Clos Pegase, some vertical years 2001-14, May 22, 2024

Clos Pegase is located in one of the most famous and prestigious wine regions in the New World, Napa Valley. Clos Pegase opened its doors in 1987 producing wines from Napa’s top-performing grape, Cabernet Sauvignon.

“…Cabernet Sauvignon is the Napa Valley’s grape…[the wines} have unapparelled opulence and exuberance, yet the best have fine structure too.”

Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson 

Figure 1: The World Atlas of Wine, 8th Edition Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson, pg. 311.

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Founded by Jan Shrem, Clos Pegase is known for producing high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon wines in a distinctive terroir-focused manner. The winery has plots nestled in the foothills of Mount St Helena, just outside of Calistoga.   Across four parcels, the 450-acre estate (410 acres in the Napa Valley with some in distinct microclimates) contains rugged land with some plots having an alluvial fan spilling out from the Palisades Mountains. All plots grow world-class grapes with each block having the best clone to match the soil type. Clos Pegase has farmed these sites for four decades. The outstanding exceptional hand-crafted lineup we have for you includes:

• 2001 Clos Pegase Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
• 2002 Clos Pegase Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
• 2003 Clos Pegase Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
• 2004 Clos Pegase Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
• 2005 Clos Pegase Palisades Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
• 2006 Clos Pegase Tenma Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
• 2014 Clos Pegase Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
• 2014 Clos Pegase Hommage Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA

Marquee wines in this event include:

• the 2006 Tenam vineyard that the winery describes as “This single block wine opens with warm aromas of licorice, blackberry jam, spiced leather, and juicy dark fruits. Smooth across the palate, this wine shows mouthwatering acidity. Its fruit flavors lean more dark than red and lingering flavors of chocolate-covered cherry, tart currant, and luscious tannins are very well balanced.” The price at the winery is $120 USD for the 2021 vintage.
• The 2014 Hommage that the winery describes as “Dark red in the glass, our 2021 Hommage Red Wine is bursting with ripe blackberry, black cherries, earthy tobacco, and notes of cassis. On the palate, the black fruits linger and mix with dried herbs and toasted oak which are surrounded by strong, persistent tannins and notes of dark chocolate.” The price at the winery is $80 USD for the 2021 vintage.

Vintage notes from Jancis Robinson describe some of the years in your lineup as:

• 2001 most ripening evenly, expect some of the longest-lived of the decade in Napa Valley
• Another great year. 2003 had a reduced crop leaving full-fruit-flavours
• 2004 having a cool spring and hot summer with an early harvest and well-developed sugars. 
• 2005 red wines have aged well with a long hang time. 
• 2014 drought made itself felt in Napa but lots of ripeness and plenty of flavour with much positivity across the region for this year and its quality potential from the smaller berries with concentrated flavors.  

Professional tasting notes include some of the following descriptions: “handsomely integrated deep black fruit”, “gooey in currants and cassis with oak and velvety tannins with enough complexity”, “forest floor, dark chocolate dense structure and rich full-body cassis with a modern-day style. Aging notes can show tobacco and earthy with a lengthy finish.” 

Serve a bottle of Clos Pegase to your guests with a prime rib or lamb in a sauce with reduction and soon they will feel like family. They will bask in your hosting delights of a memorable experience including exceptional conversation, food, and wine. This combination creates memories for life!

Location: St. Paul’s Church, 227 Bloor Street East, Toronto, M4W 1C8
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Registration: 6:00 PM
Tasting: 6:30 PM
Cost: Members of Toronto Winetasters $125; Non-Members $160. HST Included.The first guest of Toronto Winetasters Member $125. HST Included.
Capacity: 40 seats

Ticket sales/registrations are final. However, if the event is completely sold out and we can sell the ticket to someone on the waiting list, we will issue a refund.

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Contrasting Chablis and Beaune

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at 6:30 PM.

Try the delicious and exquisite lineup of 2015 White Burgundy wines from Jadot.

This line-up will dare you to compare north Burgundy Chablis, which may be seen as a road less traveled, to the further south region of Cote de Beaune. This will make for an interesting comparison of distinct Burgundian styles.

• Louis Jadot Blanchot, Chablis Grand Cru, France
• Louis Jadot Fourchaume, Chablis Premier Cru, France
• Louis Jadot Les Clos, Chablis Grand Cru, France
• Louis Jadot Montee de Tonnerre, Chablis Premier Cru, France
• Louis Jadot Chassagne-Montrachet, Cote de Beaune, France
• Louis Jadot Genevrieres, Meursault Premier Cru, France
• Louis Jadot Meursault Les Narvaux, Cote de Beaune, France
• Louis Jadot Abbaye de Morgeot, Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru, France

Let the blind comparison begin!

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Location: St. Paul’s Church, 227 Bloor Street East, Toronto
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Registration: 6:00 PM
Tasting: 6:30 PM
Cost: Members of Toronto Winetasters or Toronto Vintners Club $113; Non-Members $155. HST Included.
The first guest of Toronto Winetasters Member $113. HST Included.

Ticket sales/registrations are final. However, if the event is completely sold out and we can sell the ticket to someone on the waiting list, then we will issue a refund.

About Louis Jadot

Louis Jadot is perhaps Burgundy’s most recognized Negociant, and nearly all Burgundy lovers will have their high-quality wines in their cellar. He is known for being based in Burgundy, France. Louis Jadot is known for producing high-quality wines that showcase the unique characteristics of wines from Burgundy. As Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson cited, A good half of Burgundy is still bought in barrels from the grower when it is new. The negotiants may blend it with other wines from the same appellation. The reputations of negotiants may vary. However, Louis Jadot is known for its best whites, who have long been reliable.

Experience the 2015 Year

The 2015 Vintage is described as an excellent year. Climate is vital in Burgundy grapes; frost can devastate young vine shoots. The weather conditions during the 2015 growing season were favourable. This year was described by critics as a warmer year, creating ripe fruit with a balanced structure. The cold of the north lends itself to creating a vibrant acidity. All of these factors are key in age ability.

Chablis:

Chablis white wines are described perfectly by Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding as having uniquely steely, dry, age-worthy notes from the most northern vineyards of Burgundy. Chablis has seven Grand Cru’s, all in a single area, south and west facing over the river. Many regard Les Clos as the best. Montee de Tonnerre is a Premier Cru Vineyard located on the right bank of the Serein River region of France. This area is known for producing high-quality white wines with an elegant finish. The wines depict the terroir of the Chablis region and are prized for soils, including Kimmeridgian limestone, that impart a sense of place. The cool climate of northern Burgundy contributes to the vibrant acidity of the wine. Some describe Chablis as showing green apple, citrus, and distinct mineral notes with vibrant acidity and a long, elegant finish. Overall, 2015 was well-regarded by wine enthusiasts.

Cote de Beaune:

Our remaining four are from the Cote de Beaune region, including Chassagne Montrachet. This area is so firmly recognized with white wine of succulent golden white floral scent at times showing hazelnut notes. Cote de Beaune is considered to be a high-quality region. These white wines typically exhibit citrus and stone fruit flavors with a touch of minerality. Critics describe a good year as a well-integrated white wine known for its richness, concentration of citrus, apple, and white peach with minerality.

Food Pairing:

For your next hosting engagement, try pairing white Burgundy wines with seared buttered scallops, steamed Atlantic lobster, or a succulent grilled white fish with a noble French Beaufort Gruyere cheese and other favorite vintage cheeses. Or, pour a glass of Chablis to pair with freshly shucked raw oysters.

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(Dec. 10, 2014) — From the chilly, windswept vantage point of his North Pole workshop, Santa watched this year’s Toronto election campaign with a tinge of big city envy. Downtown! Smart Track to get you downtown. A Downtown Relief Line. Santa took stock of the situation, and decided it really was time for a change. And thus Christmas 2014 trades uptown for downtown, the spacious art deco elegance of the Design Exchange (formerly the trading floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange).

But don’t think for a second that direct access to the PATH and the subway will alter what you really came for—the chance to sample and share the finest selection of wines in the city with your friends and fellow Winetasters. There’s even a break for larger groups this year. Sign up 5 or more guests and they each attend at the member price.

Santa will be there as always to pour everyone a glass of bubbly—to kick off the evening, to celebrate the middle of the evening or as your nightcap.

When you register, you may sign up for this year’s specialty wine: Van Zeller ‘ Whitwham’s Millennium Port. In 1999, Cristiano Van Zeller (ex-Quinta do Noval) bought a 20,000 L cask containing 10,000 L of 1880 Port (half had evaporated over the 119 intervening years). This wine was bottled by Dirk Niepoort who added about 5% from his 1945 vintage. Google the name and drool over the tasting notes. We’ll be pouring a limited number of servings; so be sure to bid early.

Many (but not all) of our wines follow a 5 or 10 year anniversary cycle. If you’re celebrating an event from 1964, 1974, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999 or 2004, we have a wine for you. There are red wines, white wines, young and old wines, sweet wines and dry. Feel free to organize your own mini-tasting challenge: compare Rieslings from Alsace, New Zealand and Australia; pit California’s 2006 Mount Eden Chardonnay from the Santa Cruz Mountains up against the 2000 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru Burgundy. Compare Bordeaux’s 1999 Les Forts de Latour to 1979 Château Latour, and throw in one of the Napa Valley’s greatest wines, the 1970 Beaulieu BV Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

As always, normal tasting-size portions of each wine will be served. Throughout the evening as selections are exhausted, they will be replaced with unadvertised wines. The identity of replacement wines will be prominently displayed at the various serving stations as the wines appear. Each of our 6 serving tables will contain half a dozen wines at the start of the evening: one white, four reds, one “other”.

We recommend transportation to Design Exchange be provided by the TTC, a taxi, other exotic livery service or perhaps a designated driver.

As always with our tastings, this event will be strictly non-smoking, and we request your cooperation in not wearing any scented after-shave or perfume. We do get many first-timers who may be not familiar with our etiquette. A scent-free environment ensures we all experience fully this exceptional assembly of wines. Please don’t drink & drive.

Cancellations accepted up to December 5, 2014. See the event form for cancellation contact details. No reservations by phone, please. No confirmations will be issued—you will be contacted only if we are sold out. There is no attendance limit, but supplies of the Van Zeller – Whitwham’s Millennium Port are limited and will be allocated to the earlier responders.

Download the event form if you wish to mail in your reservation cheque.

(Nov. 12, 2014) — Concha Y Toro
DON MELCHOR
Cabernet Sauvignon

Let us begin with a quick multiple choice quiz: Who or what is/was Don Melchor?

a) the founder of Chile’s Concha Y Toro winery
b) the very best Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon
c) the very best Cabernet Sauvignon in the world
d) all of the above, soon.

Well now, let’s see which is the correct answer. A man named Don Melchor Concha Y Toro established a bodega in Chile in 1883, and it is now both the largest and best-known winery in Chile. Could be (a).

Several decades ago, the Concha Y Toro people decided that a reputation for very reliable quality at excellent prices was not enough; they planned to produce an ultra-premium wine and name it after their founder. The Don Melchor Vineyard comprises 127 hectares divided into 7 plots planted with a field selection of grapevines that can be traced directly back to the first vines brought from Bordeaux in the late nineteenth century before the outbreak of phylloxera in Europe. Today, these vines average 20 years old, 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.1% Cabernet Franc, 1.9% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot. Jacques Boissenot, a French winemaker, has participated in Don Melchor since its first vintage in 1987. In 1993 Enrique Tirado joined Concha Y Toro. He was appointed head winemaker within four years, and since 1999 he has been the exclusive winemaker of Don Melchor.

The lofty ambition of the project, articulated with the 1987 release of the first vintage, was “to develop the best red wine that Chile could produce, but also to try to create the best Cabernet Sauvignon in the world.” All 24 vintages of Don Melchor have won prizes and praise from world critics. Don Melchor is the only Chilean wine that has appeared on the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the Year six times, twice as high as fourth place. So (b) should also be the correct answer, or even (c); and if (c) then (d). Not even the superstars of Bordeaux or California have the natural advantage of growing on ungrafted vines.

If you attend the Chilean Wine Fair at the Royal Ontario Museum on October 28th, you’ll be able to sample a wide range of Cabernet Sauvignons which offer excellent value for money, but you will not taste 8 vintages of the very best. At our November tasting, Winetasters will serve the 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999 (from magnum), 2002 (from magnum), 2006 and 2007 (from magnum) Don Melchor. Answer (d) was qualified by the word “soon”. Could Don Melchor be the best Cabernet Sauvignon in the world? Perhaps. Join us to find out as “soon” as November 12th.

As always with our tastings, this event will be strictly non-smoking, and we request your cooperation in not wearing any scented after-shave or perfume. Using public transit is strongly encouraged.

Cancellations accepted up to November 7, 2014. See the event form for cancellation contact details. No reservations by phone, please. No confirmations will be issued — you will be contacted only if we are sold out. First come basis. Non-members may attend at guest rates, but preference will be given to members.

Download the event form if you wish to mail in your reservation cheque.