Wednesday, October 31 2007
Critic Robert Parker (pictured above) is barking mad these days. In 2004 he and consultant winemaker Michel Roland (not pictured--he doesn't show up on film, apparently) were harshly criticized by filmmaker Johnathon Nossiter in his documentary film Mondo Vino. Nossiter's thesis was that Parker has too much influence, and likes low-acid, high-colour, over-oaked red wines that sacrifice the structure of traditional great wines for quick drinking 'fruit bomb' character. He also intimated that Michel Roland was the tool of Satan for trying to force all wines into this mold on Parker's behalf.
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| Posted by Tim AT 9:37PM
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Tuesday, October 30 2007
This is my favorite time of year. Not only is it a great time for the celebration of tooth rotting candy consumption (and me with a cleaning appointment tomorrow morning) and extorting said candy from long-suffering neighbours, it marks the fall and a return to heavy meals and big red wines to accompany them, not to mention port and cigars! What, I ask you, is not to love?
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| Posted by Tim AT 12:19AM
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Monday, October 29 2007
Leah here! I'm a Winexpert account manager in British Columbia. People who know me know that I have a passion for fashion! One of my other passions is wine, and I like to think of it as a terrific fashion accessory. Think of it: instead of just toting around a great Michael Kors purse at your next party, you could compliment it with one of your favourite wines. Here are my most stylish picks:
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| Posted by Tim AT 5:28AM
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Monday, October 29 2007
No entries for a few days--what sort of foul schedule am I keeping here? Luckily, there's plenty of grist for the mill, just not a lot of time to write it out. Save and sound at home in my heavily insulated writing-dungeon I've been cranking out instructions and new product descriptions for my evil taskmistress Julie. Woe betide me if she finds out I've been sloughing that do fiddle around on my blog!
Luckily I've got another guest spot coming up: Leah, another one of our intrepid account managers will be dropping by to add a few words, and a decidedly less masculine perspective. Even though we theoretically work together, I only see Leah a dozen times a year, so it'll be great to have her drop in.
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| Posted by Tim AT 11:22PM
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Thursday, October 25 2007
Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum once wrote that there is mind-independent reality; that individual persons are in contact with this reality through sensory perception; that human beings gain objective knowledge from perception. Sounds like something most high-school students could grasp, but it neglects the idea that perception is sometimes selective, and can be influenced by external factors.
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| Posted by Tim AT 7:19PM
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Wednesday, October 24 2007
I'm writing this on (another) Air Canada flight from Halifax to Vancouver. Limited Edition season always reminds me of a quote from Lord John Whorfin: "Home is where you wear your hat." Whorfin may have seemed a little deranged, but he had an excellent point. The seasoned traveller lives inside himself when away from home and family, relying on the contents of his noggin to keep him hale and hardy against the privations of the road.
I wound up having a late dinner at the Press Gang downtown, not far from the Citadel. We didn't get out until nearly 10:30, but luckily Halifax has a vibrant and active night life, and they were only too happy to accommodate us. The oysters were spectacular, and I don't say that lightly: I'm usually a pretty tough audience for oysters, being able to eat my own weight in Kumamotos on a regular basis, and living on the west coast, which has the best oysters in the world. But the Malpeques, along with some local wild oysters (didn't catch the name, but I think they were from near Digby) were sparkling fresh, plump, creamy and completely over the top with briny goodness. I followed it up with some seared Digby scallops on greens with bacon, and pine nuts in a tart cherry sauce–how could you top that, especially with a sassy, grassy, crisp Sauvignon Blanc?
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| Posted by Tim AT 9:56PM
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Tuesday, October 23 2007
Oh my goodness, it's been a busy week, and it's only Tuesday. I've been shy on blog entries because I can't seem to get much work done between airplanes, car travel and chatting up retailers all across this great land of ours. Right now I'm skipping across the nation like a flat rock on a millpond: Sunday in Winnipeg, Monday in Moncton, and if this is Tuesday, I must be in Halifax.
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| Posted by Tim AT 11:49AM
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Thursday, October 18 2007
You gonna finish that?
I've been thinking about my request for food and wine stories this week, as I've been doing tastings and pairings all over British Columbia. One of the pairings in particular is very striking, an intensely aromatic and fruity white wine (which we're using as a taste profile for our Limited Edition Pacific Quartet) is paired with chevre (creamy goat cheese, very earthy, tart with a lactic character, and moderately salty) and also with honey–one after the other. The two tastes transform the wine. With the chevre it's rounded and fruity, almost like an Auslese riesling or a dessert Gewurztraminer. Switch to the honey, and the wine flips around completely, tasting like an austerely dry Alsatian style, with minerals, structure and acidity to spare.
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| Posted by Tim AT 5:14AM
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Tuesday, October 16 2007
I made a pie
The UBC apple festival was great! While I didn't get any of the apple juice I mentioned, there was a good reason for that: I was carrying a box containing seven different bags of apples (and one of pears) plus an apple tree. So I've been eating apples like crazy, and I planted the tree and baked a pie.
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| Posted by Tim AT 6:21AM
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Tuesday, October 16 2007
I was reading the New York Times this morning, as I do nearly every day (along with BBC News and the four or five journals and blogs I look at to make sure I'm not making an idiot of myself on any particular day) and I popped into The Pour, Eric Asimov's shivaree on booze and food.
Eric was doing a little pontificating about conventional wisdom in wine, and had a little list of things he wanted to refute. Well, perhaps not refute, but certainly to re-examine in light of more complex answers than are usually given. Strangely, although I usually find myself in close agreement with him, I was more ginger about one thing he said today.
He countered the up 'n' coming wisdom that unoaked Chardonnay is better than oaked Chardonnay. If you're like me, you've had one too many glasses of Chateau Plywood. You wake up one morning and realise you don't have any idea what Chardonnay tastes like, because all these years you've been drinking the equivalent of pulp-mill runoff. But Eric noted that there are non-obvious benefits to barrel ageing Chardonnays, as unoaked wines
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| Posted by Tim AT 4:13PM
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Monday, October 15 2007
Cholera bacteria under Scanning Electron Microscope, courtesy Stanford University
From the 'Is there nothing it can't make better' department, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have found that red wine may also protect humans from common food-borne diseases. According to the researchers, ". . . red wines - Cabernet, Zinfandel and Merlot in particular - have anti-microbial properties that defend against food-borne pathogens and don't harm naturally useful bacteria like probiotic bacteria."
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| Posted by Tim AT 11:02PM
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Monday, October 15 2007
People have responded to my repeated begging with a flood of entries. There are stories ranging from 'I can't remember what we ate or drank, but it was magical' to, 'How was I to know you weren't supposed to drink the stuff coming out of the syphon hose?' Good times, good times.
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| Posted by Tim AT 4:54PM
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Saturday, October 13 2007
Photo by Hailey Pappin ...read more
| Posted by Tim AT 7:08PM
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Thursday, October 11 2007
By Peter Mills, Atlantic Canada Account Manager, Winexpert Inc.
Confession #1: I'm not Tim. Most people are generally happy with that, for a variety of different reasons. I'm not a hacker either, Tim actually invited me to contribute here. Really.
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| Posted by Tim AT 10:05PM
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Thursday, October 11 2007
By Peter Mills, Atlantic Canada Account Manager, Winexpert Inc.
Confession #1: I'm not Tim. Most people are generally happy with that, for a variety of different reasons. I'm not a hacker either, Tim actually invited me to contribute here. Really.
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| Posted by Tim AT 4:37PM
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Tuesday, October 9 2007
There's only ten days left to enter my contest--hurry! If you recall, I asked readers to tell me about their most memorable food and wine experience, and as an incentive, offereda copy of The Hedonism Handbook (sort of the story of my life) as incentive.
And the entry is pouring in! No, really we got one. But rather than allow a win by default I'd rather see at least one competing entry. Can't any of you remember what you ate? Just to refresh the rules:
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| Posted by Tim AT 2:20PM
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Monday, October 8 2007
Oh, the humanity!
Yes, I was in my garden today--I have a plot in the Dunsmuir Community Garden in Crescent Beach. I've got a 32'x32' plot where I grow a lot of stuff every year. Five years ago I planted a Himrod vine, and the following year a Concord (what, you expect Pinot Noir in zone 9?) Unfortunately the birds got to my Himrods first. Sigh.
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| Posted by Tim AT 5:54AM
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Friday, October 5 2007
Have you ever noticed that when you listen to a recording of your own voice, that it sounds nothing like you at all? I keep having that experience--who's that weenie-sounding geek stealing my lines? I'll moidalise 'im!
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| Posted by Tim AT 11:31PM
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Friday, October 5 2007
Have you ever noticed that when you listen to a recording of your own voice, that it sounds nothing like you at all? I keep having that experience--who's that weenie-sounding geek stealing my lines? I'll moidalise 'im!
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| Posted by Tim AT 5:38PM
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Wednesday, October 3 2007
Like Sal Paradise I've stepped onto the road for another year. I guess I can quote Kerouac, "with the coming of Limited Edition began the part of my life you could call my life on the road." It's a great way to see the world and meet some wonderful people, and to talk about wine, winemaking, wine drinking and the wine lifestyle. I should probably dispense with the literary pretense anyway--the only thing I really share with Kerouac is long road trips and a love of jazz music.
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| Posted by Tim AT 1:49AM
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Wednesday, October 3 2007
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| Posted by Tim AT 6:33AM
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Tuesday, October 2 2007
They're finally here! The Winexpert 2007 Selection Limited Edition kits have been announced, and it's a doozy of a line-up. I'm touring around telling our retail partners about them, and tonight we're making a video of the presentation (how am I going to explain that I don't show up on film . . . ?).
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| Posted by Tim AT 10:24PM
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Comments
Luke [Halifax]
Posted 5 years ago
But what about the stemware! :)
Peter from Halifax
Posted 5 years ago
So Leah, which wine goes best with the Canadian Tuxedo, you know, old blue jeans and a plaid shirt?