Christmas time. Office parties. Eggnog and rum. Blech. It’s a historical fact that eggnog was invented by pirates as a way of forestalling scurvy. What’s the point in subjecting ourselves to such an awful beverage in this enlightened era?
I managed to dodge the eggnog bullet this year by setting up a wine tasting for my office’s seasonal debauch. I know of no better way to start off an office party. It only takes about an hour, but the focused drinking dispells sobriety like a bad dream and gives everyone something to chat about other than work. And it’s easy to set up. After getting everyone to kick in about $20, pick a theme for the wine, like wines of Chile, or Cabernet Sauvignon, or sparkling wines. Go to a decent sized LCBO and talk up a knowledgeable staff member about which 5 or 6 varieties of wine to buy to match your theme. Get a few bottles of each variety, depending on how many people will be at your party. Have everyone taste the same wine at the same time, and then move on to a new variety after about 10 minutes of sipping and mingling. After sequentially moving through one taste of all the wines, set your guests free to end the evening in the company of whatever wines they enjoyed the most.
There were a few highlights in my evening, both in terms of wine and wine-tasting. First of all, I was amazed at how many people loved Cave Spring’s 2006 “Riesling Estate” (Ontario, $17.95 [Ed. note: 2006 no longer available], Vintages Essentials #286377). Riesling has flourished in Ontario and 2006 was perhaps the best year for this grape yet. Just about everyone found this to be a vibrant wine with lots of green apple and a tasty minerality. I associate “minerality” with the faint smell of rainwater
on stone, but I was thrilled when one of my coworkers, an RCMP officer who generally prefers a Keiths to a Bordeaux, announced that he tasted “road salt from the QEW, followed by naphtha finish.” Apparently this was a compliment.
Arboleda Chardonnay (Chile, $15.95, Vintages #606772) is a scrumptious wine with elements of mango, pineapple and vanilla, wrapped in a buttery texture. When we were sniffing it together, a colleague gripped my arm and said, “Orville Redenbacher… I get Redenbacher from this wine.” How could I tell her that she was wrong? It was clearly Extra-Butter Jiffy Pop.
Finally, I loved Goats du Roam’s “Goat Rotie” (2004 [Ed. note: 2004 no longer available], South Africa, $19.95 , Vintages #943175). Although this is a new world Shiraz, it is made in an old world style, blending in a small percentage of white grapes, just like they do in the Cotes-du-Rhone. It was powerful, with layers of smoke and black leather. But my Mountie friend didn’t like it. Squinting into the glass, he said, “Like the colour of dried blood. And it smells like a two-day-old murder scene.” What can you say to that – except maybe, “Would you like some eggnog instead?”
Matthew Sullivan is a lawyer with the Department of Justice in Toronto. He writes a weekly blog entry here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at matthew@lawandstyle.beta-site.ca.