Celebrate Argentina Wines 2009

Having both the Wines of Chile and the Wines of Argentina in the same week have been taxing, but very fulfilling. I tried many new wines from many new wineries this week, and I look forward to seeing these new wines in our government and private wine shops. On this post I focus on the Argentina event.

Argentina has been making wines over the last 300 years, with most of the consumption within the country. Over the past 20 years exports of Argentinean wine has grown. Canada is now starting to get many more Argentinean wines.

For this tasting, there was of course many bottles of Malbec to taste, but also now a wide range of other varietals such as Semillon, Pinot Noir, Torrontes (the signature white grape of Argentina) and Petit Verdot! I was particularly suprised to see the Pinot Noir as it is such a finicky grape and loves cool climate, while the major wine region of Argentina, Mendoza, is quite hot and Malbec thrives there. I also enjoyed watching the Argentinean tango being danced at the event.

So what were some of the highlight wines that I came across at this evening's event?

- Urraca Chardonnay 2008. This wine had a nice oaky, earthy nose. Round in the mouth with nice lemon flavour and a long finish. Not overly oaked. This winery needs an agent so we can see their wines.
- Juana del Sol Chardonnay 2009. This wine has understated elegance. Pale lemon in colour with a light oak nose. Round. Vanilla and stone fruit flavours. They also need an agent.
- Sur de los Andes Torrontes 2008. Medium lemon coloured. Light pine needle aroma. FULL flavour. Pine needles and apples with a grapefruit finish. Maybe try instead of a Sauvignon Blanc sometime.
- Filus Reserva Malbec 2007. Deep purple in the glass. Ripe sweet red fruit with cherry liquor flavours. Vanilla, red fruit and plum on the nose. Tannic finish, but not unpleasant. This winery needs an agent.
- Aconcagua Malbec 2008. Deep purple coloured. Very aromatic. Smoky, herbal, cherry aromas. Smoky, earthy and dark fruit flavours with a cherry finish. Nice round mouth feel. One of my favorites, and should be around $15 when it comes to BC.
- Sottano Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. Medium garnet in the glass. Classic cassis nose. Cassis and cherry on the palate. Lots of fruit flavour and low tannins.

There is a peek at a few of the wines of the evening. There were many more, and I'll be posting them on www.mywinepal.com in the Wine Reviews section. Keep your eyes open for these wines coming soon to BC. Salud!

Visiting Everything Wine

I've Twittered about Everything Wine, located in North Vancouver a few times, plus I go there to pick up wines that are not in the regular BC Liquor Stores. Today I thought I'd tell you a bit more about Everything Wine in my blog.

I like this store as I can find Specialty "spec" wines, as well as more premium wines. Everything Wine has a special section at the back of the store with their premium wines. If you want to buy a bottle of Sassicaia, you can find it here (for $168.99). You can also find "cheap and cheerful" wine, such as Lindeman's Bin 65 Chardonnay, which retails for $11.99. They have quite a wide selection of southern hemisphere wines, which is a good place to find good values and high quality.

Also during the weekdays, and maybe weekends, they have free tastings from 2pm to 4pm. These are free tastings. They also have special occasion tastings that you need to pay, but these tend to be more premium wines, and could have a wine maker in attendance talking about his / her wine.

The other nice thing I like about Everything Wine is that if you go to their website, you can query their wine database and see if your favorite drop is in stock. You can order it online, or go to the store to buy it. Their website is www.everythingwine.ca.

When I was there, they were going to have a special tasting of Sonoma wines for free, but I couldn't stay due to other obligations during the day, but I would have liked to try some. The other thing I noticed today is that they have the "Shuttle" bottles from Hardy's winery in Australia. They have Hardy's Chardonnay / Semillon and their Shiraz / Cabernet Sauvignon Stamp series. For those that don't know, the Shuttle is a bottle with glass built into the screw top. It is meant for picnics or just when you want a small bottle of wine to enjoy on your own. The picture of the Shuttle is in my blog.

I hope you have a chance to visit Everything Wine. Tell them Karl from MyWinePal sent you! Enjoy.

Breakfast with Bill Hardy!

Wow, what an interesting morning! I was invited with a group of other bloggers over breakfast to meet with Bill Hardy, who is the 5th generation from Thomas Hardy who started Hardys wines in South Australia. Bill is a winemaker as well as a Brand Ambassador for Hardys. Hardys is over 150 years old, starting in 1853. Quite a long heritage.

The main goal of the breakfast was to let us know about a new bottle being marketed in Canada by Hardys called the SHUTTLE. The Shuttle is a 250ml bottle that contains 250ml of wine. It uses a stelvin-like closure and consists of a bottle with glass. The closure is inside the plastic glass and the glass is inverted on top of the bottle of wine. We were shown the Chardonnay / Semillion blend shuttle. There will also be a Syrah / Cabernet Sauvignon shuttle also for the Canadian market. The nice thing about the shuttle to me, is that it is just the right amount of wine if you are having a meal by yourself, or to take on a picnic when you do not want to fuss with glasses and a bottle opener. You just twist the cap / glass to open the bottle; pour and enjoy. The price is also right at CAD$4.25 plus tax.

Bill let us talk about anything with him. I found out that this year's vintage, 2009, is generally very good. There was a heat wave at the beginning of the harvest which affected the early ripening white grapes, but then it cooled off and the remaining white and red grapes produced very well. Bill indicated that he is very happy with the red wine production.

Did you know that the Tintara Vineyard was the first purchased by Thomas Hardy in the McLaren Vale (1876), which is south east of Adelaide? You may have heard of the Tintara line of wines from Hardys. I can attest that the Tintara Shiraz is outstanding as I have had the opportunity to try this wine at previous South World Wine Society tastings.

Hardys is also supportive of many groups, and I found out that one group is Canucks Place here in Vancouver. Any winery that supports people in need, especially children, rate high in my books.

Closing off this blog, I asked Bill for the favourite wine that he produced at Hardys. I expected him to say a big, extracted Aussie Shiraz, but was pleasantly suprised when he offered two wines, and they were both dessert / fortified wines! The first wine was the 1985 Hardys Collector Beerenauslese Riesling. This is a dessert wine that has been affected by Noble Rot. The Noble Rot imparts a honeyed / marmalade type flavour to this sweet wine. The Noble Rot wizens the grapes, leaving less water before pressing, and therefore more syrup for fermentation. The yeasts typically have problems fermenting super sugary syrup and die around 12-13 % alcohol. This leaves a fair amount of residual sugar. If you have not tried a Beerenauslese level wine, you should try. Most come from Germany, and most are very expensive, but well worth the cost to try at least once.

The other favourite wine that Bill produced was a 1975 Vintage Port, which he also noted was made by accident. Bill had identified a block of very good grapes which he was going to use to produce a top level Thomas Hardy still red wine. He had started the fermentation of the block of grapes and turned over the monitoring of the fermentation to another winemaker. He forgot though to tell the other winemaker that that block of grapes was for a still wine. The other winemaker thought that those grapes looked like they would be prime for port so he added alcohol to the fermentation, thus stopping it (killing the yeast), and the rest is history.

To close, keep your eyes open for the new Shuttle and try it on your next picnic. Enjoy!

Celebrate Australia!

January 26, 2009 08:01:04
Posted By Wine With Karl

G'Day Mate and Happy Australia Day! On Saturday I was invited to the Celebrate Australia wine tasting, which was held in downtown Vancouver. 43 wineries were present, along with lots of food, and music. Each of the wineries offered 3-5 wines, so there were about 200 wines to sample this evening. I didn't make it through all of the wines, but found some very nice wines.

Australian wines over 10 years ago were in the sub $20 category and were predominantly full bodied, full fruited red wines. Now countries like Chile and Argentina are filling that price range. Australia is now into the $20 and up category, and rightly so, as they have some premium wine makers and wine regions.

Western Australia, particularly around Margaret River, are known for their Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines. More Old World in style and restrained, compared to the rest of Australia and the other New World countries. The Barossa Valley and Coonawarra are still producing big cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, but there tends to be more structure than in the past. The Yarra Valley is becoming more well known around the world for their cool climate pinot noir and chardonnay.

So you are probably hoping for a few wine picks from me, and here they are:

- Brokenwood Hunter Valley Semillon 2007, $26.99. If you have never tried Semillon (a white varietal), you have to try this one. It has a citrusy, apple, tarry nose. Excellent acidity with citrus/lime flavours.

- d'Arenberg The Custodian McLaren Vale Grenache 2005, $24.99. Wonderful toffee, tar, raspberry and strawberry fruit with sweet, ripe tannins.

- Heggies Eden Valley Chardonnay 2006, $27.99. This wine has nice acidity and minerality. Don't look for an overly oaked, buttery chardonnay here.

Enjoy!

Wines from Mendoza, Argentina

November 12, 2008 08:26:08
Posted By Wine With Karl

Most people probably don't know about the Mendoza area, but enjoy the big Malbec wines that come from that part of Argentina. Mendoza is located in mid-west of the Argentine Republic and at the feet of the Andes. Mendoza is the center of Argentina’s wine industry and accounts for approximately 70% of the country’s total output. Nearly all the major wineries are concentrated in this province. Its signature grape is the Malbec. The climate and terroir in Mendoza are the ideal setting for the full expression of this grape variety. Being high altitude, it gets nice warm sunny weather during the day, and cool night time temperatures, which prolongs the grape ripening season and keeping acidity in the grapes.

Argentina is the 5th largest wine producer in the world. Mendoza has over 140,000 hectares of vineyards. Mendoza exports approximately 90% of Argentina's wines.

Mendoza produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Barbera, Riesling, Chenin, Ungi Blanc, and Semillon and others, in its over 1220 vineyards. 79% of vineyards are planted with red varietals and 21% with white varietals.

Malbec is the most popular varietal for international markets. With typical black cherry, blackberry and spice aromas, this wine is usually produced in a Bordeaux style, often aged in oak, for a result that is soft, deep, and velvety.

Besides being a great place to produce full bodied wines, the town of Mendoza has a large artist base. So lots of great artwork as well.