnay in the world – a casual but in-depth weekend celebration of wine, food and learning, with an eye to reinvigorating a seriously cool wine.
International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration
www.coolchardonnay.org
Ravine Vineyard
1366 York Road, St. David's
905-262-VINE (8463)
http://www.ravinevineyard.com
@alexravine and @ravinevineyard
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