Tuscany is, in the realm of Italian wine, fairly terra cognita. A great tourist destination for manifest reasons, Tuscany can offer it all; beauty, history, wine, food - all the essentials. Specifically in wine, the superstars of Tuscany these days are Brunello di Montalcino, and the now well established sexy, non-traditional blends that used to be called “Super-Tuscans”.
Halfway through my first reading of Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, I was crestfallen to learn that during the Second World War, the French author published a trilogy of pamphlets revealing himself to be a fervent partisan of fascism, a supporter of the German occupation and a rabid anti-Semite.
I rode over to Rotary Park to see the fireworks on Canada Day. It was quite the rager this year as many of you must have witnessed.
At one point, a raggedy skater guy on my left noticed that I was taking pulls out of a bottle of palo cortado and made it known that if I was inclined to share a sip with him, he’d be willing to compensate me to the tune of a cigarette.
There is definitely such a thing as a “Metrovino palate.” That is, a pattern of loose, general preferences amongst Metrovino employees for certain types of wine over others. There are significant variants and exceptions, but one unwavering consistency across the tongues of all 12 of us without compromise is an unyielding, unconditional, insatiable thirst for wines with modest but discernible sweetness. I also notice that any colleague in the wine industry whom I have the slightest semblance of respect for shares this obsession.
