A new wine and cheese experience

September 27, 2008 12:15:03

Posted By Wine With Karl

Every region of France has it's own unique cheese. In Burgundy, one of those cheeses is the Epoisses de Bourgogne. This cheese has a cream cheese type texture and an orangey, wrinkled rind. The rind is washed with the marc de Bourgogne as it ripens. Marc is the left over juices after squeezing out the fermented grape skins and then distilling these juices. The cheese was semi-firm with a woody / nutty aroma. The aroma was not as strong as the previous cheeses. It had a cottage cheese flavour, with nutty flavoured rind, and a hint of saltiness. Quite nice.

The wine I paired with it was from the Rhone valley. It was the Chateau de Beaulieu, La Chatelaine, 2007, Cotes de Rhone. The blend was 60% grenache, and the remainder unknown amounts of Syrah, Cinsault, Mouvedre and Carignan. This wine was the Medaille de Bronze award from the Concours des Grands Vins de France 2008. It was a deep purple colour in the glass. There were intense aromas of meat, pepper, red and black fruits. The red and black fruit flavours continued on the palette. It was very peppery and had a long finish. Very full bodied, low tannins and good acidity. The fruit and black pepper flavours of the wine complemented the creaminess and nuttiness of the cheese. It was a great pairing. Salut!

Marche aux Vins in Beaune

September 27, 2008 12:11:00

Posted By Wine With Karl

There is a lot of wine to taste in Burgundy. Besides driving through the wonderful vineyards and stopping and wine makers' doors, there are wine merchants. One is the Marche Aux Vins, which is across the street from the amazing Hospices de Beaune, Hotel Dieu, a hospital built in the mid 1400's to take care of the sick people regardless of their wealth. At the Marche aux Vins you get to travel through their underground cellars and try wines from 16 crus. Covering Chablis to the Maconnais, through Cote de Beaune, Cote de Nuits and the Cote Chalonnaise. Upon entering and paying your 10 Euro entrance fee, you are given your own tastivin (little metal cup you sometimes see on tv shows with very erudite people pontificating about wine) to sample the wines. The wines ranged in price from 14 – 39 Euros. There were 3 white wines to taste. There was a Marsannay, Pouilly-Fuisse, and a Mersault. All were light bodied with citrus, oak, and apple flavours. The red wines were more exciting. A lower priced red I enjoyed was the Beaune Hospices de Dijon, 1999, for 22 Euros. It had a nice vanilla, cherry nose. It was very fruity, with low tannins. A bit more expensive bottle as from Pommard. Pommard is traditionally a more firm (masculine) wine than from other parts of Burgundy. It had meaty, earthy aromas. Good red fruit flavours with low-medium tannins. The top end red wine of the tasting was the Corton Les Languettes Grand Cru 2000 for 39 Euros. It had cherry and sausage aromas. The cherry and sausage continued on the palate. It had medium tannins, good acidity and a long finish. Very impressive. That is all from Burgundy. Salut!

Domaine Klipfel

September 20, 2008 07:13:10

Posted By Wine With Karl

Just south of Strausbourg is the city of Barr and the Domaine Klipfel. This winery produces Alsatian style white wines as well a eaux-de-vie (fruit infused distilled spirits). My guide in this tasting was a wonderful lady, but spoke no English, and my French is not too extensive. we both spoke enough wine terms that we both understood and so enjoyed the tasting. I tried both the entry level riesling / pinot gris / muscat / gewurztraminer as well as the Grand Cru versions. The entry level wines were quite light and off-dry. They showed some of their grape character. All were very refreshing. The riesling though was my favorite of this group. The Grand Cru wines were all fantastic, being more intense in fruit flavour and more full bodied. The riesling was again my favourite. This one was starting to show some of the petrol aromas you get from an aged riesling. I was told that their Grand Cru wines can age for 10 years in the bottle. As a special treat, I was offered to taste a Vendage Tardive (late harvest) gewurztraminer. It was of course much sweeter due to the concentration of sugar in these late harvested grapes. There was the typical lychee aroma, but also honey and orange, which I believe came from Noble Rot from some of the grapes. Truly a wonderful wine as an aperitif on it's own or with some cheese. Salut!

Another wine and cheese experience

September 20, 2008 07:13:10

Posted By Wine With Karl

While in Colmar in Alsace, ii thought I should pair a cheese with an Alsatian style Pinot gris. The wine for this pairing is the Ruhl Mann Pinot Gris 2007, tete de cuvee. To this with the help of a local cheese merchant I selected a Peladron de chevre au lait cru cevenol, a soft goat milk based cheese. The pinot gris was light bodied, straw coloured. It was off-dry, apple flavour and good acidity. The cheese was an adventure. Cheese should be taken out of the fridge and let warm up. Most people recommend waiting a few hours before eating the cheese to bring out the full flavour. There is no harm in leaving it out longer, so it stayed in my room for 24 hrs before I opened the wrapper. It was VERY aromatic. It smelled very much like the durian fruit you can get in asian supermarkets. The interior of the cheese was white and creamy and very runny. The flavour was of durian candy, which is not as intense as the aroma, and has a sweetness to it. To this very big, aromatic, creamy cheese, the acidity of the pinot gris was a great counterpoint, and made the pairing work. That being said, my next wine and cheese pairing will be with a hard cheese. Salut!

A Beaune to pick

September 20, 2008 07:13:10

Posted By Wine With Karl

On Thursday and Friday this week, I spent driving the Route des Grand Vins in search of a bottle of Burgundian pinot noir to bring back to Canada. On Thursday, we did the Cote de Nuits and Friday, the Cote de Beaune. In Cote de Nuits, our primary stop was in Gevrey-Chambertin. The pinot noir wines of this area are viewed as being feminine in style, while those from Pommard as being very masculine in style. In Gevrey-Chambertin, I visited several small producers, in particular Gerard Quivy and Philippe Leclerc. I particularly enjoyed the wines from Philippe Leclerc. I was able to enjoy the 2003 and 2005 vintage of the Premier Cru les Cazetiers, and the 2003 vintage of the Premier Cru la Combe aux Moines. The 2003 les Cazetiers came from a very hot year making a wine with exceptionally ripe fruit flavours. The 2005 les Cazetiers was not yet ready for drinking, but amazingly had the same flavour characteristics, which Leclerc attributes to the soil / terroir of the vineyard plot used for this wine. The la Combe aux Moines had a leather and cherry nose. It had good black fruit flavour and medium tannins. The finish was very long. I'd say this wine needs 2-3 years more aging before drinking to smooth out the tannins a bit.

Friday was the drive through the Cote de Beaune. Most visits were to some wine shops that offered several wines from the region for tasting. To walk into these shops and see the famous names, such as Montrachet, Pommard, Mersault, surrounding you is truly inspiring and humbling. Thinking how long these wines have been produced and how they have refined the production to small plots of land with it's particular terroir, and how far we have yet to go in Canada. To avoid boring you with all the wines I tried i thought I would just tell you about my favorite wine for this day. The wine of the day was the 2006 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “les Champs Gains” from Michel Bouzereau. This wine was straw coloured with a light oak and stone fruit aromas. The oak continued on the palette along with apple flavour. It had light acidity and was light bodied. If you want to purchase it, one bottle costs 47 Euros, plus shipping and taxes of course. Salut!

What am I drinking today?

August 25, 2008 04:54:55

Posted By Wine With Karl

Well it is summer, so you would think a nice, crisp white wine, or maybe i'm a contrarian and would go for a big red (maybe with some BBQ), but you would be wrong on both counts. Today I am sipping on the 2007 Mission Hill 5 Vineyards Rose from Westbank in the BC Okanagan. Rose is becoming more fashionable. I have seen greater numbers of roses on store shelves and in restaurant lists over the past 2 years here in Vancouver. Rose is actually produced from red grapes, the only difference between a rose and a red wine is the length of time that the skins stay in contact with the juice during ferementation. Depending on the winemaker this could be 16-22-24 hrs or more. But the longer the skins are in the fermentation vessel, the more colour comes out, plus tannin (the stuff that makes your mouth feel dry).

The rose I am drinking today is a blend of varietals: pinot noir and merlot. This wine has a nice strawberry aroma with a tinge of orange on the palate. Not too heavy. Would be nice with some grilled salmon, or a lightly flavoured cheese. Enjoy.

Welcome to my Wine World!

August 20, 2008 07:02:48

Well, it is said that a journey starts with the first step. I hope this first step is the many of steps that I will be taking with you in the future. I have always be interested in wine and it has led me to be the president of the South World Wine Society here in Vancouver, BC. I have also sought out wineries wherever I have travelled around the world. Some places I have visited wineries are:

- BC Okanagan

- Washington, Oregon, and California State

- South Australia (Adelaide, Barossa Valley)

- Nova Scotia

- Argentina

I will of course be visiting more wineries in the future and I will post my travels here in the blog. Over the next year I plan to visit:

- France (Champagne region, Burgundy, Alsace, and Provence)

- Argentina (hopefully make it to Mendoza)

- Chile

Other things you might read in my blog are wine events that I recently attended, what wine I'm currently drinking, and other specials I hear that are wine related. I want to provide you with information that is of interest to you, so please feel free to email me with your ideas!