Professor Clearly Knows His Wine

Photo credit: Dr U Berkok

Wines of the county ready for sipping

By LUBOMYR LUCIUK

Article first appered in the Kingston Whig Standard –

This is an account about aging, appreciating.

Many know me as a Kingston boy, born and raised, who went away to acquire learning and then, happily, came home. Here I intend to stay even if I recognize how the city has changed — in some ways for the better, in others not.

When I was a young lad you could swim at Richardson Beach or brave big waves pounding the coal docks behind KGH’s heating plant, catch painted turtles in a sandy-beach inlet on King Street where grain elevators once stood, and, in winter, skate over backyard ponds tucked behind the immigrant homes lining Rideau Street, kids cavorting outside as parents inside did rounds of émigré politics.

And every summer, a few times, we’d caravan along Bath Road on what felt like a long drive, past Picton, to those marvelous sand dunes that still give Prince Edward County a draw. I don’t recall much more out there save for orchards where, once-every- fall, we’d pick apple varieties that looked and tasted nothing like what masquerades under that moniker nowadays.

I also remember how quiet Sunday evenings were in our Nelson Street neighbourhood as families disappeared indoors to take supper together, a day when Kingston grew remarkably still save for church-goers and church bells, a peace abandoned foolishly for the dubious benefits of 24/7 commerce. And how, on special Sundays, a Manischewitz wine would appear at our table. Made from Concord grapes sweetened with sugar this kosher concoction’s “foxy” smell left me more inclined to spit than swallow.

In Grade 13, however, I experienced a wine epiphany. A close friend’s father, Mr. Litalien, whose roots went back to 17th century New France — a marvel for someone whose family tree was dramatically de-limbed by two world wars, then Communists and Nazis — hosted a tasting. Fond of Italian wines and generous in their serving, Mr. Litalien was careful that his son Jacques’s friends also learned how to enjoy wine intelligently, in moderation, and, for best results, only after its careful, considered aging. I was hooked.

Alas “they” didn’t make learning easy. Back then the government focused on controlling our spirits and the LCBO was about patronage and paternalism not consumer choice or education. LCBO outlets featured clerks working behind grills, products hidden even further from view, your purchases plunked on a counter secured from sight in brown paper bags, all as inviting as a local gaol’s reception area. “They” liked it that way. If you wanted fine wine you went to a civilized province to get it — Quebec.

It was only when I returned to Kingston in the late 1980s and found my niche at Royal Military College and there met Giuseppe Lepore that my interest in wine revived. Not only was Joe the Kingston chapter master of Amici Dell’ Enotria, an Italian wine appreciation society, he was a bon vivant and great colleague. Together we established The Royal Winers. While Joe has since passed on the fellowship of good cheer we nurtured still produces evenings of collegiality nearly two decades later, a healthy vine indeed.

Meanwhile the LCBO, though not entirely pruned of all blemishes, has matured. It offers a great diversity of products, often at prices competitive with what you’d pay in their countries of origin, coupled with good service and quality control. Likewise “the County” is no longer a rustic backwater. It boasts a few dozen vineyards, several producing wines that compare well with the best of what comes off the benches of Niagara’s Beamsville or the Okanagan’s Naramata. And, in further testimony to the emerging importance of our local wine industry, David Lawrason, one of Canada’s most astute wine critics, has resettled in Belleville, conscious of the fact that something very special is happening here.

So the time has finally come for Kingston to become host to an annual wine festival, a showcase of the best the vintners and chefs of “the County” and our city can offer. This initiative began last month with the “Our Grand Wines” gathering. Later this year, on Oct. 16, the Grand Theatre will give all Kingstonians a chance to discover the distinctive terroir of our County wines, a quality making them as worthy of contemplation and enjoyment as those produced in Burgundy. That celebration will help fix “the County” in the mental maps of wine enthusiasts everywhere, with the additional benefits of sustaining one of our premier theatre venues and attracting visitors to Kingston.

Many years ago the Royal Winers gathered at Joe’s house over some fine California cabernets, deliberating whether our fellowship should take a motto. In vino veritas ” –” in wine there is truth — was considered but by the time we began our vintage port we were sufficiently — shall I claim contemplative? — to choose a more telling phrase: “Age leaves us fine wines and friends.” Appreciating what the passage of time can do for wine, and for each of us in life, is something we can all raise a toast to — “Cheers!”