Carchelo 2008, Jumilla Spain (#8)

Well, it seems we've reached a benchmark here today; I have a wine with me that I don't like. It's from Spain, which makes me think I'd like it, but it has a cool bottle and for me that's always a red flag telling me that some marketing genius is trying to sell these wines to unassuming consumers and what's in the bottle may not be great. Now we get the question of what is a good wine and the answer varies for absolutely everyone. I enjoy wines that express terroir, the sense of the place and really show me what the grape is made of but not everyone does and this wine, like many other that I don't like have been known to be extremely popular with people in general. So if you like this type of wine, big fruit filled with new oak, then this wine is for you. I find it's fairly reminiscent of Big Australian Reds.

Jumilla is an interesting area in Spain because it resisted the phylloxera outbreak that devastated vineyards all over Europe in the 19th century. It continued to make it's traditional wines under traditional circumstances until it was unexpectedly hit by the bug in 1989. While replanting it's vines on grafted American root stock, many wine makers in the area used this opportunity to update their machinery and wine making techniques. Hence, now most of the area's wineries are fully modernized and have adopted many of the new world techniques which some critics say takes away from the terroir of the wine.

The Bodegas Carchelo 'Carchelo' 2008 from Jumilla, Spain
40% Monastrell (also known as Mourvedre), 40% Tempranillo, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon.
To be honest, I really taste the Cab here. I'm getting deep red fruits and red berries (cherries, raspberries) on the nose with some hints of oak like vanilla and some coffee. This wine has apparently only spent 2 months aging in new french oak barrels but I'm guessing it comes out more strongly because of the warmer climate.

I taste some summer berries and a lot of oak. The tannins to be seem somewhat off balance but they aren't too strong which is nice. My friend and colleague likened the taste to grape jolly ranchers (with oak and cedar) and this wine definitely has that fake candied sweetness to it. I also feel like the acid is somewhat off, as if it's been toyed with in the winery. But again, that's just my view and as I said earlier, it reminds me a lot of big Australian reds so if those are the wines you like then you might just enjoy this one.

This wine however, as far as I know is not available in Ontario, and is not available in BC Liquor stores. Marquis Wine Cellars have it for $18.00 a bottle and I found out today that they only have a few cases left. To this information I say good riddance. I'm happy to see you out the door Bodegas Carchelo 2008 and you've almost scared me away from trying other Jumilla wines. Luckily for Jumilla I'll try just about anything so they stand a chance and if there's something good in the region, I hope to find it!

Adios!

Malbec! and I like it. (#7)

Malbec has got to be one of my all time favorite wine varietals. It's hard to mess this one up folks. Hit the store and pick any one of those gazillion bottles of Argentinian Malbec on the shelf and you'll likely find yourself lovingly caressing the bottle after the first glass. I decided to splurge a little and went for a slightly higher end Malbec this time around. I paid $16.99 at my local BC liquor store for a bottle of the Gascon 1884 Reserva 2008 Malbec. But a warning, it doesn't say Gascon anywhere on the label. It's identifiable only by it's bold 1884 Reservado label and listed attributes below. While seemingly widely available in BC, it sadly doesn't seem to be available in Ontario. You're missing out guys. But it was in Ontario that I discovered my love for Malbecs so I'm sure you'll be able to find something if you visit the Argentina section of your local LCBO store!

The Escorihuela Gascon winery apparently still functions on traditional principles and while I hope that's why I enjoy this wine so much, I'm currently reading a book that puts all of these "wine making traditions" into question. It looks at how many winemakers today use science to alter their wines (either for better or for worse depending on the critic) to better fit the market. If you're interested enough to read more, this book will bring you on an adventurous journey to find out how the world has diverged from this idea of traditional wine. The book is titled The Battle for Wine and Love or How I saved the world from Parkerization and it's by wine writer Alice Feiring. Either way, I'm enjoying this wine so I'm just gonna continue drinking it regardless of whether it's fully traditional or not.

This vibrantly coloured wine is perfect for just about any occasion. With it's black cherry, dark plum, slight cooking spice scents and flavours and soft, easy to drink medium tannins there's a wide array of food that it will go well with this wine. I'm just drinking it as is. No food, no messing around. Just this wine and me and my laptop will make this night wonderful. A word for those about to enjoy this wine, it opens up very nicely after a few minutes. This is usually the case with red wines, even cheap ones. A few minutes of exposure to the air will bring out a new dimension to the wine.

Enjoy!

welcome to the world of rieslings! (#6)

Rieslings. Also known as the Yum wine, or as I like the call it, the desert wine of poor people. Rieslings are always popular with a crowd for their distinct sweetness. But here's something tricky about Rieslings: most of us usually think of Rieslings as sweet and fruity but in reality, most of them are not. Most of the time, Riesling grapes in Germany or Alsace are used to make a dry, aromatic white wine. Somehow over time us people in Canada have come to equate Rieslings with sweet which is what we'll likely get when we pick something off the shelf. Sometimes though, Canadian consumers are surprised by the dryness of the purchased Riesling so it pays to be vigilant when looking at the label. While I'm a huge fan of dry Rieslings, and I really should review one for you one day since they really are fun to drink, I admit it would be a shock if I was expecting a yummy fruit filled wine.
The wine I'm about to tell you about however does deliver on the excellent fruity sweet goodness that most of us think about when we think Riesling, despite the fact that it technically is only a medium sweet wine.

Today we are looking at the Niersteiner Spatlese (Late Harvest) Riesling by Gustav Adolf Schumitt.
This Riesling from Nierstein on the river Rhine delivers on what, as your standard Canadian, I expect in a Riesling. Full of fruit and nectar and easy to drink. Light in alcohol, medium in body and tropical notes all around. It was beautifully seductive with it's tropical notes reminiscent of dried pineapple and mango and hints of red apple and orchid fruits. It had a nice floral scent coming through as well. While not fully sweet it had great acid and was medium in body which made it easy to pair with some heavier plain foods like potatoes. On the palate, the tropical notes translated really well making it really palatable and fun.
Not exactly a complex wine but one that I could enjoy time and time again. Although I don't think I could enjoy an entire bottle to myself again. While only 9% abv, the sugar was definitely getting to me by the last glass.

I decided to try and pair this wine with food. As a little side project, I'm trying to figure out a good wine for cadbury cream eggs so of course, I tried this Riesling with a cadbury cream egg. While not horrible, I wouldn't recommend it. The chocolate worked fine with this drink but the inside was just completely neutralized.
I then decided to do a German twist on foods. One of my favorite German foods is Rosti (something like a potato pancake). Since I lack the culinary skills to pull this dish off, I decided to try my Riesling with store bought Perogies and what a treat this was! I sauteed a few onions and added some sour cream and every heavy potato bite I had meshed so wonderfully well with this wine. It was a truly delightful combination.

A+ for this wine as a medium dry, super yummy, food friendly Riesling. I recommend this wine for pre dinner at dinner parties, or Ukrainian themed night since it goes so well with Perogies. Or, if you're like me, this wine rocks if you just want to drink whenever you want for no reason at all. At under $12 a bottle here in BC at your friendly neighbourhood BC Liquor Store, it's definitely a wine anyone can enjoy! For my readers in Ontario, you can find it at your local LCBO for a whole dollar cheaper than what we're paying out here in BC.

With Spring just around the corner, there's really no better way to celebrate the return of sunshine and warmth than with a nice glass of fruity, fun and sweet white wine.

A visit to Batasiolo in Piedmonte Italy; one red, one white! (#5)

I really don't know how but even though Italian wines are as Famous as French ones, Italy definately surpases France in making some of the greatest inexpensive wines from local and international varieties. When I think Italian wines I always think about how great a nice crisp and refreshing Italian Pinot Grigio can be on a hot summer's day when you're just enjoying the weather and sitting on a patio. Of course there's also Valpolicella, one of the most famous and widely drunk reds among my peers. Refreshing and inexpensive, it's a great wine for almost every occasion. And of course we can't forget Chianti. While some of these wines tend to run a little out of my budget, Chianti makes some awesome stuff that sells for under $20 here in Canada.

Today however I won't be talking about any of these wines. Instead we'll be visiting another area of Italy; Piedmonte in the northwest part of the country, nicely located at the foot of the Alps. This area is quite well known for it's wines. From here you can find Asti (Muscat wines like the sparkling wine I reviewed in my last post) or the prestigious Barolo and Barbaresco wines.

My first wine is the 2008 Sunsi, Langhe doc Bianco by Beni di Batasiolo. This Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc blend has grapes coming from vineyards located in the Langhe Albese which is situated at something like 300m altitude. This inevitably is going to give this wine some crisp super acidic awesome 'summer wine' qualities.
At first sniff I got some great minerality off this wine. Very mountainous and stony with flavours of peach and other stone fruits, some sweetness like honey and some nice crisp green apple-citrus acidity. This wine also had a fantastic straw yellow colour to it.
On the palate I was struck by the acidity right off the bat. The citrus and green apple stood out as the stars of this wine. It had a bit more of a 'buttery/creamy' mouthfeel than I'd expect in a wine this refreshing so I'd say definitely more of a patio food wine than a patio sipper. The finish was medium as was the body but overall it was just really clean, crisp and refreshing, which is how I love my white wines. At under $16.00, definitely a wine I will be looking for come patio time!

In reds I'm looking at the 2008 Dolcetto d'Alba, also by Beni di Batasiolo. On the nose I was immediately impressed by the notes of cherry and ripe dark fruits. The wine was crisp and fresh and light on the nose with a bit of earth and green characters. I noticed some fresh fruits on the palate and even though I was looking for ripeness and cherries I couldn't help but notice the blueberries and not really the ripeness. There was admittedly a bit of cherries but it didn't dominate. It's a light and crisp wine with medium body and nice, round soft tannins. You can definitely feel the altitude and the climate of the hills around Alba in this wine. At $16.00 this wine does a lot for me. Great for pairing with lighter fares and wonderfully easy to drink.

As far as I know, both of these wines are available in Vancouver only at Marquis wine Cellars on Davie St. and they are not available at all, as far as I know, in Ontario and Quebec even though both provinces carry other Batasiolo wines. Since I'm lucky enough to be in Vancouver, I think I might just have to pick up a bottle of these wines in anticipation of some summer fun. Even if you can't get these wines specifically, check out wines from Piemonte. Great deals for excellent wines. I looked at the Dolcetto grape variety today and while the Batasiolo brand may not be widely available, every provincial liquor store carries a few Dolcetto's and they worth checking out, especially with their price tags!
Piemonte is definitely a wine producing area to keep your eye on for the wine quality and the price and I hope I will have a chance to share some other wines from this area with you very soon.

Ciao Bella!

If you're in Vancouver, go get one of those last bottles at Marquis! They'll run out soon....if they haven't already... :) (#4)

Today I'll be looking at a wine from Spain. Now I can't say that I have much experience with wines from Spain but this is wine is definitely a great entry point into what can be a somewhat confusing world. While it's not the most exciting wine I've ever tasted, it leaves me wondering what exactly Spain can do for me and for my future wine enjoyment. I always love trying wines from fairly obscure areas because chances are I'll be finding a higher quality wine at a much lower price point and the possibilities for this from Spain is really what's going to get me looking at this region more closely.
Unfortunately there's not a lot that I can tell you about the origins of the red stuff in this bottle other than it comes from Calatayud which is on the eastern part of the province of Aragon. The whole area is nestled quite nicely within Spain and away from the ocean. Other than that, I tried looking the wine up on google but came up with nothing of value, only one or two tasting notes from others who have also tried this wine. I also tried looking up the name on wikipedia but everything came up in Spanish so I didn't get very far in trying to figure out what it said.
The high Acid Garnacha grape is well blended with the thick skinned Tempranillo to create a balanced and food friendly wine. The Tempranillo would tend to add more tannins and body as well as flavours of plums and animal/vegetal notes to the spicy, berry flavoured Garnacha.

The wine was a very deep ruby, which could even take on a purplish tint in some lighting.
On the nose I got some nice warm almost stewing flavours of red cherries and black plums. I also got some sweet cooking spices and a bit of pepper. There was a note of greenness as well, almost like vegetable oil. I did smell some vanilla as well which is a trait of Tempranillo but I think this wine has a bit of oak which enhances this characteristic. While there was a slight animal-like smokiness, I'm not sure there was much beyond the vanilla that is definitive of oak in this glass.
On the palate I definitely felt some oak along my cheeks and tongue, but again, I'm not sure if i was tasting the flavours of the the tempranillo or of the oak. This is a dry wine, very dry in my opinion with high acid, fairly high but soft tannins and medium body.
The berry flavours like raspberry really popped out in my mouth. I also got a fair bit of cherry and black plum. There was a green leafy component and again like i mentioned earlier, some oaky notes along with some leather/animal tones.
The finish was medium and I think this wine is fairly good quality.

When tried on it's own this wine was Ok, once I threw in some food, this wine became rather nice. With Salt, the fruit flavours become more pronounced and the wine is simply delicious. I'd recommend it with a straightforward salt+pepper rubbed BBQ'd slab of beef. I had it with original pringles so I really got to see what the salt does to this wine. I'd definitely take it to the next level of food pairing. I do however caution against pairing this wine with bitter or herby foods. They seem to just make the wine taste astringent and take away a lot of it's charm. I also tried this wine with chocolate and that was just gross.

From my basic research, it doesn't look like this wine is widely available around Canada. It seems that in BC, I can only get it from Marquis Wine Cellars and they don't have a whole lot of it left. Actually at under $14 a bottle, I'm surprised they have any left. There doesn't seem to have any to be found in Ontario either. Still, this grape blend from Spain is a great one to look out for if you're looking for a little something to impress guests at a dinner party. Who would expect you to have this awesome little Spanish gem kicking around!

I lost South Africa so I'll settle for some bubble (#3)

I was originally hoping to tell you about a couple nice and inexpensive South African wines I had over the weekend but I seem to have misplaced my tasting notes and therefore can't even tell you what's on the label. So instead of a short visit to a winery in South Africa, I'll tell you about a couple really nice bubbly's I had for under $15 in class today!
I can also tell you about some of the cool things I learned in class today :)

The first bubbly we tried was the Codornius Brut No-Vintage Cava DO from Spain.
11.5% alc and only $13.99!
It was interesting to find out that most Sparkling wines in the quality production are actually blends from several vintages so that the winemaker can maintain a consistency for the brand. Therefore, in 5 years from now when you're going to the shelf at your local liquor store to grab this particular Cava, it should taste very similar to the one I tried today. Wines like these are also released as demand comes in for them so they're pretty much meant to be drunk asap.
I also found it very interesting that whereas Champagne in France denotes a particular geographic region, Cava DO in Spain denotes not the geographic region but the wine making techniques and therefore this denomination for a wine is very unique, but also very cool. Cava's can be from anywhere in Spain but by saying Cava on their label, they are advertising to the world that they are made in a traditional method for making sparkling wines. This traditional method means that there is a second fermentation in the bottle, the wine is subject to autolysis(a special type of aging) which gives it a slightly more bready/yeasty character, and then the dead yeast cells are removed in a particular manner thus allowing this wine to carry the prestigious title of Cava, or traditionally made sparkling wine.

Now onto the Codurniu Cava:
I found this wine to be fairly pale and yellow on first sight and the bubbles were definitely a lot smaller than I had seen in previous wines. On the nose it was clean and the flavours weren't very intense. Peach came out instantly and was followed by a sugary, frosting like character. There was also some citrus/lemon, some apple and definitely a subtle yeasty tone to the wine as well. On the palate this wine was really well balanced. It was dry with high acid making it very crisp and refreshing. Very light in body with a mild tartness on the tongue probably from the yeast. The primary flavours that came out were green apple and citrus. The finish on this wine was in the medium to long range.
Overall a fantastically yummy wine. Absolutely exceptional worth trying for the $13.99 price tag. I kept smelling and taking sips of this wine until our teacher gave us our next wine to try and I had to finally move on. Can't wait to get a bottle of this for myself!

The other wine I want to tell you about is a wine from Italy.
the Martini e Rossi No-Vintage Asti DOCG Italy 7% alc and price of $14.49.
A breakfast wine if I ever tasted one.
At first sight, this wine is clean and pale yellow with some medium sized bubbles. The bubbles were a little bigger on this one because Asti is Tank fermented as opposed to bottle fermented like the Cordorniu. Tank fermentation is another method of making the wine bubble which encourages the preservation of the natural fruit character in the wine. This is especially great for a wine like Asti since it's made from the incredibly flavourful Muscat grape.
On the nose this wine is clean with pronounced fruit, like big fruit about to punch you in the face it's just that big. There's some peach (like growers peach cider), some floral notes, some strawberry, some honey and it's got a bit of a grapey tone which shouldn't be surprising since the wine comes from a grape but for some reason, whenever I smell grape I'm surprised.
My notes for the palate start out with FRUIT, MORE FRUIT, YUMMY and well, what more do you need! It's a sweet wine with med acidity and is very light in body. The peach notes really come out as does some honey tones. The length of the finish is medium and this wine is very good. for $15, it's an any occasion wine! I'm thinking about cutting out mimosas as a traditional breakfast drink and substituting it with straight Asti. It's just that good.

Well, I'm sorry I wasn't able to provide my notes on the South African wines I wanted to tell you about but I hope that the sparkling wine notes didn't disappoint! We all need a little bubbly in our life after all!

a bit of portugal (#2)

Last Wednesday I had a great opportunity to attend a tasting of Portuguese wines...all of which were unavailable in BC (some were available in Ontario and Quebec). While there were some pretty expensive and really great wines, I found that most when converted from Euro's to CanDollars were very reasonably priced..and most of them were really fantastic wines! I hope to see some of them carried in the BC liquor stores very soon. Hint Hint *wink* to all the importers and sellers who were there on Wednesday...

This tasting really got me thinking about Portuguese wines and a bout how little they're talked about in the general wine media. Because of this, they tend to be pretty cheap for good quality wines (and that makes me a huge fan of these wines). Unfortunately I also know very little about them. Last week we had a small segment on Portuguese wines in class but it really didn't even skim the surface of all there is to learn about Portugal and their wine making industry. Definitely an area worth exploring a little more in my mind.

There were a few wines at Wednesday's tasting that really stood out in my mind but it seems that for future tastings I will have to refine my note taking system since for a lot of the wines I tasted I seem to be missing some vital information.
So I don't have the price point for any of these and I forget which wines are available to my Ontario and Quebec friends but hopefully they'll be available in BC soon and I can write about them in more detail.

Dom Divino Red 2005 wine from UDACA in the Dao region of Portugal (I forget the price and I forget if it's available in Ontario or Quebec)
This is definitely one of my top wines of the tasting. It was a nice ruby colour with cherry and spice on the nose. On the palate had a nice fruity flavour - of baking and warm fruits. Overall well balanced and nice on the tongue with no aspect overpowering the others.

Lote 44 Red, Syrah based Blend with a local portuguese grape called Aragonez, which happens to be a grape variety better known as Tempranillo.
From the Estremadura region in Portugal, which is about half way up the portuguese coast. Although I couldn't find this wine on the tasting for the program, word of it went around the room and people started visiting the table to try it out. It even took me a while to find it online and figure out who the distributor is and all that info. A very elusive wine but one that my taste buds will never forget. I have no idea how much this wine would go for if anywhere in BC ever did start selling it but definately my favorite wine of the show.
It had notes of candied/preserved cherries as well as some pepper on the nose and the palate. Nice light to medium body and smooth, easy tannins that helped to smooth out and elongate the feeling of this fantastic wine in the mouth.

Whites:

Fonte Do Nico Light 2009, from Pegoes region Pretty much all of the white wines i liked came from this region/producer. Most are dominated by the Fernao Pires grape with a fair bit of Muscat as well as some other varieties. The muscat definately adds some fantastic ripe fruit character to all of these whites.

This wine I found to be crisp and flowery on the nose and very light on the palate with hints of refreshing fruits like watermelon. A Very simple, refreshing, hot summer deck on the lake wine.

Caves de Pegoes 2009, also from the Pegoes region Very stone fruit/peachy on the nose with some minerality which transfered well to the palate. Nice refreshing acidity and body. Again, a great warm summer wine. Slightly more complex than the Fonte do Nico.

Sto. Isidro Branco, again a Pegoes wine. I don't know the vintage. Great nose on this wine. Very ripe fruits like red apples along with some nice tropical notes like bananas or papaya. For the palate, my notes are ripe applesauce juice, good crisp acid and light to med body, yummy....which makes me think I enjoyed this wine :D

The wines and the ports(red and white) at this tasting were pretty fantastic but what made the day so wonderful for me was the Moscatel sweet wines. I know some of the Portuguese Moscatels are fortified as well as sweet wines, I'm don't think all of the wines at this tasting were. They were however all very sweet and very yummy!

My tasting notes for the Moscatels are kind of sporadic but they generally had flavours of candied pears or canned peaches and as they aged showed characters reminiscent of caramilization or sweet candied orange rinds. The wines I tried on Wednesday are not as of yet available in BC but I know some of them are available in Ontario and Quebec from the Favaios Label, from the famous region of Douro in Portugal. I know at least one of the really good ones (unfortunately I forget which one) goes for $13 in Ontario. Sweet deal!!! Beats the price of icewine for sure.

Well folks, that concludes my little trip to portugal. I hope you will find Portuguese wines in all their variety and flavours as exciting as I did and I hope to review more of them in the future (individually, with more extensive notes).

My new untitled wine blog (#1)

How exciting! I finally have my very own wine blog where I can tell the world (or anyone who will listen) all about the wines I love. I really want to focus on $20 or under wines so that my friends and the bulk of the population can enjoy them along with me. I will have none of that pretentious mentality which states that in order for a wine to be good, it has to be expensive. I've had some great wines for under $20 and have recomended many of them to friends who have enjoyed them just as much as I did. Hence the idea of a blog that talks about wines that are accessible to almost everyone.

Now I do have a little problem with this blog and that is that I don't have a name for it. I've asked around but I haven't yet heard any suggestions that I really like. So in order to solve this little problem of namelessness, I'd like to open up the naming of the blog to my friends and possibly also friends of friends reading this post. Let the naming contest begin!!
Also, I'm sure I'll always be looking for ways to make this blog better so any improvement ideas or suggestions will be welcomed.

Now for my first wine, I'd like to write about a wine that gets high praise everytime i recommend it to someone (or as has happened, people i recommend it to then go on and recommend it to someone else). It is a wine that sells for $9.95 in the BC Liquor Store and in my opinion, for 10 bucks, you can't get a better deal. The wine is called Mapu and it's a chilean blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere. The wine is a Chilean venture by Baron Philip de Rothschild, the owner of a first growth chateau in Bordeaux which is a top wine producing region in France. In Bordeaux, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild is a top rate wine and the Baron's venture with Robert Mondavi in California, Opus One, is also a highly rated wine and as such is fairly expensive. But this chilean wine tastes like if it was made with the same care and dedication as the much more expensive french and californian wines but like chilean wines in general, it sells for much less.
The grape variety of Carmenere has built itself a reputation in Chile. While originally from France, it has thrived in the Chilean climate and makes some great varietal (100% carmenere) wines as well as some great blends, such as this Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere wine. The wine is a deep ruby colour and imparts a prominent nose of red berries such as fresh raspberries and cherries. There are also some toasted oak and chocolate smells and a slight medicinal or eucalyptus smell common to chilean wines. On the palate this wine is extraodinary. It has medium tannis and medium body and is extremely well balanced making this wine a joy to drink. The flavours in the mouth are of fruits such as raspberries and cherries as well as chocolate. My first impression of this wine when i tasted it was of chocolate covered cherries. Yum! This wine sits well in the glass and evolves nicely when exposed to air. The finish isn't too long and the wine itself isn't what some people would call complex but for $10, it's an absolutely fantastic wine.
Give it a try and see for yourself why I give this wine an 'A' grade and recommend it without hesitation to anyone who will listen to me :D