Once again, Andrea Chiu (@TOfoodie) and Suresh Doss (@spotlightcity) organized a lovely evening where food and wine enthusiasts could come together to eat, drink and mingle.

Not one to reinvent the wheel, here’s the description of the event that Andrea posted to the Facebook event page, with minor changes to make it blog-friendly:

We had so much fun with our first #foodiemeet, we’re throwing another one!

This time, Parkdale’s own Cafe Taste will be hosting. Its resident wine geek and local wine expert, Jeremy Day, will lead us in a tutored wine tasting (with paired local cheeses) of some of what Niagara’s sub-appellations have to offer.

Author Kathryn Borel will also read from her upcoming wine memoir, Corked: A Memoir, an uncensored account of her father-daughter tour through the wine regions of France.

To accommodate everyone, we’ve set up a tiered ticket system of $45, $25 and $5:

A $45 ticket is the best value! You’ll get the full tutored-tasting of 5-7 wines plus paired local cheeses. Jeremy describes this as the “hedonistic tasting” with free-pours.

A $25 ticket gets you 2 oz. pours of all the wines being reviewed.

A $5 ticket is ideal for folks who can’t stay for the full tasting or prefer to choose their own wines, cheeses, and snacks.

*All attendees will receive a raffle ticket for prizes and of course, are welcome to order from the wine and food menu at any time.

I went with the “hedonistic” full tasting and it was fantastic.

Tweets from #foodiemeet last night, in revere chronological order:

“I like barnyardy cheeses.” @sarahbhood #foodiemeet about 13 hours ago from txt

Liking the “Red Conception” wine from Fielding Esates.#foodiemeet about 13 hours ago from txt

Won the first door prize, books, at #foodiemeet about 14 hours ago from txt

At #foodiemeet. The education has begun. about 15 hours ago from txt

(@sarahbhood is Toronto Tasting Notes._

The evening began thankfully NOT at the called time of 7pm but closer to 8. My tendency to be late aside, the writer’s block that I’d been experiencing cleared shortly before the time I intended to leave for the tasting. I felt no anxiety about being late though, knowing that that more than a few writers would be present and understanding of deadlines and writer’s block. I arrived to a sunny covered patio, name tags on which we were to name the most recent Ontario wine that we’d enjoyed, and baskets of bread placed throughout accompanied by dishes of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the breads, baked on site, was made with grape must, a by-product of the wine making process.

The wines and cheeses

First up: Gewürztraminer + Riopelle

Calamus Estate Winery Gewürztraminer (I didn’t note the year) with Riopelle cheese were up first. The cheese, unpasteurized and made from cow’s milk,  was buttery and soft, reminiscent of a brie. The wine, our only white of the evening, was easy drinking with slight complexity (who’s writing this?). I didn’t take notes about this wine but there’s a review of the 2007 Gewürztraminer at Ontario Wine Reviews.

Rather than take notes I was listened as Jeremy talked about environmentally friendly and sustainable practices, and organic certification in the wine industry. He mentioned Southbrook Vineyards, who earlier this year released the first biodynamic wine produced in Canada,  a 2008 Cabernet Rosé. I recently became enamored with Malivoire chardonnay, which was recommended to me by an LCBO employee who explained some basics of organic wineries to me including the fact that some wineries – such as Malivoire – engage in organic principles without being certified. Jeremy touched on this in his talk as well. Then again, as Daniel Speck of Henry of Pelham told Margaret Webb when she interviewed him for her book Apples To Oysters, “organic” is somewhat of a misnomer since it could be natural but still toxic (I’m paraphrasing).

Second course:   Gamay Noir Droit+Le douanier

Next up was Chateau des Charmes Gamay Noir  and Le Douanier cheese. The wine tasted of berries, especially cherries. It was bright (if that’s a suitable wine word) and jammy, but not like Port is jammy. The cheese was nutty, soft and sweet. Jeremy explained that there are two lines of this cheese.  One is made from milk collected in the morning, the other is made from milk collected in the evening. Morning milk contains more colostrum, the evening milk more minerality. Both the wine and cheese were yummy and the fat content of the cheese coated the tongue to add another level to the wine.

Third course: Fielding Estate Red Conception + Le  baluchon cheese

The Fielding Estates Red Conception is many reds in one. It’s made with so many varietals that Sarah and I were comparing our notes and asking Jeremy to repeat the list. I gave up trying to list them all because that’s what the internet is for: Looking these things up. Here’s what the winery’s website says:

Varietal Composition:

See wine full description here. I can’t even spell many of those. My friend Jennifer declared this her favourite. I noted the words “oak” and “plum”.

The Le Baluchon cheese was soft, mild and buttery. Some, including Sue Riedl of the Globe and Mail, describe it as “barny”. For me, the barny cheese was the next one. In the interest of space and time, I’ll save that for part 2 and leave you with this: While describing this wine Jeremy spoke one of the best lines of the evening in reference to government rules and regulations,

…LCBO. Or, as we refer to them, the KGBO.

Stay tuned for part 2…