The year 2014 was a rewarding “vintage” for me, personally and professionally. The past year has brought me many privileges and new opportunities, a few of which I would like to share in order to tempt and motivate everyone, as well as attracting awareness to these exceptional annual wine events.
Whether it was working with the Biondi Santi family and company, hosting a brilliant winemaker’s dinner at Grano restaurant in Toronto, taking a “selfie” with monsignor Chapoutier, filming the last episode of The Duel of Wine at NYC’s Tribeca Grill with the great Robert DeNiro, tasting the new wines of Rolland Galarreta with Michel Rolland or spending three fabulous days in Budapest and Balaton in Hungary with chef Chris McDonald, there are just too many events to list, too many amazing people to be thankful for. It was also an unbelievable year that got me involved in the ultra-luxury chocolate business with chocoMe and saw the launch of my new venture, www.winesdomain.com, which I promise will bring you much wine–related joy.
Following is a recap of the wine events that impressed me the most and which were the highlights of a spectacular 2014:
Fourth annual Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration, Niagara Peninsula
This is the finest celebration of its kind in the world, hands down, with five dozen producers and winemakers in attendance, from the southern and northern hemispheres, the old and new world, wherever there’s a cool climate pocket of land and mighty Chardonnay grapes are grown.
With really smart educational content, globally recognized guest speakers, seminars and tastings, intimate table talks and fantastic meals, the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration takes event-organizing to another level, bringing together some of the best wines and people from the world over.
The beautiful White Oaks Resort & Spa provided comfortable accommodation for the many who attended this fantastic affair, as well as set up a media tasting room, and offered Chardonnay pumice body wraps at the spa!
Five signature events and eight Explore Niagara (winery-managed) events took place over the course of the weekend. There was a river of Chardonnay, but please don’t ask me to pick favourites. I love good, cool-climate Chardonnay, and I did taste most of these fine wines from 57 wineries, with local (Ontario), international (France, Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, USA) and British Columbia wines and a total of 119 Chardonnays, including 10 sparkling.
VieVinum Symposium, Vienna, Austria
A simply remarkable event put on by MAC Hoffmann with the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, flying in and hosting close to 1,000 highly respected wine scribes, buyers, sommeliers and tastemakers from all over the world. This year’s fair had 15,000 visitors from more than 40 countries, 550 exhibitors from Austria and abroad, with France being the special guest country.
From educational sessions and structured tasting, casual lunches and dinners to more formal evening affairs, by attending VieVinum one gets a clear taste of the country’s stellar quality wines, as well as Austrians’ genuine sense of hospitality and flair.
I had the time of my life hanging out at traditional “heurige” (wine taverns) located on the hills surrounding the city where classical music was born, eating traditional fare and drinking the tastiest locally made wines, with a view overlooking the city and the Danube.
This year I wanted to taste red wines (the white wines of Austria are already well known and much respected). So along with “the other” Szabo (John, no relation, who happens to be Canada’s first master sommelier), John and I focused on Blaufränkisch, a flagship red grape capable of producing truly spectacular wines that I confidently shortlist for being among the world’s most fascinating.
The 2011 vintage was a great one and allowed wineries to make remarkable wines. Here are my top picks for estates getting it right:
Moric and Roland Velich; Juliana Wieder; Anton Hartl; Muhr – Van Der Niepoort; Pittnauer; Familie Prieler; Wachter – Wiesler; Gernot and Heike; Heinrich; Birgit Braunstein and Ernst Triebaumer, in no particular order. A few of these are available in Ontario and those that aren’t, well, agencies take note. These fine Blaufränkisch would add calibre to any noteworthy establishment’s by–the–glass program.
Sixth annual InterVin International Wine Awards, Niagara–on–the–Lake, Ontario
Competition producer and head judge Christopher Waters assembled the sharpest wine palates to assess the 1,334 entries. Nineteen top notch professionals, sommeliers, winemakers and consultants – myself included – tasting morning to late afternoon for three days, with Mr. Waters working behind the scenes.
The Okanagan’s Painted Rock emerged as Winery of the Year with Wolf Blass as runner-up. Niagara’s own Peller estates came in third overall — congratulations to them for the fantastic showing and accomplishment.
Here’s a category I get excited about: InterVin celebrates top-scoring wines that retail for $15 or less and this year’s special Best Values report highlights 35 silver and gold medal-winning wines from the this prestigious competition. These noteworthy labels hail from around the world, with strong representation from Italy, South Africa and Spain. Included in the mix are eight gold medallists, the most ever singled out at an InterVin competition, and here they are:
- Boekenhoutskloof 2013 The Wolftrap Viognier Chenin Blanc Grenache Blanc Western Cape, South Africa
- Boschendal 2013 1685 Chardonnay Western Cape, South Africa
- Cavas Hill 1887 Brut Penedès, Spain
- Ruffino 2012 Chianti Tuscany, Italy
- St Hubertus & Oak Bay Estate Winery 2013 Pinot Blanc, Okanagan Valley, B.C.
- Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Cava, Spain
- Viña Montes 2011 Kaiken Reserva Malbec Mendoza, Argentina
- Viña MontGras 2012 Carmenère Reserva Colchagua Valley, Chile
After such a memorable and exciting 2014, wine lovers certainly have much to look forward to in 2015 – see you at one of these wonderful events this year!
About the author:
Sommelier Zoltan Szabo is a hospitality consultant offering wine sourcing and staff training services to restaurants. He is also the sommelier at the Trump International Hotel & Tower. Check out his website www.zszabo.com or follow him on Twitter @zoltanszabo. If you’d like to find out more about the wines mentioned above, email Zoltan at [email protected].
