This afternoon was the first time I sat out on a patio, it was a little breezy but a nice time to have a simple white. This was another bottle we picked up during our trek through Michigan last year, and a wine made from a little heard about grape these days, Auxerrois. I used to love when Ontario wineries were making wines from this grape, but it became unfashionable and consumers had trouble pronouncing the name (Gewurztraminer has the same problem), so consumers did not buy it and wineries stop making it (can Gewurztt be far behind)? But today it was this Auxerrois which at first was delicious and refreshing, but as it opened the sweetness came out and the acidity disappeared. It was good for the first 20 minutes, the last 10 was just all sweet ... so the key to drinking this wine is drink up quick.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
L. Mawby - M. Lawrence NV "Sex" Brut Rosé (Michigan)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
13th Street 2007 Gamay Noir (Ontario)
A simple dinner of chicken-pizza called for a fairly simple wine, and what could be simpler than a Gamay. I reviewed this wine 8 months ago and it is still drinking beautifully today - dare I say even better than when I reviewed it ... this was such a quaffable wine that I caught myself on several occasions just sucking it back instead of sipping on it.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Four Bottles of Wine (Ontario, Spain, France)
Now, before you wonder what the heck I was up to this evening drinking four bottles of wine, let me tell you that most of this stuff was tasted and dumped - there are some rummies out there cursing my very name. A buddy came over last night sporting a few bottles of his own wine, which we tasted (I can't divulge the wines because he is still working on them). Then it was time for me to show what I had of interest in the cellar: I came up with 2 bottles of white and 2 bottles of red.
Kicking off the tasting was a bottle of Jackson-Triggs 2006 Sauvignon Blanc ... now I was under no illusions that this wine was still going to be the wonderful, fruity job it once was, the colour was golden yellow, which usually means age or oxidation in a white. The acidity was more or less still there but for the most part it was flat and flavourless - it was also sealed with a plastic cork, which is also not a good sign of ageability.
Next up, a bottle of Creekside 2008 Undercurrent Gewurztraminer, this one started off slowly, probably because it was way too cold, but as it warmed up the fruit and the floral began to emerge, there was some nice zip and zing to this wine once it warmed up and aerated a little. A pleasant little sipper to say the least.
As we waited for the Gewurzt to come to a temperature we could enjoy I brought out two reds, a Henry Bourgeois 1998 "Les Baronnes", a Pinot Noir from the Loire Valley in France. The smell was mushroomy and earthy while the flavours were thin on the palate, there was some fruit in there but it was not of the fresh variety and disappeared quickly replaced by barnyard (more like 'merde' as the French would say) aromas and flavours - this was a very short lived wine, if it was alive at all.
Finally, there was a bottle of Marques de Riscal Baron de Chirel 1988 Reserva from the Rioja in Spain. This wine started off very slowly and seemed like it was going to be in the same vein as the Bourgeois, meaning dead on arrival. It started out with lots of tannins and the flavours were old, dried and wet leaves; there was dried black fruit in there and it was fighting to come to the surface, but it was a long hard struggle, surprisingly it did make it near the end. At first it was not horrible, but not exactly wonderful. We let it sit as we looked back at the Gewurzt for a few minutes, we gave it (the Gewurzt) a few sips and agreed it was coming along nicely. Back to the Rioja and it too had opened considerably, there was now spice in the wine and barrel notes of vanilla mixed with some spice that was holding the wine together nicely. The longer this wine stayed open the better it became. We then thought of pairing it with a little food and found a Sundried Tomato Harvati that paired very well, the wine actually accentuated the tomatoes in the cheese, very impressive ... I do believe we did finish this bottle as there was nothing left in the bottle when we headed out for dinner.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Domaine Boudau 2008 Le CLos (France)
Tonight I pulled out a bottle I bought a few weeks ago, this one from the South of France, where the sun is warm and the grapes develop lots of sugar, and alcohol (15%). This is a blend of Grenache and Syrah (80-20) that is just so juicy it borders on succulent, if it weren't for the fine tannins keeping everything in check it would be one to just suck back. There's spiced plum and cherries on the nose while the palate has juicy blackberry and cherry with hints of vanilla and spice. The fruit fills the mouth and it's only on the back palate where the spice, pepper and tannins appear. This one is going to be dangerous because it demands to be gulped, not sipped, but that alcohol demands sipping - see the dilemma I am faced with. I'm going to have to go and sort this one out myself with a roast beef dinner ... wish me luck.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Umani Ronchi 2007 Jorio (Italy)
I tried this wine yesterday at an Italian tasting ... I liked it so much that I just had to find some. So I called a couple of stores and found a few bottles, even picked some up for mom as a Mother's Day gift (hope mom doesn't read my blog regularly). This Montepulciano D'Abruzzo is a black fruited spicy number that is simply lovely and juicy, it has enough tannins to sit for another 5+ year but it drinks quite well now. The nose is blackberry and cassis with hits of spice and vanilla. The palate seems to follow suit with nice blackberry, drying tannins, and some juicy black raspberry in the middle; for those interested it also has a beautiful colour. The finish seems to dry the palate out but then it makes you want to take another sip to quench it - pretty sneak wine that way. Lovely and very palatable ... now I'm off to find something for dinner, cheers.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Snoqualmie 2007 Whistle Stop Red (Washington)
Before opening this bottle I did some web-research to find out what people thought about it and to tell you the truth the folks out there were not too kind to this wine, ratings of 78 to 87 points by a bunch of winos on CellarTracker. Therefore it was with some trepidation that I opened this bottle; and truth be known I have no flippin' idea what they are talking about, one guy said it was "heavy cherry tones with thin layer of vanilla", another mentioned it was only good for BBQ season (is that some kind of slam against the wine?). All I can ask is: are we tasting the same wine here? Maybe these guys are used to sucking back the more expensive fermented juices of the world, but to me this was quite nice wine. I think the guy who gave this an 87 has hit the mark, it's not a wine that's going to set the world on fire but it sure does not deserve a 78, an 80 or an 82. Sure there's quite a bit of cherry in this 70% Cabernet and 30% Merlot blend, but there is some nice bite from the tannins, black cherry, vanilla with a hint of butterscotch on the nose; the palate shows some dark fruit, black cherry and a nice spiciness on the finish. As I said not something that is going to set the world on fire but definitely something to sip and enjoy, and isn't that what wine is truly about.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)