Luckily I have another bottle of each stashed away.It's always interesting when I sit down to taste through the annual release of Cape Winemakers Guild Auction wines. So the star of the show was the 2012, with the 2015 showing lots of promise. It was probably too early to open the 2015 (50% Merlot, 26% Malbec, 21% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon) as it just didn’t have the depth or power of the other two, but you can sense it coming, with the flavour bubbling under the structure. Merlot, you’re slowly but surely changing my mind. It tasted like chocolate fudge cake, though the fruit still showed through. I’d have sworn there was more Cab Sauv in there, but Laura called the blend early. The 2012 (80% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Malbec) packed a wallop. The 2010 (33% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Franc, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Malbec) got better in the glass as we drank it, but was just beginning to give over to vegetal characteristics. This time we moved just down the road from Thirty Bench to Hidden Bench, and three vintages of their top-end Bordeaux blend: La Brunante. We were overdue for a wine-vertical-hangout with Laura like the one we did in February. I forgot that I didn’t have any Champagne in the house to celebrate with, but a bottle of Lightfoot & Wolfville 2012 Blanc de Blancs filled in nicely. I don’t want to jinx it, but it went well yesterday, such that I actually got home in time for dinner with Lindsay. I was actually stuffed all day, but still couldn’t resist a piece of pumpkin pie, which the coordinator thoughtfully added to the menu, since everyone was giving up their holiday Sunday. On Sunday I went to the office, and since there were dozens of us working onsite, the team brought food in. We both got the hot turkey sandwich, so…check off one Thanksgiving tradition. Saturday I managed to get a hundred things done in between calls, and we even ducked out to White Lily for dinner. The work stuff started Friday night and kept me awake for most of it. I had a big - very big - work thing scheduled this weekend, which was going to run from Friday night through at least Sunday, and maybe Monday, to the point where it didn’t make sense to plan much at all. This was never going to be a normal Thanksgiving weekend.

The bartender brought over some Tokaj he thought about putting on the menu.

sticky toffee pudding w/ caramelized white chocolate, birch syrup, vanilla cream.

La Lecciaia Sassarello 2012 ‘Super Tuscan’.

Hasselback potato w/ truffle butter, chilled foie gras.

honey & cumin glazed carrots w/ parsley yoghurt.

Domaine Baud Pere & Fils ‘Brut Sauvage’ Cremant de Jura.

risotto (pumpkin, duck, and sage butter).

whole Ontario Burrata (virgin canola oil, Baco Noir balsamic, seasonal garnish, toast).

bread (red fife, sourdough, potato Focaccia) and butter.

We went back to Maple Leaf Tavern for the first time since we went for my birthday last year and, frankly, we killed it. It was a much more low-key day, but had a seriously delicious ending. Yesterday was Lindsay’s birthday, the first time in a couple of years we haven’t spent it in Europe.

side: jerk broccoli (w/ refried beans, puffed rice, chillies).

main: grilled ribeye (14oz cold smoked all-natural Alberta beef, jus gras, fried onions, stewed tomato, spanish olive oil).

starter: tuna tartare (albacore tuna, avocado, plantain, ancho aioli, sesame, tajin toasted nori).cocktail: Fall Fashioned (pecan-infused bourbon blend, corn syrup, orange twist, 5 spice bitter).The food & drink was pretty solid though: The upstairs had a Shining theme the downstairs was like eating in a 1970s basement rumpus room.

Later that day, after another work event back in Calgary, I had dinner at The Wednesday Room. This was the view from the Rimrock, where the event was held: It was my first time out to the mountains in a lot of years, and the mountains made me feel as calm and peaceful as ever, even if I was only there for a couple of hours. I flew in late Wednesday night, crashed at the Calgary airport Marriott, then early Thursday morning drove out to Banff to speak at a partner’s event. Today I got back from a quick 36-hour work trip to Calgary, with a little side trip to Banff.

Rumpus cabernet sauvignon 2020