jmcnally

Great photos. I spent a week in Verona and the Valpolicella and Barolo regions in April and the food was incredible. Simple and delicious, and you're right. Not that expensive. My favourite meal was in the town of Castiglione Falletto in Barolo country. We had a tasting menu of about nine courses and the cost was 30 Euros. The chef came out with each course and explained to us in perfect English what everything was. This was interesting because the town seems to attract mostly German tourists. Maybe it was off-season but I found the accomodations reasonable as well. Can't wait to go back!

estufarian, My stats are probably not exact, as I took them from some information passed on to me by my boss, a rather inexact man. But I'm sure that many of the problems you've experienced with the consignment program are due to the many many restrictions and regulations placed on it by the LCBO. Doesn't it strike you as a bit strange that consignment agents are forced to use the LCBO to warehouse their wines? I mean, we are their competition, but they have power over us in so many ways. Not to mention that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission also has jurisdiction over us, and they're a sister agency to the LCBO itself. There are just so many hiccups in dealing with the government regulations that it's difficult to explain to the average person who just wants to buy wine. The very basic rule that we have to sell by the case probably cuts out about 90% of the possible consumer sales, since a lot of people just can't afford to buy full cases of everything, especially something they haven't tried before. I mean, I don't even buy full cases, and I work here! So, we're hopeful that the current review of the LCBO will produce some good fruit, if you'll pardon the pun. I'm not expecting miracles, personally, but step by step, hopefully we'll be able to provide more and better service and selections to wine lovers. (And I should just note that I'm not speaking in any offical capacity for Lifford here. These are just my impressions after working here for a couple of years.)

Some people use this "returning with a cellar" exemption to buy a whole bunch of wine for friends, so make sure you take advantage of that if possible. Can I make some requests? :)

"Confusing and antiquated" indeed! Check out this article on consignment buying I wrote for Malcolm's fine Gremolata.com site: Buying Consignment Wine I hope that helps a bit...

Hate to toot our own horn here (well, not really!) but Lifford has a great Chardonnay in the April 16 release. It's the Wither Hills Chardonnay 2002 ($24.95). Rod Phillips (www.winecurrent.com) gave it 5 stars and Natalie gave it an 88. And I might be out of line here, but I'd love to announce our 2nd annual Lifford Grand Tasting, which is being held on Wednesday May 4 from 6:30-9:00pm at the Eglinton Grand Theatre. More than 250 wines from over 50 producers, with 30 winery representatives in attendance. Tickets are $95 and can be reserved by calling 416-440-4101. More info: http://www.liffordwineagency.com/special/2...isle/index.html P.S. I'm also a big fan of South African whites, and I'm excited to see the Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc in the April 2nd release.

I just heard from Theresa Lafleche who coordinates the website for the very active Vancouver group (convivium) of Slow Food aficionados. She pointed me to a useful page on their website: http://www.slowfoodvancouver.com/index.php...ivia_in_canada/ It appears that there are a lot of local groups but not much national coordination. But this is a great help.

There is another option, for membership in "Other Countries" (you have to choose "next" on the first page of products). It's 50 Euros (vs. 55 for the Australian membership) and it says you get 5 issues of the magazine plus one of the wine magazine SloWine (of interest to me) and one of SlowArk. This seems like the better deal, actually, if it's "allowed". Thanks, hodge-podge, for the email address. I've emailed and will post any relevant info from the reply here....

hodge-podge, should I join at slowfood.com or at the US site, slowfoodusa.org? The membership dues are pricier at slowfood.com, but it looks like you get more of their publications. The US site claims that most of the membership dues are tax-deductible (but in the US only?). Confusing...

A quick search at www.whois.ca provided the following: "SLOWFOOD.CA" is registered. Domain Name: slowfood.ca (986430) Registered: 2002/05/20 Last Modified: 2004/05/22 Expires: 2005/05/20 Registrant: Slow Food (983434) Theresa Lafleche theresa@lafleche.net (978860) 604-642-4166 Technical: theresa@lafleche.net (978861) ns1.rdns6.net 69.93.253.164 ns2.rdns6.net 69.93.253.165 Not encouraging that it's been registered since 2002 and expires in May. Surely there should be enough interest in Canada for this to take off?

I've been eager for the Slow Food organization to set up chapters here in Canada and although I don't know who's responsible, www.slowfood.ca promises to come to life this year. Does anyone know anything about this? This would be wonderful!!

Great idea. If you need me to send you Lifford's price list, let me know. Some wines that might be available for sale by the bottle in one province may be consignment wines in another. Or (gasp!) not available at all.

oops! actually, I just meant that they're stocking their cellar. nothing untoward. so that's not gossip, is it? :)

Well, I just saw Anthony Bourdain last Saturday. He was quite funny. And my company (Lifford Wine Agency) sold Didier a bunch of wine for his new place, though they still don't have their liquor license yet. And the article in Toronto Life on Marc Thuet was interesting. But yeah, I guess I'm hibernating a bit... :)

I picked up a bottle of the Château Cantaloup and a half-bottle of the Vieux Château Valentin but don't plan on opening either for a while. Glad to hear the Cantaloup is a good pick. Maybe I can get back and grab some more... By the way, another good newsletter is WineCurrent (www.winecurrent.com) written by Vic Harradine and Rod Phillips.

J_Ozzy, try the OIWSBA website (Ontario Imported Wine Beer Spirts Association). It's not totally up to date, but it will give you a good start. And Gordon, your best bet for older wines are auctions. The LCBO conducts one with Ritchies every year. It just happened October 16, though there might be some unsold lots. You can check out the catalogue from this page.

Malcolm: Yes, I'm with Lifford. I can give you the scoop on November's VINTAGES releases as well as October's. In the October release, the Ironstone Cabernet Sauvignon ($17.95) is a winner. I've also just been informed that it sold 1,700 bottles in its first week of release. Ironstone is a Sierra Foothills producer who also makes the popular Leaping Horse brand (you might have seen either or both in local restaurants). Any time we have a wine in VINTAGES, I encourage our customers to pick up a bottle or two, since later, they can always buy a case from us even when the LCBO is out of stock. November features a few more Ironstone releases, with the Zinfandel being a good choice ($17.95). We're also releasing half-bottles of two of our VINTAGES Essentials, the Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages ($9.50 for the half-bottle, $15.50 for the full), and the Louis Jadot Bourgogne Chardonnay ($11.50 for the half-bottle, $19.95 for the full). We also have a Bordeaux selection from Compagnie Medocaine de Grand Crus, the Vieux Château Valentin 2000, for $17.95 (and available in half-bottles for $10.35). I haven't tried it, but all of the Medocaine-represented wines usually show well. If you're a port fan, we're releasing the Quinta do Noval Vintage 1995 Port for $84.00. Let me know if you try any of these!

I'll jump in here. I work for a wine agent here in Toronto and we have lots of opportunities to see how the LCBO's policies affect consumer choice. Most people have no idea they can buy from agents like us, though the LCBO dictates that we can only sell by the case, which scares off most regular consumers. That being said, we compete fiercely to get some of our wines into the VINTAGES program. It's incredibly competitive, with lots and lots of producers competing for a limited number of spaces.

If you like Riesling, my favourite is Vineland Estates. They also have a very picturesque location and a great restaurant. My wife and I stayed in the village of Jordan and just did all the "Beamsville Bench" wineries in and around Jordan. Niagara on the Lake is a whole other area, and we've left it for another weekend.

Thanks for the review. This is literally around the corner for us (we're on Brownlow) but with mains averaging $35, we might be waiting for a while! Have you eaten at any other places in the same neighbourhood? Celestin? Across the Road? I'd love to read more of your reviews!

Futronic, any chance of getting the CSPC numbers for the wines you tasted? I'd love to try tracking them down...

Mitchell Watervale Riesling is a fine Australian example. Re: the Ayler Kupp review. If you think this is an 81-point wine, I'd better run out and buy your other recommendations! I had this a week ago and am still thinking about it. For the price, it was delicious and I thought the finish was fine. (BTW, do you have any unwanted bottles? I think we're both in Toronto and I couldn't find any more at the LCBO).

Have to agree that German wines are undervalued. I recently was able buy bottles from both 1990 and 1996 for less than CDN$20. Both were delicious, but the best I've had so far has been the 2002 Ayler Kupp Riesling Kabinett that I picked up for CDN$13.95! Some German rieslings are still a little sweet for my taste, but there are some really amazing bargains compared to, say, Alsace (though I love Alsace!).

I don't think LV will seriously challenge Chuck for the reason that currency exchange rates are so variable. It would be difficult to predict if LV can continue to sell their wine so cheaply if the Euro drops against the dollar...

That's not the half of it. We are a consignment agent and if our wine sits in the LCBO's warehouse more than 90 days, they seize it, do the 25% billback thing, and then dump it into their stores at a discounted price. They also don't tell us where it's going, forcing us to to call stores and see if we can't buy some of it back for our restaurant customers. Crazy!

It seems to me that the owner of your winery is in a good position to take a bit of leadership in this area and use screw-tops. Some other California wineries (Willakenzie Estate, PlumpJack, Cuvaison, Silverado, Bonny Doon, Fetzer Vineyards, Murphy-Goode Winery, Sonoma-Cutrer, Downing Family Vineyards, Whitehall Lane Winery, Argyle and Corbett Canyon) have used the Stelvin screw-top closure with good results. Our wine agency imports a lot of Australian and New Zealand wine and the screw-top has found ready acceptance there. No more corked bottles!