Wines of South Africa Event in Vancouver

I received this note from the Wines of South Africa (WOSA) and I thought I'd pass it along to you. In celebration of the World Cup happening in South Africa, South African wines are going to be celebrated as well in June. Below is the note I received. I hope you get a chance to try some South African wines during the World Cup. South Africa is known as the Old World of the New World. Their wines have the "fruit" that you associate with other New World wines, like from California or Chile, but they also have some of the restraint, tannic structure, and earthiness of Old World wines, such as from France and Spain. There are some excellent producers in the list of wines below, such as Boekenhoutskloof, Graham Beck, and Glen Carlou. Enjoy the World Cup!

The Announcement from WOSA:
On Friday, June 11th 2010, a unique South African wine tasting will be held at the 39th & Cambie Signature Liquor Store. Open to the public, this event will sample high quality and value of South African wines paired with savoury bites and a complimentary mini spa. The food will be prepared by Hart House Restaurant’s Kris Kabush and the complimentary mini spa treatments are from Spa Utopia.

The event at 39th & Cambie will feature a dozen stellar wines:

Nederburg Cabernet Sauvignon 111526 $ 12.99
Sebeka Cabernet/Pinotage 793067 $ 12.99
Spier Chenin Blanc 659037 $ 13.95
K.W.V. Roodeberg Red 7187 $ 14.99
Boekenhoutskloof The Wolftrap 138479 $ 14.99
Excelsior Shiraz 183995 $ 15.99
Bellingham Sauvignon Blanc / Chardonnay 848622 $ 14.99
Boekenhoutskloof Porcupine Ridge Syrah 592873 $ 17.99
Saxenburg Guinea Fowl Red Blend 316992 $ 18.99
Graham Beck Game Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 40428 $ 19.99
Glen Carlou Grand Classique 153882 $ 19.99
Thelema Mountain Red Wine 487967 $ 24.95

These wines will be shown to their best advantage paired with tasty bites prepared by Hart House’s talented Executive Chef, Kris Kabush. In addition to indulging their tastebuds, guests can also enjoy an onsite spa experience from Vancouver ’s much-loved Spa Utopia. Spa Technicians will give each guest a relaxing five-minute mini treatment. The combination of good wine, savoury food, and a turn in a massage chair is sure to help iron the wrinkles out of your day!

In conjunction with the month-long promotion, Wines of South Africa is also offering a deluxe prize package featuring Spa Utopia and the Pan Pacific Vancouver. The winner will enjoy a $225 spa gift certificate, lunch for two, and one night’s accommodation at the luxurious Pan Pacific all valued at $1000.

For details, and to enter the draw, visit www.wosa.co.za.

Wines of South Africa Consumer Tasting

Friday, June 11 2010

3:00 – 7:00 pm

BCLDB 39th & Cambie Signature Liquor Store

5555 Cambie Street, Vancouver

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!

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.

Wines of South Africa Release

Yesterday I had the good fortune to be invited to the fall release of South African wines at the Sutton Place Hotel. Andre Morgenthal from WOSA in South Africa was present to tell us about wine making in South Africa as well as lead us through a tasting of 9 wines. I was fortunate to meet Andre as well about 5 years ago when he brought over a selection of bottles for us to try as well.

A bit of background for those of you that are not too familiar with South African wines. This year South Africa is celebrating 350 years of wine making, which started in 1659. South Africa is known as the Old World of the New World as their wines share characteristics of both worlds. You get the more fruit which is typically representative of wines of the New World, but you also get the structure and terroir of the Old World. These wines usually do very well with food. During apartheid, South African wineries produced wines that the locals enjoyed, but did not translate well to the palates of the rest of the world. When apartheid lifted in the early 1990's, South African wineries had to quickly adapt their wine making style to what consumers world-wide enjoy. It took a few years to get there, and their wines are now very well received on the world stage.

There are approximately 700 wineries in South Africa with about 6800 labels. It is a very ancient land with ancient soils as there was no glaciation as their was in North America for example. So the soils are from very old weathered rocks and have very small areas of unique soils/climate (terroir) across South Africa. So you could try a Sauvignon Blanc for example from 7 different regions within South Africa and they could taste very different.

The wines we tried were:
- Moreson Blanc de Blancs Brut Method Cap Classic Sparkling wine NV
- Vinum Chenin Blanc 2008
- Graham Beck Gameskeeper's Reserve Chenin Blanc 2008
- Thelema Sutherland Sauvignon Blanc 2008
- Boschendal 1685 Chardonnay 2008
- Winery of Good Hope Pinot Noir 2008
- Golden Kaan Winemaker's Edition Shiraz 2004
- La Motte Shiraz 2007
- Glen Carlou Grand Classique 2005

Moreson is a small producer in South Africa. Cap Classic is South Africa's term for Method Champenoise (changing the still wine into sparkling wine in the bottle). It had a very fine bubble. Red apple, citrus, light spice and bready flavour. It had a long finish. Nice.

The Vinum Chenin Blanc was a light, bright lemon colour. It had smoky, woody, waxy, lemon aromas. Light/medium body, round mouthfeel, with oak and citrus flavours, and a spicy long finish. FYI, "Steen" is the South African word for Chenin Blanc.

Graham Beck is one of my favourite producers in South Africa. I have read that President Obama drank a bottle of Graham Beck NV Brut sparkling on election night. This chenin blanc was bright, light lemony coloured. Green pine, citrus, oak aromas. Round mouthfeel with oak, spice, tropical fruit and citrus flavours. I tried this wine again at the end of the tasting and the aroma completely changed which is cool. The greeness disappeared and was replaced by a lime peel aroma.

We had one Sauvignon Blanc in the tasting, which was the Thelema Sutherland Sauvignon Blanc. Sutherland being the name of the vineyard in Elgin. This wine had lots of green vegetal aromas, especially asparagus. On the palate I noted "saltiness" which was not unpleasant, but very unique as i've only tasted this before in sherry. It could be that the green vegetal and asparagus flavours were so pronounced it "tasted" salty. This wine had good acid and length.

The Boschendal 1685 Chardonnay was our last white wine in the tasting flight. This is a BIG chardonnay with lots of oak, buttery, vanilla, citrus aromas. Full bodied with nutmeg, vanilla, citrus and apple flavours. Round mouthfeel.

Our first red wine was the Winery of Good Hope Pinot Noir. This wine started off with aroma of violets, but later in the tasting the nose changed to cherries and spice. On the palate there were flavours of violets, roses, red cherries and a dry finish. A nice light bodied pinot noir.

Our next red was the Golden Kaan WInemaker's Edition Shiraz. This wine was deep reddish purple in the glass. Tar, burnt rubber and dark fruit on the nose. Cherries and good fruit. Smoky finish and a bit of spice.

Another shiraz we enjoyed was the La Motte Shiraz. This one was deep extracted purple in colour. It had a nice nose, with some spice, red juicy fruit. A round mouthfeel with LOTS of red fruit and some spice. Dry finish. Very nice.

Our last wine is Glen Carlou Grand Classique. Glen Carlou is one of the wineries from South Africa that I like alot. Their shiraz is very good and their chardonnay. The Grand Classique is a Bordeaux blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc. This one was deep purple in the glass. Lots of vanilla, dark sweet fruit and chocolate nose. Medium-full body with black fruit and chocolate flavours. Very smooth.

Some of these wines are not yet available in BC, but I do know that you can buy the Glen Carlou at Everything Wine in North Vancouver. Enjoy!

5 Nations Cup Results

February 2, 2009 07:43:25
Posted By Wine With Karl

A little over 2 weeks ago the South World Wine Society had their annual 5 Nations Cup. This is a blind tasting, where a white and red wine is tasted from each of Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa. The members and guests of the event rate the wines without knowing which country each wine is from.

Everyone loves Australian wines. They have been #2 in sales after BC VQA wine lately, but they were #1 in BC for quite a while before that. People on the other hand have viewed Chilean and Argentinean wines as being somehow cheap and cheerful wines. This tasting proved to people the exact opposite. The favourite WHITE and RED wine for the evening was from Chile. Argentina's red wine came in second place. The Aussie red and white wines ended up in last place!

So, if you haven't tried a Chilean wine, maybe now is the time to go to your favorite bottle shop and picking up one or two? If you want to see which wines were tasted and their rankings, go to www.southworldwine.com and scroll down to the middle of the page.

And lastly a few Chilean wines you may want to buy and try:

- Novas Organic Carmenere Cabernet, Chile, 2004, $16.99
- Montes Alpha Chardonnay, Chile, 2006, $26.85
- Viu Manent Malbec Reserva, Chile, 2005 (private stores)
- Matetic “EQ” Sauvignon Blanc, Chile, 2005 (private stores)

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.