Bubbles for New Years eve 2010

We are on the precipice between the 2000's and the 2010's New Years. Shouldn't we be celebrating the end of the first 10 years of 2000 with some Champagne or other sparkling wine? What fun things could you try? How about buying a vintage champagne, or other sparkling wine from the year 2000. It might be difficult and cost a bit more money but it would be memorable.

If you don't have the time or money to hunt down one of the 2000 vintage bubbles, I have a few suggestions. The wines I list below, I've tasted and have tasting notes on www.MyWinePal.com under the Wine Reviews tab. The reviews are stored in a spreadsheet format which you can freely download and use to help you select bubbles and other wines. Please download and make use of my notes.

Some sparkling wines I enjoyed:

New Zealand	Lindauer	Brut	Sparkling	NV	Biscuity and citrus aroma and flavours. The bubble was small and elegant.
Australia	Banrock Station	Sparkling	Chardonnay	NV	Pale straw colour. It has pleasant acidity. There are flavours of peach, lime and melon.
Australia	Skillogalee	Sparkling	Riesling	NV	Petrol and citrus nose. Good acidity, bright citrus flavour with lingering petrol. Medium length.
South Africa	Graham Beck	Sparkling -Brut	Pinot Noir / Chardonnay	NV	Brillant golden colour and had honey, apple, biscuity aromas and flavours.
Italy	Cantina Breganze	Prosecco Extra Dry	Prosecco	NV	Pale lemon in colour with a tinge of green. Lemon and juicy orchard fruit on the nose. Orange, lemon, and rose petal flavours.
Italy	Cantina Breganze	Blanquette de Limoux Demi-Sec		NV	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.
Spain	Codorniu	Sparkling Brut	Pinot Noir	NV	Light orangy pink in colour. Light strawberry aroma. Very bracing in your mouth, with strawberry and raspberry flavours.
Hungary	Hungaria	Grand Cuvee		NV	Quite a deal for this sparkler. Light lemon in colour, with lemon/lime aromas. Light bubble with lemon flavour.
France	Cuillier Pere et Fils	Brut Selection	Pinot Noir / Chardonnay	NV	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!
South Africa	Moreson	Blanc de Blancs Brut Method Cap Classic	Chardonnay	NV	It had a very fine bubble. Red apple, citrus, light spice and bready flavour. It had a long finish. Nice.

If you are in the Vancouver, BC area, you should be able to get these wines (but not necessarily some of the exact vintages) at a BC Specialty liquor store, or some private wine stores like Everything Wine.

You may also want to celebrate the coming of 2010 with a BC sparkling wine. Here is a list of some sparkling BC wines from Everything Wine (you may be able to get these at BC liquor stores too):

Blue Mountain Gold Label Sparkling 750 mL	Sparkling	$29.99
Charles Meunier Sparkling 750ml	Sparkling	$13.99
Gray Monk Odyssey Brut Sparkling 750 mL	Sparkling	$26.99
Starling Lane 'Celebration' Brut 750 ml	Sparkling	$30.99

I hope I've given you a few ideas for a sparkling wine for New Year's Eve. FYI, I'll probably be enjoying a bottle of Summerhill Cipes Brut N/V from the Okanagan. Cheers!

What does that wine taste like???

I'm sure we all have tasted a wine and tried to place a flavour in the wine. Does it taste earthy, flinty, plummy, like cut grass, or licorice? Over time, when you taste lots of wines, and take lots of notes when you are tasting, you start to gain a library of aromas and flavours in your brain. But when you are starting tasting wine, the range of aromas and flavours can be daunting.

One useful thing that you may want to have with you when you taste a wine, is a wine flavour wheel. You can buy plasticized ones from wine stores. There are also flavour wheels that you can find online and print. I've found one at this web page: Wine Flavour Wheel

If you check the wheel from the above link, you will find that there are 64 flavours for you to start with. If you don't find a flavour that matches to what you are tasting, try categorizing the flavour. Is it citrusy, floral, sweet, for example? That may be all you can do to describe it. If you can go a bit deeper, and you recognize that it is citrusy, does it taste like a single fruit like a lemon, or a lime, or maybe it is a combination? There is nothing wrong to say that you taste both lemon and lime.

You will also find that certain flavours are commonly found with particular grapes, such as citrusy or herbal for Sauvignon Blanc, and strawberries, raspberries or violets for Pinot Noir.

Have fun with wine tasting. You will see with practice that you will be able to identify many more flavours than you were able to do when you started. Enjoy!

Stelvin Lux+ Screw Cap - The Next Generation

You learn something new daily. For me, it was that there are many grades of Stevlin screw caps. The large aluminum company, Alcan, being one of, or the largest producer of these caps. Recently I learned that Alcan's Stelvin Lux+ screw cap is being used by high end wineries in France. The Maison of Jean-Claude Boisset is the first producer in the Cote d’Or to bottle premier and grand cru red wines with screw-tops. As noted by the winery's press release "...The wines available with this efficient, modern closure are the Chambertin and the Beaune Premier Cru Les Bressandes from the exceptional 2005 vintage. Convinced of the quality, some of Jean-Claude Boisset’s great Burgundy reds had been available with screw-caps since 2003..."

What makes the Stelvin Lux+ screw cap better than the original screw cap? The new Stelvin Lux+ screw caps are more aesthetically pleasing than the previous generation as the thread is hidden inside the cap, giving a naturally elegant look to the cap. You can print on the cap, much as you see on other bottles of wine using cork. Inside the aluminum cover is a plastic insert. This insert is designed to allow a similar amount of oxygen into the wine, just like natural cork, which allows the wines to age gracefully. Alcan also indicates that using the Stelvin Lux+ screw cap gives you:
- Easy opening smooth and pleasant due to the plastic insert
- No disgracious noise or metallic crunching on glass

So no more "crack" sound when you open the bottle. I think that is what turns off some people. So they should not have any excuses now. When you are next in your wine shop, look out for this cap. Besides Jean-Claude Boisset in France, DeLoach Vineyards in California also is using the Stelvin Lux+ for some of their premium wines.

Cheers!

South World Wine Society's 5th Annual 5 Nations Cup

One of my favorite wine events is coming up on January 14, 2010. It is the South World Wine Society's "5 Nations Cup". It is a blind wine tasting. We select a red and a white wine from each of the 5 southern hemisphere countries: Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa. In the previous years, Australia and Chile have split the glamour of winning the 5 Nations Cup.

This year we are having a signature red and white varietal from each country. It is fun to see if people can, for example, blindly tell the difference between a Malbec and a Shiraz, or between a Chenin Blanc and a Chardonnay. There are usually lots of theories amongst the tasters as to which glass has which wine in it. I'm disqualified from guessing as I help to select the wine, but it is still educational for me to taste the wines and make my own notes.

If you are in the Vancouver area, i'd like to suggest for u to sign up to this tasting. It is really fun. It is also an idea for a Christmas gift if you have a friend or family member that likes wine. There will also be appetizers so that you can enjoy the wine with food too. Sometimes you will find that you like a certain wine more with food.

I hope to see you there. You can register online at http://www.southworldwine.com

Wine Spectator's Top 100 List for 2009

Today was an interesting and surprising day. I opened up the Top 100 list for 2009 from Wine Spectator, expecting to find a European wine as #1, but it was actually a wine from Washington State. Congratulations go to Columbia Crest and their Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Reserve 2005 (US$27).

Some other observations about the Top 100 list for 2009:
- Numanthia-Termes Toro Termes 2005 (a Spanish Tempranillo) gets number 2 spot
- Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau 2007 gets number 3. This is the first European wine on this list, and it's not Bordeaux. The Rhone Valley produces very good wines. I hope more people enjoy them.
- the first white wine shows up at number 9. Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley 2007 (not a Chardonnay). Very interesting. Merry Edwards though, is a known premium producer.
- No BC wine was listed. Hopefully next year!
- 16 of the top wines are from Italy. Lots of Brunello and Chianti.
- the first Chardonnay shows up at 21 and it's not from Burgundy. Neyers Chardonnay Carneros 2007
- the first bubble shows up at 18 and it's not from Champangne. Argyle Extended Tirage Willamette Valley 1999
- the first Chilean red shows up at 57 spot. Viña Santa Rita Cabernet Sauvignon Maipo Valley Medalla Real Special Reserve 2006 (one of the wineries I visited in October this year. One of my recommended wines.)

Well there are many other things I can glean from the Top 100 list for 2009, but I'd suggest that you get a copy of the list and see if there is anything interesting or surprising for you. Enjoy!

Blue Mountain Winery at Salt Tasting Room

On Monday evening I had the good fortune of being invited to a Blue Mountain Winery tasting at one of Vancouver's hottest restaurants, Salt Tasting Room, in Gastown. Blue Mountain winery is located in Okanagan Falls and was established in 1991. It's a family run business and it shows with the care they show with their wines. They are an Estate Winery which means all the grapes they use for their wines come from their vineyard (which they have 80 acres under vines, but only 60 acres producing grapes at the moment).

For those of you who have not been to Salt Tasting Room, they offer a range of cheeses and charcuterie and condiments to their guests. They have a wide range of wines to pair with these food, along with some beers.

This evening we were treated to three white and three red wines, paired with cheeses and charcuterie. The three white wines were the:
- Blue Mountain Brut (a sparkling wine made in the traditional champenoise style)
- Blue Mountain Pinot Blanc 2008
- Blue Mountain Pinot Gris 2007

The Brut is a blend of 47% Pinot Noir, 47% Chardonnay, and 6% Pinot Gris. Pale yellow in colour with a slight bubble around the edge of the glass. Light citrus, slightly sweet and a bit of lees on the nose. The bubble was quite fine, and had lemony, lees, and almond flavour. Quite nice. To this I enjoyed the Schinkenspeck sausage slices from Oyama the Savoury Moon cheese from BC and the Isle of Mull Cheddar from the UK.

The Pinot Blanc is whole cluster pressed and fermented in barrel (47%) and the remainder in tank. This wine had peach and lemon aroma (i was expecting apple, but i love suprises). There was a slight bit of effervesence, lemon and mineral flavours. Another enjoyable wine.

The final white, the Pinot Gris, is similarly fermented as the Pinot Blanc. The result is a wine with light aromas of stone fruit. A round mouthfeel with cherry and stone fruit flavours. Again something I was not expecting was the cherry flavour. Interesting.

For the red wines we were treated to the:
- Blue Mountain Gamay Noir 2008
- Blue Mountain Reserve Pinot Noir 2006
- Blue Mountain Reserve Pinot Noir 1997

The Gamay Noir was deep violet/purple in the glass. Very aromatic with dark cherry and cassis? aromas. On the palate it was peppery, black cherry and licorice with low tannins. It was nice with the Mike Vitow's Corned Beef.

The Reserve Pinot Noir 2006, is a soft pinot noir. Light cherry and violet aromas and flavours. A bit astringent. It went nicely with the Avonlea Cheddar from PEI and the Piccantino and the Lamb Salamis from Oyama.

Our last wine of the night (and my favourite) was the Reserve Pinot Noir 1997. This wine had depth of character and was very defined in it's flavours, like a laser beam. Deep red colour in the glass. A very interesting nose with cherries and mint. On the palate there was dark cherry, some spice and medium tannins. Long length. Excellent! I quite enjoyed this wine with the Saint Agur blue cheese from France. This is a creamy blue cheese, half way between a Stilton and a Cambazola.

If you have not been to Salt Tasting Room, it is located at 45 Blood Alley in Gastown. Enjoy.