Sep 29 2010

fall festing (with a touch of hedonism)

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 8:48 pm

 

Rinse out your favourite wine glasses and get the Tylenol ready: it’s Festival time.

It’s the biggest festival in North American to happen during harvest, and this year that couldn’t be more fitting. Our Okanagan wineries are a little behind when it comes to bringing in the bounty, albeit through no fault of their own. And with the Fall Okanagan Wine Festival mere days away from kick-off, you’ll be able to spot the winemakers at festival events – they’ll be the ones with purple fingers.

I’m SO excited for the Festival this season, for a few reasons. I get to spend some quality time with my fella, which is always high on the priority list; it’s a great excuse to drink for a living – a definite bonus; and hundreds of wineries have stuff going on that involves a) wine and b) food. It’s all very hedonistic, and I love every bit of it.

One of the super sweet things about the Fall festival is the release of new wines. Watch for a killer new vintage of 2Bench Red from Tinhorn Creek (released October 1). I had the priviledge of an advance tasting with winemaker Sandra Oldfield, and the 2009 will be a great one to tuck away for a few years – if you can. Big and robust, this has a strong backbone which will not only help it keep through several winters sleeps, but will also help it develop into something wonderful. Over-delivering at the price point. Get it.

Also, ’tis the season for some of our warm-you-up-during-the-cold-weather wines. Things like fortified and sparkling wines are heavy hitters for fall and winter. Our BC winemakers have some of that up their sleeves. Check out places like La Frenz and Granite Creek for their port-style offerings (not sure if they’ve got new stuff on the horizon, but I’m checking into it and will let you know). In bubble, there’s the always popular Summerhill, that delicious Sparkling Chenin Blanc from Road 13 Vineyards (if there’s any left) and Gray Monk’s Brut offerings.

Watch for Fall festival new wine release information here – I’ll update the blog with new release info as quick as I can. Make sure to get more than one bottle of the wine you love. I learned my lesson the hard way. The Cab Sauv that La Frenz released this summer? I missed the boat, and am kicking myself to this day.

Grab a glass, round up your friends and enjoy what the season has to offer. Un*wine*d with something yummy – and let us know what it was. We like to hear about those things. Otherwise, it looks like I’m doing all the drinking around here.

Cheers!

~ Jeannette

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Aug 31 2010

gateway wines for microbrew lovers

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 2:58 am

 

I love a good beer.

Yes, I adore wine. But I also like beer – especially after a weekend of wine-ing. Not because it’s easier; in fact, I’m often struck by how wonderfully full and complex our BC microbrews are.

As good Canadians, there’s a strong chance we each have a beer lover (or two) in our lives. I have one: my fella’s a beer lover, and fortunately for me he also loves wine. But it got me thinking about craft brew beers and how easy it is to slip back and forth between the two worlds.

So, for the microbrew lovers out there – or the one in your life – here’s a conversation piece to open the gates between the world of great beer and great wine. Enjoy. Explore. Try something new – just make sure your designated driver is lined up well in advance.

Beer: Tree Brewing Hop Head. It’s a love-it-or-leave-it kind of beer; those who love it say it’s for true craft brew fans. Refreshing might not be the word for this one, but if you’re an IPA fan this is for you. Wine: how about something with a grass-roots-feel to it; kind of earthy and herbal (think tall grasses, not the other kind of BC ‘herb’). Try Tinhorn Creek Oldfield Series Cabernet Franc.

Beer: Mt. Begbie Cream Ale. Golden honey, silky smooth – this is very good craft brew. Wine drinkers talk about wine structure; this baby can hold its own just fine. Wine: think rich, layered with a little bit of honey. Try Joie’s A Noble Blend.

Beer: Crannog Back Hand of God stout. Deep and complex, rich and tasty with a touch of sweetness– that’s the ticket. If this is blasphemy, let me burn; Crannog stout isn’t for the feint of heart. Wine: this calls for something with a little more punch. Try a port-style wine, like Quail’s Gate Fortified Foch or Granite Creek Fortified Merlot.

Beer: Cannery Brewing Naramata Nut Brown. It’s a little bit smokey-rich, a tad sweet and has a good heft to it; your basically perfect brown ale. Wine: for the lover of the classic brown, you should try a classic red. Sample Rollingdale“La Gauche” Cabernet Sauvignon or Seven Stones Syrah.

Beer: Storm Brewing anything. It’s not a kind of beer – I really mean anything from Storm. Super small microbrew at Commercial and Hastings in Vancouver, Storm not only has damn good beer…they’ve got recipes, too. At least, they did when my fella and I lived in that neck of the urban woods. Rent a keg for your next bash and see what I mean. Wine: if it’s an anything beer, it’s got to be an anything wine. Try La Frenz.

Whether you’re going to un*wine*d with glass or a pint, do it with friends – whatever you’re drinking will always taste just that much better.

Cheers!

Jeannette

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Aug 06 2010

read this, drink that: CanLit & BC wine

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 12:51 am

 

Yes, I’m about to inundate you with wine-and-reading selections. But I’m not very traditional; you should know that by now, dear reader. So what does that mean when it comes to a reading and wine-ing list presented by yours truly? Allow me to explain.

I’m dragging out the hasn’t-been-published-in-ages books; ones you need to hunt down in your local used book store treasure trove or thrift store. And I’m choosing some newer releases – those published in the last ten years. Maybe there will be something in here that you’ve never heard of.

Good reads should challenge us and our expectations – kind of like good wine does. Both are sensory and seductive, and both can take you a world away.

Enjoy.

Read: Robertson Davies, Leaven of Malice. This guy shoves us into a world of academics, tenure and compound sentences. His characters drink wine. I like that. This is one dude who doesn’t lead you around by the nose: he’s got witty, layered characters that keep surprising you, and he has an expectation you’ve a decent head on your shoulders. 

Drink: This says bubble all over it. Try Blue Mountain, Sumac Ridge’s Stellar’s Jay (after sleeping for a couple of years, it’s one mighty good bottle) or Gray Monk Odyssey White Brut. Not a bubble fan? Shame. But you can play along – with a bottle of Twisted Tree Syrah, or a Pinot Noir from Meyer Family Vineyards.

Read: Margaret Atwood, The Edible Woman. Ahead of her time in so many ways. This is foodie Can-lit for foodies before there were foodies. Of course, there’s a glass or two of wine in here. I read this only recently, having put it off in a covet kind of way. I’m glad I did.

Drink: Margaret says unusual yet beautiful structure, and so must the wine. Think Mount Boucherie Ehrenfelser,  Inniskillin Dark Horse Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Lake Breeze Pinot Blanc or Road 13 Vineyards Jackpot Pinot Noir.

Read: Douglas Coupland, J Pod. I love him; he’s magnificent at loading a sentence with so much stuff. Plus, I want to meet Ethan’s mom. Think easy street meets the wrong side of the tracks, in a very Rice-Krispie-square kind of way.

Drink: More than meets the eye, this one. Makes me want Rollingdale’s Cabernet Sauvignon “La Gauche”, Township 7’s Chardonnay (not the reserve, but not the un-oaked for this one), Cedar Creek’s Platinum Reserve Chardonnay or Tinhorn Creek’s Oldfield Series Merlot – because there’s more going on than you would expect.

Read: Mordecai Richler, Barney’s Version. The guy writes a good story, hands down. These are characters that I not only want to drink with, but also want to go to Europe with. That’s good character development.

Drink: I recall the protagonist as a scotch drinker, but also one who enjoyed a bottle of wine. That being said – try something from Osoyoos Larose, or maybe Laughing Stock’s Portfolio. Perhaps followed by a nice fortified, like Sumac Ridge Pipe or Granite Creek Merlot.

Read: Zoe Whittall, Bottle Rocket Hearts. Maybe it’s because I met her brother in the parking lot of an Okanagan winery (true story), or maybe it’s because I had a summer of unemployed drunken fun in Montreal in the early 90’s (slightly hazy true story). It could be both, but also because this is one brilliant author. Storytelling stream-of-consciousness. I miss Eve.

Drink: Memories of misspent youth, character-building events that at the time are rip-your-heart-out experiences you don’t think you’ll ever recover from and the unmistakable sweetness of firsts. Try La Frenz Cabernet Sauvignon, Orofino Pinot Noir, Cassini Cellars Reserve Chardonnay or Desert Hills Gamay. 

The point is this: wine, like literature, is highly dependent on situation. I truly believe that. Reading the same book at different points in your life will bring out different qualities of that book – just like drinking wine with different people, or in different situations, will show you something new.

Mix it up. Experiment. Un*wine*d a little. Now excuse me while I go back to Timothy Findley’s Spadework and my glass of…well, I’m not going to tell you all my secrets – read it and tell me what you’d drink with it.

Cheers!

Jeannette

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Jul 24 2010

secrets of great summer wine-ing: part I

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 3:53 pm

 

It’s easy to have a good time in the Okanagan, especially when it’s summer. I should know – I live here. Go ahead, be jealous. It’s okay. After all, living in vacationland could have the same tag line as that credit card commercial: membership has its privileges.

But in the summer, anyone can be a member of the Okanagan and we like it that way. This is what summer vacations are made of: floating along the channel in Penticton, renting a boat and ripping it up wake-board-style in Osoyoos, golfing at one of the dozens of greenways.

And, of course – there’s wine touring. You wouldn’t be here (I mean here, on this site) if it wasn’t for your love of Okanagan wine. Good for you.

I already said it’s easy to have a good time here, and it’s true. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our secrets, tips and tricksto make summer wine touring – and Okanagan visiting – even better. You can get a ton of information from the Tourism BC website to help navigate your way from Salmon Arm to Osoyoos, but we all know what the real secret to great travel is: getting the goods from a local.

I’m a local. Okay – so I haven’t lived here my whole life and by small town rules that means I’m not a local yet. But I’ll bet I drink way more wine than many of the locals do, so if you’re in for a wine-ing good time, then I’m your gal to listen to.

There’s too much information to give to you in just one post, so this will be spread out a bit. Consider it my gift to you – it’s the stuff I wish I knew heading in to this wine-touring gig years ago. You might know some (or all) of this already; if so, think of it as a summer-school refresher course. A really, really fun one.

wine touring 101

Bring snacks. It sounds silly, and something your mom might have said before you went off to your first day-trip without her, but it’s vital for surviving wine touring and tasting. Sure, tasting rooms might have little palate cleansers – even a bit of cheese, perhaps. That just won’t cut it. Grab a baguette – or two – and some of our great local cheeses to munch on as you go about your day.

Hydrate yourself. Whether you’re wakeboarding, sunbathing, golfing or wine-touring, you’ll need H2O. It’s a freakin’ desert, people. Dryness like you may not have experienced before. Water. Lots of it.

Book ahead. Accommodations get snapped up in a jiffy around these parts come summer, even tenting. Do the online reservation thing or pick up the phone. That works for a few of our wineries, too, which leads us into…

Do your research. If you have a favourite winery you want to visit, be sure to check out their website or give them a call before you make the trek from wherever you’re from. A few spots require an appointment, usually to give you extra-special attention while you’re visiting them. Love the Carmenere by Black Hills? Call ‘em up ahead of time and book a seat for their ultra-lounge wine tasting uber-experience. Got a weakness for Blue Mountain bubble? You’re not alone – but get in touch with them early so they can make an appointment for a tasting.

Take the road less travelled. This might seem to fly in the face of the recommendation above, but no – quite the opposite. It’s by going down the road you didn’t know was there that you can often find that little gem buried in the wilderness – or just along a side street. That’s how I first found Blue Mountain. No, we didn’t get in for a tasting that day…but I found them, which I think is the bigger gain.

Try something new. You’re doing wine tasting, after all. Don’t just stick with the “I-like-big-reds-so-just-pour-me-the-cab-sauv-and-if-you-don’t-have-any-of-that-then-I’ll-wait-outside” line. You’re in a tasting room. Only drink aromatic whites? Who cares! Try that pinot noir you’ve heard about. Isn’t tasting exactly why you’re here? Live a little. You might surprise yourself.

Mix it up. Just because you’re wine touring doesn’t mean you can’t take in a festival or event while you’re in the area – and stumble upon it. Houseboating in the Shuswap? Get thee to a winery, like Granite Creek (their fortified merlot is dee-lish). These things don’t need to be mutually exclusive. Have fun. You’re on vacation.

We’re just scratching the surface of what can help take your Okanagan summer from great to fantabulous. This is the entry-level stuff, a kind of introductory course for those unfamiliar with our area – or an easy refresher for those seasoned Okanagan travel veterans.  Stay tuned for more, including some secrets that only locals know about and share with good friends. You’re our good friend, right?

Happy summer, wherever you are. It’s a great time to un*wine*d with a bottle of BC wine. Get over here and get some.

Cheers!

Jeannette

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