winellama

Malivoire, Gamay, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, 2013, 12.5% abv, C$17.95

Posted on December 19, 2014 by winellama

Prohibition.

Prohibiting something rarely, if ever, accomplishes the original goal. Whether it involves anti-drug campaigns, teenage abstinence programs or international trade embargoes, relying on fear, shaming and isolation tactics rarely produce the hoped for results.

This extends to alcohol; the antiquated, hangover effects of prohibition continue to play an enormous role in today’s Canadian alcohol distribution laws. While technically it’s true that since changes made in 2012 and 2014 there are no laws forbidding Canadians from importing wine from other provinces, several provinces have laws that fly in the face of that and go against the flow of free trade.

Because of this, it’s easier for me to acquire bottles from Israel, Croatia and South Africa than it is to find product from Ontario’s Prince Edward County or the Niagara Peninsula here at home in BC.

So, because what I know about Ontario wines is limited to what I’ve read, I was preparing for a trip and came across a highly complimentary reference to Malivoire in an American article. I had to go to three different stores in Ontario, but eventually I found a bottle.

Located in Beamsville – just west of St. Catharines and in between Lakes Ontario and Erie – this is a medium size enterprise producing about 24,000 cases per year and focusing on sustainable growing and lots of different types of grapes – including Gamay.

This wine is pretty with a medium ruby shade and light legs; it looks like pomegranate juice. On the nose it’s young and full of ripe red fruit – pomegranate, field berry, strawberry and raspberry – with sweet clove and cedar frond.

The palate is dry but offers an off dry feel with medium minus soft tannins which would make this simply great for turkey, salmon and tuna steaks. The acidity is medium and the alcohol delightfully mild at only 12.5%. The promise of the nose is continued here with lots of ripe fieldberry and sweet cranberry, some bramble, and lots of cinammon spice, vanilla and nutmeg with a little herbaceous forest undergrowth to boot.

With a solid medium plus finish, this is a WSET Very Good Canadian version of youthful Gamay. If you live in Ontario, purchase and drink now or within the next 2-3 years. If you live elsewhere, good luck!

Regardless of where you live in Canada, take a minute to visit this website and help Free our Grapes.

Posted in Gamay, Ontario, OTHER, RED | Tagged gamay, Malivoire, Niagara Peninsula VQA, Ontario, red wine | Leave a comment

Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder Winery, Napa Valley, 2011, 14% abv

Posted on December 18, 2014 by winellama

While at Trader Joe’s last summer on a cross-border run, I did a scan for the most expensive red wine I could buy and this was the one- a whopping $20. “Go big or go home”, I thought.

I went home and now that I’ve opened it, I wish I’d bought more.

From Napa’s Mount Veeder Winery and grown at an elevation of between 300-490m on the slopes of the Mayacamus Mountains, this wine sells for $40 at the winery. Heck, if you actually go to the Franciscan Estate visitor centre and do a tasting there (the two wineries are linked and share a winemaker), the tasting alone will set you back $20.

This Trader Joe’s version is bottled in a very light weight bottle – must be to keep down those shipping costs and thus, the price of the wine. Sounds good to me.

The wine is deep ruby with big legs and on the nose it’s loaded with blackberry, currant, black cherry, cedar and tobacco leaf, baking spices and strong minerality. The blackberry fairly leaps from the glass.

On the palate it’s dry but offers an impression of residual sugar. The acidity is medium plus and the tannins are silky smooth, but the alcohol is high. The flavours are medium plus and continue the promise shown on the nose – blackberry, ripe, purple cherry and violets, lots of vanilla, tobacco and cedar frond with some dark chocolate. The finish is medium plus.

This is a WSET Very Good wine – there is some slight imbalance with the sweetness and heavy vanilla. However, it’s got great aromas, fruit and the tannins are velvety and drinking perfectly. Drink this now – don’t lay down this deal of a wine for more than 1-2 more years.

Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon / Blends, California, OTHER, RED | Tagged Cabernet Sauvignon, california, Mount Veeder, napa valley, red wine, Trader Joes | Leave a comment

Tantalus, Pinot Noir, Okanagan Valley VQA, Kelowna, BC, 2010, 13.4% abv

Posted on December 15, 2014 by winellama

Christmas is fast approaching and I always love to have a Pinot alongside the turkey and cranberry sauce. Gamay wines, Pinot Noirs and even Cab Francs go swell with holiday bird. They’re light enough and the tannins are subtle to mimic the sauces and reflect well upon the root veggies.

This version of Pinot Noir as per Tantalus is a medium ruby shade turning to garnet along the rim with quick, little legs. The aromas are youthful and show medium dark cherry, ripe strawberry, pomegranate and a light green moss with some clove accents.

The palate is dry with medium acidity and medium ripe, silky tannins with the lightest grip. The alcohol is medium and indiscernible with an average body and mouthfeel. The flavours include more of the promise from the nose – ripe red fruit – and evolves into light leather, leaf, cedar frond. Capped with a lengthy finish.

The moss note is one that I often find in red BC wines. Still young and with lots of life yet – WSET Very Good; drink now or hold for up 3-5 more years. Evolving complexity and layers will appear over time.

Well, what wine will you enjoy with your holidays?

Posted in BC, Pinot Noir, RED, Red | Tagged BC, okanagan, pinot noir, red wine, tantalus | Leave a comment

Domaine Huet, Le Mont, Sec, Vouvray AC, Loire, France, 2010, 13.5% abv.

Posted on December 13, 2014 by winellama

I just can’t get enough.

Chenin Blanc wines rank up there amongst my favourites; they’re so versatile. All styles are possible – from sweet, botrytis affected dessert wines to slightly off dry versions, to dry, linear, deeply mineral bottles and then there are the sparklers.

This one came to me via a Garagiste shipment and I’ve been waiting to enjoy it for a bit – but last evening presented the perfect opportunity with some wine mentors and friends whom I know also treasure this grape.

The 2010 Le Mont is pale lemon with deep legs with a youthful nose of medium intense aromas including ripe red apples and pears, straw, honey and herb. Absolutely heavenly and unmistakable Vouvray. I think I’d know this wine anywhere.

On the palate, the wine is lightly off dry (despite the sec/dry label) with sharp acidity. The alcohol is medium but subtle and the strong flavours show more ripe fall apple and yellow pear, quince, fig, honey, straw and a little green hay with intense minerality.

The finish is long and lingering on this deeply satisfying WSET Outstanding wine. Over the course of the evening, it opened up and showed more layers of fresh fruit and herb balanced by mouth-watering acidity. It’s a precise, clean and complex wine that can be enjoyed now or kept for many more years – even as many as 20 with that fruit and acidity.

I had contacted Huet’s tasting room manager, Johan who’d led us through a tour in June 2014 for pairing suggestions. His ideas included roasted diver scallops with green apple and baby bok choi, grilled oysters with lemon thyme-shallot butter or snapper carpaccio. I think the technical term here is ‘yum’.

We went totally regional and traditional and enjoyed the 2010 Huet Le Mont alongside fresh ash-wrapped goat’s cheese, pork terrine with cranberry and pistachio, duck terrine with apricot, fennel saucisson and rillettes de canard augmented by fresh ‘jazz’ apple slices and fig jam.

Posted in Chenin Blanc, France, WHITE | Tagged chenin blanc, france, Huet, loire valley, vouvray, white wine | Leave a comment

Semillon, Santa Monica, DO Rancagua, Rapel Valley, Chile, 1993, 12.5% abv

Posted on December 10, 2014 by winellama

My friend Sean N. is one of those intrepid folks who always manages to find a bottle that is unusual and unique – and then has the class to share it. Come to think of it, I have met many people like that along my wine studies journey.

For the roughly 10 months it took several of us to get through the WSET Diploma course ‘Light Wines of the World’, once a week a dozen or so of us would pool resources, pester a colleague to put together a tasting of specific types of wines, and torture ourselves with as many as 12 double blind timed tastings and notes at these study sessions.

We swore after we passed the course, we would continue to get together and simply enjoy drinking wine – minus the tasting notes. What can I say? Old habits die hard; I cheated and wrote some down.

Ever so generous, Sean N. brought this special bottle to share with The Drinking Group. Before opening, we were concerned it may no longer have much life left – after all, we’re talking 1993 here and Chile to boot. But this wine from Rancagua, Rapel Valley in Chile’s Central Valley region (Rapel is in the Colchagua Valley), was outstanding.

Medium gold with deep legs, the wine is developed with aromas and flavours of medium plus hay, honey, mushroom, apple and minerals. It was almost Chenin-like with lots of wet wool and wax going on. As it warmed, there was a distinctive nose and taste of cooked asparagus with peas and mint. The finish was long and layered.

Complex, full of character, elegantly low alcohol and beautifully balanced, it is WSET Outstanding and not tired at all. Drink now and wait no longer if you have any intrepid friends with some still have some lying around who are willing to share.

Posted in Chile, OTHER, Semillon, WHITE | Tagged chile, rancagua, rapel valley, semillon, white wine | Leave a comment

Mastroberardino, Aglianico, Campania IGT, Italy, 2007, 13% abv

Posted on December 5, 2014 by winellama

Here is a fly-under-the-radar, smokin’ hot deal of a wine. From southern Italy’s Campania region, it is an unoaked example of pristine fruit and complexity.

With a medium ruby hue and deep legs, this wine has medium plus aromas of boysenberry, plum and blueberry enhanced by dried herbs and anise. In the mouth, it is dry and has medium ripe, velvety tannins – only a few edges here. The acidity is medium plus and the body is satisfyingly full with average alcohol and no boozyness to speak of. The flavours are medium plus and exude more blueberry, plum, berry along with crushed thyme and anise, vine and refreshing mint.

This wine is clean, balanced, layered and has beautiful fruit. Drink now or hold for up to 3 more years. It’s available in the US for between $13-26/bottle, depending on the State. Went fabulously well with antipasto, olives, prosciutto and cheeses.

WSET Very Good.

Posted in Aglianico, Italy, OTHER, RED, Red | Tagged aglianico, Campania, Italy, red wine | Leave a comment

AE Dor, XO Cognac, AOC Fine Champagne, France, 40% abv, 95 GBP (C$170)

Posted on December 4, 2014 by winellama

This arrived safely nestled in a suitcase following a trip to England. None is imported into Canada although some finds its way to the US via various importers, and it is available in some of the finest European and Japanese restaurants.

The AE stands for Amedee-Edouard, the House’s founder who struck up the business in 1858, originally as a negociant and then as a Cognac maker himself. Today, the House is run by Pierre-Antoine Riviere and remains family-owned and operated.

This Cognac is produced from a blend of Petite and Grande Champagne grapes – but hold on – exactly what does that mean? It’s not a reference to Champagne AC located northeast of Paris. And no, it doesn’t mean bubbly Cognac.

There are 6 regions in Cognac, the two most prestigious being Grande and Petite Champagne. In this case, ‘Champagne’ is actually a word derived from an old French term meaning chalky soil, whereas in Champagne AC, the name comes from the word Campania (in Italy) because the Romans thought the areas looked similar.

Cognac is made from distilled white wine (from Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche and/or Colombard grapes) and when it’s made from at least 50% of grapes from Grande Champagne and the remainder blended from Petite Champagne brandy, it is allowed to be called Fine Champagne. This signifies it has ageing potential along with powerful and long-lasting flavours and full body.

The AE Dor XO is deep amber with heavy legs. The nose has medium plus intense aromas and the dry, smooth palate shows ripe red apple, fresh prune, honey, maple, demerara sugar, vanilla stick, anise, clove, cinnamon and nutmeg. The palate is dry and smooth and the finish, long and persistent.

It took me a while to open this special bottle – I gazed longingly at it for quite a while. This is matured, elegant, delicate, complex and age-worthy – WSET Outstanding.

Drink now or age indefinitely.

Posted in Cognac, Colombard, Folle Blanche, France, OTHER, Ugni Blanc, WHITE | Tagged A E Dor, Cognac, Colombard, fine champagne, Folle Blanche, france, Ugni Blanc | Leave a comment

Langmeil, SMG, Three Gardens, Barossa, Australia, 2011, 14.5% abv, C$30

Posted on December 2, 2014 by winellama

Any excuse – yes, give me one and I’ll open up a GSM. In this case, I can blame having to open that lovely blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre on my 17 year old’s birthday dinner.

I noticed on the back label Langmeil actually lists the varietals as Syrah, Mataro and Grenache. I’ve never seen Mataro used before – but of course, Mataro is Aussie for Monastrell / Mourvedre. Also interesting was the use of a little aluminum disc at the bottle opening underneath the stelvin screw cap. I’ve read these are used to ensure maximum impenetrability by oxygen.

This wine is a deep ruby, akin to boysenberry juice. On the nose, it’s heavenly – a clean, developing wine with medium plus intense aromas of deep red and black fruit – plums, cherries and dried strawberries – with leather, crushed herbs, and some beautiful barnyard. That sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s not.

The palate is dry with almost high acidity, velvety tannins with the lightest ever grip, high alcohol at 14.5% and medium plus flavours of blueberry, boysenberry, plum, dried strawberry and cherry, thyme, rosemary and sage and just-got-off-the-horse sweaty saddle. The finish is long on this WSET Very Good wine.

Drink now or hold for 5 more years. There’s great acidity and fruit on this wine which is complex, layered, and beautiful with steak, roasted baby potatoes with herbs and greens with shaved Gran Padano drizzled with basalmic and olive oil.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Posted in Australia, Grenache / Garnacha, Mouvedre, Monastrell, RED, Shiraz / Syrah | Tagged Australia, Barossa, grenache, GSM, Langmeil, mataro, mourvedre, red wine, syrah | Leave a comment

Viognier, Paul Mas, Pays D’Oc, IGP, Languedoc, France, 2013, 13.5% abv, C$14

Posted on November 30, 2014 by winellama

Looking for a wine that is easy to find, not terribly pricey, tasty and isn’t Sauvignon Blanc? I thought so.

This Viognier could be the one. It has a clear, medium lemon colour with light legs and aromas of minerals, apricots and pear with dry thyme and flowers.

The palate is dry but offers an impression of the slightest hint of residual sugar on account of the medium plus stone fruit – nectarine, apricot and summer peach – with lemon verbena and some floral hints. Some crushed herbs and slight oak round out the palate. Medium body and medium alcohol make this a nicely balanced, youthful and fresh wine with only a slight amount of bitterness on the average finish.

While it’s not terribly complex, it’s a good deal, is juicy and refreshing and has only very light oak.

WSET Good and went great with Saltspring Island Juliet cheese and cranberry-flax crackers.

Posted in France, OTHER, Viognier, WHITE | Tagged france, Paul Mas, viognier, white wine | 2 Comments

Pacific Breeze Urban Winery, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, New Westminster, BC, 2009, 14.9% abv

Posted on November 29, 2014 by winellama

Ask most Canadian winemakers about CIC wines and they become rather tetchy; after all, it’s not as if there isn’t already a lot of product floating about here on the local market. What, we have to import more?!

Ask most consumers about CIC wines and they have no idea what you’re on about; doesn’t ‘cellared in Canada’ mean it was made here and therefore is Canadian? Well, made here, yes and mostly no on the origin of the grapes.

I’m not really sure where to say this CIC wine is from – it’s put together in New Westminster. According to the winery’s website, they source grapes from Washington and California, but the only hint about the provenance of the grapes used for this wine is ‘high altitude’. So they say…

Provenance aside, this wine is opaque ruby-garnet with slow legs. The nose is alcoholic and youthful with a medium plus intensity showing aromas of blackcurrant, raisin, black cherry and baking spices. The palate is dry with high alcohol (of almost 15%!). It has medium acidity and ripe grippy tannins – think purple teeth.

There’s a salinity about the wine which is trying to be one of those big, jammy, high alcohol, new world shows. It has medium plus intense flavours of more deep black fruit, violets, pencil lead, raisin, licorice and black cherry with nutmeg and green vine. The finish is simple and just medium.

WSET Good – drink now, don’t hold. Any when you do, decant prior to drinking; there was less tannin on day 2.

Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon / Blends, RED | Tagged Cabernet Sauvignon, cellared in canada, pacific breeze winery, red wine | Leave a comment