Liquid Art Fine Wines - 20th Anniversary tasting

Today I was invited to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Liquid Art Fine Wines in Vancouver. Liquid Art Fine Wines is an importer of premium wines from around the world. They are specialists in sourcing some of the world's finest and most sought-after wines. You can find their wines in restaurants in Vancouver as well as you can purchase the wines from them if you are an avid collector of hard to get wines.

I enjoyed sparkling wines, white and red wines from around the world today. A very nice Champagne from France was the Varnier-Fanniere Brut Grand Cru NV ($71.90). This champagne had a nice bready nose. Very fine bubble, with green apple, oak and citrus flavour. The fine bubble, I learned from my trip to France last year comes from the Chardonnay grape. This champagne is 100% chardonnay from different vintages blended together. It is aged in bottle for 3 years. It is not heavy and I'd enjoy it as an aperitif with some light canapes.

If red wine is more your style, staying in France, maybe you would enjoy their Domaine de la Mordoree "La Dame Rousse" Lirac Rouge AC 2006 ($30.90)? This a blend of 50% Grenache, 50% Syrah. Hand harvested. This was a very intriguing wine. It has a brooding character. Deep garnet in colour, with a sweet dark cherry nose. Full dark cherry flavour. Medium tannins and medium length.

Outside of France, you may enjoy the Roccolo Grassi Valpolicella Superiore DOC 2004 Italy ($57.90). Valpolicella is a blend of Corvina, Rondinella, Croatina and Corvinone. This wine had a very smoky nose with cherries. On the palate there was that smokiness again, with sausage and cherry and nice amount of spice. Long length. Wonderful.

There are many more wines of great quality at Liquid Art Fine Wines. I will be posting my tasting notes for the other wines that tried this evening on www.MyWinePal.com. You may want to visit Liquid Art Fine Wines' online inventory.

Enjoy!

Cavas Submarinas - a unique cellar in Chile

After a long day of wine tasting in Chile, I was flipping through the TV channels and stumbled upon a Spanish speaking channel talking about a winery called Cavas Submarinas. What was interesting is that you order a bottle of Cavas Submarinas wine, and instead of going to the cellar to fetch it, the sommelier puts on a wetsuit, dives into the Pacific ocean, emerges with a bottle, and comes back to your table to open it, dripping wet.

The Cavas Submarinas line consists of a Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir Carmenere blend, Carmenere, Syrah, and a Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery sinks containers of bottles along the coastline at specific depths (in SECRET locations), from 10 to 30 meters with the pressure of the ocean and cool temperatures keeping the wine fresh. The wines are aged beneath the waves from six months to a year. The winery asserts that the constant submarine temperature of 8°C, and the unique combination of ocean pressure, luminosity and wave movement gives the wine “...a roundness, a more Champagne-like flavor.”

With this in mind, I wonder if some enterprising winery in Kelowna or Penticton would try the same with Lake Okanagan, or maybe one of the Vancouver Island wineries?

If you can read Spanish, here is the Cavas Submarinas website.

Saludos!

A Sparkling Wine Tasting!

Today was a special Trade tasting day for me. This is typically the Trade tasting where the sparkling wines are brought out by agents in preparation for wine buyers, to pick up these sparkling wines for their hotel, restaurant, etc and offer them over the Christmas and New Year season. So i'd like to share some of these sparkling wines with you. One of the nice things I saw this year is more rose coloured sparkling wines. Very festive!

Some terms you may see in a liquor store for sparkling wine are: Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Frizzante, Cap Classique, and of course Sparkling. There are other terms, but these are a few common ones. Champagne is from the Champagne region of France, Cava is from Spain, Prosecco from Italy, Frizzante from Italy, Cap Classique from South Africa, and Sparkling, which can be from anywhere.

I think my overall favourite sparkling wine today was the Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose Brut ($107.99). Pale salmon in colour. Oak and black currants on the nose. Light bubble with raspberries and currant flavours.

If you can't afford a case of Laurent-Pierrier, I have a few less expensive choices for you:
- Cantina Breganze Prosecco Extra Dry ($21.99) (Italy). Pale lemon in colour with a tinge of green. Lemon and juicy orchard fruit on the nose. Orange, lemon, and rose petal flavours. Recommended.
- Cantina Breganze Blanquette de Limoux Demi-Sec ($26.99) (Italy). This is a semi-sweet, organic sparkling wine. This one has a nice white flower nose. Bright lemony colour. Flowery, light spice, and orangy flavours. Nice.
- Codorniu Pinot Noir Sparkling Brut ($19.99) (Spain). Light orangy pink in colour. Light strawberry aroma. Very bracing in your mouth, with strawberry and raspberry flavours.
- Hungaria Grand Cuvee ($13.90) (Hungary). Quite a deal for this sparkler. Light lemon in colour, with lemon/lime aromas. Light bubble with lemon flavour.
- Cuillier Pere et Fils, Brut Selection ($58) (France). Fine bubble with green apple and pear aromas. Fine bubble with lemon and pear flavour. This wine was like enjoying a fresh pear. Very tasty!

Also at this Trade tasting, was red and white still wines. A few I liked:
- Pampas del Sur Reserve Malbec 2007 (#13.98) (Argentina). Deep purple colour. Very aromatic. Black currant and cherry flavours. Medium body and very smooth.
- Eikendal Stellenbosch Classique Reserve ($35.99) (South Africa). This is a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. Medium garnet in colour. Oak, tobacco, mint and cherry aromas. Chocolate, tobacco and cherry flavours. Smooth with a long length.

Enjoy some bubbles for the upcoming holiday season. And if you are interested in some nice Chilean wine, please check out my website, www.MyWinePal.com.

Some Chilean insights to vineyards and wine

I thought i'd pass along 2 bits of info i learned while i was speaking with wine makers in Chile.

1. organic red grapes appear to have thicker skins and can be more tannic than non-organic grapes (at least for Chile). So different vinification is needed for organic red grapes vs non-organic. The winemaker sugggested that less maceration is needed as you would get too much tannins from the organic grapes.

2. deeper soils make softer tannins for red grapes (at least for Chile). For a cabernet sauvignon, it appeared that the deeper soil made softer tannins, and the shallower soil made firmer tannins. So the wine maker, knowing the differences caused by soil depth, vinified the cabernet plots separately and came out with two entirely different wines.

Do u have any stories like this from winemakers around the world? If so, please let me know.