IVSA New Products Salon - Wines of Note

Today was the Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) New Product Salon tasting to the wine Trade in Vancouver, BC. It was a very full event with at least 50 tables from what I could see through the crowds. And consider that at each table, they would be pouring at least 6 different NEW wines, there was at least 300 wines to sample today! Some of the wines are wines that are already in the store, but what is new is the vintage, e.g. a 2008 sauvignon blanc coming out.

I always enjoy attending the IVSA, in part to meet other Trade people, I tweet with, but also to find new and interesting wines. So for the rest of this week's blog, I'd like to list a few white and red wines that I enjoyed. The wines come from all different price ranges.

Some nice whites:
- Rudolf Muller Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Kabinett 2008 (Germany). This riesling had a light lime nose. Medium sweet but good acidity to balance it and a red apple flavour. $16.99
- Sacred Hill Pinot Gris 2008 (Marlborough - New Zealand). Light lemon in colour, with lychee and pear aromas. Round mouthfeel. Off dry with lychee and apple flavours $19.99 (spec)
- Mount Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Marlborough - New Zealand). I was told that this winery is a joint venture with Antinori from Italy. The wine had a light herbal nose. Halepeno pepper and herbal flavours. Medium acidity. Restrained. Quite nice. $28.99 (spec)
- Torresella Pinot Grigio Veneto IGT (Italy). This pinot grigio had light peach, apricot and mineral aromas. Light effervescense. Apricot and apple flavours. $14.99 (spec)
- Miner Family Vineyards "Napa Valley" Chardonnay 2007 (California). Vanilla and pineapple on the nose. Toasty oak, pineapple and spice on the palate. Round mouthfeel. $39.95 (spec)

Some nice reds:
- Ata Rangi 'Crimson' Pinot Noir 2008 (Waiparapa - New Zealand). Light cherry colour. Raspberry aroma. Red cherry and raspberry flavours. Soft tannins. Very elegant. $27.99 (spec)
- Louis Latour Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir (Burgundy - France). Light cherry and vanilla on the nose. Cherry flavour builds in your mouth with a bit of aeration. Also some flowers and apple flavours. $21.99 (spec)
- Belle Gios Meiomi 2007 (California). This one is a pinot noir. Light garnet in colour. Light red currant and chocolate aromas. Nice cherry, raspberry and vanilla flavours, and balanced tannins. $33.99 (spec)
- Row Eleven Santa Maria Pinot Noir 2005 (California). Medium garnet colour. Cherry and smoke on the nose. Cherry, vanilla and raspberry flavours. Dry tannins with a long finish. A premium wine! $46.99
- Kenwood Vineyards Yulupa Old Vine Zinfandel 2007 (California). Medium garnet in colour. Nice raspberry jammy nose. Lots of raspberry fruit flavour. Medium tannins. A deal. $19.49
- Kenwood Vineyards Jack London Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (California). Deep purple in the glass. Capsicum and cherry aromas. Tar and cherry on the palate, with firm tannins. $34.99
- Farnese Vini Primitivo Puglia 2007 (Italy). Primitivo and Zinfandel are the same grape variety, if you didn't know. This one had nice reddish purple colour in the glass. Light violet and red fruit on the nose. Full ripe red fruit flavours, with soft-medium tannins. Easy to drink and an exceptional price. $9.99 (spec)

An unexpected red wine was the L.A. Cetto Private Reserve Nebbiolo 2003 from the Baja part of California in Mexico! I never knew the Nebbiolo was grown in Mexico. This one had delicious ripe berry flavours, ripe but restrained, and firm tannins, but not to the extent that you would get from an Italian Nebbiolo. Drinkable right now. Sorry I didn't get the price but I believe it is in the $20 range.

Enjoy!

Put a cork in it

Hopefully you never have a wine bottle go bad due to cork taint. For the casual drinker, you may not hit a tainted bottle for a long stretch, but it does occur at a rate of about 5%. Through the tastings that I hold with the South World Wine Society, it is not out of the ordinary to have 1 or 2 bottles corked. The SWWS usually opens 27 bottles of wine during one tasting. 5% * 27 bottles = 1.35 potentially corked bottles. So we are holding to the cork taint average.
How can you tell that a bottle has cork taint? Unless you know what the wine should taste like ahead of time (e.g. it's your favorite wine and you know how it should taste), or you recognize the smell of cork taint, you may think that the bottle was just not very tasty, or the wine critic that praised that wine doesn't know what they are talking about. The problem with cork taint, is that there are different levels of taint. A very slight taint is the hardest to detect and usually just is represented by a flatness in the fruit flavour and aroma. With more cork taint, along with the reduced fruit flavour and aroma, you may smell wet cardboard or freshly dug potatoes.

Cork manufacturers have been trying to produce better cork with fewer defects, but there are still rivals to traditional corks, being synthetic (plastic) corks and the stelvin closure. In a previous blog post I talked about an alternative to cork, which is the stelvin closure. You may want to check it out.

But many people love the romance that goes along with opening a bottle that has a natural cork in it. Not all of these corks are created equal. In the photo in my blog, there are 4 examples of cork. From left to right, you have a high quality single piece natural cork, next a lesser quality single piece natural cork, next an agglomerated cork sandwiched between two pieces of natural cork, and the last is an agglomerated cork.

You will also notice difference in length. Longer tends to be better for corks, as there is more separation between the wine and the air outside of the bottle. The agglomerated corks are basically bits of cork that fall off or break off in the cork making process. These bits of cork are broken down into pieces of about the same size then glued together. These corks do not look very nice, but get the job done. Some winemakers go for the agglomerated cork sandwiched with slices of real cork. The Mission Hill cork in the photo has a real slice of cork about half way through the M in Mission and then at the last L in Hill. Some people prefer this cork over the simple agglomerated cork, as there is a real piece of cork in contact with their wine as it ages as opposed to wine + glue. Finally you have the single piece of cork. This is the ultimate goal for many winemakers. The better cork would have the least amount of holes/pits visible in the cork. The Pisano cork has more holes/pits visible on the cork, which could be housing cork taint, or could let too much air interact with the wine, making it age quickly. The longer Montes Purple Angel cork (leftmost cork) is an example of a high quality single piece cork. You do not see lots of small holes along the sides of the cork.

Well now you know a bit more about cork and about cork taint. The next time you open a bottle of your favorite wine, check out what type of cork they are using. If you wine smells off, as described above, and you are in a restaurant, please don't hesitate to talk to your server and ask for them to confirm with you that the wine is corked. If it si, they should give you a replacement bottle at no additional charge. It's your money and enjoyment. Cheers!

Le Mondial du Pinot Noir - 2009

Le Mondial du Pinot Noir is a yearly competition strictly for the Pinot Noir varietal. 2009 was the 12th year of the competition. The competition is held and hosted by Switzerland. Wineries from around the world are invited to compete.

I did not know that Switzerland produced many Pinot Noir wines, but I guess this is in part to these wines not reaching British Columbia. The Pinot Noirs of western Switzerland and Neuchatel, I have read are of good quality.

This past year the Mondial du Pinot Noir set a new record for participation, with 1,144 wines being tasted. Switzerland, being the host country, offered 60% of the Pinot Noir wines for tasting. Germany was represented by 140 wines and France with more than 100. Other countries participating also included Hungary, Austria, Australia, Argentina – for a total of 24 countries. 50 judges from Canada, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Luxemburg, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Spain, Greece and Lebanon tasted and graded the wines. The event was organized in accordance with regulations set down by the Paris-based governmental body the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

The big winners, taking the Grande Médaille d’Or, are a Spanish Pinot Noir from the cellar Cortijo Los Aguillares in Ronda and a Valais Pinot Gris from Cave de la Madeleine (André Fontannaz in Vétroz). Of the 95 Or (gold) medals, 30 were awarded to wineries outside of Switzerland with 17 medals to Germany. I was amazed to read that a Spanish Pinot Noir won the Grande Medaille d'Or as you typically don't think of Spain as a powerhouse for Pinot Noir. I now have a wine on my "to find and try" list for 2010!

Before going into more of the prizes, how did Canada do? We did win two prizes:
- Arrowleaf Cellars, Arrowleaf Solstice Pinot Noir 2007 won a Bronze Medal,
- Mission Hill Family Estate, Mission Hill Family Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2007 also won a Bronze Medal.
Congratulations to Arrowleaf Cellars and Mission Hill Family Estate!

Some of the major prizes awarded are as follows:
World Champion of Pinot Noir Producers
Offered by the Fondation l’Homme et le Vin, Chamoson
Urs Pircher
Eglisau Zürich

Univerre Pro Uva prize, Sierre
Weingut Thomas Marugg
Blauburgunder Barrique 2007, Fläsch, Grisons (Blauburgunder is a German word for Pinot Noir.)

Millésimes Anciens (older vintages) prize
Offered by Nestlé Waters
Schlossgut Hohenbeilstein, Beilstein, Allemagne
Spätburgunder Auslese Trocken 2003, Württemberg (Spatburgunder also is a German word for Pinot Noir.)

Bourgogne Aujourd’hui prize
Décerné par la revue Bourgogne Aujourd’hui

Domaine de la Vougeraie
Nuits-Saint-Georges, France

Domaine Anne Parent
Pommard, France

Vinofed prize
Given by the Fédération Mondiale des Grands Concours Internationaux de Vins et de Spiritueux
Weingut Kuhnle, Weinstadt, Allemagne
Pinot Noir Barrique 2006, Qualitätswein Württemberg

Découverte (discovery) prize
Given by la Ville de Sierre
André Fontannaz, Cave la Madeleine, Vétroz, Valais
Malvoisie flétrie sur souche 2008, AOC Valais

A new prize was offered for 2009 at the Mondial du Pinot Noir called the "Producers of Pinot Noir World Champion". For this special category the judges test three consecutive vintages, all more recent than 1995, which the producer has selected. The inaugural winner of this award was Urs Pircher from Eglisau Zürich.

If you are planning on being in Switzerland on August 20-22, 2010, maybe drop in on the 13th Le Mondial du Pinot Noir?

(Mondail is French for World if you were wondering). Enjoy!