Sweet wines
Sweet wines
A lot less attention is given to Canadian late-harvest dessert wines (made from ripe, sweet grapes) than to our award-winning ice wines (made from highly concentrated dry frozen grapes). In my book, late-harvest wines are much more palatable and food friendly (and less expensive), and they make wonderful gifts. All major wine-growing regions in the country produce quite stunning dessert wines. Some of the best are vinted from Riesling and Vidal, the grapes that bring us the eminently sweet ice wine, but here, their natural late-harvest sweet maturity is met with a still-lingering acidity, creating a fine balance and a wine that can be served with cheese, foie gras and many desserts, as well as on its own.
Fine fruit wines used to be an oxymoron, but many wineries (perhaps led by Ontario's much-lauded Southbrook Winery) have taken fruit wine production to soaring heights. These wines -- made from fruit other than grapes, such as cassis (black currant) and framboise (raspberries) -- concentrate the original fruit flavours to intense levels and bring out wonderful flavours when paired with desserts. As for chocolate, most are happy companions in this traditionally difficult match. Quality late-harvest wines and fruit wines range in price from about $10 to $40.
Sipping rums
The appreciation of great aged rums has finally grown beyond the borders of rum-producing countries. We now have a wide choice of excellent rums that can be appreciated pre- or postprandially straight up, with a little bit of ice or opened with a splash of water. Like fine brandies, these rums exhibit a wide range of flavours but never let you forget the true source: the sugarcane. The crème de la crème of rare rums is Jamaica's Appleton Estates 21-year-old, well worth its hefty price (around $90), but less aged and less expensive rums are quite grand themselves.
Some of my favourites are: the finely balanced Appleton Estate Extra (blended from rums up to 18 years old, about $33); the rich molasses-flavoured Cuba's Matusalem (15 years old, about $32); and the lighter Bacardi eight-year-old (about $30) from the Bahama Islands. Two other real favourites are Guyana's famed El Dorado Rums, both the 10- and the 15-year-old.
A lot less attention is given to Canadian late-harvest dessert wines (made from ripe, sweet grapes) than to our award-winning ice wines (made from highly concentrated dry frozen grapes). In my book, late-harvest wines are much more palatable and food friendly (and less expensive), and they make wonderful gifts. All major wine-growing regions in the country produce quite stunning dessert wines. Some of the best are vinted from Riesling and Vidal, the grapes that bring us the eminently sweet ice wine, but here, their natural late-harvest sweet maturity is met with a still-lingering acidity, creating a fine balance and a wine that can be served with cheese, foie gras and many desserts, as well as on its own.
Fine fruit wines used to be an oxymoron, but many wineries (perhaps led by Ontario's much-lauded Southbrook Winery) have taken fruit wine production to soaring heights. These wines -- made from fruit other than grapes, such as cassis (black currant) and framboise (raspberries) -- concentrate the original fruit flavours to intense levels and bring out wonderful flavours when paired with desserts. As for chocolate, most are happy companions in this traditionally difficult match. Quality late-harvest wines and fruit wines range in price from about $10 to $40.
Sipping rums
The appreciation of great aged rums has finally grown beyond the borders of rum-producing countries. We now have a wide choice of excellent rums that can be appreciated pre- or postprandially straight up, with a little bit of ice or opened with a splash of water. Like fine brandies, these rums exhibit a wide range of flavours but never let you forget the true source: the sugarcane. The crème de la crème of rare rums is Jamaica's Appleton Estates 21-year-old, well worth its hefty price (around $90), but less aged and less expensive rums are quite grand themselves.
Some of my favourites are: the finely balanced Appleton Estate Extra (blended from rums up to 18 years old, about $33); the rich molasses-flavoured Cuba's Matusalem (15 years old, about $32); and the lighter Bacardi eight-year-old (about $30) from the Bahama Islands. Two other real favourites are Guyana's famed El Dorado Rums, both the 10- and the 15-year-old.
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