The 11th Annual Empty Bowls

Soup, Wine and Charity!

On March 9, 2016 Bethlehem Housing and Support Services hosted their 11th Annual Empty Bowls Charity Fundraiser.  A quick run down on Bethlehem House:

• Founded in 1985.
• Created out of a need to help people who are homeless due to poverty issues, physically disable, mental health conditions, or victims of domestic violence. 
• Between 2014-2015 51 families lived in Bethlehem Place.
• 75% of people who moved out of Bethlehem Housing and into independent home ownership or market housing.  

For over 30 years Bethlehem has been helping families in Niagara Region.  To support this they put on many events; however, their most interesting one to me is Empty Bowls.  Empty Bowls is essentially a soup cook off.  Chefs from around the Niagara Region come to earn bragging rights.  This year there was Weinkeller (who took home first prize for their mussel chowder), El Gastronomo Vagabundo, Dani's Bistro, Johnny Rocco's, Nini Panini Factory (People's Choice Winner), Red Stone, and many more.  Each guest gets a bowl, which is handcrafted and unique.  They also get a drink passport.  This is my favourite part of these events, wine and beer tastings for everyone.  

Red Stone Winery

At Empty Bowls this year Red Stone Winery arrived.  They had brought with them their Riesling.  Red Stone Winery is the new kid on the block.  In the sense it's been open for a year now but I hadn't had a chance to try their wines yet.  Red Stone is also a restaurant.  They don't do tours but they have food and tasting flights, as well as, a wine store.  They are the sister sight to Tawse Winery and both are owned by legendary Moray Tawse.  They have some unique blends of wines at Red Stone.  What makes Tawse's wines so interesting is since 2013 they have been given Organic and Bio-Dynamic Certification.  This means no pesticides, no chemicals and the grapes are picked by hand.  It also means that they treat the soil as if it's a living organism.  There's a lot that goes into and I highly recommend reading their philosophy on vineyards. 

With all my posts I try to recommend a wine for my readers to go out and buy.  This time I'm going recommend you take an adventure.  Go to the Red Stone at 4245 King St. in Beamsville, ON.  You won't be disappointed.  

Travel well my friends.

Age Appropriate Wines Only

Old wine or new wine that is the question...

Picture from pixabay.com

This week I had an opportunity to drink a 2008 Stratus White and I doubt you’ll be able to find it at LCBO or even at Stratus Vineyard.  I was worried because I’ve read that some white wines don’t age well at all.  Eight years later it was still pretty good wine.  I wasn’t disappointed at all. 

8 year old bottle of white wine.

To help explain the whole process cellaring wine, winefolly.com, put together an infographic, which helped me a lot during my research for this post.  From what I gather wine is an investment.  You have to think of it like the stock market.  Hold on to that bottle of wine because it’ll become unique in 10-15 years.  Basically, tannin is an acid that breaks down alcohol over time, which makes the wine taste more palatable. At least this explains why and how long to cellar wine for.  It certainly doesn’t answer my question of why wine is better with age. 

Through what I’ve learned through the wonderful world of Google, white wine can become vinegar if you age it for too long.  However, some reds you can age for 40 plus years and it’ll be amazing.  This is because of the tannins that you find in red wines. The longer the tannins break down the better the red wine.  It is recommended to cellar a Riesling for only 3-5 years.

Grapes matter, photo credit: pixabay.com

According to Rick Vansickle, a very good year for Niagara Wines was 2013.  Vansickle is a local wine reporter who had articles in the St. Catharines Standard.  Vansickle's reasoning behind this was the sunny and hot days of 2011, which made more good grape growing.  All these factors add to make a great wine.  You can keep a bottle in a cellar for long periods of time but if the year the process was started it could still end poorly.  You also have to take in the age of the grape vine.  It all matters when it comes to wine.  

The thing is, with any beverage, you like what you like.  Some people like wine that tastes like gasoline.  Some people like wine that tastes like leather.  At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter.  I got to drink wine with someone I enjoy the company of and I enjoyed every minute of it.  My advice to you all is drink what you enjoy, and if your lucky, drink it with someone you enjoy it with.   

Wine and Dine on Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day All you Wonderful People out There.

Valentines Day is quickly approaching.  As a guy who tries to avoid all special occasions I tend to dread Valentines Day the most.  When I was single it was about going out and celebrating freedom.  Now that I’m in a committed relationship I find myself having to care about this faux holiday.  Every year I have to figure out what to do.  This year I’m going with a theme and it’s the same theme as my blog. 

Don’t worry; if you are single this list will benefit you too.  Welcome to the ultimate dinner and wine pairing list. 

Reif Estates Cabernet Merlot

Valentines Day is a celebration even if you’re single.  Don’t be lonely, drink and find other lonely people.  As such, I feel a celebration needs to be kicked off with a sparkling wine.  My sparkling of choice is from Tawse winery.  The Spark 2014 Lime Ridge Riesling is recommendation to you.  As for the food to eat with the wine, a lime shrimp and avocado salad would be easy to make and delicious. 

The main course comes from Reif Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  It’s a Braised Beef Bolognese with a Reif Estate Cabernet Merlot.  It sounds hard to cook but totally worth it.  To be honest you could have this dish with box wine and no one would notice because it’s that good. 

Lastly we have desert.  Go make this ice wine cocktail from my last blog.  After you make that drink you buy a book of heart shaped chocolates and eat the entire box in one sitting.  Why?  You just spent hours in the kitchen cooking up food now you have to treat yourself with some chocolate and cocktail. 

That's the best way to enjoy Valentines Day in my humble opinion.  As always please drink responsibly.