Sep 10 2010

to cellar or not to cellar…

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 1:43 am

Where the hell did the summer disappear to? Don’t get me wrong – I love fall. Warm (supposedly) days meet cooler (allegedly) nights, vineyards (reportedly) start harvesting their ripening (hopefully) fruit while parents (understandably) rejoice. (it’s an adjective-y type of day)

The best part of fall is the annual Okanagan Fall Wine Festival – and I’m not just saying that because I blog for them. Okay, part of my joy stems from attending events as “work”. How could I not love that? 

My tickets arrived today, and I’m pretty stoked. First, there’s the WestJet Wine Tasting on Friday October 1 at the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort in Kelowna. That’s always a great shin-dig, especially because the wineries often bring new fall releases. Next, I’m heading to Cabana Grille in Kelowna on Sunday October 3 for the Gourmet and Grapes event featuring a battle of the chefs. That’s win-win. Then it’s off to the Culinary Arts Centre at the KLO Campus of Okanagan College for Alexis de Portneuf’s Young Chefs competition on Tuesday October 5. Anything having to do with cheese ranks pretty high on my list. 

I’ll wrap things up at the Valley First Grand Finale Consumer Tastings at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre on Friday October 8. Word has it that this is going to be the event of all events, so that’s a gimme. There are over 150 events happening around the Okanagan valley at different restaurants, wineries and miscellaneous spots where folks can gather and indulge. Nice.

Speaking of indulging…I’ve got some great wine to share with you.

Friends stopped by this weekend (being a long weekend and us living in vacationland), and we enjoyed a bottle or two. A couple of these bottles had been cellared, and that topic comes up quite often in the Okanagan. So here’s a bit of what we tasted:

  • La Frenz 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon: if you’ve got it, drink this baby now. Holy snappin’ turtles, this is good booze. Smooth as velvet, deep plum-black in colour and layer after layer of tasty goodness.
  • Burrowing Owl 2005 Syrah: oxidized, sadly. Based on this, I wouldn’t take a chance on recommending you sit on your bottle for long. If you’re saving yours for a “special occasion”, make that occasion be right now.
  • Jackson-Triggs SunRock Vineyards 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon: always enjoyable, ready to drink now.
  • Gehringer Brothers 2008 Auxerois: held up fairly well over a year in; my suggestion is to drink the vintage when it’s current as is intended when they make their wine. This is buy-now-drink-now wine. I like that.
  • Mission Hill Five Vineyards Rose: a pretty little number, indeed. And it’s listed as one of the Judges Choices in Wine Access‘ International Value Wine Awards (IVWA) for best wines from around the world available in Canada for $25 or less. Not bad at all.

Maybe we drank a few more bottles than that. Remember – it was a long weekend so there’s an extra day in there for consumption. Discover your favourite wines to un*wine*d with, whether it be over a long weekend or simply on a Tuesday night. When you’ve got great BC wine in the house, any day of the week can be a special occasion. 

Cheers!

Jeannette

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Aug 15 2010

coffee and wine? hell yeah.

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 10:23 pm

 

You know it’s going to be a good day when at 10:00 you’ve got bubble in your glass. Don’t judge me - I know you’re jealous.

While we – well, most of us – can’t start every day with a glass of bubble, I was fortunate to do just that at the Okanagan Summer Wine Festival this weekend at Silver Star. It’s the last year this event will be hosted among alpine wonderous goodness. Sad, but don’t fret: next year we’ll see a virtual explosion of events hosted throughout the valley, with Penticton shining as the predominant host city. I’ll be there, glass in hand.

Back to the mid-morning bubble. Over two days, events this year included Wine and Cheese, the decadent Cadbury’s Chocolate and wine tasting (can I hear a big ‘yum’?) and a Progressive Tasting on the Saturday afternoon to cap things off. But what really got my curiosity was something a little different: coffee and wine.

Starbucks introduced a pairing like no other. This is where we got to sip delicious BC bubble at 10am and five other BC wines – all matched with a coffee partner. Initially I was sceptical; hell, I still am. But the enthusiasm of the coffee folks have me looking at the brewed beverage in an entirely different light.

Acidity. Aroma. Floral. Earthy. Spicy. Do you think these are just reserved for wine? Not according to the people at the ‘Bucks. All are descriptors of coffee and are included in a handy little Coffee Passport – given to new partners when they start on the job. And there was no drip coffee-making done here. Oh no. These were brewed french-press style, and spoken about with such love and attention to detail that I could see the road we were headed down a bit clearer than when I signed up for the seminar.

They poured and paired while we swirled, sniffed and drank (slurped, in the case of the coffee). A good time was most definitely had by all – including those who answered skill-testing questions to be rewarded with prizes and hugs. It was that kinda crowd, and that’s alright by me.

Wine/Coffee #1: Summerhill Cipes Brut / Breakfast Blend. I’m a big fan of what Summerhill does with bubble – especially the Cipes Brut. The Breakfast Blend didn’t get the full workout or appreciation as we were in our coffee tasting infancy. All I can say is that it woke me up quite nicely.

Wine/Coffee #2: Mission Hill Reserve Chardonnay 2008 / Italian Roast. Admittedly, I hadn’t tried a chard from Mission Hill yet – there’s just too much damn good stuff around the Okanagan. And this was quite pleasant. Think brunch wine as your nibbling on a bagel and lox. The Italian Roast had that woodsy aroma going for it, complete with memories of maple syrup smokehouses.

Wine/Coffee #3: Tantalus Riesling 2009 / Kenya Blend. Tantalus makes a damn good riesling – initially crisp with bright fruit (think grapefruit on its best day) and a wee bit of oily-goodness, yet it can hang out in the bottle to develop into the kerosene/petrol beauty that I know lurks beneath the surface. Yum. The Kenya Blend is often used for iced coffees – it’s got that citrus thing going for it which I couldn’t discern but am willing to go back for another try. Or two.

Wine/Coffee #4: Ex Nihilo Night 2006 / Pike Place Roast. This was my introduction to an Ex Nihilo red, and I’m still not sure what to think. Night is a blend of equal parts cab sauv, merlot and cab franc – and supposed to be a Bordeaux-style. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t working for me. I tasted stuff at the start (fruit) and the end (tannin), but nothing in the middle. The Pike Place Roast, however, made me swear off putting anything in my coffee ever again. And if you’ve ever seen me doctor up a coffee, you’ll know just what a big deal that is.

Wine/Coffee #5: RollingdaleIverson Merlot 2008 / Organic Yukon Blend. The grapes for this merlot come from Rollingdale’s growing partners along the Golden Mile (Oliver area), and they only make 200 cases of the stuff. Hot damn, them’s good grapes. There’s a whole lotta stuff going on when you take a sip of this merlot, and it’s all in happy unison. As for the Organic Yukon Blend…think dark, bitter chocolate. Yep.

Wine/Coffee #6: Quail’s GateFortified Foch 2007 / Komodo Dragon Blend. Bring me a fortified wine, and I’m in a happy place. There’s a wee ‘but’ in here, as I haven’t been a foch fan in the past – except for their Old Vines Foch, which is gorgeous. Sweetness hides a high (but typical) alcohol content in this fortified, yet the foch varietal does something my taste buds don’t like. My fella liked it just fine. Instead, I concentrated on the Komodo Dragon. In the world of wine, there are big wines….and this is a helluva big coffee. Also my favourite of the morning, as it turns out. Yeah, that surprised me too.

Just when you think you’ve been there, done that with wine tasting, change things up a little. I’d never think to put these things together – and I’m sure there are people out there who may think these aren’t natural partners. They might not be. But the folks behind this event sure did their homework because I can honestly say it was an absolute blast – and something I’d do again in a heartbeat.

Go ahead – un*wine*d with a glass of bubble before noon…then chase it with a lively, vibrant coffee. Whatever you do, have fun. That’s what this is all about.

Cheers!

Jeannette

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Jun 21 2010

wine therapy

Category: Wine tasting — winepost @ 12:11 am

My fella and I moved to BC wine country about three years ago, leaving the big city of Vancouver – and surrounding urban areas – behind. Living in wine country kicks ass. I’m minutes away from some of the best BC wine there is, and that’s a very good thing. Especially with a hammock in the yard. Wine + hammock = happy.

But, as with every great departure…something gets left behind. In this case it was a great circle of remarkable friends. And sometimes I need a little of that crazy-friend-thing that happens when a particular group of us are within twenty feet of each other. You know what I mean. Most people have those friends; if not, get them.

This past Friday I ventured out on the road, cooler (and car) stuffed with Okanagan wine to share with my gal pals. A trip to The City is reason enough to prompt a social gathering of my lovelies. Thankfully, there’s very little that a bunch of good friends drinking good wine can’t remedy.

Here are a few of the situations we tackled, and the wine that helped:

The “what-am-I-passionate-about?” debacle

While discussing the merits of finding your passion versus knowing your passion but being unable to do much about it because of a mortgage, car payment and student debt (still), we sipped the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from Little Straw Vineyards. This ain’t your usual sauv blanc. It’s honey and clover and grapefruit, crisp and buttery at the same time. A of a mix of things, kind of like finding out – or trying to develop – what you’re passionate about. Think and, not or.

The “is-it-asking-too-much-to-meet-a-nice-guy-who-likes-that-I’m-a-smart-and-confident-lady?” challenge

As several of my lovelies are in a similar predicament, I can safely say that this is a fairly serious issue – and one which requires a bit of finesse, delicate manoeuvering and strong character. Fortunately, we had a bottle of Reserve Pinot Noir from Mission Hill, and I poured generously. Classic pinot noir (to me) is sandy beach with a basket of strawberries and a soft, lingering touch. Yeah, this little number was a perfect companion to our discussion of how to find your perfect companion – or just someone who finds it sexy that you have a thing for literature.

The “it’s-a-few-hours-in-and-things-are-getting-out-of-hand-in-a-good-way” medley

You know you’ve been there, so don’t even try to deny it – especially because it’s often the best part of the night. Hopefully, you can remember most (or at least part) of it. I’m talking about the time of night when you reach for that next glass of whatever and realize ‘I’m having so much fun!’. Our hostess has a weakness for one particular BC winery, so I thought it perfect timing to bring out the Burrowing Owl 2006 Syrah. Hello, nurse. Big, dark and rich with a whole lotta stuff goin’ on, this beauty is the take-things-up-a-notch element you’re looking for when you don’t want the night to end.

But every night must end. And as we stumbled our way home (safely, and with designated drivers) I know we each got a little something more from those few hours than a belly full of good food and wine. We were overdue for our un*wine*d session; at least, I know I was.

Cheers,

Jeannette

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