Nov 23 2010

‘best of’ pinot party 2010

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 3:14 am

I have a very, very sweet gig – taste wine, maybe invite some friends to join… and write about it. That’s a whole lot of fabulous right there.

Earlier I announced that I’d be having a pinot party to taste my way through a number of BC wines. Turns out a few of my friends decided to join me on my dangerously yummy mission. You know who you are, and I’m grateful.

I haven’t been part of a varietal-specific evening before, and it was an absolute blast. Made food choices easy because people didn’t have to ask me what they could bring – I simply informed them of the 12 bottles of pinot noir we were to consume, and attendees brought everything from salmon, spinach and mascarpone stuffed baked goodness to cheese and chocolate. We were covered.

The lineup was varied in production and age with small lots going head-to-head with larger production contenders. But considering this is BC, production at many wineries is usually capped at something reasonable. We’re just not that big. Yet.

We started out tasting, but ended up drinking. In my books that’s a successful wine night. We had a few professional wine-o types (a viticulturist, a marketer and a winemaker), some non-professional wine-o types (let’s just call them happy consumers) and a few in between (yours truly, and a chemical engineer who spends far too much time around wine). It’s always good to have a mixed crowd when tasting – way more interesting.

We brown-bagged the bottles so as to have as close to a blind tasting as possible. A few guests tweeted (hashtag #pinotparty, not to be confused with #pintoparty); take a peek and see a bit of the play-by-play. (remember: we were socializing, and that significantly impedes my ability to tweet, drink and chat)

One party-goer said that after ranking the top three, the rest were are fairly close – BC wine tends to do that. Our folks make pretty good booze.

Without further ado, here’s the breakdown in popular vote:

  1. Arrowleaf 2006 (picture perfect pinot noir, classic taste with wet stone and fresh berries)
  2. Stoneboat 2007 (heftier, bricks and mortar meets end of season strawberries – you know, the small and real intense kind)
  3. Tinhorn Creek 2007 (strawberries and clay – delicate) / Gehringer Brothers 2008 (pale beauty, softer and quieter)

The rest fell somewhere around 4th place, give or take an “ooh” or an “aah” moment. In case you’ve forgotten what else was on the pinot menu, here goes:

  • D’Angelo 2006 (tied for someone’s 2nd choice)
  • Mount Boucherie 2007
  • Stag’s Hollow 2006 (tied for someone’s 2nd choice)
  • Robin Ridge 2007 (someone’s 1st choice)
  • Eagle Bluff 2008
  • Le Vieux Pin 2006
  • Inniskillin 2006
  • Silkscarf 2006

Our surprise for the evening was a contribution by the Oldfields from Tinhorn Creek: a 2003 and 2005. All I can say about the 2003 is wow – drink it if you’ve got it, because it’s absolutely stellar. By far my favourite of the night, even though it wasn’t in the original lineup. There’s much to be said for late entries.

What I learned from this night was that you can’t judge a wine by its bottle – I’m the first to admit that I have packaging bias. Often it’s unintentional, but it’s there. I get caught up in the pretty font (oh, I love me a good font) and nice labels (texture is everything). Taking it beyond the marketing and straight to the booze was definitely the way to go. Turns out I liked some way better than others I thought for sure I’d be swooning over.

Ultimately, the best way to un*wine*d is with friends, food and fun. After all, isn’t that what the whole wine thing’s about?

Cheers!

~ Jeannette

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Nov 18 2010

hit…or miss

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 1:52 am

Not all wines are created equal, and thank Grapes for that.

By now you might be thinking, “Hey – this gal seems to only write about wines that she really, really likes. Either she’s a real lush, or this thing is rigged.” Trust me, dear reader – this thing ain’t rigged. I just end up drinking what I like, and often. Life’s too short to drink what you don’t like.

That being said, I have to push myself outside of my comfort zone and try stuff that’s not always on my radar. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed and astoundingly happy, sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised – but other times if it’s down to hit or miss, it can be a miss for me.

I don’t have a perfect palate, tons of schooling in wine or an extensive cellar. I do, however, have some generous friends and am often invited to drink along with them. Score. That means things can again be either hit or miss. Isn’t that the beauty of wine? And even with the miss-es, often we can just let time take over and try again in a year or two. Nice. I don’t know many other things that forgiving.

A couple of my explorations lately have been in the hit category, and some in the miss. But hey – my palate isn’t your palate, and our palates aren’t that of the gal-next-door. So I challenge you to taste-test for yourself, and don’t just take my word for it – hit or miss.

Miss: Camelot Vineyards 2007 Syrah. (disclaimer: I’m tough on Syrah, as it’s often not to my taste) It could be that the wine was in what winemakers can call an “awkward” stage in development, where it was bright and fruity with strong tannin at bottling but isn’t yet the smooth customer that some wines can evolve to. Or it could be that this wasn’t a particularly stellar vintage for the winery. Whatever the case, this one didn’t fit my molecules the way I’d like. The colour was a bit light, more like a pinot noir. And the taste was all over the place – a bit of fruit, then jabs of smoked meats roughly interrupting. The 2008 is sold out, but with 2009 on the way I’d be interested in giving another vintage a go.

Hit: Burrowing Owl 2007 Chardonnay. (disclaimer: I’m an easy one for mellow oak on chard) The bottle has heft, and I like that – even if the carbon emissions involved with such a weighty chunk of glass might not. Yes, I was surprised by the synthetic cork – and I’m a Stelvin fan (screw-cap; don’t knock it until you’ve tried it on a good wine). Once I got beyond the cork shock and poured a glass, that nutty, light oak-y flavour took over. It’s not strong, this one, so you un-oaked chardy fans should try it. Since it’s not big oak I’m not as partial to it – but it was delightful.

Miss: Laughing Stock 2009 Blind Trust. (disclaimer: I love Laughing Stock wines and have a Portfolio sleeping in the cellar so this is very, very odd) Yeah, you got me on this one. It’s not that there was anything wrong with the wine, but that it was fairly uneventful for something with as much presence as Laughing Stock usually has. Not delicate, not fruity, not sweet or dry – it was… how do the kids say it… meh. I’d expect this in a glass of ‘wedding wine’; wine served at a wedding so as not to offend anyone but also not to make a strong statement. Maybe it was an off bottle, maybe it was at that awkward stage – or maybe it just isn’t for me. I’d like to try another bottle of the 2009, and would love to taste the next vintage. Anything else would just be silly.

I think the lesson here isn’t in what I think of these wines, but in what we’re willing to try and try again – without judgement, without giving up. Because wine is so fluid, and I mean more than just the liquid; it changes, all the time. So it’s unfair of anyone to judge a winery based on one bottle of one vintage of one varietal.

My hat’s off to each of our BC winemakers as they struggle with such an inexact science. After all, it’s art, too. Not every A.Y. Jackson is a beautiful piece of art. For now, I’ll stick to my glass of Burrowing Owl chardonnay and think of summer patios – a perfect way to un*wine*d, especially after first day of winter coat wearing.

Cheers!

~ Jeannette

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Nov 06 2010

all pinot, all night

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 4:33 am

I have a staggering amount of Pinot Noir to drink. It’s a heavy burden, and one that I choose not to carry alone. I’ll be asking some of my favourite wine drinkers to join me in tackling this mountain. Don’t worry – many of them are trained professionals. The rest are groupies – like me.

Yes, I’m fortunate to live in the heart of BC wine country and have made friends with some of the locals. Considering many of the locals are wine folks, I’m not the only one who has an affection for the boozey stuff. Here’s a little known secret: many winemakers start making wine so they can drink what they like.

I’m more of a refreshing, crisp white wine gal in the heat of the summer – so that means my cellar can get a little backlogged by fall. You see, just because I don’t drink as much red wine in the summer doesn’t mean I refrain from acquiring bottles of it during that time. Hell no. With our BC wineries at limited production, you gotta grab what you can when you can.

My cellar isn’t well documented. In fact, it’s not a “wine cellar” per se; it’s more of a slightly creepy basement where the temperature stays cool so we pack as much wine onto dilapidated shelves as we can without causing breakage. Told you I wasn’t a wine snob.

However, the cellar is somewhat organized into areas: sleeping imports, ready-to-drink imports, sleeping BC wines, can-sleep-but-can-drink-now-if-we-really-want-to BC wines, need-to-drink-now BC wines, fortified…and a special shelf for bubble. (I finally have a bubble shelf – three sleeping bottles, but I have a bubble shelf!)

Somehow, I managed to gather 11 bottles of BC Pinot Noir that’s ready to drink.

What’s a gal to do with so much good booze? Have a pinot party.

In no particular order, here’s what my friends and I will be tasting. Notes will follow – but anticipation is everything. Drool now, drink later.

  • Arrowleaf 2006
  • Eagle Bluff ‘Crooked Post’ 2008
  • Inniskillin Dark Horse Vineyard 2006
  • Stag’s Hollow 2006
  • Gehringer Brothers 2008
  • Tinhorn Creek 2007
  • Robin Ridge 2007
  • Stoneboat 2007 (!)
  • D’Angelo 2006
  • Silkscarf 2006
  • Le Vieux Pin ‘Belle’ 2006

To say I’m stoked for this night is beyond an understatement. A good pinot noir is worth so very, very much to me. I want it to take me into the memory bank: to picking wild strawberries on the elementary school lawn at recess in the fourth grade; to riding in the back seat of a car without air conditioning on a hot summer day after collecting rocks at the edge of the lake; to that first cold drink out of the hose on a Saturday in July – after squishing potato bugs in my mom’s garden. It was a big garden.

The stakes are high – after all, these grapes are competing against some of my most fond memories. Even the potato bug one. But I have faith in our BC winemakers, our burgeoning viticulturists and our dirt. We make great booze.

Some of you may be wondering whether we’ll be tasting or drinking. If you’ve gleaned anything about me from this gig, you’ll be able to sort that out for yourself. If not – just be aware that I know a thing or two about how to un*wine*d.

Cheers!

~ Jeannette

PS: Pinot Noir night wine sampling is November 20 – we’ll be live tweeting via my Twitter handle @okanaganwriting, hashtag #bcwine (with special guests!)

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