As far as the world of wine goes, New Zealand is quite a remarkable country. Not content to be the semi-obscure wine land that their size and climate would normally dictate, the New Zealanders decided to become internationally renowned, and not to stop until they got there.

More interesting still however, is how they chose to climb to where they are now. Rather than producing a grape they could call their own (as California has done with Zinfandel, and South Africa with Pinotage) or trying to be good at everything (the tack taken by Australia), New Zealand decided to make itself world-famous for one grape, and then expand from there (similar to what Ontario is doing by letting Icewine lead the way, but not quite the same). For New Zealand, this grape was Sauvignon Blanc, an aromatic fruit that in NZ expressed itself with lots of fresh cut grass, gooseberry and lemon characteristics. Not content with global-Sauvignon-domination, the Zealanders then turned their attention to other grapes - for reds the most notable is Pinot Noir, which is fuller and fruiter than is found in French, but still has that Burgundian earthiness that many New World examples lack.

The only downside to the New Zealand Pinots are their rarity. Luckily the LCBO is getting half a dozen different ones in this weekend; expect them to go quickly though.

And now the recommendations.

Riesling is, especially for white grapes, perhaps the most underappreciated - and multitalented - berry of them all. It's reputation badly damaged by cheap German plonk in the 80s (most of which wasn't even Riesling at all, but more often Silvaner or Muller-Thurgau) such as Blue Nun and Black Tower, Riesling is only now starting to regain it's international credibility.

Even now, say 'Riesling' to most people, and the images conjured in their head are of medium sweet German wines or very sweet Niagara Icewines. Yet Rieslings in their purest form can deftly occupy anyplace on the sugar spectrum - from the bone dry versions of Alsace or Australia, to the sticky-sweet nectars of German Trocken-Beren-Ausleses.

From the Wednesday past until the coming Sunday is Sante, the Yorkville wine festival that seems to have expanded Yorkville to include the Carlu and other south-of-Bloor locales. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the trade tasting at the Carlu yesterday afternoon.

The wine situation looks very good for this festival, with over 80 wineries participating - I didn't nearly have enough time to taste them all in the three hours that I was there. Nevertheless, there do seem to be a few themes emerging - and some must-try wines - for Sante.

Ontario Wines and especially hot new wineries continue to be a big thing. While it's far from gospel, at this point Cabernet Franc, as well as Gamay to a lesser extent, seem to be coming to the fore as the great red grapes of the Niagara Peninsula. Especially tasty seem to be the 2002 offerings from Tawse, Stratus, and Pillitteri, the first from the Beamville Bench and the latter two from Niagara-on-the-Lake. All three are full bodied, loaded with berry notes, and designed to be aged. Also of interest is the trend towards sub-appelation labeling, of which a number of wineries seem to be picking up on. As expected, most notable of them isChateau des Charmes, who were first out of the gates with their St David's Bench labeled Equuleus red.

One in a continuing series

One of the hazards of working in the wine industry is that one is always at the mercy of the environment. Perfect conditions for tasting don't really exist, and everything affects how a wine appears to taste. If a room is too hot or too cold, the flavours of the wine can come off as cooked or dulled. If the light is too bright, too dim, or too yellow, the colours of the wine will be hard to determine, or may appear off. If somebody in the room decided to put on perfume before going to a tasting (a big obvious no-no that seems to get repeated far too freqently at both professional and amateur tastings) then everything will smell of CKone or whathaveyou.

When tasting wine, one is also at the mercy of their body. Having a cold or a flu is absolutely trecherous; everything is dulled and insipid when trying to sample through sneezes. Attending a tasting with the sniffles isn't nearly as bad, but does have the effect of making subtle tones much more difficult to pick out, which tends to make wines seem more average than they actually may be (both for better and worse). Even having a headache can put you in a mental state when every wine is a hurdle rather than a joy.

Despite all this, there are still key points to look for (body, acid balance, tannins and the broader flavours) when tasting with environmental hazards, and hopefully the great wines still shine through.

So now the recommendations...

Nothing is confirmed, but rumour has it that the winemakers from Chateau Margaux, the iconic French Bordeaux wine, will be visiting Toronto this spring, and are set to do a tasting of their wares June 1st at the Summerhill LCBO (10 Scrivener Square, in the old train station).

I havn't heard any details as of yet, but if it goes the way the Chateau Latour tasting did last year, expect it to involve a couple of vintages of the main label, as well as a few more of their second wine, Pavillon Rouge (and the ultra-rare Pavillon Blanc, if we're lucky). The Latour tasting was free, and I believe the plan is for the Margaux tasting to be the same, although I havn't been able to confirm that yet.

Ever wanted to know how the rich drink? Now's your chance.

What's better than ice-cream on a Spring day?

Free ice-cream on a Spring day! I don't understand it, but Ben & Jerry's (238 Queen W, and 2018 Queen E) is once again giving away free ice-cream tomorrow, April 25th.

I made sure to attend last year, and its a wonderful thing. As far as I could tell, there's no catch: you queue up (get there early as waits can get long), choose a flavour, tell them to put it in a cone or a cup, and then walk away with your ice-cream. Still hungry? Queue up again!

This year, I think I'm going to try either the 'Apple-y Ever After' or the 'Coffee Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz' depending on the weather.