Why are we rushing into this convention centre thing?
Is this an emergency?
I've read everything that Tim Bousquet has written on this topic (have you?), none of it was made up, and very very little of it can even be classified as opinion.
All he has ever asked is that we examine the numbers before we jump in - that's like checking to make sure the water is deep enough to dive. He has given enough examples of things that simply don't add up, or look to have been done to prove a desired outcome, rather than to inform a decision, that warrant a careful third party examination.
I think it's safe to say that most people will support a new convention centre. But that is NOT the issue. Here are some issues:
This is a P3 Project. Don't let anyone pretend it isn't. It is a private company building and owning a building and getting credit and financing based on a guarantee of an income stream from the public purse. A Public/Private/Partnership. (that's 3!). Why are people saying it isn't when it clearly is?
This project forces HRM to give special treatment to one landowner over all others in the downtown by giving them an exclusion from one of the tenets of HRM By Design. (height only) I have no comment to make on the design itself.
This project puts the convention centre in a place that is probably the worst place for tourism in downtown Halifax after dark (have you been to that part of Argyle on a Friday night?). Putting a convention centre where none of the rooms have a view of our harbour is as misguided as, say, putting an art gallery, a building where everyone is looking at what's on the walls and where light can damage the contents, on our waterfont. The centre is being sold as a tourism generator, but does not give any of the convention space a view of why we are here - our Harbour. They may see some good fights in front of the Toothy Moose, but that is not the message we want to send tourists.
But worst of all, this is all apparently being forced on us without a solid business case, twisted numbers, and classic square peg in round hole logic. "We know it doesn't fit, but if we hit it hard enough with a blunt instrument, for long enough, we can drive 'er in". That is what it looks like to me.
Let's stop, take a breath, and examine this thing with the care and attention it deserves. Surely that makes sense?
I don't think Tim Bousquet is acting like an activist here. But even if he is, there is a famous saying about activists, and that is that even if we believe they are wrong, we can't afford for them to be right. I think that applies in this case. So at least prove that the numbers, real numbers not made up by TCL to lubricate that square peg, support the project before investing in this scheme. It smells like Floridian swampland to me. Are you buying?
I have an idea... let's do the audit before the money is gone this time.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
All across the Twitterverse
The internet has brought us a lot of things that are new. Perhaps the most significant change is in how information is shared, and how the different tools created to share it have altered our basic means of relating to our fellow humans. How the internet is replacing traditional social interactions with new means of how we talk to, do business with, trade, insult, entertain, humour, mock, flirt, and even seduce each other.
As someone who has been using computer networks to communicate ideas and opinions since 1980, I've used many of the different platforms or formats that have come along. From early pre-internet computer games with students in other universities in Canada, to the old listserves (alt.rec.barney.purpledinosaur.die.die.die was a fave), early Compuserve User Forums where I would dial up to a 514 area code and run scripts downloading and uploading messages to other beer and scotch aficionados, to more modern email (originally my Compuserve number account) then to a IP internet account email, web based email, and then to the more modern forums, Winelover's Digest, Wine Therapy, HomeBrew Digest, and so on.
Then came real advances with social media applications hitting the stage, including dating sites begun to meet the needs of the shy and lonely, that now account for many couples finding Mr. or Ms right, at least for 30 minutes.
It was Facebook of course that really changed things. From a site based on simple high school mentality for high school kids, it has advanced to a site based on simple high school mentality for everyone. Complete with a huge repository of personal information, all apparently owned by FaceBook. Even our parents are on there (not mine, thank God). I deactivated my FaceBook account 6 months ago, and I DON'T MISS IT. Really, Picasa does a better job of sharing photos, and I am sure there is an even better photo sharing site out there.
Two years after Facebook came Twitter, which is as aptly named as, say that silly search engine thing called, what was it? Google? is what has us witnessing a new way of communicating with others. The best things in life are truly simple. Butter on fresh baked bread. A toasted marshmallow. Insert thing 1 into thing 2. All good. All easy.
With Twitter, all you need to do to play is to sign up and have at least one other friend on there already to talk to, and to steal followers from. At first, there is a lull. A big let down - what use is this? A waste of time. And being limited to only 140 characters per post is sometimes a pain, if you are into severe angst over why your latest boyfriend got caught with porn pics of you on his computer by his wife.
The secret lies in something I suspect is a very basic, built-in factor in the human psyche related to how many people are members of your follow/follower Twitterverse - your community. The Greeks had a word for the critical number of people it took to bring together to create an effective community. The called it a "Polis". Within that community there would be enough expertise to do anything, answer any question, and, yes, defend itself from other, more agressive "Poli".
Now, that word, Polis, has a lot to do with a word we use and abuse on a regular basis in our lives. Politics. Politics is a big word in our society, with a lot of different meanings. Social politics, sexual politics, heck, political politics. They all matter to us, in varying degrees of importance.
Once I had reached about 200 followers, and was following about 250, I started to see new things happening. I was being exposed to a lot of "tweets", that were "re-tweeted" by someone I was following that made me think harder about something, be amazed about what someone else in the world was doing, or simply made me laugh out loud. I started to find out about things happening in my city long before they appeared in the traditional media. It was as if I'd reached the beginnings of my own "Polis" - my Brewnoser Twitteropolis.
I now have met a fair amount of my "tweeps" in person. Unlike Facebook, which is simply a cataloguing and track-keeping tool for people you already know, or barely know, or might be related to, Twitter somehow transcends the impersonal, to encourage the personal. "Tweet-ups" are common in Halifax - real people meeting in person to continue their on-line discussion, debate, business, or friendship. Despite the lack of photo galleries, relatives, networks, and the like, it is so much more human than Facebook will ever be.
I plan on keeping my "Twitteropolis" trimmed to people who are interesting, or are local, keeping me more in touch with my community than any politician knocking on doors or cutting ribbons. My community is a big amorphous source of entertainment, information, and innuendo that is usually current, sometimes silly, and never boring. I look at some of those celebrity twitter feeds (they don't follow back, so they really are just a feed) and I think of them as a Polis gone wrong, gotten too large and out of hand, like one of those third world 20 million population cities with 40% slums, a sort of social development cancer. I'll just stick to my small town. Where I know everyone.
I am going to resist the temptation to try to monetize my Twitter account too, and only use it for things that are personal. But who knows, maybe it will become a source of work related information. It already has in some small ways, and it certainly works well that way for others. That won't necessarily be a bad thing, work is part of the human condition, after all, and Twitter better reflects the human condition than anything I've yet seen online in the 30 years I've been here.
I can be reached at @brewnoser I may not follow back, I may block you. But I will check before I do either.
As someone who has been using computer networks to communicate ideas and opinions since 1980, I've used many of the different platforms or formats that have come along. From early pre-internet computer games with students in other universities in Canada, to the old listserves (alt.rec.barney.purpledinosaur.die.die.die was a fave), early Compuserve User Forums where I would dial up to a 514 area code and run scripts downloading and uploading messages to other beer and scotch aficionados, to more modern email (originally my Compuserve number account) then to a IP internet account email, web based email, and then to the more modern forums, Winelover's Digest, Wine Therapy, HomeBrew Digest, and so on.
Then came real advances with social media applications hitting the stage, including dating sites begun to meet the needs of the shy and lonely, that now account for many couples finding Mr. or Ms right, at least for 30 minutes.
It was Facebook of course that really changed things. From a site based on simple high school mentality for high school kids, it has advanced to a site based on simple high school mentality for everyone. Complete with a huge repository of personal information, all apparently owned by FaceBook. Even our parents are on there (not mine, thank God). I deactivated my FaceBook account 6 months ago, and I DON'T MISS IT. Really, Picasa does a better job of sharing photos, and I am sure there is an even better photo sharing site out there.
Two years after Facebook came Twitter, which is as aptly named as, say that silly search engine thing called, what was it? Google? is what has us witnessing a new way of communicating with others. The best things in life are truly simple. Butter on fresh baked bread. A toasted marshmallow. Insert thing 1 into thing 2. All good. All easy.
With Twitter, all you need to do to play is to sign up and have at least one other friend on there already to talk to, and to steal followers from. At first, there is a lull. A big let down - what use is this? A waste of time. And being limited to only 140 characters per post is sometimes a pain, if you are into severe angst over why your latest boyfriend got caught with porn pics of you on his computer by his wife.
The secret lies in something I suspect is a very basic, built-in factor in the human psyche related to how many people are members of your follow/follower Twitterverse - your community. The Greeks had a word for the critical number of people it took to bring together to create an effective community. The called it a "Polis". Within that community there would be enough expertise to do anything, answer any question, and, yes, defend itself from other, more agressive "Poli".
Now, that word, Polis, has a lot to do with a word we use and abuse on a regular basis in our lives. Politics. Politics is a big word in our society, with a lot of different meanings. Social politics, sexual politics, heck, political politics. They all matter to us, in varying degrees of importance.
Once I had reached about 200 followers, and was following about 250, I started to see new things happening. I was being exposed to a lot of "tweets", that were "re-tweeted" by someone I was following that made me think harder about something, be amazed about what someone else in the world was doing, or simply made me laugh out loud. I started to find out about things happening in my city long before they appeared in the traditional media. It was as if I'd reached the beginnings of my own "Polis" - my Brewnoser Twitteropolis.
I now have met a fair amount of my "tweeps" in person. Unlike Facebook, which is simply a cataloguing and track-keeping tool for people you already know, or barely know, or might be related to, Twitter somehow transcends the impersonal, to encourage the personal. "Tweet-ups" are common in Halifax - real people meeting in person to continue their on-line discussion, debate, business, or friendship. Despite the lack of photo galleries, relatives, networks, and the like, it is so much more human than Facebook will ever be.
I plan on keeping my "Twitteropolis" trimmed to people who are interesting, or are local, keeping me more in touch with my community than any politician knocking on doors or cutting ribbons. My community is a big amorphous source of entertainment, information, and innuendo that is usually current, sometimes silly, and never boring. I look at some of those celebrity twitter feeds (they don't follow back, so they really are just a feed) and I think of them as a Polis gone wrong, gotten too large and out of hand, like one of those third world 20 million population cities with 40% slums, a sort of social development cancer. I'll just stick to my small town. Where I know everyone.
I am going to resist the temptation to try to monetize my Twitter account too, and only use it for things that are personal. But who knows, maybe it will become a source of work related information. It already has in some small ways, and it certainly works well that way for others. That won't necessarily be a bad thing, work is part of the human condition, after all, and Twitter better reflects the human condition than anything I've yet seen online in the 30 years I've been here.
I can be reached at @brewnoser I may not follow back, I may block you. But I will check before I do either.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Halifax Beerfest and their CFA Preferences
Here is a press release I just got:
This festival is turning into a great event, if a few more local breweries would get off their asses and show up, people might think there is a vibrant brewing community here. This year, I have to tell you that Brian Titus did not make this into a Garrison event at all. His efforts this year were the most industry supporting I have seen. Yet so much great beer we know and buy here was not on display. And it should have been. There were a lot of beer curious people there. Local beers/ Garrison, Rock Bottom, and a stand with beer, but no-one pouring it, from Paddy's Pub in Kentville/Wolfville. No Propeller, no Granite, no Seaport, no Rogues Roost, no Hart and Thistle. All these places missed a great chance to add to their list of customers and patrons.
My pet peeve is how we tend to favour things from away. Well, in this case, no one from the local scene showed up to demonstrate if they were competitive with the people from away.
Of course there was a bit of the CFA boosting from the organizers. I have to wonder about how the Toronto and Montreal people invite my brother and I up there to judge contests and attend festivals, and yet in our own city we don't even get invited to attend.
Mirella Amato was there this year, doing a very cool ladies tour, going oer the histroic relationship between women and beer, and getting the ladies in early to start their sampling before the rush. She is kinda my junior, a few years over (OK, maybe 15). I've known her since she started coming to beer events in Toronto 10 years ago. She judged with me last year at the Canadian Brewing Awards. (I wonder if she was at the IPA table, I'd sure like to know what went on there....)
At least this year, they let me attend as media, after I asked, though I think Brian Titus is afraid I might mention the Hart and Thistle. INstead I showed up wearing an H&T ball cap. I did take out and switch back and forth with my Garrison hat all night.
Anyway, I think that at this point I should point out that I assume I am still the senior beer geek in Atlantic Canada. I'm a BJCP National Beer Judge, the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers - Atlantic Chapter Beer Instructor, and Founder of The BrewNosers, Halifax's Homebrewing and Beer Appreciation Club for the past 25 years, blah blah blah blah, blah blah... You'd think that sooner or later they might realize that someone here knows at least as much about beer than the "experts" they bring in. But in the end, it is pretty good to just be able to sit off to the side of the Quebec tent and have brewers bring you samples.
Mirella is a great choice as a guest beer geek, as we do have female beer-lovers here, but none I know of who have taken it upon themselves to learn as much about the beverage as she. And the idea of providing some focus on women and beer is a commendable one.
I hope the thing is a great success, and it really sis seem to be going well tonight. I really don't care if they ever ask me to do anything or not, it just amuses me that they are falling into that same trap that our government does, assuming that if it's come from away, it must be better. And that we can't possibly have a local who might know that much about something like beer!
Which is hogwash, of course. People from away gave us Scotia Square, the Sewage Treatment Plant, The Cogswell Street Interchange, and stole all our fish to boot. They can have as much Keith's as they want, though. I did hear an interesting story about the Keith's ads in Quebec pretending to be a micro, shown being brewed in the "demo for tourists semi fake brewery" in the old Brewery Market. As if Keiths/50 was brewed in those size batches!
In the meantime, as my beer buddy from Wisconsin says: "Now Go Have a Beer"!
Sipping beer on the Pier with one of Canada’s top beer experts
Media representatives are invited to attend a news conference at Halifax’s historic Seaport District on Thursday, August 12. In the lead up to the 4th annual Halifax Seaport BeerFest, one of Canada’s top beer connoisseurs, Mirella Amato, will be sharing her skills in the art of beer tasting.
Joining Mirella will be Geir Simensen, owner and executive chef of Scanway Catering, to discuss some of the delicious food offered at this year’s BeerFest. Geir, Mirella, and BeerFest co-chairs Bruce Mansour and Brian Titus will be on-hand and available for interviews.
The following individuals will be attending and speaking before the event:
-Bruce Mansour-Co-chair of the Halifax Seaport BeerFest
-Mirella Amato-Female beer connoisseur and creator of Beerology
-Geir Simensen-Owner/Executive chef of Scanway Catering
Time: 12:30 PM
Date: Thursday, August 12, 2010
Location: Halifax’s Seaport District (Marginal Road behind the Westin Hotel), at the south end of the harbor walk.
This festival is turning into a great event, if a few more local breweries would get off their asses and show up, people might think there is a vibrant brewing community here. This year, I have to tell you that Brian Titus did not make this into a Garrison event at all. His efforts this year were the most industry supporting I have seen. Yet so much great beer we know and buy here was not on display. And it should have been. There were a lot of beer curious people there. Local beers/ Garrison, Rock Bottom, and a stand with beer, but no-one pouring it, from Paddy's Pub in Kentville/Wolfville. No Propeller, no Granite, no Seaport, no Rogues Roost, no Hart and Thistle. All these places missed a great chance to add to their list of customers and patrons.
My pet peeve is how we tend to favour things from away. Well, in this case, no one from the local scene showed up to demonstrate if they were competitive with the people from away.
Of course there was a bit of the CFA boosting from the organizers. I have to wonder about how the Toronto and Montreal people invite my brother and I up there to judge contests and attend festivals, and yet in our own city we don't even get invited to attend.
Mirella Amato was there this year, doing a very cool ladies tour, going oer the histroic relationship between women and beer, and getting the ladies in early to start their sampling before the rush. She is kinda my junior, a few years over (OK, maybe 15). I've known her since she started coming to beer events in Toronto 10 years ago. She judged with me last year at the Canadian Brewing Awards. (I wonder if she was at the IPA table, I'd sure like to know what went on there....)
At least this year, they let me attend as media, after I asked, though I think Brian Titus is afraid I might mention the Hart and Thistle. INstead I showed up wearing an H&T ball cap. I did take out and switch back and forth with my Garrison hat all night.
Anyway, I think that at this point I should point out that I assume I am still the senior beer geek in Atlantic Canada. I'm a BJCP National Beer Judge, the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers - Atlantic Chapter Beer Instructor, and Founder of The BrewNosers, Halifax's Homebrewing and Beer Appreciation Club for the past 25 years, blah blah blah blah, blah blah... You'd think that sooner or later they might realize that someone here knows at least as much about beer than the "experts" they bring in. But in the end, it is pretty good to just be able to sit off to the side of the Quebec tent and have brewers bring you samples.
Mirella is a great choice as a guest beer geek, as we do have female beer-lovers here, but none I know of who have taken it upon themselves to learn as much about the beverage as she. And the idea of providing some focus on women and beer is a commendable one.
I hope the thing is a great success, and it really sis seem to be going well tonight. I really don't care if they ever ask me to do anything or not, it just amuses me that they are falling into that same trap that our government does, assuming that if it's come from away, it must be better. And that we can't possibly have a local who might know that much about something like beer!
Which is hogwash, of course. People from away gave us Scotia Square, the Sewage Treatment Plant, The Cogswell Street Interchange, and stole all our fish to boot. They can have as much Keith's as they want, though. I did hear an interesting story about the Keith's ads in Quebec pretending to be a micro, shown being brewed in the "demo for tourists semi fake brewery" in the old Brewery Market. As if Keiths/50 was brewed in those size batches!
In the meantime, as my beer buddy from Wisconsin says: "Now Go Have a Beer"!
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Amoré del Amarone
Before you read the rest of this, you have to accept one thing: a fact; a reality. My friend Chris* is not normal. He can be the biggest ass there is. He is one of those people who never went to university because, well, he didn't need to. Not in his mind. Which is a pretty well built piece of equipment. His mind, that is. It is able to generate and rely upon, and even survive under, a regime of logic that pretty well only he subscribes to.
Chris is, well, he's Chris. And Chris is pretty happy with that. Ask him.
Chris also has this certain sense of time. As in some time. As in some time we are all going to die, so let's get on with living, OK? Because he values his time as if every day was his last (and sometimes those of us who know him probably wish that day were) he lives his life at certain extremes, despite the fact that his funds to live on are certainly not at an extreme.
Chris likes a lot of the finer things in life. He likes jazz. Specifically Miles Davis, but he'll listen to anyone else who plays with "half a brain". He loves Tom Waits. He also likes almost any music made by someone who has something true to say, and a gift to share. There was a lot of Randy Newman playing last night. In those loves, he and I share some common prejudice. We also both want to be able to listen to our music in peace, and to hear as much of what was actually played as we can. We both spend a lot of money on stereo equipment no one else would want. If you stole my stereo, all you'd get would be a hernia, and maybe (hopefully?) a near lethal shock as a capacitor discharged into your near-corpse long after you unplugged it. I'd come home and find you on my floor, probably having fouled your pants, and call the cops. I might take out a 5 iron for a bit first, though... Anyway, I digress. We were talking about Chris. He would not use a 5 iron, as he does not play golf. Let's just say, they would never find the body, and leave it at that. OK?
This is all a lead in to my night of wine drinking (heck, it was not tasting - I never spit one millilitre) last night. At Chris' place.
You see, Chris also likes to drink wine. And in true Chris fashion, he does not normally waste a lot of time putting bad wine into his mouth. Usually only when I am around, and that's because I almost force him to. He is also a believer in the reality that drinking is best done with friends. Drinking a great bottle of wine by yourself is like being abducted by aliens. It may be an amazing experience, but no-one will really believe you, and they will think you are a bit off.
Chris is on vacation this week. So he stayed home and spent most of yesterday getting ready for four of us to arrive at 7:00 pm. Waiting for us was a bottle of 1998 Henriot Le Millesieme Champagne. A Blanc de Blanc, I think. This wine is totally not for fans of the straightforward, down the middle Champagnes from Pol Roger or Moet and the like. It is complex, acidic, with some bitterness and anger. A terribly complex thing that with the 12 years may only have been more angry at being woken up.
In time, we moved to the table, set with four wines, poured an hour earlier, waiting for us to come and play.
This was no guessing game, nor was it an open book. They were not in any order, so we did not know which wine was which. We were given a sheet with all four wines named, complete with reviews of each as published by The Wine Spectator, America's top selling wine publication, and all the reviews done by James Suckling; and reviews from The Wine Advisor, Robert Parker's "organ" (to abuse Frank Magazine's term). The point of this was to taste the wines ourselves, and then decide if the reviews were of value, and if one reviewer was of more value that the other.
The wines were three well respected Pauillacs - all Chateau Batailley - 96, 99 and 03, and one great Margaux, the 1995 Chateau Palmer. My quick run through them suggested that one of these was not like the other, and that would either be the Palmer, or the 03 wine. I ended up wrong in guessing the Palmer (which in my defence I have never had before). But, in respect of the goal of the exercise, I can say with as much certainty as four samples allow, that James Suckling makes notes that are a lot like mine, and Robert Parker is somewhere out on another planet, again, in comparison to my own observations.
The Palmer opened up into an amazing Bordeaux. A great wine, and one that I'll remember for some time. The 1996 Battailley was also very very good.
That was good fun. I have never been a big "Speculator" fan, but perhaps I'll pay a wee bit more attention to Suckling's opinions in the future. If I ever buy Bordeaux again after my recent trip to Burgundy, that is.
Chris, meanwhile, has started hinting that there is more. As in a LOT more to come.
And he is not kidding. I had jokingly predicted that it would be the perfect time for a Quintarelli Amarone, as I knew he owned at least one. But that is just what he brought up next. A 1995 version.
This is one of those "life wines" - maybe something I'll never get to try again, and certainly never had until last night. And as our luck would have it on this evening, the Portuguese menace was nowhere to be found. The wine was clean, clear and beautiful. Some hints of higher alcohols, as to be expected, but underneath the brooding monster of a wine, with all the nuances and depth that this is so famous for. It sells now for about $400 US. Chris supplied a "simple" tray of chocolate, blackberries and strawberries to have with this wine. Perfect: if you know the wine, you understand.
Of course thee was a small problem - the wine is so massive it needed some time to really open up and show its true form. So Chris, being Chris, popped down into his cellar and came back with something worthy of the evening, to while away our time with while waiting for the Amarone to open up. Oh, what's this? Oh, it's just a 1998 Bouchard Pere et Fils Le Corton. Having just been right there, about 200 m from the grapes used to make this wine, I decided that this was an acceptable waiting wine.
This wine was so replete with mushroom in the nose, it was hard not to order out for a mushroom pizza from Salvatores. And then all the classic Corton character kept coming out as it opened up. A powerful Pinot. I know that may be hard for some to get their head around, but this terroir is not for the faint of heart. We were left wondering which wine was indeed the better, the one we were waiting for, or the one we were drinking.
We drank the wines, ate the chocolate, listened to Randy Newman and laughed. A lot.
Somewhere, the Amarone was gone, and so was the Corton. But then, like magic, the nightcap appeared. A wine I introduced Chris to some time ago. A great wine. A thing of beauty. Worth every penny and pure heaven in a glass. If you like figs and dry fruit, anyway. One person at the table had never had it before. We almost lost him to a sugar induced coma
A great way to end the evening. Over five hours I'd had about 7, maybe 8 glasses of wine, and I was happy, but not stupid. I was up at seven this morning, answering the call of the jackhammer right outside my window.
Oh, and one final thing about Chris - he is generous to a fault. My kind of fault.
* Name made up to protect the guilty
Chris is, well, he's Chris. And Chris is pretty happy with that. Ask him.
Chris also has this certain sense of time. As in some time. As in some time we are all going to die, so let's get on with living, OK? Because he values his time as if every day was his last (and sometimes those of us who know him probably wish that day were) he lives his life at certain extremes, despite the fact that his funds to live on are certainly not at an extreme.
Chris likes a lot of the finer things in life. He likes jazz. Specifically Miles Davis, but he'll listen to anyone else who plays with "half a brain". He loves Tom Waits. He also likes almost any music made by someone who has something true to say, and a gift to share. There was a lot of Randy Newman playing last night. In those loves, he and I share some common prejudice. We also both want to be able to listen to our music in peace, and to hear as much of what was actually played as we can. We both spend a lot of money on stereo equipment no one else would want. If you stole my stereo, all you'd get would be a hernia, and maybe (hopefully?) a near lethal shock as a capacitor discharged into your near-corpse long after you unplugged it. I'd come home and find you on my floor, probably having fouled your pants, and call the cops. I might take out a 5 iron for a bit first, though... Anyway, I digress. We were talking about Chris. He would not use a 5 iron, as he does not play golf. Let's just say, they would never find the body, and leave it at that. OK?
This is all a lead in to my night of wine drinking (heck, it was not tasting - I never spit one millilitre) last night. At Chris' place.
You see, Chris also likes to drink wine. And in true Chris fashion, he does not normally waste a lot of time putting bad wine into his mouth. Usually only when I am around, and that's because I almost force him to. He is also a believer in the reality that drinking is best done with friends. Drinking a great bottle of wine by yourself is like being abducted by aliens. It may be an amazing experience, but no-one will really believe you, and they will think you are a bit off.
Chris is on vacation this week. So he stayed home and spent most of yesterday getting ready for four of us to arrive at 7:00 pm. Waiting for us was a bottle of 1998 Henriot Le Millesieme Champagne. A Blanc de Blanc, I think. This wine is totally not for fans of the straightforward, down the middle Champagnes from Pol Roger or Moet and the like. It is complex, acidic, with some bitterness and anger. A terribly complex thing that with the 12 years may only have been more angry at being woken up.
In time, we moved to the table, set with four wines, poured an hour earlier, waiting for us to come and play.
This was no guessing game, nor was it an open book. They were not in any order, so we did not know which wine was which. We were given a sheet with all four wines named, complete with reviews of each as published by The Wine Spectator, America's top selling wine publication, and all the reviews done by James Suckling; and reviews from The Wine Advisor, Robert Parker's "organ" (to abuse Frank Magazine's term). The point of this was to taste the wines ourselves, and then decide if the reviews were of value, and if one reviewer was of more value that the other.
The wines were three well respected Pauillacs - all Chateau Batailley - 96, 99 and 03, and one great Margaux, the 1995 Chateau Palmer. My quick run through them suggested that one of these was not like the other, and that would either be the Palmer, or the 03 wine. I ended up wrong in guessing the Palmer (which in my defence I have never had before). But, in respect of the goal of the exercise, I can say with as much certainty as four samples allow, that James Suckling makes notes that are a lot like mine, and Robert Parker is somewhere out on another planet, again, in comparison to my own observations.
The Palmer opened up into an amazing Bordeaux. A great wine, and one that I'll remember for some time. The 1996 Battailley was also very very good.
That was good fun. I have never been a big "Speculator" fan, but perhaps I'll pay a wee bit more attention to Suckling's opinions in the future. If I ever buy Bordeaux again after my recent trip to Burgundy, that is.
Chris, meanwhile, has started hinting that there is more. As in a LOT more to come.
And he is not kidding. I had jokingly predicted that it would be the perfect time for a Quintarelli Amarone, as I knew he owned at least one. But that is just what he brought up next. A 1995 version.
This is one of those "life wines" - maybe something I'll never get to try again, and certainly never had until last night. And as our luck would have it on this evening, the Portuguese menace was nowhere to be found. The wine was clean, clear and beautiful. Some hints of higher alcohols, as to be expected, but underneath the brooding monster of a wine, with all the nuances and depth that this is so famous for. It sells now for about $400 US. Chris supplied a "simple" tray of chocolate, blackberries and strawberries to have with this wine. Perfect: if you know the wine, you understand.
Of course thee was a small problem - the wine is so massive it needed some time to really open up and show its true form. So Chris, being Chris, popped down into his cellar and came back with something worthy of the evening, to while away our time with while waiting for the Amarone to open up. Oh, what's this? Oh, it's just a 1998 Bouchard Pere et Fils Le Corton. Having just been right there, about 200 m from the grapes used to make this wine, I decided that this was an acceptable waiting wine.
This wine was so replete with mushroom in the nose, it was hard not to order out for a mushroom pizza from Salvatores. And then all the classic Corton character kept coming out as it opened up. A powerful Pinot. I know that may be hard for some to get their head around, but this terroir is not for the faint of heart. We were left wondering which wine was indeed the better, the one we were waiting for, or the one we were drinking.
We drank the wines, ate the chocolate, listened to Randy Newman and laughed. A lot.
Somewhere, the Amarone was gone, and so was the Corton. But then, like magic, the nightcap appeared. A wine I introduced Chris to some time ago. A great wine. A thing of beauty. Worth every penny and pure heaven in a glass. If you like figs and dry fruit, anyway. One person at the table had never had it before. We almost lost him to a sugar induced coma
A great way to end the evening. Over five hours I'd had about 7, maybe 8 glasses of wine, and I was happy, but not stupid. I was up at seven this morning, answering the call of the jackhammer right outside my window.
Oh, and one final thing about Chris - he is generous to a fault. My kind of fault.
* Name made up to protect the guilty
Monday, July 26, 2010
A Bluenoser in Burgundy
I just got back to Nova Scotia after what was truly a mind bending wine odyssey. Ten days in Burgundy, ancestral home of all Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And not just hanging out at the tourist only tasting rooms - touring with a real winemaker, with real Burgundian chops, and best of all, friends!
Over the course of 10 days in Chablis, The Cotes de Nuits, Cotes de Beaune and Cotes Challonaise, delving into cellars full of millions of bottles of wines, and hundreds of thousands of oak casks I am now, as an old girlfriend would say "ruint". It will take some work to find wines I'd rather drink. If I can have a nice mineral driven Chardonnay from Chablis on a hot day, why open anything else? Yes, I am spoiled. This means, of course, that I will have to open some really good stuff from elsewhere to get some balance back in my wine-life.
After an entire morning of barrel sampling at Domaine Olivier LeFlaive, going down each village vineyard from top to bottom, sampling over 35 different wines from barrel, including Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet and Batard-Montrachet, wines I simply cannot afford, or ever justify paying what they ask for, I was reeling from all the new knowledge. My palate was working overtime conveying newly catalogued taste memories to my brain. Marl, mineral, limestone, citrus, old oak, new oak, malolactic, incomplete malolactic, structure, perfume.... All from white wines. All from the Chardonnay Grape.
And we did this sort of thing for 10 days, including a lot of wines at Dom. Joseph Voillot where we were treated to perfect bottles of their 1974 Volnay Les Champans, 1969 Pommard Les Rugiens, and a 1961 Volnay Les Champans. Does anyone want to suggest that Pinot Noir, light and delicate as it seems, does not age? The 1969 Les Rugiens was life changing stuff. I now own a 1980. Only 11 more years...
Every day we tasted wine and ate like royalty. It was so hot, I did not gain any weight.
Plus two dinners at 1-Star Michelin Restaurants, and many excellent lunches and meals in our villa, over countless bottles of wine shared among friends.
We did several "guerilla wine expeditions" led by former wine writer, turned winemaker, turned winemaking consultant Thomas Bachelder who led the over tour. Just walking up to a winery after hours, ringing the bell and asking to taste the wines. In tiny villages, with rustic wines (and winemakers). He was fearlessly curious, and able to talk his way into any place. Like wine touring with Michael Moore.
So ask me about Chardonnay. Or Pinot Noir. I think I've got it. I know I just had a chance to learn it that is almost unmatched nowadays. Mark DeWolf and his ByTheGlass tours (based here in Halifax) did it up right.
Now, to get back to work, and start paying for it.
Oh, yeah....
From memory, Villages (and towns) south to north, starting with Mercurey... I think this is close, depending on what map you look at.
Mercurey, Rully. Santenay, Maranges, Saint Aubin, Chassagne Montrachet, Puligny Montrachet, Saint Romaine, Auxey-Duresses, Monthelie, Meursault, Volnay, Pommard, Beaune, Chorey-Les-Beaune, Savigny-Les Beaune, Pernand Vergelesse, Aloxe-Corton, Ladoix. Nuit-St. Georges, Vosne Romanee, Vougeot, Chambolle Musigny, Morey St. Denis, Gevry Chambertin, Fixin, Marsannay.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
A day in the life... of a wine geek
Just another Friday of wine…. All prices are estimates of what the bottle cost at purchase, not necessarily what it is worth now.
Lunch at Cut Urban Grille
1996 Henriot Vintage Champagne ($120) - Low carbonation, great tart acidity, trace of brett? A wonderful palate cleansing start to the day.
brown sugarcane & beet salad
with truffled honey goat cheese dressing
1997 Marques De Murrieta Capellania Reserva ($32) - old yellowed white wine from 100% Viura. Still good acidity, orange rind, quince, long finish. Could go much longer.
*****
broiled marrow au gratin
broiled marrow bone topped with black truffle cheese, brioche crisps, black mission
fig and apple-cinnamon jams
1991 Vega Sicilia Valbuena ($110) My first ever taste of a wine from this famous producer. Although the wine might go another 10 years, the cork was almost completely saturated. Great fig, aged red wine character perfectly matches the marrow/truffle cheese with fig jam. Good acidity, secondary fruit, long and deep drinking experience.
*****
Beef Short Ribs
char sui rubbed, slow braised in red wine & beet sauce, apricot puree
1987 Marques de Murrieta Castillo Yguay Gran Reserva Especial ($60) - a great delicate aged wine, some acetone at opening blows off to reveal Bordeaux-like secondary fruit character, amazing taste match with the apricot and beet character in the sauce on the tender rib meat.
*****
Artisanal cheeses
with walnut bread crisps
1964 Palacio de Arganza Senorio de Arganza ($110) - an ancient bottle of this famous, almost legendary wine from Bierzo, in the extreme northwest corner of Spain. Made from Mencia, once thought to possibly be Cab Franc. Secondary and teritiary fruit with leafy tannins still showing. Some slight oxidative volatility (VA) but not distracting. The oldest wine I have ever had.
Red wines were all from Joe Posiak’s cellar.
After dinner, a simple palate cleanser…
2008 Fourault Vaufuget Vouvray, a semi sweet Chenin Blanc, only OK, clean enough but not that exciting. Simple sweetness, some acidity, nothing bad, nothing special either. ($22)
At Hugh’s
Angoves 9 Vines Viognier ($15) Excellent example of Viognier that is not too hot, and tastes balanced and clean.
Vouvray - hand carried from Quebec A very good bottle of Chenin Blanc that I neglected to note the name of. Was clean, crisp and satisfying with an old cheddar made with single malt scotch in the sun on a lazy Friday afternoon.
Australian Sauvignon Blanc - Leeuwin Estate Art Series ($40). A very sour, long and lean over the top SB. Jalapeno, bell peppers, gooseberry/grapefruit. Seems simple and not really complex.
Bishops Cellar Burgundy Tasting
2007 Henri Prudhon Bourgogne Rouge ($25) OK, example of inexpensive red Burg. Thin and a bit mean, but some Pinot Character and an OK funky nose.
2002 Louis Remy Chambolle-Musigny 'Les Fremieres' ($64) Funky dirty nose (good) medium body, Real Burgundy. About average for the price.
2004 Louis Boillot & Fils Beaune 1er Cru 'Les Epenotes' ($42) Dark, spicey, piney clove nose. Full, alcoholic, rich and a bit hot. OK.
2006 Jean Chauvenet Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru 'Les Vaucrains' ($92) Big dark Pinot, in need of time, will be very good, not for current drinking.
2004 Maume Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru 'Lavaux St. Jacques' ($74) Best wine of the tasting. Totally involving nose, complex chicken coop, mushrooms, what I call a “duct tape wine”, one I just want to walk around with it stuck to my face. The taste is almost as good, with a layered fruit character, typical Burgundian Pinot Noir fruit esters, some minor VA, overall an excellent wine that I am going to buy.
2004 Drouhin-Laroze Chambertin Grand Cru 'Clos de Beze' ($105) Monster. Will be something amazing in 10 years. Spice, cloves, cinnamon, alcohol, dark cherries, impressive, but not for now.
2007 Henri Prudhon St Aubin 1er Cru 'Les Perrieres' ($42) First bottle was off (weird burnt taste), second one was an excellent example of good value white Burgundy.
2007 Antoine Jobard Mersault Genevrieres ($95) This watery, not nearly as good as the St. Aubin.
Jeff’s Place
2008 Meerlust Chenin Blanc ($15) Clean, crisp palate, slight woody note, chalky tannins, classic palare wake up, and the third Chenin Blanc of the day!
2000 Chateau Tabilk Marsanne ($24) INcredible waxy, yellowed wine with quince, pineapple, sour fruit, apple juice (in a good way). Handled a hot Biryani Curry. Craig guessed the wine exactly.
2004 Henry of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Chardonnay ($42) Could be Burgundy, classsic creamy oak aged Niagara Chardonnay. Craig pretty well nailed it.
2003 Marion Valpolicella Superiore ($50) A fantastic example of how good wine from the Veneto can be. Long intense dark cherry, earth, intense acidity balanced with good fruit. Dark core, some amber at edges.
2005 Le Clos Jordanne Village Vineyard Pinot Noir ($40), If this wine had been at Bishops, it would have been the second best. Simply great, true to style Pinot Noir. Complex, yet easy to drink. Aroma and taste perfect - makes one smile.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
2010 a Beer/Wine/Work Odyssey
What's that? It is 2010? Well, good thing that's over. A season of overindulgence behind me, I am looking forward to the new year, and whatever it may bring.
On the beer front, the BrewNosers Homebrewing and Beer Appreciation Club is now entering its 24th year of existence. I believe that in all that time, there may have been only one month in which no meeting was held, and that was due to a major storm. How many other associations and clubs can claim that sort of consistency? And all that with no officers, no dues, no formal structure, just a common interest and love of beer.
In wine, the number of locally trained Sommeliers keeps increasing, gradually insinuating a knowledge of wine, and a demand for better wine, into the local restaurant scene. And finally, the local restaurants seem to be realizing how good the corkage laws are here, and doing something about it. There are enough now offering fair corkage that I have resolved not to choose to eat in a place that does not offer this service, even if I am not bringing. I was asked to judge a couple of wine competitions this past year, including one the got my name in the media, something I normally have avoided (to allow my brother's professional career to proceed with less confusion, but he is famous enough now I don't need to hide). And I got in a great trip to Tuscany with Mark DeWolf's By The Glass touring company.
In business, I started a new engineering company, in the South Shore Village of Chester, right in the "downtown" close to the pub. This is going great guns, and allows me to have support for some of the work I get that I'd rather not do - a perk as one gets older and more experienced. I seem to be being called upon more and more for opinion type consulting, and I guess that, too, is a function of getting older.
Finally, in that vein, I was recently appointed to HRM By Design's Downtown Design Review Committee. But don't expect that to temper my opinions here. I still think that the Halifax Sewage Treatment Plant site selection, and subsequent "architecture" is one of the top ten government mistakes ever made in Nova Scotia. The whole thing, including the process, was a lemon from the start. In fact, creating that list of that Top Ten Government Blunders in NS may be a good blog post topic this year!
In the social media world, I have become very active on Twitter, and I find the immediacy of the information availability, and the spontaneity of the people who are active there, to be invigorating and somewhat addictive. (@brewnoser)
In the new year I'm off to Cayamo again, up to March in Montreal again, and, in July, taking a trip to Burgundy with Mark's group, which I expect will be totally incredible. Other than that, I'll be enjoying this place, this right-sized city.
So here's looking at another year of Drinking, Eating and Looking Around in Halifax.
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