Now open to non-members a member prices

Wednesday, November 13, 2019 — Winetasters is excited to invite you to our members-only Fall dinner. We have decided to offer members a fine-dining experience, with dishes specially prepared to pair with five wines selected from the club’s cellar. Two executive chefs from the Vintage Conservatory (VC) are busy drafting the menu for a five-course tasting menu that will take you on a wine and culinary journey. The menu will be finalized and posted next week.

A few words about the VC before telling you about the wines we selected. The VC opened in 2010 and it is a private club for “people who collect wine and like to entertain or do business with bottles from their own collections.” The VC expanded this year and on October 1 opened the marvelous Yorkville location, where we will host this special evening.

Register now

Now onto the wines (tasting notes appear below). You will start the evening with a reception wine that you will enjoy while meeting your fellow diners. For fun, we will not reveal the identity of this wine at this time. Think of it as the evening’s mystery wine.

The dinner wine you will enjoy with your first course will be the 2016 Grüner Veltliner from Pichler-Krutzler, one of Austria’s premier producers, a wine with lots of minerality and elegance.

Next, you will travel from the Wachau valley to Southern Rhone to enjoy a classic Châteauneuf du Pape from a world-class terroir. You will find that the “rugged yet juicy” 1995 La Crau – Vieux Télégraphe is nicely matured and ready to be enjoyed. 1995 was a terrific year in the Southern Rhone, with ripe concentrated reds.

The next step in your journey will find you 300 KMs west of the Rhone River in the wine region of Cahors. Cahors is a place where they have made wine for centuries from the grape the locals call Auxerrois and one that is better known as Malbec. The “black wines of Cahors” have firmly structured tannins and need time in the bottle to develop balance and elegance. Luckily, in Wine Tasters’ extensive cellar we located several bottles of 1998 Chateau Lagrezette, one of the region’s top estates. Lagrezette is known for wines having sufficient acidity to pair with food and the 1998 vintage is wonderfully mature and ready for you to enjoy.

Your next stop is in Pauillac, some 200 KMs west of Cahors. Winetasters’ members love their Bordeaux and also know that Château Lynch-Bages ranks among the best in the appellation. Lynch-Bages’s grand vin (made predominantly from Cabernet Sauvignon) is known for its structure and intensity and has been dubbed “the poor man’s Mouton” (At today’s prices, ‘poor’ is a relative term!). At 16 years of age, the 2003 vintage is mature and ready to savor.

Your journey will end after leaving Bordeaux and heading south to Portugal’s Douro valley. The chilly November weather calls for Port so what better way to end your evening than with a glass of mature Port (1992 vintage) from Smith Woodhouse.

You will enjoy six 3 OZ (94 ML) servings of wine at this event. Using public transit is strongly encouraged. The all-in price of this member-only event is $290 and seating is limited to 32 people. We expect that the seats will sell out quickly so register early to avoid disappointment. A vegetarian option will be available and food allergies will be accommodated.

Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Time: 6:30 for 7:00 PM
Limit: 32 people
Where: Vintage Conservatory – Yorkville Village, 55 Avenue Rd, Toronto, ON M5R 3L2. The VC’s entrance is located by the escalator to Wholefoods.
Price: $290 per person, members only. The price includes dinner, wines, service, and tax.

GST/HST account: 844742619 RT0001
Business Name: Winetasters Society of Toronto

Refunds net of Eventbrite fee up to 7 days before the event. Inquiries, cancellations — (Cindy Taylor, 416.458.3147 evenings only). No reservations by phone, please.  Members-only, no guests.

Tasting Notes

2016 Pichler-Krutzler Loibner Ried Loibenberg Grüner Veltliner

Fermented in a large oak Fuder, the 2016 Loibner Grüner Veltliner Ried Loibenberg was picked very early (around the 10th of October), far earlier than its peers. Bottled in June, this is a beautifully precise and elegantly flavored Veltliner that is much more terroir-driven than fruit-driven. The wine shows a ripe but flinty flavored nose that indicates great purity. On the palate, this is a full-bodied, elegant and enormously salty Loibenberg with great intensity but also tension, finesse, and purity. This has fine tannins and a stunningly complex finish – one of the very best Loibenbergs of the vintage. Only 1,200 liters produced. Drink Date: 2021-2036. Score – 94. (Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com, Aug. 31, 2017)

1995 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, La Crau – Vieux Télégraphe

Rugged and juicy at the same time, with hickory-smoked game, dried blood orange, briar, black currant, bittersweet cocoa and coffee flavors. This offers the classic profile of Châteauneuf, with complexity and length bred by world-class terroir. (JM) (3/2006) 95 points Wine Spectator. A tasting note from 2012 described this wine as having “fine aromas of aged Châteauneuf: undergrowth, olive, polished wood. Lovely freshness and so finely balanced with the aging fruit flavors filling out the dry but fully resolved tannins.”

1998 Cahors – Lagrezette

Wonderful mature wine. Ripe cherry and raspberry, black pepper. Balanced and long. In a great place. (Cellar Tracker user tasting note)

2003 Château Lynch-Bages

A healthy, youthful dark plum/ruby/purple color is followed by a bouquet of smoke, barbecued meats, black currants and new saddle leather. With full body and sweet tannin, this 2003 is strutting its stuff. Although it is not as fine as 1989, 1990, or 2000, it is a complex, classic Pauillac to enjoy over the next decade. 94 points Robert M. Parker Jr.

1992 Vintage Port – Smith Woodhouse

Slightly muddy dark crimson. Rich, savory nose – intriguing. Warm, round, very sweet and quite developed. Not the most concentrated fruit but with very inky tannins. Not the most harmonious balance but competent in a dried prune sort of way. The fruit is very slightly dried out. 16 points Jancis Robinson (tasting note from 2004)

Tasting Menu