Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Fair - Day 3

Yesterday was my last day at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Fair. I tried many wines from the theme countries of New Zealand and Argentina, and gave you my picks. Today I'll give you some of my picks for the rest of the world.

If you like Italian wines, Altesino is a nice coice. I particularly liked their Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2004 and their Alte d'Altesi "Super Tuscan" IGT 2003. The Brunello was pale reddish orange. Light strawberry and woody nose. Light body with strawberry and oaky flavours. Medium tannins. The Alte d'Altesi was fuller bodied. Medium garnet. Smoky, earthy, oaky nose. Cherry flavour with very firm tannins.

A South African winery I had not tried before but will now look around for is Alto. South African wines tend to have a different aromatic profile than other New World wines. There is something earthy about many of their wines. Alto's Rouge 2007 and Shiraz 2006 were wonderful. I was told their Fine Old Vintage Port 2006 was really good, but never got around to trying it. The Rouge 2007 was light/medium garnet in the glass. Capsicum and cherry nose. Cherry, meaty and spicy flavours. Their Shiraz 2006 was deep purple coloured. Sweet black fruit aromas. Firm tannins and bursting with blueberry flavours. Very full bodied. Nice!

Back here in Canada, a must try is Cedar Creek Estate winery's Platinum Malbec 2007 and their Platinum Syrah 2007. The Platinum Malbec 2007 is their first single varietal release. Medium purple colour. Plum and dark fruit aromas. Rip, black cherries with some green stemminess. Very smooth. Vanilla and medium spice. The Platinum Syrah 2007 had nice blueberries and plum aromas. Quite spicy on the palate with black cherry flavour. Medium tanning and long length.

Another BC wine to try is the Chardonnay 2007 from Church & States Wines. The Chardonnay 2007 is medium lemon colour. Nice apricot nose. Vanilla, sweet spice, pineapple and apricot flavours, with a bit of spice. Lots of flavours coming out the glass the more you swirled it around in your mouth.

If you like biodynamic wines, there is the Cadenizia 2008 from Gemtree Vineyards in Australia. This wine is a blend of Grenache, Tempranillo, and Shiraz). Medium garnet. Nice nose with butterscotch, cherry and vanilla. Lots of cassis flavour with black cherry and spiciness. Firm yet fine tannins.

My third recommended BC wine is the Mission Hill Family Estate Quatrain 2006. This is a Syrah, Merlot, Cab Sauvignon, and Cab Franc blend from the Black Sage area of the Okanagan. Deep purple coloured. Blueberry and plum nose. Cherry and plum flavour, peppery with firm tannins.

If you are a Pinot Noir lover, try the Freedom Hill Pinot Noir 2006 from Panther Creek in Oregon. The Freedom Hill Pinot Noir 2006 is light cherry coloured. Smoky, strawberry aromas. Earthy, cherry flavours, with a bit of spiciness and low tannins.

There are many more wines for me to write about for you. That will be happening over the next week. Hopefully you would have tried some of these wines and/or purchased some. Enjoy!

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!

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!

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.

MASI Tupungato Passo Doble 2007

I was intrigued when I first heard of this wine for a few reasons. First it is by the large Italian winery MASI. Second it uses Corvina, an Italian grape, not common in Argentina. Third it uses the process of drying the Corvina grapes (concentrating the juice and sugars) and then fermenting them with the Malbec grapes (a double fermentation). Fourth, Passo Doble is a very macho bullfighting dance from Spain, so I was expecting this to be a very macho wine.

For those that have not heard of, or tried wines from MASI, here is a bit of info. The Boscaini family have been the owners of the Masi vineyards for six generations, starting in the 18th century. They started in the Venetian region and expanded to the Tuscany region. They then crossed contients and started a winery in Argentina. Most people probably know Masi for their Amarone wines, especially COSTASERA AMARONE CLASSICO. This wine is made of a mix of three grapes, Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara, which are dried on straw or bamboo mats before fermenting. You can expect from this wine to be dark red, and have a bouquet of baked fruit, plums and cherries, and a follow through of these flavours on the palate along with coffee and cocoa. Enjoy it with a hearty Italian pasta or meat dish.

And some info about the two grape varieties. Malbec is a grape used in Bordeaux, but never reached prominent status as it needs lots of heat to mature, and Bordeaux did not get hot enough, often enough. But Argentina, and in particular Mendoza, does have nice hot weather so that Malbec can fully ripen. The Malbec grape was brought from France to Argentina in the mid 1900s. It is now the signature RED grape of Argentina. The wines from this grape are typically deep purple in the glass, with plum and other dark fruit flavours and aromas. Sometimes some chocolate notes too.

The Corvina grape comes from the northeast part of Italy and is one of three grapes that go into Valpolicella. The grape has high acidity and sour cherry flavour and produces a light-medium bodied wine on it's own.

So how was the MASI Tupungato Passo Doble 2007 from Argentina? It was a bright purple in the glass. The purple to me coming from the Malbec grape. It had a very smoky, rustic aroma, but behind that was cherry, leather, menthol and cinnamon. On the palate, there was smoke, chocolate, sour cherry, some spice and a green herbal edge. There was not much tannins. It was a bit hot but had a slightly sweet finish, which could be a result of the dried Corvina grapes. There was also a fair bit of acidity which would have been from the Corvina grapes. I'd rate this wine in the interesting category. I'd suggest enjoying this wine with food, and not drinking it on it's own. You need some food to be a foil for the high acid in this wine.

The price in the BCLDB is regular $15.99 but right now is discounted to $14.99 (save $1).

Hart House's Summer Garden Parties

Sometimes I hear about events at various restaurants with food and wine. Here is a case in point. Burnaby's Hart House is a beautiful heritage home at Deer Lake Park. They have just released their Summer Garden Parties announcement. You may want to partake, and you may bump into me at one of them. Enjoy!

Burnaby’s Hart House at Deer Lake is pleased to announce the dates for our summer garden party events. Each garden party starts with a casual tasting of wines from the evening’s featured region, held in Hart House’s elegant gardens. Guests may then purchase wines from the evening’s specially-selected wine list to pair with the al fresco dinner that follows. Live music and a spectacular view of Deer Lake will add to diners’ enjoyment of the evening.

The 2009 summer event schedule includes:

- Lobster Supper – Wednesday, June 17
Fresh Nova Scotia lobster is the life of our annual Maritime-infused party.
Wine sampling and live music help make this event a great way to welcome in the summer.

- Italian Garden Party – Wednesday, July 22
Our classic Italian Garden Party features Mediterranean cuisine paired with premium Italian wines. Guests are welcome to stroll around the beautiful Hart House estate lawn and gardens.

- Evening in Provence – Wednesday, August 19
This is a celebration of the culture and flavours of Provence , France . A sampling of French wines in our gardens is followed by a dinner featuring Provence-inspired cuisine.

- California Experience – Wednesday, September 9
California’s world-class wines have earned a prominent place on the world stage in recent years. Here’s your chance to sample some of California ’s best, paired with exceptional cuisine.

All events start at 6:00pm. Reservations will be accepted starting May 21, 2009.

Reservations by phone only at 604-298-4278 www.harthouserestaurant.com

Las Vegas!

February 18, 2009 09:36:51
Posted By Wine With Karl

So you probably wondered why I have not posted lately. The answer is I took a short vacation to Las Vegas. Visited a few new casinos, played some table games, and of course kept my eye out for wine.

If you are looking for a nice wine bar, and nearby wine shop, I'd suggest that you visit the Palazzo. This is the new twin tower for the Venetian casino. It is a really beautiful casino. One of the things I found in the Palazzo is a very nice wine bar called "Double Helix Bar" and beside it is the "Double Helix Boutique". In the boutique you can buy the wines that you tried in the bar.

From the Double Helix website:

"...Double Helix's nearly 2,100-square-foot space is located within the heart of the shopping center and includes a circular bar featuring more than 50 wines by the glass, available in either 2 oz. taste portions or 5 oz. glass servings. An adjacent boutique offers nearly 300 bottles of rare and hard-to-find labels from all over the world.

Featured wines include: Ken Wright Pinot Noir (Oregon), Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1999, Sonoma-Cutrer Les Pierres Chardonnay, Gaja Ca'Marcanda Promis (Italy), Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand), and Dom Perignon Champagne (France) to name just a few...."

So if you are going to Las Vegas, and need a wine fix, please visit the Double Helix. Enjoy!

Pinotage anyone?

November 21, 2008 07:41:57
Posted By Wine With Karl

You have probably heard of chardonnay and merlot, but have you ever heard of Pinotage? It is not a well known grape, but sometimes lesser known varietals can be fun to try. Pinotage is a red grape that is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, both French grapes. Pinot Noir being the signature red grape from Burgundy and Cinsault from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. A South African Professor of Viticulture crossed the 2 grapes in 1925.

The grape does well in warmer areas, such as South Africa, but you can also find some growing in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia (and a few other regions around the world). A wine made from Pinotage has been said to have aromas of banana and tropical fruit. Sometimes it has a bit of a nailpolish remover aroma that turns off some people. Two South African winemakers that make a very good pinotage are Fairview (Primo Pinotage) and Saxenburg (Pinotage Private Collection). In the Okanagan, two wineries that produce pinotage are Stoneboat and Lake Breeze. Try it and see what you think. Nico van der Merwe of Saxenburg said at a tasting that I attended that Pinotage is very flexible and recommended trying it with Chinese food. So go ahead and experiment. Sometimes you will get amazing pairings.

Once you enjoy the thrill of trying new grape varietals, you may want to try:
- falanghina
- viognier
- roussane
- nebbiolo
- negroamaro (one of my favorites. red and full of flavour from Italy)

Enjoy! Feel free to contact me at contact@mywinepal.com with wines you enjoy or would like me to talk about.