Our last day in Toronto; we had probably walked several miles (sorry, wrong country, kilometers ;)) that day, with staring from our (absolutely awesome) bed and breakfast in Cabbagetown, walking to the University of Toronto, and the crystal monsters of Royal Ontario Museum, to the piers, and all around Toronto islands. Needless to say, we were pooped. But that wasn’t going to prevent us from going out! We ended up going to a Cabbagetown neighbourhood bar by the name of Ben Wick’s pub. Little did we know… we would be the only people in the entire bar. Granted, it was a Monday evening. Granted, it was Easter. Granted, it was 10pm. But… huh? I’m almost convinced it’s a mafia front. Because simple arithmetic surmises that a business with no customers would no longer stay a business…

I forgot who — someone thought we should order something local. After the (slightly strange) waiter rattled off the list, and the only local wine available was of the Niagara varietal that everyone with taste apparently disliked, we went with a South African sauvignon blanc that ended up being inoffensive and unremarkable. After dispatching that and a batch of nacho chips, we went for a red for the second bottle. The (fast-talking) waiter heavily recommended an Australian shiraz (after dropping his voice to talk trash about the other offerings) — and after we acquiesced, he brought over a bottle of Jindalee Estates 2007 Shiraz.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll drink it,” he said matter-of-factly, as he poured us the shiraz.

Wow.

It was good.

It was real good.

Goes down easy, wonderful cherry/fruity flavours. Just delicious all around. And that was definitely the majority opinion at the table. So good, the first thing I did on my laptop back at the bed & breakfast (after failing at European geography at the bar — what, Greece has no land borders with Italy? but they both use so much olive oil!) was to check out the Jindalee website. And ah, so much fail! They apparently don’t export to the US — just our northern neighbour. I filled out a request form at marketviewliquors just-in-case, and then promptly forgot about it.

Whaddyaknow, a week later, I get an email asking if I wanted a case, they could order it (for $7.49/bottle, which is a bit of a reduction from the $32 (it was $32,right?) bottle at the restaurant). Not being entirely insane, I opted for half a case instead, ~$7 + $2/each for shipping. Also picked up some Niagara varietal wines while I was at it.

Now to make the liquid memories of the road trip last as long as possible ;).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 2:09 am and is filed under Review, Traveling, Wine.