Good Stuff

Right on time for the holidays come three winners. Two from the other side of the Atlantic, the third from the other side of the Pacific.
The Spaniard Alejandro Fernandez makes pretty much good wine year in, year out, in the appellation of Ribera del Duero (the same river that flows to the ocean through Portugal as the Douro, famous as the home of Port). Pesquera is one of his vineyards. The Tinto, 2004 has an absolutely gorgeous pungent nose - smoke, mushrooms, earth and moss with hints of dried montmorency cherries. Take a sip - wow! Full bodied, deep, dense but gentle and smooth. Concentrated, meat, ripe dark plums and cedar. Long 30 second finish. $29, note that the vintage available at the SAQ is now 2006. Boy, I love good Spanish wine. BTW, at the recent "private import" tasting salon in Montreal, I had a tasting of the Balbas, Reserva, Rioja, 2001. It is apparently available at the SAQ Signature stores for $45. Expensive, but this was one of the best wines I have tasted in 2009...
From Australia comes the Magpie Estate, The Sack, Barossa Shiraz, 2005. Medium priced and well worth it at $21, it is a burly, full bodied wine. Creamy texture, cola (but not sweet), toffee, coconut - yet the brambly black fruits shine through. Yum. A word of warning though - drink it all up, it thins out by the next day.
Cheers!!

F

Minty Twins

Pillar Box is an Australian Winery that takes its name from the old style postal boxes...note the black slit on the label that corresponds to the slot that you put letters through. What that has to do with wine beats me. Anyways, we blindly tried two of their offerings, the premium black labeled Reserve (50% shiraz, 42% cab, 8% merlot) 2006 and the the mid priced Red labeled 100% shiraz, 2006. It was easy to tell them apart - the Reserve was just more intense than the Red.
The Red comes in at 15% alcohol. Shy nose with a faint whiff of ageing raw meat. Medium full bodied, it has loads of cooked fruit compote - mostly cherry. Firm. Finishes with camphor and eucalyptus, these minty flavours last about 30 seconds. Interesting wine, but awkward and will find few fans. This is tough to match to food. It's "OK", would not buy again ($18).
The Reserve is hot at 16% alcohol. Way too hot. Much nicer, more aromatic nose than the Red with some plums. Full bodied, it hits you with menthol and eucalyptus full bore. Very weird, because this is very unbalanced - the mintiness hides everything else, except the high alcohol. The mint just goes on and on - it's overpowering, meaning it has a huge finish (too bad it's not one you want to savour). Dense wine. Forget about it with food. The next day, after leaving it open for 24 hours and then decanting, and then chilling it down to 12 degrees, it becomes somewhat enjoyable. If you don't have this wine, don't buy it. If you do, put it away for 10 years and hope the mint blows off. $25.
Cheers!!

Turkey?

GSM. Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre. The classic Rhone varietals. The Aussies have hijacked the blend and call it simply "GSM". OK, lets try one out. The Turkey Flat, Butchers Block, Barossa, 2006 is actually SGM, but what the hell. Sniffing intially reveals little, but give it time and faint blackcurrant aromas show. Medium bodied, spicy with sour cherries...not bad you might think, but it they actually taste like those cheap chalky pill sherbet type candies. This is not good. Long finish, but the wrong kind. The tartness makes it hard to match with food, but who knows, maybe try it with turkey. It is not a very enjoyable sipper. Way overpriced at $24. "OK" wine. If you have any, put it away for 5 years and hope the tartness mellows.Bodegas Lurton, Gran Lurton, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza, 2005. Boy, these French Lurton brothers are sure full of themselves. "Gran" Lurton? They're that good? On the nose this wine shows black fruit with hints of mint. Medium bodied, round, supple mouthfeel, almost velvety. Silky, easy going tannins coat your teeth. Well balanced. Fruit driven with black and red currants. A very approachable cabernet, well made. Not a knockout, but good wine and OK for the price ($20). Lose the "gran" moniker, guys.
Robert Parker, 91 points. $16. Duh. Buy. The Spanish Las Rocas, Garnacha, 2006 is pure Grenache with a sniff of sweet dried strawberries. Medium-full bodied, pure juicy ripe black fruit drives this wine with a follow-up moderate finish. Generous and enough to keep you interested, but this is no 91 point wine. For 91 points I should be saying "wow" right away, and with this wine I don't. It is a good buy for sixteen bones, though.

Cheers!!

Redemption?

If you look closely at the label on the left, it looks suspiciously like the one I blogged about last week...so you may be wondering, what the heck am I drinking that crap for again? Well, my friendly consultant at the booze shop caught my arm on the way out of his store and said - "You gotta try this stuff. It's the staff favourite". I laughed hard, explaining I had already spat it out in disgust the week before. But on closer inspection, this particular wine is 100% malbec, whereas the previous was a mix of malbec and tempranillo. OK, I'll give the folks who make Fuzion Alta Reserva 2008 another chance...to see if this line of wines is universally bad or if the blend is a one-off effort designed to offload some badly made wine. Faint hints of candy on the nose blows off after a while leaving not much to sniff. The palate is light, dried fruit preserves. It seems to thicken up a bit by the next day but is pretty uninteresting. However, this is actually drinkable, miles better than the Malbec-Tempranillo blend, an "OK" everyday plonk. $10. You get what you pay for here.
We tasted the Fuzion head-to-head blind with the Argento, Reserva Malbec, also from Mendoza and also from the 2008 vintage. Another weak nose, this one has hints of plums. Light, spicy, redcurrants is the taste profile. Not much body, plus it fades fast as it leaves the mouth. Again, nothing wrong with it, it's just not very interesting. Another"OK" wine, it beats out the Fuzion by a hair. $13. You can buy better for the price.
How is California Merlot doing? It's been a while, so we uncorked a couple to try. The Clos du Bois, Sonoma Reserve, Merlot, 2006 is from the Alexander Valley. Medium coloured with a nose of chocolate covered strawberries. Medium bodied, supple, candied maraschino cherries, with some spiciness adding a little complexity. This is "OK", more enjoyable than the two malbecs described above, but worth about half of it's $20 price tag.
The Toasted Head, North Coast, Merlot, 2006 is light-medium ruby coloured with a straightforward nose of red fruit and just hints of oak (if you wait long enough). Medium bodied, bright, sharp, sour cherries and subtle hits of vanilla. A simple, "OK" wine. You hardly notice the effects of "toasting" the heads (ends) of the barrels this wine is named for. Disppointing for $20. Ho-hum. Nice label though:
Cheers!!

Canadian Cedar

Can Canadian wines age? Very good question, there is little track record here. Several years ago we visited the Cedar Creek Winery in the Okanagan Valley of BC and were impressed with their Platinum Reserve series of wines. I brought several bottles back with me and thought it was time to check their development. The 2002 Merlot has a nice opaque purple colour. It is initially closed but after a 2 hour decant, plums mixed with cranberries come out. On the palate, in this stage of its development, I could mistake this wine for a Bordeaux (? is this a compliment - depends on your point of view). Well balanced, spritely and crunchy, beets and cranberries with a tart apple acidity thing going on. Overall more on the green side than fruity. So how's it ageing? It's lost its initial fruit driven mellow hedonistic side that was evident 3 years ago. But it's showing enough that it's worth waiting to see what happens in another few years. The verdict is still in the air... For value, this is a tough sell at $40.
Right. Now for a look at a marketing phenomenom. The best selling red wine in Ontario and a best seller in several other provinces is an Argentine wine simply known as "Fuzion". It costs about 8 bucks and when I last tried it a few years ago was actually quite drinkable. It looks like it was so successful that they decided to bottle a "premium" version for 3 bucks more. I thought I would compare this nicely packaged wine to a classic Argentine mid-priced wine to see how it stacked up. Well it took all of one second to realize this was a mismatch. The Fuzion, Alta, Malbec-Tempranillo, Reserva, 2008 is a dud. See-through wine in the glass. It smells like dubble bubble. One taste and I quickly spat it out. Cheap candy and gum. Totally fake wine. How do they get away with this? How dare they put "alta" (translation: "high") and "reserva" on the label? Who buys it? I returned it and got my money back. They can market this crap to someone else. Shame on you, famiglia Zuccardi.
OK, how's the other wine? Pretty good it turns out. The Bianchi, Malbec, 2007 is from San Rafael, about 200km south of Mendoza city. Dense purple colour, raw beef nose. A rustic full bodied wine - the tannins rough up the mouth a little bit. Pomegranate fruit. I have no problem drinking this or paying $17 for it.

Cheers!!

Aging Huts

Can Australian wines age well? Many worry that they may not age as well as European wines with a long track record for cellaring (except for the really high end stuff like Penfold's Grange). I had some mid priced Aussie juice from the same vineyard from three different years - 1998, 2002 and 2007 - so I rousted up 3 other tasters and we gave the wines a whirl.
The producer is Richard Hamilton and the wines are made from Cabernet Sauvignon from the "Hut Block", so called because the vines grow around a long-standing grape pickers hut. These wines had a remarkably similar style despite the vintage differences, but 3 of the 4 tasters were able to correctly identify them. The 1998 still had a nice blackcurrant nose leading to a medium full bodied wine with nice fruit still evident. This is aging well and still has a few years left in it, although it is a lot mellower than it was in 2000 (it was a "big" wine back then). The 2002 is a little earthier as well as having more intense fruit, and adding some crisp green pepper flavours. The 2007 is much like the 2002, just "fresher". All in all, hats off to the producer for keeping the wine true to style, and making it age-worthy for at least the medium term. Good wines, worth the $19 (interestingly, the retail price has stayed the same through the years as well...). I just wonder why they keep redesigning the labels...I think the oldest one is the classiest. This wine now comes with a screwtop.
Speaking of closures, the next wine we tried has an interesting "cork". It's soft plastic that you "peel" off (see the picture), leaving a rubber like re-useable stopper. Very neat, I like the simplicity (easier to open than a screwtop, and easily re-sealable). Too bad the wine was not very good. The Leese-Fitch, California Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007 looks classy - but it is wine without terroir - reading the label, there's no clue as to what part of California the grapes came from (there are allusions to both Sonoma and NAPA on it, but I doubt the wine actually comes from either of these appelations). Stewed plums on the nose. On the palate, a lean style, here come the fermenting plum flavours (the kind you would spit out if you bit into one). Then the wine just dies off. No complexity here. No hint of time spent in a barrel. "OK" wine, way overpriced at $18.

Cheers!!

Lotus, Ique and Vacque...

This has to be one of the most original bottle labels I have come across....a very striking mix of local features and people in B&W spanning the circumference of the bottle (click on the photo to better see it) . Unfortunately the winery it comes from has a crappy little shack of a tasting room that is sooo ugly and tackily signposted that most people are probably afraid to stop by. Too bad. These guys, Lotusland, make tiny batches of varietals such as Ortega, Zweigelt, Cabernet and Pinot Noir in the Fraser Valley of BC where new wineries pop up every year. I was impressed with their Pinot Noir, 2002, probably because it uses dollops of oak to add some meat to the wine. Beautiful oaky nose - you PN purists will NOT like this wine as the soft, warm oak overpowers the palate. Chewy, but there is some bright fruit. Pretty long (oaky) finish. I like this - it's "good", and damn good for a red sourced from Fraser Valley fruit. $22. Stop in and have a taste next time you drive by.



Vacqueras is a village appelation in the Cotes-du-Rhone. The Montirius, Le Clos, 2004 is a 50-50 mix of Grenache and Syrah that is organically farmed. Initially quite closed - all minerally and graphite, it needs a good decant for a few hours to freshen up. It retains the lean, tannic frame but some nice brambly fruit shows up, laced with an iodine like tinge. Nice 30 second finish, this was a good foil for a turkey leg and portobello mushroom stuffing. Good wine. $22, worth the admission price if you like this old world style.

Enrique Foster of Mendoza dabbles only in Malbec. The Ique, 2007, is a black wine with blackcurrant and pomegranate nose. Medium bodied, classic malbec - more of the same fruit follows on the palate plus a little raw meat. No oak evident. Nice long finish. Good food wine, also went very well with turkey. Gobble gobble. $20.
Cheers!!

Moving Up

When you move up from $15 to $25 a bottle, you expect a lot more out of your wine. I like it when it makes me say "wow"...
Robert Parker gave the Chateau Saint-Roch, Chimeres, 2006 an outstanding score for a wine from the southeast area of France - 92 points. So when I saw it for $25, I picked a bottle up to take for dinner at my sister in law's, she loves French wines and hates new world stuff. This is a black wine, full bodied and austere in style. Graphite, tobacco, not much fruit showing, it's a Bordeaux mimic. Needs time. I'd call it "good", maybe in 5 years or so it'll open up, so don't buy it unless you can lay it down for a while.

On to the new world. The Jackson Triggs, Okanagan Estate, Proprieters Grand Reserve, Shiraz, 2006 apparently was awarded Silver, best in class, at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London and Double Gold, Best of Nation, at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. So for $28 I thought this may be a "wow". Let this one decant for a while - initially it has a candy like nose that thankfully blows off to red berries. It's vibrant, spicy, medium bodied with cherries and redcurrants and a bit of white pepper. A bit light for a shiraz in my opinion. There is a short blast of tannins that quickly fade off. Out of it's league compared with good Aussie and Argentine shiraz. Good, but not worth the $28 (would be an interesting buy at maybe $18).

I had high hopes for the McLaren Vale Australian Gemtree, Uncut Shiraz, 2007. The 2006 was phenomenal for the money - $25. The 2007 is simply not as good, although I still like it and think it's worth considering for the price. Warm, toasty, toffee nose. Soft and caressing mouthfeel, not complex, not a palate wacker, lots of deep red fruit, it's a smooth sipper. It's definitley more my style than the Triggs.

OK, I digress from the $25 wines to talk about yet another $15 winner. This one's from Chile - the Undurraga, Sibaris, Carmenere, Reserva Especial, 2007. Opaque black, this is concentrated stuff. Full bodied, rich style. Very spicy, black olives (the canned pitted kind, not kalamata), boiled beetroot - it could easily pass for merlot (which the Chileans thought this grape type was for years...). No oak evident. New world in-your-face-style..."good" wine for those who like the style, overbearing for those who don't.

Cheers.....

Chileans

Continuing with the fifteen buck theme are a Chilean family - the Santa Carolina Barrica Selection series. I guess they age these in some sort of barrel, probably a large (old) one at that ("Barrica" roughly translates to the Bordeaux style barrel, but the term can be used more generically). They come in at $14.95 each. Their Carmenere, 2006 has an intense cassis nose. The palate is more disappointing - it is a medium bodied, non-descript fruit driven wine showing raspberries and cranberries. An OK wine.
Better is the Petit Verdot, 2006. Dates and blackberries greet a sniff. Vibrant, intense blackcurrant taste, almost tart. Very nice. A good wine.
Best of the bunch is the Syrah, 2006. The leathery nose is promising. Medium-full bodied with juicy blackberries and smooth tannins in the background. Kind of mid-way between an old world/new world syrah. Good wine, a winner for this price...
Cheers!!

15 Buck Stuff Continued....

Might as well continue with the fifteen buck wines...I had high hopes for the Portuguese Crasto, Douro, 2007. Made from Port grape varietals it comes from a winery that placed an "old vines" wine on the top 100 list for the Wine Spectator last year. Looks like they blew all their good grapes on that wine...this one is just not very good. Medium bodied, sharp, crisp, almost tart red fruit. A little soapy. No finish. Very average. An "OK" wine, should cost half of the $15 it cost.
The next wine is highway robbery. Unusual for this winery - Rutini Wines, Trumpeter, Reserve Tempranillo, 2007 is the culprit in question. Perhaps it is because they are trying to make tempranillo in a place they shouldn't - in Tupungato, Mendoza, Argentina? Anyway, this is thin, tart, almost sour - cranberries at best, sour hard candy at worst. So much so it makes you salivate (to protect your mouth, not in anticipation of anything good by golly!!). No pleasure in this. Reserve they say? Crap wine I say. Should be reserved for cleaning your sink. Stay away, not even worth 5 bucks never mind fifteen.

Unfortunately the parade of losers continues. This one is usually good, so another oddity here. Symington's Altano, Douro, 2007
has that initial cheap candy smell that I hate, later some cherries join in. On the palate you initially get a huge blast of white pepper. Medium bodied but almost lean. Cherry fruit but again too candyish. An "OK" wine. This is worlds apart from the Setencostas we had last week, it's only saving grace is that it costs 2 bucks less at $13.









Cheers!! Lets hope we taste something better soon...

Fifteen Buck shootout

$15 is an interesting price point for a wine. Less than that, and usually (with some notable exceptions) you get crap. More than that, you expect (but may not get) good stuff. So $15 is a "respectable" starting point for shopping.
I picked up three wines at fifteen a pop and we had them one night after another, so I got to compare them.
#3: The Spanish Montgo, Monastrell-Shiraz, 2004, Yecla has a nice deep burgundy colour. Medium bodied, spicy, a little beef stock mixed in with dark red gum drops and Welch's grape juice. Easy drinking but ultimatley too candyish to be a top notch wine. Tries hard though...it's OK.
#2: From Chile Tarapaca makes a wine from a single vineyard, La Cuesta, a blend of Cab Sauvignon and Syrah. The 2007 has a very strong berry nose, primarily elderberries. This is worth the $15 price alone. Medium-full bodied, intense fruit, very new world style. Red berries and cherries on the palate. The tannins are present but easy to handle. Good wine.
#1: From Portugul comes the winner - Quinta das Sentencostas, Alenquer, 2007. No musty old Portuguese plonk here. This is crisp, fruity (blueberry-blackberry), classy with a long finish. Well done. Good stuff.

Fall is here now - damn!! The leaves are nice but winters coming now...no more long lazy days out on the balcony sipping vino. Like this one. The Argentyine Navarro Correas, Gran Reserva, Malbec 2005 is worth the extra 5 bucks compared to the above three efforts. This could be the smoothest malbec I have every had the pleasure of tasting. Fresh beef and raspberry nose. Juicy redcurrants and pomegranate. There are tannins, but they're very silky. This is such a far cry from French malbec from Cahors.
$20 and they can still put this stuff in NEW French oak casks for 18 months...Wow.

Cheers!!

King of the Hill

The Vina Cobos, Bramare, Lujan de Cuyo, Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 sets the record for me - it states 14.9% alcohol on the front label but there's an added on sticker on the back that states "16.7% alcohol by volume". This has been plastered on by the LCBO, which tests each of the wines it sells for content (to make sure no-one is posioning the good(?) citizens of Ontario with turpentine or Polonium or something else). Wow. That's high for a wine. King of the Hill. So high the winery doesn't want to advertise it, so they go with "14.9"...kinda like the 99 cent theory.
Yea, but what does it taste like? Pretty darn good it turns out. This is my kind of stuff. Full bodied palate wacker. Rich almost port-like (no kidding!!) in intensity but dry. Cedar, tar, bitter chocolate, prunes, caribbean fruit cake. Long finish. WOW. $39 but you know what, try and find French wine this good for this price.

Right, and now for something completely different. Remo Farina's Montecorna, Valpolicella Ripasso, 2004. Sour cherry nose, medium bodied and very spicy, almost tart. Great acidity for cutting through fatty smoky ribs. Cranberry and Dr. Pepper flavour profile. Good wine. Can't remember, but I think it cost about $20. BTW, Ripasso is a technique where the Venetians take the lees from an Amarone fermentation and referment simpler Valpolicella with this crap, this strengthens the flavour and boosts the alcohol content of the final product. Why not? it's like recycling.

Oooh-hooo...now for a real treat. You gotta love having a cellar (even if it is a garage). I bought this baby for $19.99 back in 1989 in Philadelphia. You can't find it retail anymore. The Burmester, Vintage Port, 1985 has turned maroon translucent. Slight toffee nose. Syrupy, warm mouth coating texture, very supple and hedonistic feeling. The tannins have smoothed right out (this stuff would have been fire water back in '89). Far from cloying, it is luciously sweet with figs and raisin flavours. Just sit back and slowly devour it....Wow. So, all you lurkers out there, go buy some vintage port from a recent vintage and sit on it for 20 years. You won't be disappointed.
Now here's a rarity - wine from Brazil. I thank Eric for finding this and bringing it to try. The Miolo, Quinta do Seival, Castas Portuguesas, 2005 is more than a novelty. Nice dark purple colour. Not much on the nose. Very old world taste - stewed plums with some earthy portobello mushroom undertones. Medium bodied, some meaty tannins. This is close to being good...a little overpriced at $21 perhaps...you can buy similar wine from the former Brazilian colonialist overlords (ie. Portugal) for cheaper.








Cheers from the last grasshoppers of the summer!!

Bush Wine of the Week

OK, just because one is in the middle of nowhere is no reason not to be able to enjoy a good glass of wine. Or, in this case, a plastic cup!
Thankfully the wine industry is packaging more and more of it's offerings in so-called "eco-friendly" boxes, tetrapacks, aluminum containers and plastic bottles that make a sojourn in the "bush" more palatable. So I picked up a few to try out...
I'll rate them simply on a 0-10 scale, as I didn't take detailed tasting notes and, to tell you the truth, wine simply tastes better in the bush, so I don't want to mislead anyone who is used to my normal ratings.
OK, lets start with the crap. The Bistro Mundo series is a mundane string of mostly non-vintage, non-varietal labelled wines shipped in large containers to Quebec and then "bottled" here in tetra-paks. The Argentine effort is marginally better than the Spanish and gets a 4/10. The Spanish gets 3/10. Stay away from this series of wines, far away. There's much better ways to spend your $10 than this plonk. By the way, that's "Bens" DEET in the other container on the barrel lid...its for repelling mosquitoes and blackflies...don't even think of drinking that!!
Right, still on the crap side of the scale is the cutely named and "organic" Ciao, Sangiovese, Italy, no vintage. Tolerable, it gets a 5/10. Disappointing considering that for the same price, Farnese and Citra, amongst others, bottles much better Sangiovese. $12.70 for a litre.
Now its getting interesting. The purple packaged Three Thieves, Bandit, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007 is generically from California. It has a silver "most wanted" logo stamped onto it's label. Well, its definitely not most wanted, but it is drinkable. Actually tasted suprisingly OK. 6/10. $10.95.
Not much seperates the next two wines. The Turning Leaf, Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 is from the California Gallo line of wines. This is actually good wine, 7/10. The bargain of the week at only $9.95, again for a litre (all these eco-packages seem to be a litre - they say that the ligher overall package (wine and box/plastic bottle) weighs so much less than the glass bottle full of wine that the money they save on transport is passed on to us as 250 cc more wine...yada yada yada...
Now this stuff marks the transition - this is "proper" wine but in the new packaging. The Banrock Station, Shiraz, 2007 from Australia is good. A pleasure in the wilderness. 8/10. $13.75.

And now, the winner, by a landslide....BUSHWINE OF THE WEEK!!! Silver Leaf, Shiraz, 2007 from SE Australia. Full bodied, plush, oaky - a blunt instrument maybe, but reminds me of civilization. Boy, I could almost be back at home sitting in an easy chair sippin' this stuff. 9/10. $14.
Cheers!!!

Siblings

The fancy label siblings are from Chile - kind of ostentatious looking...the Terra Noble, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gran Reserva, 2005 is a softie - nice new world blackberry fruit, medium bodied, gentle with no hard tannins. Kinda cheap for a "Gran" Reserva too - only $17. Well, you get what you pay for, right? - it's an OK wine, no better. The twin is the Merlot, Gran Reserva, 2005. Much fruitier nose than the cab with brighter fruit - blueberries and cherries. Also medium bodied and soft. Both these wines are straight forward, the merlot is better at first but with time the cab takes over.
OK, now for the ugly siblings. These wines will be at the bottom of the price list in your wine store (unless you have a Trader Joe's where you can find 2-buck chuck). $7-8 gets you Farnese's Sangiovese or Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. The vintage I tasted was 2007, but it doesn't really matter - these guys seem to produce pretty much the same style of wine year in, year out. The Montepulciano is a dark wine (no cheapo see thru stuff here) with pepper, beef stock, plums and cherries. Medium-full bodied, it actually benefits from decanting and tastes better the next day. The sangiovese is also not bad. These are OK wines, you can use them as everyday drinkers, and much better value than the good looking siblings from Chile.
Slow-smoked turkey legs and pork loin...yum. The Joel Gott, Zinfandel, 2003 was overpowered by this lot. It was however a good aperetif wine - zippy, bright raspberry fruit, medium bodied, not a tannin in sight...good drinking zin from a value producer (less than $20). The Mas des Bressades, Cabernet-Syrah, 2004 was up to the challenge. This wine really needs food - it's a full bodied old world style with herb and animal flavours that mask any fruit. The tannins are smoothing out with a little age, but it still needs that fatty meat to shine. Good wine. Cheap too - only $16.

Cheers!!

New Muga

The usually reliable Muga Rioja has released it's 2005 Reserva in Canada (Spanish reservas spend a minimum of 1 year in barricas and 2 years in the bottle before release, so it comes to you retail with some years under the belt). And it's a good effort, but not as good as their lip smacking 2002. This is classic old school rioja - tastes like it came out of an oak barrel - wait - yes it did!! If you don't like oak in your wine, stay away.
This is a prime example of a full bodied wine that doesn't have to be "big" and bash your palate in order to have lots of flavour. Cedar, vanilla, earth, smoke, subtle black fruit (in the background) and very chewy but not overpowering tannins are what you get. Try laying some down for a few years to see how it evolves. Good wine, worth the $25.
Right, now for the rest. The Tatachilla Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale, 2005 caught me out - when I saw it in the shop, I confused it with the very highly regarded Tatiarra winery, also Australian, so snapped it up as it was on sale. Well, I didn't get what I thought I was getting but it was still pretty darn good. Opaque. Pepper and plum nose. Full bodied, plush style - no lean Cabernet here. Velvety, juicy black fruit and a decent finish. Could handle a steak but better suited as a sipper. A steal at $19.
What the heck is winery called Odjfell doing in Chile? Sounds like it's from Iceland. I hate to say it, but their Armador, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 smells like all those other $15 Chilean reds - pretty generic. But generically pretty good! Nice dark colour. Soft, deep and rich with damson plum fruit, a little meat & tobacco and boiled beetroot. Very smooth sipper, good wine and worth the $15.
OK, I get asked about really cheap wine every now and then, so I bought 6 bottles of less than $10 Italian wine that I'll talk about over the next month or so. The first one I unscrewed was the modern packaged Ogio, Primitivo, 2008. The only other word they put on the label is "Italy", I guess they're after people who want to see that they're buying an imported wine. So what do you get for $8? Well, it's not a wimpy colour. Smells OK too - no cheap bubble gum aromas. It's medium bodied, spicy, plummy and has a nice whack of dusty tannins. It does get a little thin with time and lacks a good finish, though. But hey, you can't go wrong for this price. OK wine.

Cheers!!!

June Roundup

OK, lets start with a same grape challenge - two BC wines from the same producer but very different styles and one from a lesser known appellation in Argentina. The Domaine de Chaberton is a winery in the little known Fraser Valley, but they actually make their good reds from grapes sourced in the scorching Okanagon. The Fraser Valley is too wet and cool to ripen noble red wine grapes. These two wines get their grapes from the Black Sage bench. The Domaine de Chaberton, Syrah, 2006 is made in an old world style. Leather and grapefruit on the nose. Yes, grapefruit. It's medium bodied with lots of pepper and blackcurrant. Medium length with leathery tannins on the back end. Good wine, but number 3 in this mini-tasting. $30 is too much.
These guys also make the new world style, Canoe Cove, Shiraz, 2004. Sweet smelling with clove/nutmeg aromas. Medium bodied with creamy caramel and cranberries and chocolate - sounds horrible I know, but it's actually nicely balanced. It initally comes across as a "good" wine, but with time it simmers to a "wow". Give it time in a carafe. Number 2 in the tasting, $30 is not cheap but about what you have to pay for really good BC wine. And you get the best wine label that I have seen in a long time!!
Right, now for the winner. This is the third wine I've had from these guys, and they have all impressed in their own way. Who said San Juan in Argentina cannot produce good wine? (well, actually, some twits at SCL in Mendoza did, but this winery proves them either brainless or liars). The Las Moras, Gran Shiraz, 2005 has a beautiful full blown oak and spice nose. Full bodied, the tannins meld seamlessly with the cherries and spice. Great length, this is stunning and impressive wine for $24. Wow.


Alright, now for the banal. First, kudos to the Australian marketing team behind Shot in the Dark, Shiraz-Petit Sirah, 2008. Impressive modern packaging. Too bad what's in the bottle is a pretty generic Aussie shiraz. Medium coloured, medium bodied, some good black berry fruit and some smooth smokey undertones. But one glass is enough. And $15 is too expensive. OK wine.
The Wyndham Estate, Bin 555 Shiraz, 2005 tries to impress with 6 gold "medals" and a silver on the bottle. Very soft, smooth wine with sweet stewed plums, but again, pretty generic. Makes you reach for a second glass but then you wonder why. OK wine, $16 could be spent on something better.

Last up is the Michel Torino, Cuma, Organic Malbec, 2008 from Argentina. 14 bucks gets your nose thinking its one of those intense smelling dried fruit berry bars that they used to sell at Costco. Medium bodied, bright juicy boysenberries with a little rusticity built in. OK wine, not complex but not apologetic at all - and a better buy than those banal Aussie efforts that cost more.






Cheers!!

Simply Super

I love those wine evenings where everything imbibed is superb - one wow after another...
Lets start with the "Great one" - Wayne Gretzky. I don't know how much he actually has to do with sourcing the grapes and actually making this wine, but his Wayne Gretzky Estates, No. 99, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa valley 2005 is very good. Voluptuous style, creamy, intense with a nice acidic edge. Medium bodied, well integrated tannins. Wow. My only criticism is that the finish is a little short. $40.
The Catena Alta, 2004, Cabernet Sauvignon is from Mendoza. Forest floor nose, lots of mossy stuff going on. Initially it's all about being outside - the complete opposite of Cab intepretation compared with Gretzky's wine. With time, the fruit does finally come out - stewed red and black fruits. Complex stuff. Wow. $48.
We tried the Catena Alta, 2004, Malbec again - it seems we come across this wine every 6 months or so. This bottle was medium bodied, classy, silky, with lots of pomegranate fruit. Wow. Worth decanting for a few hours at least. $48.
The Caymus, Special Selection, 2000 is from California. Capital "E" Expensive at $180 a bottle. Well balanced, top notch new world cabernet sauvignon, this is simply super wine. You can't go wrong opening a bottle of this on special occasions (as long as you can stomach the price as well as this nectar!).
Just when you think you've hit the pinnacle, some joker shows up with a bottle of Chateau Cheval Blanc, St. Emilion, 1995 (thanks, Joe!). Showing its age with a nice bricky colour, this has a cassis nose mixed with a little turpentine. Verrrry smooth, the tannins have softened to become enjoyable. Mushrooms and smoke layer over the red fruit. This is the epitomy of old world elegance. This wine is practically unobtainable from retail at the moment, expect to pay over $300/bottle at auction or from a collector.
















Cheers!!

Boring

If Chile and Argentina can do it, why not Uruguay? Never had a Uruguayan (is that spelled correctly??) Merlot before, so snapped this one up when I saw it. The Pisano, Rio de los Pajaros, Reserve, Merlot, 2007 is a nice dark wine, but unfortunately not very exciting. Really closed nose. As for the palate, the word that comes to mind is "flat". It is austere and dense, but not very flavourful - maybe some hard blackberry candy (but not sweet) - and has absolutely NO finish. Got a touch better with time meaning maybe it needs laying down... Judging it now, it's dense and perhaps has potential, but is not very pleasant to drink, I would rate it as an "average" wine. Overpriced at $16.
I had high hopes for the Montes Alpha, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 as I really like a lot of their other wines. This one is not a typical "big" wine from Montes. Dark colour and a red berry nose. Medium full bodied, a little lean, raspberry/blueberry fruit, a little licorice on the back end. Good length. A "good" wine, but in the end pretty generic cabernet sauvignon. Nowhere near as good as their syrah.
I'd have to say not worth the $20.

The Edmeades, Zinfandel, Mendocino county, 2006 is an interesting wine from 50 year old vines. Spicy nose. Flowery, a little sweet, thick, tangy, with a slight alcohol mouth burn (it's 15.5% ethanol). Medium bodied, dried cherries and candy, no oak evident. Tasty but made for Joe Public. Not worth the $22.






Hey there's hope yet.....keep tasting....
Cheers!!

More Moras

Guess the best of this bunch? Spanish, Argentine or Italian? If you guessed the Chianti, go to the back of the bus. The Campomaggio, Chianti Classico, 2004 is a complete waste of money at $22/bottle. Tastes like it should cost $8. 'Nuff said.
The Albada, Old Vine Garnacha, Calatayud, 2005 is packaged like a new world wine and by gosh tastes like one too. I thought this was a new world malbec! Spicy, medium-full bodied, very generous rich boysenberry fruit but not jammy at all. Drying finish. Old vine grenache? how did they get it to taste like this? It's an OK wine, nothing special, so-so value at $16.
The shocker is the Las Moras, Black Label Shiraz, 2005. This comes from the San Juan province of Argentina, the supposedly poor cousins north of Mendoza. In fact, a couple of years ago I was told by snobby Mendozans to forget about San Juan as a premium source of wine. Well, think again...first sip was...wait for it....wow!! Opaque, full bodied, well integrated oak, silky tannins, rich plum fruit, spice plus dark chocolate. Quite the surprise. They state on the label it was picked in "early February" - this is like harvesting in August in the northern hemishphere, so they must get lots of sunshine. 15 months in new French and American oak. I think I paid about $16 for this wine, so it's a shocker value...I'll be trying anything I see from this winery in the future.
Cheers!!

Really Old World

I didn't expect to find any wine in Syria, (1) because it's mostly desert and (2) it's a muslim country. However, 10% of the population is Christian (Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Catholic, Maronite...) and therefore does not see alcohol as prohibited. So we bought a couple of bottles of Syrian wine from an Armenian in Aleppo, I thought this will be good for a laugh - but the first one we opened was quite a surprise - a serious wine! We opened it while staying in a bedouin compound next to a ruined castle...quite the setting.
St. Simeon was a 5th century ascetic who tried to escape the world by living on a pillar...apparently it was quite high when he died. This is what's left of it after it's been chipped away by pilgrims for centuries.
The aptly named Cortas, St. Simeon, Cuvee Speciale, NV has a nose of stewed plums. On the palate it is medium bodied, plummy, figgy, rough but surprisingly drinkable. 200 syrian pounds equals $5 so it's a bargain.
After this pleasant surprise, I was quite excited to try this wineries' "premium wine" - the vintage dated Cortas, Nectar, 2006. Alas as I popped the cork it really popped - and started fizzing...this wine hadn't survived the heat!










Anyways, the label doesn't do justice to the citadel of Aleppo, which by the way has never been successfully taken despite many attempts, so here's another view:




OK, back to reality. After getting home and after my stomach settled down, I opened a zin as these are usually easy drinking wines. The Artezin, Zinfandel, 2003 is a blend of regional zins, mostly mendocino county. This one clocks in at 15.5% (as opposed to the Syrian wines that sported a more traditional 12%). Quite pungent with crushed dark berries and a hint of eucalyptus on the nose. Medium weight but with a rough and alcoholic mouthfeel. This is a shame as it has lots of raspberries and blackberries, although a little muted, likely due to the bottle age. Disappointing for the price ($25). Cheers!!