A Different Way of Thinking

I recently attended a wine tasting at Boozefish Wine Bar, for a friend's birthday. We drank good wine, we ate hors d'oeuvres, and we had a good time. Though the wine was good and the hors d'oeuvres were full of flavour, this post is about a conversation that I had with the sommelier. I left with a new look on language that will hopefully be reflected in my coming posts.

We tasted a flight of Single Vineyard wines from Lamadrid, an Argentinian vineyard. Lamadrid owns vineyards all over Argentina, the Single Vineyard designation simply states that all of the grapes in that particular bottle came from a "single vineyard" (similar to single barrel whiskey). The flight consisted of a Torrontes, a Malbec, and a Cabernet Sauvignon, of which all were great, but I gravitated toward the Malbec. This initially came as a surprise to me, as (in general) I prefer Cabs to Malbecs. However, this did not surprise the sommelier, as Malbecs are the pride of Argentina.

He went on to state that while "new world" wines are named after the grapes that make them up, while "old world" wines (namely those from France's wine regions) are named after the city or region in which they are produced. Pourquoi? Because the wine is not supposed to taste like the grape that it is made with, but the region in which it was produced. The Malbecs of Argentina are said to be the same, Malbecs just taste like Argentina.

Similarly, the French language (a Romantic Language) allows French wine writers to describe wines in ways that the English language just does not allow (but take what I say about the English language with a grain of salt, as I am no English major, which I am sure is grossly apparent in my writing). Where English wine writers describe wines as "buttery" or "with hints of citrus" or whatever, which may be true (and distinguishable by the trained tongue), but are also often used to confuse and belittle those not trained in all things wine. The French prefer to personify the wine and describe it as "playful" or "fickle" or other adjectives. 

Having said all of that: I started this blog because I wanted to let the everyman know about awesome food in a non-pretentious, food critic-y way. I wanted to "cut the crap" (if you will), get down to what is important, and un-complicate good food. Apparently the French agree with me!

Boozefish provides flavourful hummus, cheeses, and cured meats to pair with the wines. The sommeliers  provide an education to pair with their pouring. I am just going to do my best to bring it to the people.

Head to Boozefish if you want an education of your own. They also have a good selection of craft beer, for those non-winos. And if that is not enough to convince you, you may even run into a girl that your friend had an awkward physical encounter with in college.. who is there with her husband (it happened to us, and it was still awesomely awkward). More than anything, I would describe Boozefish as sophisticated, but not stiff. Sante!