Amaroned (p.p., adv.): Having had the sudden realization, as in a tasting, you're drinking wine with 15% alcohol and it's too late to start spitting

Last night was a dry evening for me, which officially means I got hosed the previous day.

Some insist on the hair of the dog in such cases, but this summer I've learned not to believe old wives' tales. In June, I drank the day after annihilating a Perrin Réserve magnum at a friend's birthday and it was literally sickening. I felt pretty much the same way when I followed up an all access pass at the Wines of New Zealand by barreling headlong into a hasty decision to finish off the remaining half bottles of wine lingering in my fridge.

So this morning, after the benefit of a fully sobering Monday, I present to you Wine with Bill Zacharkiw, the reason I drank 29 bottles of Venetian red wine during a four hour tasting session on Sunday evening.

Well I didn't drink them all myself. I do want to let Bill tell the story in his upcoming Montreal Gazette column (which will be available at the web page linked above), but I should at least say there were three other tasters in addition to Bill. That was reassuring. And a lot was dumped into the spittoon -- also reassuring -- but, ultimately for me, it apparently was not nearly enough.

Bill, ever the gracious host, gave us tasters little reason to leave, bringing out Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano cheeses as well as a tray of cured meats when we had finished rating the wines. At this stage, achieving the discipline to spit that I had been searching for all evening was obviously not in the cards. I should've shown greater willpower earlier on when the wines were cheaper and the delicious food didn't beckon the vino.

Just one of many ways that this event was a learning experience for me.

I've had Valpolicellas and Ripassos before so I immediately found it gratifying to directly compare so many back to back (to back). It was a huge opportunity to decipher everyday wines without the bias of food or the kind of mood you happen to in on a given day. But it wasn't just an illuminating experience because I was exposed to two dozen bottles. Here were four winos with great expertise to guide the tasting. Personally, I found it an amazing opportunity to learn from those more experienced than myself.

We started off with a set consisting of four flights of Valpolicella. When I heard my fellow tasters murmuring something about "phenolics" and "residual sugar" -- terms that I could not use to identify a wine -- I got a bit scared. But when I found I was for the most part singling out the same Valpos as the others, I could increasingly parse the professional lingo, and even jotted down some new French terms I had never heard of.

As the night went on and the set of Ripassos came and went, I not only got a real sense of the Veneto region, but also learned about the differing palates and expectations of those sitting around the table. It turned out agreement wasn't always universal, but honesty and dedication to how one tastes and perceives these reds were.

Finally out came the Amarones. I'd never had Amarone yet there I was one of five votes weighing in on the good, the bad, and the ugly. (Ugly Amarone I now know is how you feel the next morning.)

When the Amarone flights started I was tiring, in part because I was deflated I didn't have any experience in what to look for or expect like I did with the other types of wine. I felt kind of useless. But of course I didn't turn down nine different chances to taste a style of wine that in its most inexpensive expressions retails for about $30 (and up). So I dive in.

My first taste was like taking a sip of Port, a wine I am only slightly more aware of than Amarone. And so I noted it and waited for the others to launch into discussion.

"Porty," said Bill almost immediately. And instantly I thought to myself that I can't wait for the next chance to do this.

Italian white grape adventures roll on: Castello di Porcia Classico 2005

My primary objective continues to be fragrant and refreshing white wines from Italy and as the summer heats up I'm happy to report on this interesting bottle, which I found peering up at me from the SAQ's bottom shelf. It is a new product in store and one of only two readily available Tocais that I'm aware of in the province. As a result, I had no trouble deciding to take the plunge on this inexpensive and unique bottle.

It's a varietal wine labelled Tocai Italiano. The name of the Italian/Slovenian Tocai grape has a vast and sordid history (see details here). The most important thing is the grape itself -- names be damned.

It is that grape which is the predominant variety in a perennial favourite of mine, the Maculan "Pino & Toi". Here, in the Tocai Italico Castello di Porcia Lison-Pramaggiore Classico 2005, no blending grapes are used, meaning that the wine can take on the Lison-Pramaggiore appellation.

(I find it kind of funny and somewhat unfortunate that the SAQ website lists this item with an ill-advised space that renders the producer's name as Castello di Porc -- Pig Castle... the difference between a Porc and a Porcia certainly could not be greater. Oh well.)

Of this appellation, The Oxford Companion to Wine says that it lies mainly in the Veneto region of north east Italy and was created in 1986 by the fusion of two previous DOCs (Italian regions carrying the Denominazione di Origine Controllata seal), the Cabernet di Pramaggiore and Tocai di Lison.

While it's not too close to San Gimignano and its Vernaccia, which live quite a bit further down the boot in Tuscany, it is a perfect substitute with a similar attack and slaking refreshment.

If Vernaccia is known for a slight bitter finish, this Tocai has more of a sour dimension and suggests a Sauvignon Blanc's tartness. The grape's alternate names include Sauvignonasse and Vert -- each one lending the notion of a pithy weediness.

I've had some cheap Tocai that end up tasting resinated and half-way to Retsina, which can be a problem though Retsina does have its own time and place for enjoyment.

Overall, this is an affordable summertime food wine with good acidity and emphasis on minerality.

"Light in colour and body, floral in aroma, and has pronounced almond notes on the palate and on the nose. It is designed to be drunk young."

A wine affected by changes in climate, both micro and economic: Maculan Pino & Toi 2004

This is a Soave-type wine that gets no shortage of press online. Even though it receives an I.G.T. classification (aligning it with the often unheralded regional country wines of Italy) its maker, Maculan, needs no formal designation to please its clientele. Maculan chooses to avoid the official label of Soave in order to blend three disallowed white grape varieties in unique proportions (more on that below).

To me, Maculan has achieved much more affordable elegance in doing this. The Maculan Pino & Toi 2004, cheaper than most quality Soaves, is deliciously fragrant apple cut by deeply-etched minerality. This is my favourite kind of white wine. On the nose it possesses wet stone with wonderful aromatics. Delicate and light on the palate but strangely steely and structured too.

With a shrimp, crab and mussel pizza, the drink is tonic. The fruit suffers a little bit though, masked by the presence of the tomato sauce. With homemade chicken and pasta soup, the wine has even more of a chance to reveal its full range of sophistication. Serving it like the Fiche descriptive says with Vol-au-vent au poulet (click on the bottle image) would be right on the money.

I'm not going to so much contradict Basic Juice's profile of this wine as much as I am going to update it. I was quite interested in reading his review of the 2002 and seeing that market value was an issue for him. Two vintages later, the Euro has weakened drastically, making this bottle available in Canada for $16.70 instead of $17.80 or even more than that back in 2004. In terms of acidity, I believe the current vintage (and the 2003 one as well) is a much more balanced wine than the 2002 was. Jameson tipped me off on the 2004 vintage being something of an apogee and I'd have to agree him. In fact, on occasion during the past year, my friends and I have thought Pino & Toi's current blend (Pinot Bianco and Pinot Grigio mixed into a majority of Tocai) can produce plenty of gripping acidity, something that attracts me more to a white wine than it repels me.

I'm not sure if the blending has changed or if the climate working alone has been enough to present these tangible effects on the acid in the finished product. Because 2002 was notably weak in Northern Italy, I'm guessing this wine is playing its strong card now because of the favourable 2004 vintage. Take advantage of it.

Breganze, Veneto, Italia. 12%.