Nugan Estate Riverina Durif 2007

The CROWN 2 winner. I felt like I needed a big red after the last one.

Durif is another term for Petit Syrah. Deep rich colour and a lemony plum bouquet. Actually, once I noticed the lemon it's quite obvious. Some leather and blackberry tastes as well, very interesting. To be honest, not as good as I remember it from cheap wine night, but still a class act. Probably would benefit from an hour in the decanter. I would proudly serve this with a bacon cheeseburger, or duck a l'orange if you want to go to the other end of the culinary scale.

89 points. $14 (as of CROWN 2).

Chateau de Cabriac Corbieres 2007

Some background: I came across the Wine Century Club, which is a website that will give you a certificate if you promise you have tried at least 100 different wine varietals ("the application is entirely on the honor system; should you lie, may the wrath of Bacchus curse your palate!"). Once you get past the first dozen or so, it gets a little obscure. So, we have a new mission.

This French wine is a combination of Syrah (got it), Grenache (got it), Mourvedre (uh, got it), and Carignan (need it!). So, check #42 off the wine century club list, and here we go. I get a dark berry and possibly flinty aroma, and the colour is a nice deep ruby. It's definitely not heavy or chewy, but there's just enough structure and body to keep it from feeling too thin. The acidity is just about right, but it seems to lack - well, flavour, I guess. I don't think this wine would stand up to any sort of rich food. I'm struggling to think what it might pair with (possibly seared ahi tuni?? what a stretch), and it's kind of plain to sip on its own, so I'm not sure where that leaves us. It's not a bad wine, just doesn't really seem to fit in. It's smooth and has some character, but ultimately is kind of unsatisfying.

I just poured another glass, this time with the aerator, and that helps a bit. Acceptable with the leftover popcorn chicken nuggets from tonight. Bump it up a point, but still, something is lacking, I wish it had some game. I'm trying not to blame the carignan.

87 points. About $14.

Louis Guntrum 2006 Dry Riesling

For whatever reason, I don't like German or Spanish wines quite as much as others. That's a generalization of course, but hey, it usually holds true. A Spanish wine rated 90 would probably be an 86 or 87 to me. This German wine probably fits in with that - I have a feeling others would like this more than me.

That said, I find this "dry" riesling not too dry - maybe a 2 - and it almost has a cork taint even though it's a screwtop. Lemon-straw coloured and a musty nose, it sort of tastes like that too: musty, lemony straw. What else can I say: not my favorite. Drinkable, but not much more.

83 points.

Santa Rita 120 Chardonnay 2008

Very nice, not great but no real weaknesses and quite drinkable. This is a slightly buttery, medium oaked chardonnay with a sort of musky melon and fruit (pear?) character. I find the acidity a little out of balance but not overpowering. I can see how the muskiness might turn some people off. It's not a subtle wine.

This would be perfect with shellfish. Use it to cook mussels mariniere with garlic, and serve it cold along side. It would probably go equally well with blue cheese, or even a coconut curry. Decent value, good to have in the bottom of the fridge.

86 points. $11.

C.R.O.W.N. 2

Cheap Wine Night has been rebranded as "Cheap Red or White Night", aka C.R.O.W.N. The second one was set for April 25th, which is ANZAC Day so the theme was Australia and New Zealand. Due to scheduling problems we had to change the date to April 18th, but kept the theme anyway. Couples were asked to bring two bottles with a maximum budget of $40 combined.

Without further ado, the results:

1 - Nugan Estate Durif Petit Syrah 2007 (Riverina, NSW) $14.00
2 - Thorn Clarke Shotfire Shiraz 2006 (Barossa Valley) $27.99
3 - Peter Lehmann Shiraz 2006 (Barossa Valley) $17.00
4 - Heartland Stickleback Red 2007 (South Australia) $15.70
5 - Main Divide Riesling 2007 (Waipara Valley, NZ) $25.95
6 - Nugan Estate Pinot Grigio 2008 (King Valley, Victoria) $13.99
7 - Hardys Riesling Gewurtztraminer 2008 (South Australia) $10.99
8 - Angove Nine Vines Shiraz Viognier 2007 (South Australia) $15.99
9 - Roy's Hill Merlot 2006 (Hawkes Bay, NZ) $20.95
10 - Bleasedale Potts' Catch Verdelho 2008 (Langhorne Creek, South Australia) $15.95
11 - Wolf Blass Eaglehawk Semillon Chardonnay 2007 (Barossa Valley) $13.79
12 - Tempus Two Wilde Chardonnay 2007 (Adelaide) $14.99

This time I ranked the results based on how each person rated a wine compared to their own rankings. In other words, for each person I took the score and assigned a ranking of 1 to the top score down to 12 for their lowest. This way it doesn't matter if somebody's scoring system is out of scale with others, as long as they are consistent within themselves. Interestingly, the #1 wine was only ranked #1 by one individual, but was the second choice of almost everyone else. Wines 2-5 had more first-place votes than the Nugan Durif.

Next time we'll probably do away with scores altogether, and just have people rank their own list 1-12. Also, I just noticed a slight calculation error: the Angove Shiraz Viognier should have been one spot higher. Well, I had tasted twelve wines prior to doing up the spreadsheet that night, so a little human error is to be expected. I suppose next time I could spit out the wine to stay sharp (OK, that's not going to happen).

The two Nugan Estates were a revelation: both were excellent and great value at 14 bucks each. The Shotfire was a close second, and Peter Lehmann was another fine wine for a decent price.

Cono Sur Merlot 2008

So: for a merlot this is fairly rich (maybe courtesy of the aerator - that's a whole other post), nice deep violet garnet colour, and an interesting, earthy nose. I get plum and blackberry, strong but not overwhelming, and maybe even a little citrus acidity. This is drinkable on its own and would be a good match for lasagna and crusty garlic bread on a chilly fall evening.

Cono Sur is turning into another Lindemans for me: pretty much anything with that name on the label is a great value, always an above-average wine and sometimes even outstanding.

87 points. Probably about 12 bucks.

Spring Wine Festival 2009

I surprised Kris on her birthday a few years ago with a trip to the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival. Three days with just the two of us and as many wineries as we could handle. It was terrific.

So terrific in fact that we've gone back almost every year. I think this was our 4th or 5th time. We stayed in a rental condo in Okanagan Falls, which has a not too glamorous reputation but is actually quite nice. We're headed back there to the same condo complex with the kids this summer. Apart from being quite comfortable and reasonably priced, it is strategically located about ten minutes south of Penticton in the centre of the wine trail for maximum tasting accessibility.

We must have gone to at least 40 wineries and tasted God knows how many wines. As always, I wish I wrote them down. I'll need to confer with Kris and post some reviews. Honestly, we drank one last night that we brought back which I don't even remember going to the winery. (My wife of course was reminding me of what colour shirt the proprietor was wearing while we were there.) So it was a bit of a whirlwind, but a blast as always. I hope we get to do this every year.

I'll try to get some specific wines posted, but my lasting impressions are that anything from Wild Goose or LaFrenz is outstanding and worth the money. See Ya Later was, for the first time, a disappointment. Generally, the quality in the valley continues to improve, and the prices seemed to be going up as well. I'd like to get back to the Similkameen - there's about 6 or 7 wineries out there - but we didn't find time this trip as usual. We did make it to a few Kelowna locations which were mostly excellent and worth the effort.

Don Miguel Gascon Malbec 2007

I'm back. Sorry for the delay.

This one I'd never heard of, just happened to see it on the shelf with a fancy "90" around the neck of the bottles. The 2006 was apparently one of DeVines' best sellers.

A deep purple colour, this Malbec needs a little time out in the open, as advertised. Nice earthy and alcohol-ey bouquet, I get a lot of plum taste. Would go well with, well, I'm not sure... a rare steak, pasta with a tomato sauce, lamb maybe. Quite dry with slightly aggressive tannins. If you do buy a bottle of this you really have to look at the colour, it's quite dark and unique. A very nice Malbec once it breathes.

89 points. About $18 at DeVines.