#Foodiemeet, an Ontario Wine Tasting with Cheese Pairings at Cafe Taste

Last night a gathering of perhaps 40 pleasant people met at Cafe Taste (1330 Queen West at Brock, 416-536-7748) to sample Canadian cheese and Ontario wine. It was the second "#Foodiemeet" organized by Andrea Chiu (@TOfoodie on Twitter) and Suresh Doss (@spotlightcity), and it was really laid-back, low-attitude and enjoyable. You can compare my notes with those of Andrea the Gastronaut.

To open, author Kathryn Borel (also of CBC Radio's Q), read a little bit of her new book, Corked, about getting to know her wine connoisseur father on a tasting trip in France. There were some raffle prizes (including books from Simon & Schuster). Then Cafe Taste owner Jeremy Day took the floor to introduce five wine-and-cheese pairings, and to make the point that only wines labelled VQA are true Ontario wines. (The phrase "cellared in Ontario" means the grapes were shipped from elsewhere.) All the pairings were all exceptionally well chosen: tasty as well as interesting. I had only tried two of the cheeses before, and none of the wines, which were as follows:

• Calamus Estate Gewürtzraminer 2007 (Jordan, about $13 through the winery) with Le Riopelle de l'Isle, a triple-creme cheese from Quebec. The wine was, as Day said, "packed with lychee and honey". The cheese, he explained, comes from cows whose pasture is marshy, so it offers a faintly green, aquatic taste along with a strong Brie-style flavour.
• Chateau des Charmes Gamay Noir "Droit" (Niagara, $16.95 at LCBO) with Le Douanier, a prize-winning rind-washed Quebec cheese. The Droit is a grape mutation exclusive to Chateau des Charmes. It had an odd, unexpected natural-gas aura that had people asking whether the bottle was perhaps off at first, but after it had been opened a little longer, it seemed to become more raisiny, with suggestions of cherries or even Concord grapes. The cheese has an ash line through the middle, and the milk used in the two layers comes from different times of day (morning, evening). We thought perhaps we could taste that one half was nuttier and firmer, with the other softer and less strong. Or maybe not.
• Fielding Estate Winery Red Conception (Beamsville Bench, about $19 through the winery), which is a blend of eight different grapes. For the record, these are Pinot Noir (29%), Cabernet Franc (25%), Cabernet Sauvignon (22%), Merlot (8%), Syrah (6%), Aglianico (4%), Sangiovese (4%) and Chardonnay (2%), with Le Baluchon, a favourite of mine, a strongish, raw Quebec cheese. The group really liked this wine, which was woody, plummy, rich and smooth.
• Legends Estates Winery Malbec (Beamsville Bench, couldn't spot a price) with Le Clandestin, a sheep-cow mixture from Quebec. This is the only Ontario Malbec. It's peppery, dark and strong, and was wonderful with this soft, almost chalky or crumbly meltingly rich cheese that tasted herbal, like trampled grass in a field (which, I suppose, is what it's made of), with almost a cocoa or coconut sweetness.
• Sandbanks Estate Winery Baco Noir (Prince Edward County, $14.95 at LCBO) with a two-year-old white cheddar from Jensen Cheese, between Kingston and Belleville. This wine tastes like what I imagined wine would taste like when I was a child. Day described it as "juicy", and it truly does have a gentle thirst-quenching low-tannin, low-acid, low-alcohol taste, yet it's full and rich and satisfying. I will certainly look for this at my local LCBO, and soon!

Cafe Taste is booking seats for a wine tasting tour of Prince Edward County for Sunday, September 6, including lunch and dinner, four winery visits and an air-conditioned bus (with washroom) for $170. Having seen their passion for local wine, I'm anxious to go; I expect it will be a true eye-opener.