2008 California Wine Fair in Toronto

The 2008 California Wine Fair is coming to the Royal York in Toronto on April 28, 2008.

Tickets are $65 (or $60 if you are a wine club member - I'm not sure what club that is).

I downloaded the participants spreadsheet to see who would be pouring at the event. I'm interested because having lived in California for many years, I'm always eager to find my favourites up here - most of which are rarely offered.

It's a rather large list, but here are the wineries that stick out for me…

Arrowood - Richard (aka Dick) Arrowood is a legend in the story of the the CA wine scene and they continue to fashion exceptional, balanced wines.

Bonny Doon Vineyard - Fun wines with lots of character and a great attitude.

Chateau St.Jean - Another great Sonoma producer. Be sure to call it "Jeeene", not "Jaun" though.

Chimney Rock Winery - Great wines from Stags Leap and if you like Cape Dutch style architecture, be sure to visit the winery!

Etude - A really great supplier of Cabs and their Pinot is quite nice as well. Lots to choose from this quality producer.

Heitz Wine Cellars - Another historic Napa winery. Their wines have become quite expensive though and hard for me to justify.

Newton Vineyard - produces one of the most intense and ageworthy Chardonnays in CA

Rosenblum Cellars - If you like Zinfandel, you cannot miss tasting from Rosenblum!

Tandem Winery - A Central Coast Pinot producer with some excellent vineyards to choose from.

Testarossa Vineyards - another great Central Coast producer with some great Pinots

Vine Cliff Winery - we had a very nice visit at Vine Cliff several years ago and it would be worth checking in to see how their wines have evolved.

The full list is much larger than this of course and I've simply pulled out those wineries that I've had personal experience with. The point of these tastings is to explore and find new favourites of course!

I'm not sure if I'll be going though even though it looks like a very strong event.

Comments

[Michael Green]

One thing which constantly surprises me about wine is that the cost of a bottle has almost no relationship to the quality of the wine. Michael. http://ukwinedirect.com