IVSA Vancouver

About 4 times a year, the IVSA (Import Vinters and Spirits Association) put on a giant fair for buyers and sellers of wine, spirits and beer. Most of the hundreds of beverages on display are wine but it's not uncommon to find some unique spirits or cool beers being poured for the adventurous tasters.
I love going to the IVSA tasting because it gives me an opportunity to try about 100 wines in a 2-3 hour span, many of them products that I wouldn't seek out on my own. I usually keep an eye out for the weirdest and coolest new things on the market but I also like trying what's popular so that I'm up to date with consumer trends.
Yesterday was the fantastic fall IVSA and there were some pretty interesting drinks available to taste.
Below are a few of the products that I thought were worthy of mentioning, and worthy of checking out if you happen to come across them in the store.

Marani whites and reds from Georgia: This series of wines won my top award because of both their quality and their uniqueness in our market. All of the wines in this series except for one come in at just under $20, well within my blog range, and the quality is exceptional. This is yet another fine example of how high quality wines entering our market from places not usually associated with wine can be a fantastic value.
For the white wines, the first was the 2009 Mtsvane at $19.90. Fully dry yet refreshingly fruity on the nose and crisp on the palate. Interesting and almost reminiscent of Sauvignon Blanc. This wine gets a solid 'A' from me!
2009 Tbilisuri; a semi-dry wine balanced with lots of acid. It had great floral and ripe fruit notes and was a joy to try. I gave it an 'A+', one of the two I gave all day.
2008 Tvishi; this was the one wine from Marani that was over the $20 mark but considering the extra effort taken to make it semi-sweet, the price increase is justified. This wine also got a solid 'A' from me for it's sweet dried fruit and honey notes. What was especially nice about this wine was that it was still very acidic and wasn't too syrupy like some semi-sweet wines can be.
There were also 2 red wines.
2008 Saperavi; I thought that this wine was the most common out of the flight. It was still good but it didn't stand out like the others. It had notes of dark fruit and its full-bodied charm made it a delightful drink especially at under $20 but it wasn't anything really special.
2008 Pirosmani; another solid 'A' wine and a really interesting wine in that it is a semi-dry red. It's full-bodied with lots of rich ripe red fruits and really good. It doesn't come off as semi-dry but the extra sugar adds a really nice balance to final product.
Who knew that wines like this could come from the interior of Georgia. Apparently the area of Kakheti, where these wines are made, has a peculiar micro-climate making it ideal for grape growing. I'm really excited to try these wines again!

Heitz Cellars 2008 Sauvignon Blanc: This is my other 'A+' rated wine and while I don't know the price range, I'm guessing it's a lot over $20. Heitz Cellars makes some great stuff and I always like to try their wines when I have a chance. They had their Cabernet Sauvignon as well as their Sauvignon Blanc available to try and while their Cab is great and worth the premium prices charged for it, I was more impressed with the quality and tone of their Sauvignon Blanc. It was crisp and full of great citrus, mineral and gooseberry flavours; typical of sauvignon blanc in general but there was something about the balance in the acidity and body in this wine that made it truly spectacular.

Camelback Shiraz Viognier from Australia: This wine gets a solid 'A' for its great flavours and structure and the uniqueness of the product being made. Adding Viognier to a wine is an age-old tradition in certain areas of the world, including in the Southern Rhone Valley where Viognier is often blended with Grenache, Syrah and several other grape varieties to add colour, body and aromas. Camelback has taken this basic idea and made it their own, and I think it works wonderfully. This wine is bright, not too heavy and really nice notes of pepper, spice and red fruits like cherries and some raspberries. Great to drink on it's own for it's depth and silkiness but also a great for pairing with a variety of different foods and meats.

Blackbird Vineyard Arise: Blackbird vineyards is another one of those amazing Californian producers that commands premium prices for it's fantastically concentrated and artistically crafted wines. Once a wine hits the premium price point, I often find that the product inside is rather disappointing considering the cost. At $84 a bottle, this is NOT one of those wines. In fact, it's worth every penny. A solid 'A' rating, it's rich but soft with notes of berries and pepper. A joy to drink.

Chateau D'Orignac: This is a really cool concept for a wine that is apparently very popular in France but has yet to make inroads in the North America market. It is a wine that is fortified with VSOP Cognac, giving a really nice complexity of flavour to this really nice but not too sweet fortified wine. In France, because this wine isn't too rich or sweet, it's often served as an aperitif instead of after dinner which is how we tend to do things in Canada. Under $40 in our market and worth investing in a bottle if you're looking to impress some future dinner guests.

Gran Feudo Edicion: 100% Tempranillo from Spain. It's easy to savour with it's light notes of dark fruit and peppery tones. It's not too full bodied and not too watery but it strikes a very nice balance in the middle ground. At $15, it's a bargain.

Other notable mentions go to:
Fetzer 2009 Gewurztraminer, California: easy to drink, off dry, yummy fruit and not too demanding.
Cannonball Cabernet Sauvignon, California: Very rich and big, full of fruit and pepper. It is extremely typical of californian Cabs and is still only around $30. Great value for the quality and typicity it brings forth.
Heavyweight Red, California Cabernet Sauvignon: Really nice wine but the name is rather misleading. Much more approachable and much less 'heavy' than I thought it would be. There is a small percentage of Zinfindel which adds a lot of really nice and soft flavours to the mix. Not typical of a Californian Cabernet Sauvignon but still a really nice and kind of different wine.

Oregon Pinot Noir Tasting - in Vancouver

Pinot Noir grapes make some of my absolutely favorite wines in the world but as I was saying in my last post the difficulties associated with growing the grapes means the wines can unfortunately be pretty expensive. I'm always on the look out for great value and good quality Pinot Noir's for under $20 but out of all the different kind of wines out there, it's one of the hardest to find.
I'm telling you today about my love for Pinot Noir's and how sad I am that they have such a high price point because I had a great opportunity today to attend a fantastic tasting of Oregon Pinot Noir's, some that are available in our market and some that will be if there is enough interest from buyers. Oregon's coastal climate creates ideal conditions for growing Pinot Noir grapes. It's a little cooler, which the early ripening pinot likes, and the wines that come out of the region are full of flavour with great acidity and for the most part good body as well. Wine makers have the opportunity in this part of the world to experiment with vineyard conditions and wine making techniques that aren't available to many of the legally bound producers in France which means that a lot of the wines coming out of Oregon are unique and interesting, with a focus on making wines for the future instead of wines that represent the past.

Most Oregon Pinot's on our market at the moment are either 2006 or 2007, with the 2008's coming up within the next two months.
Most 2006's I tried today are ageing nicely and still show a lot of rich ripe fruit developing complexity and depth as they age. The good wines out of this year are, and will continue to be great for many years.
2007 was a tough vintage for Oregon growers as it was rainy and extremely wet during the harvest season. Many picked early and the resulting wines show tons of greenness. While many like the light style of wine produced in this year by most wine makers, I found most of them to be rather watery.
As for 2008, I'm really looking forward to drinking many more Oregon Pinot Noir's from that year. There's body, fruit, richness and many have a nice spiciness to them as well. Overall I enjoyed this vintage the most, a vintage in which the best wine makers will make legendary wines and the not so good wine makers will still make some pretty awesome stuff.

Here are a few wines I tried today that I thought were especially note-worthy:
Andrew Rich wines - I tried both their small production wine as well as their lower level 'cuvee B'. Both were quite good and they were both some of the best '07's I tried at this tasting.
Trisae '08 - I gave this one an all around A+ for quality, style and taste. The rich, ripe and almost candied fruit is extremely well balanced with the spicy pepperness and green notes in this wine. It was also delightfully full-bodied.
Trisaetum 'o7 - A solid 'A'. Another of hte good '07's in the room. It was light and vegetal like the others but the difference was that the Trisaetum didn't make it seem like a fault. It pulled the flavours and characteristics together like an elegant dancer.
Erath Winery:
Erath Pinot Noir Oregon - the most basic of their wines at this tasting and an A- wine from me. Typical '08 profile of fresh berries but with comparatively light body. Still a complex and structured wine especially at the $30 price point.
Erath Leland Pinot Noir 2006 - Did I mention I loved the 2006 Pinot's that were being poured at this tasting? This is no exception and is in fact probably one of my favorites. My tasting note for this wine is simply "oh wow" followed by a star and a clear A+ grade.

These wines are the ones that really stood out for me but as with any tasting, someone else I talk to will be wowed by completely different wines. Rarely is there a consensus of what the 'best' wine of the show was. Such is the human palate I suppose. I really enjoyed the '08 Vintage but I gave most of the '07's grades between B and A- for the very best. As always however, I met a few people whose favorite wines of the show were some of the 07's that I thought tasted too green and watery. As for the '06's the general consensus seemed to be that they are showing well and are a testament to the quality of wines being produced in such places as Oregon.

Red Burgundy - Sometimes a special event calls for a special wine

It's time to finally come back to writing this blog. I'm sorry I've been a little MIA for the past 2 or so months. I guess summer made time go by so quickly that I didn't fully realize how much I had been neglecting my posts. Well I'm back and I'm going to write about a wine that I wouldn't normally write about in this blog, a wine that is a little more expensive than my usual under $20 picks. I chose this specific wine because I feel that today, my first post in 2 months, qualifies as a special occasion so I splurged a little. Let's call this under $30 wine a "special occasions pick". For this special occasion I thought a nice little wine from Burgundy might be nice so I chose the 2006 Reserve De la Chevre Noire, Bourgogne AOC, Pinot Noir. Wines from the Pinot Noir grapes are generally pretty expensive and rarely can you find one of quality under $20. They are definitely out there and I'm always on the search for a quality Pinot under 20 but the truth is that thanks to how finicky the grape is to grow, it just doesn't come cheap. Anyway, this basic Burgundy AOC wine is a really enjoyable wine for this evening with it's fresh cherries, reminding me almost of candied fruit and green notes on the nose, light, fruity with sour cherries on the palate. Not too complex a wine but still not overly simple, a nice down the middle wine. In the mouth, it's light and fresh and not too tannic.
It's a great wine to drink on it's own, as most Pinot Noir's are, but it has enough complexity of flavour to stand up to light fare or chicken.
A great pick for a celebration wine and I'd definitely consider getting it again. For $30, I give this wine a solid A-. A great show for a basic Burgundy AOC.

cono sur Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere

I absolutely adore this wine, and this grape blend of Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon for that matter. I like it so much that I've sent people away from my store to go to another store to get it if I think it's exactly the kind of wine they're looking for. It is a wine that is worth that extra little trek and I hope you'll all have a chance to try it as well. I've reviewed another wine that is a blend of these two grapes in one of my first posts - the Mapu by Baron Phillipe de Rothschild.
Carmenere is a grape originally from Bordeaux that unfortunately never really took root in the region after the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century. Luckily it had already been introduced to the soils of Chile and here the grape variety has really come into it's own to make some fantastic varietal and blended wines. It's the magical combination of Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon that still gets me however and I'm happy to see that more and more wine makers are coming on board make more of this blend.
This wine is full of cherries and blackberries, ripe fruit, earth, chocolate and some typical Chilean green/vegetal notes on both the nose and the palate. It has a big structure generally expected from a Cabernet Sauvignon but it's nicely mellowed by the Carmenere, a little like a Merlot helps to soften Cabernet based Bordeaux blends. Together, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere merge to make an enjoyably smomoth, not overly tannic but still full-bodied enough to stand it's ground with red meats and heavier food thanks to the Cabernet component. It's also a great wine to enjoy on it's own, which is how I usually have it.

In general, I give this blend a solid A rating, especially since they usually come in at under $20. Some are better than others, but few are bad. If you want a perfect wine to bring to a dinner party where you don't know what's being served, this wine is a great choice! Enjoyable in every way. I hope you enjoy it too!

Hungaria Sparkling wine

Traditionally our society views sparkling wine as a luxury to be enjoyed on special occasions but with Hungaria coming onto the market at $15, I've decided that every occasion can be made into a special occasion!
I wasn't sure about this wine when it was recommended to me. It's made from the same grape varieties as the most famous sparkling wine, Champagne, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay dominating the blend. It's made in the traditional method, like they do in Champagne, the big difference is geography - where the grapes are grown - and that Hungaria is not aged on the less (dead yeast cells) for the minimum ageing period of 18 months that real Champagne is left for.
Time to try this wine that I'm absolutely skeptical about and my first impression is that it's absolutely amazing!! And not just for $15. It's actually pretty good and can stand up to a lot of new world traditional method sparkling wines as well as some cava's. The best Champagnes still knock it out of the water, but I guess that's why some people pay over $100 for those. It had similar fruit characters as other traditionally fermented sparkling wines and it was a bit fresher in the fruit, largely because it was lacking some of the yeastyness of a sparkling wine aged for a long period of time on the lees.

For quality, style, typicity and value for money, this wine gets my vote with a solid A+. Next time you're looking to celebrate, or just looking to drink some bubbly, search out Hungaria and give it a shot. It's worth the hunt!!

And a note to my Ontario friends, you can get this wine at the LCBO for $12. You lucky.....