Vancouver Playhouse Wine Fest 2010 - Day 1

Well I'm back from the Trade tasting at the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival. I'm off to the Public tasting that starts in about 1 hr. So some quick notes here for u, in case you are going and want to buy some wines.
There are a ton of Argentinean Malbecs there. If you like full bodied wines, please try them out. I did find a few Malbecs I really enjoyed. They are:

- Casa Montes Bodegas & Vinedos "Alzamora Gran Reserva Malbec 2006"
- Cavas del 23, "Beviam Reserve Malbec 2007"
- Vina Cobos "Bramare Malbec Lujan de Cuyo 2007" - Bodega Catena Zapata "Alta Malbec 2006"
- Bodegas Escorihuela 1884 "1884 Limited Production Malbec 2006"
- Bodegas Salentein "Malbec Reserva 2007"
- Bodegas Salentein "Numina 2006"
- Bodega Vistalba "Tomero Gran Reserve Malbec 2006"

I didn't get through all the Malbecs there are. I'm sure there are more... More news to come after I finish tonight's tasting, and tastings for the rest of the week.

Enjoy!

Preview of Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival

Well, it's been a few weeks since I last blogged. I've been busy the last 2 weeks volunteering at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, but now that this is over, I can dedicate myself to tasting wine, and giving you some insights on great wines and great wine events.

This evening I was privileged to try a range of wines from New Zealand and Argentina. These are the theme countries for the upcoming Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, which will be held in late April this year. BTW, if you don't have tickets yet for any tastings, you better hurry up as many events sell out fast. The web link to the Playhouse International Wine Festival is:
http://playhousewinefest.com/

I tried over 40 wines and found some really nice ones for you. I will have tasting notes for all the wines on www.MyWinePal.com over the next few days, but in the meantime, enjoy these few wines. I do not know if these wines are currently available in BC, but they will for sure be available in the BC Liquor store at the Playhouse International Wine Festival.

New Zealand is well known for their Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, but pay attention to their Viognier, Pinot Gris, and Merlot. The Jackson Estate Stich Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Marlborough, NZ) is a very elegant wine. Oak, lemon and herbal on the nose. Big legs from a higher alcohol content, but the wine is balanced by the fruit so not hot on the palate. It does have nice herbal and lemon flavours with good acidity, not too strong. If you prefer a higher acid Sauvignon Blanc, you may want to try the Giesen "The Brothers" Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008. This wine has a tomato leaf aroma, higher acid, with herbal flavour. A traditional NZ Sauv Blanc.

There was 16 different NZ Pinot Noirs to taste at this event from all regions. There were several "wild" Central Otago pinots. One I enjoyed was the Mud House Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008. Light to medium cherry colour in the glass. A range of smoky, cherry, and leafy aromas. Wild flavours on your palate with cherry, oak and strawberry flavours. Another pinot I liked was the Two Paddocks Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007. This one was medium garnet in colour. Smoky, raspberry and cherry on those nose. Ripe fruit and raspberry flavours. Medium acidity and body, with a smoky finish. Enjoy with grilled lamb chops!

Crossing the Pacific Ocean we reach South America, and Argentina. Argentina is well-known for their Torrontes and Malbec wines, and today did not disappoint. The Bodega Tapiz Torrontes 2009 is a nice understated wine. Some Torrontes can be too fruit forward. This one has the fruit aromatics but doesn't overpower you, and would be a nice accompaniment with food. This wine had a light lychee and rose nose. On the palate there was nutmeg, rose and lychee flavours. A premium wine producer in Argentina is Bodega Catena Zapata. I was able to enjoy their Alta Malbec 2006. This wine is opaque purple in the glass. Vanilla, black currant and red cherry aromas make an interesting nose. On the palate there is vanilla, cherry, black currant and ripe fruit flavours. The tannins were medium yet smooth. You can't go wrong with this wine. A blend that caught my eye and tastebuds was the MASI Tupungato Corbec 2007. This is a mix of 70% Corvina and 30% Malbec. It is made with partially dried grapes, with the drying process concentrating the flavours of the grapes. This wine has a light cherry nose, but very full body and lots of ripe dark fruit and cherries and high tannins. You would need a nice grilled roast or hearty stew to tame the tannins right now, but it is overall a very enjoyable wine.

That's all for now. I hope you enjoy these wines and the upcoming Playhouse International Wine Festival.

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

Chile Day 10 - Casa Lapostolle and Viu Manent

Chile day 10 – Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta and Viu Manent. My first stop this morning was with Casa Lapostolle in their Clos Apalta winery. This winery was specially designed for their flagship wine “Clos Apalta”. This is a Bordeaux blend with Carmenere, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot. The winery is dedicated to organic and biodynamic vineyard practices (which I enjoy and can note that it really does make a difference in your glass), and produces some very nice wines. The Apalta region is the premium red region in Colchagua and I believe in all of Chile. In keeping with my brevity in my blog while I am on the road, I will review one white and one red wine for Casa Lapostolle, with full tasting notes when I am back in Vancouver. For the white, I enjoyed the Casa Lapostolle Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from the Rapel Valley. It had varied aromas of citrus, pineapple and apple. On the palate there was good acidity with pineapple flavour and medium length. This is the FIRST year that Casa Lapostolle has used a screw cap on this wine or any of their other wines. An elegant wine which would pair nicely with seafood. For the reds, I must talk about their Clos Apalta Limited Release 2007. I am the FIRST person in media for North America to try this vintage of Clos Apalta and feel very privileged. This wine spends it's first year aging in all new French oak barrels with each varietal in it's own barrel. In year 2, the varietals (Carmenere, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot) are blended and put back in the same barrels and aged for another year. After 2 years in barrel, the wine is bottled and then the bottle is kept in storage for a year before release. The 2007 vintage was very deep purple coloured in the glass. It had vanilla and sweet black fruit on the nose. On the palate there was vanilla, sweet black fruit, red cherries, cloves, and cinnamon flavours. The flavours came out more as I swirled the wine in my glass exposing the wine to oxygen. It would be interesting if time permitted to try this wine after one hour, four hours and 24 hours to see how the wine's aromas and flavours change. To get the full effect of the wine please decant it. The wine had a nice round mouth feel with a balance of medium tannins. It finished dry with cherry and vanilla flavours lingering on the palate for a long time.

After visiting Casa Lapostolle, my next stop for the day was the Viu Manent winery, just a short drive away. I was given a short tour of the winery, with an opportunity for a barrel sample of a Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by a horse drawn carriage ride through the vineyard. Malbec plays a very big part of the wines at Viu Manent with more being planted around their winery. I have enjoyed their Reserva Malbec in the past at tastings I have held with the South World Wine Society in Vancouver. It is interesting to see how they are producing Malbec very successfully, while this is the signature grape of Argentina. I sampled their Viu Manent Reserva Chardonnay 2008 from the Casablanca Valley. The wine has been released for almost a year. I was told that through the year in the bottle the wine has changed with the level of acidity decreasing, leaving the wine with an off-dry level of sweetness. This wine spent 6 months in oak barrels and as deep yellow in colour. It had a vanilla, apple, sweet and creamy nose. On the palate there was more of the vanilla, apple and creaminess. It was very soft and round in my mouth but also had a slight spiciness. For the red wine, I enjoyed the Reserva Carmenere 2008 from the Colchagua Valley. Deep purple colour in the glass. Vanilla, black fruits and a slight hint of capsicum on the nose. It was quite round in the mouth, with vanilla and ripe black fruit flavours, and a peppery finish.

I have found through discussions with various Chilean winemakers on this trip that Carmenere does tend to have a peppery finish, which is quite nice. The wine makers also suggest paring a Carmenere with spicy asian foods (e.g. Thai, Indian) as well as Mexican food.

That is all from the Colchagua Valley, Tomorrow is back to Santiago. Saludos!

Chile Day 3 - Cerro San Cristobol

Today was touring of the trendy Bellavista neighbourhood and then take the funicular train up the Cerro San Cristobal to get panoramic view of the city, a peek at the Andes mountains and the large Virgin Mary statue overlooking the city. If you are looking for handicrafts and/or lapis lazuli jewelry, then Bellavista is a good place to look. Lunch time is good for fixed price menus for a reasonable price. This lunch it was a carrot fritatta type appetizer, followed by salmon topped with asparagus and cream sauce with mashed potatoes mixed with avocado and sausage, followed by a mango/chocolate mousse, and a Cristal beer. It should have been a nap after that big lunch, but I had to get up the funicular as it was a beautiful sunny day today. Dinner of course had wine. For dinner today it was pizza. I had the “portofino” pizza which had ground beef, chopped mushrooms, chopped heart of palm, and kernels of corn. Quite tasty. Maybe a new flavour for Panagopolus? What was the wine? I tried the Botalcura El Delirio Reserva. This is a Syrah / Malbec blend. I chose this specifically because Malbec is typically grown in Argentina, not Chile. This was a big wine, opaque purple in the glass. Ripe black fruit and tar nose but then opened up to show some oak, and further in the meal, chocolate, vanilla and black cherry. I attribute this wide range of aromas to be from the Malbec grape as i've tried many other malbecs and the wines continually evolve in your glass. Very nice. On the palate, it was ripe black fruit, ripe plums with medium spice and soft tannins. Tomorrow is my first official visit at a winery. Which one? Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog entry.

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!

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).

Speaking at the SWWS

Wow, last night was fun. I spoke at the South World Wine Society's "Planning a New Zealand Vacation" wine tasting. I shared the floor with a travel agent who gave the tour info about New Zealand. Now I really want to travel to New Zealand. It looks very beautiful.

For me last evening, I took the attendees through 9 wines, 4 were white and the rest were red. It was quite interesting. Two of the whites were sauvignon blanc, and very good examples of the "green" type flavours you can get with this grape. The first wine had a lot of gooseberry aroma and flavour and the other lots of asparagus.

On the red side, we were able to try a 9 year old bottle (2000 vintage) of Matiriki Quintology. It's a Bordeaux blend, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% merlot, then smaller amounts of syrah, malbec and cabernet franc.

I will make a full tasting report on the www.southworldwine.com website but it probably will take me a week.

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.