SOWF #1: Moon Curser

(Spring Okanagan Wine Festival, by the way.)

We booked an early morning flight since it was cheaper; we arrived just before 7am. Since not much is going on winery-wise at this time of day, we decided to head south to Osoyoos. Most wineries are open from 10am to 5 or 6 in the afternoon. We would arrive in time to have breakfast and plan our attack. First up: Moon Curser. 

Moon Curser was formerly known as Twisted Tree. I just assumed that someone sold to someone else, but I just learned from John Schreiner's blog that actually it's the same owners. They found the old name was being confused with two other Okanagan vineyards, Tangled Vines and Oliver Twist. The new name is inspired by the cross-border gold smuggling that went on under cover of darkness years ago. This is fine except the labels all have a Halloween, howling coyote theme that sort of confuses their brand.

The tasting room (which just opened May 1st) is stunning. One of many new and expensive-looking wine shops we visited, this one has a huge window looking west over Osoyoos and the lake. Generally the wines here were very good, the Petit Verdot being the only one I found less than average (and this is a varietal that is mostly used in blends).All notes in regular text are from the winemaker; if I have anything to add it will be in italics. Scores are mine alone.

• Afraid of the Dark 2011 ($22)
  

Afraid of the Dark is a blend of Marsanne (42%), Roussanne (33%) and Chardonnay (25%). Grown on our Class 1 home vineyard on Osoyoos East Bench, the Marsanne and Roussanne are made from vines in their 7th leaf. The rare Muscat clone of Chardonnay is grown on a tiny one acre block on the west side of Osoyoos Lake.

This is a dry, light to medium bodied white wine. The nose is highly aromatic with notes of nectarine, candied ginger, grapefruit and stone fruit (mainly peach and apricot). On the palate the wine is quite crisp, with stone fruit and clean bright citrus notes as the dominant notes. Some melon and mineral characteristics can also be found. The wine has a crisp finish with good finesse and length.

 

89 points.

• Viognier 2011 ($28) 

The Viognier for this varietal bottling was grown in our Class 1 home vineyard on Osoyoos East Bench, as well as a newer, small vineyard also located on the East Bench. The wine underwent cold fermentation entirely in stainless steel in order to preserve the complexity and freshness of its fruit character. Whole bunch pressing, and slight extended skin contact on portions of the fruit contributed to the mouthfeel and flavor profile of the wine.

This is a dry, medium bodied white wine. The nose is very delicate but with pronounced peach and stone fruit notes. Floral, lemon and candied aromas round out the nose and the overall impression is that of delicate but intense character. On the palate, the acidity is in balance with the delicate character of the wine and, similar to the nose, peach and honey as well as a candied ginger impression are present. The wine has a round finish with finesse and length.

89 points: very flavourful.

  

• Tempranillo 2010 ($29)

This wine is grown in its entirety in our Class 1 Osoyoos home vineyard planted in the spring of 2005. It was aged in 225 L American barrels, about 20% of which were new.

This is a dry, medium-bodied red wine. On the nose the characters of red cherry, violets, tobacco and vanilla can be found. The palate, similar to the nose, adds elements of black pepper, black cherry jam, leather and a bit of cedar. Rich and round, with abundant soft tannin, the wine finishes long.

  

 88 points.

• Merlot 2010 ($25)

The bulk (over 90%) of this wine is grown in the Kelliher vineyard on Osoyoos East Bench, two properties north of our home vineyard. The wine was matured in 225 L barriques, about a third of which were new American oak.

This is a dry, medium-bodied red wine. On the nose, plum and ripe black fruit are the dominant notes, followed by coffee and dried spice characteristics. On the palate, the wine is generous, mouth filling, with both black and red cherry, vanilla and nutmeg. The finish is long, with considerable yet round and soft tannin.

88 points - robust and woody. 

• Syrah 2010 ($25)

Our Syrah is grown in two neighboring Osoyoos East BenchVineyards, both Class 1 viticultural properties. The wine was matured in 225 L barriques, about a third of which were new oak of French and Hungarian origin.

This is a dry, medium-bodied red wine. On the nose, there is the hallmark black pepper of Okanagan Syrah accompanied by strong black cherry, sweet beet, and clove and allspice aromas. The palate is generous with rich mulberry and dried cherry flavors, along with earthy chocolate and leather notes. Tannins are smooth, and the finish is long.

89 points.

• Border Vines 2010 ($25)

This blend of six Bordeaux varietals consists of Cabernet Sauvignon (35%), Merlot (33%), Cabernet Franc (15%), Carmenere (7%), Malbec (7%) and Petit Verdot (3%). The wine is grown in five Osoyoos East Bench vineyards, all within a short tractor-driving distance from one another.

This is a dry, medium bodied wine. The nose shows good intensity with strong elements of dark berry and typical cabernet notes of cassis and blackberry. On the palate this mouthfilling wine has good weight and intensity, with highlights of plum and spice notes, and long smooth finish.

89 points.

• Malbec 2010 ($29)

The Malbec for this inaugural single varietal bottling was grown in a Class 1 vineyard located on Osoyoos East Bench, from vines now in their 7th leaf. The low cropping during the 2010 growing season resulted in high fruit quality at harvest, and the decision to bottle the wine on its own.

This is a dry, medium to full bodied red wine. Characters of blueberries, black cherry and plum dominate the nose. The palate follows the nose, and is full and round, and displays notes of chocolate licorice and cola. The plushness of this wine is its dominant character. Acidity and tannic structure marry well but play a background role. The finish is long and balanced, with ripe soft tannin. With its strong blueberry character this wine drinks well right out of the gate, but it could be cellared for two to four years. We recommend limited aging. With bottle age expect leather and tobacco characters to develop.

89 points. I got earthy, mushroom notes in here as well. 

• Petit Verdot 2010 ($29)        

The Petit Verdot for this inaugural single varietal bottling was grown in a Class 1 vineyard located on Osoyoos East Bench, from vines now in their 7th leaf. The low cropping during the 2010 growing season resulted in high fruit quality at harvest, and the decision to bottle the wine on its own.

This is a dry, medium-bodied red wine. Notes of violets, both red and black currants, black cherries and raspberries dominate the nose. The palate follows the nose, and also displays some notes of licorice and cola. The acidity and the tannic structure, marry well with the predominant notes of violet and result in a wine that is powerful and elegant. The finish is long and balanced, with ripe tannin. On first release the wine drinks well, but might have a little tightness. As little as 6 months aging will be probably well rewarded. This wine will also age well over five to seven years. Expect secondary characteristics of bottle age like licorice, graphite, sweet beetroot and leather to develop.

87 points - fresh cherry, probably needs aging.

• Dead of Night 2010 ($38)

This blend of Tannat, a noble red varietal traditionally grown in the Madiran region in the south of France, and Syrah, is grown in two Class 1 vineyards on Osoyoos East Bench, and aged in 225 L French, as well as Hungarian, oak barriques.

This is a dry, medium bodied wine. The nose displays aromas of dark cherry, prune plum and violets. Notes of pepper and tobacco can be found as well.On the palate the wine is rich but with good acidity. The palate is consistent with the nose with its cherry and plum notes, but also displays meaty and smoky characters. The finish is long and generous with impressive fine and soft tannin.

89 points. Very noticeable tannins, needs a year or at least a good aeration. Tannat - another new grape for the Wine Century Club!

Spring Okanagan Wine Festival

Just got back from the sunny Okanagan last night, after catching the second half of the Spring Wine Festival. We think we've been doing this for seven years now.

The "festival" part of it really just marks the kickoff of summer hours in tasting rooms. There are also a number of events, most of which seem to be related to food (and an excuse to overcharge). This event used to be just four days at the beginning of May; somewhere in the last few years it was expanded to a week and a half. We found touring around on Thursday and Friday that there weren't a lot of other people around. The weekend was quite busy, especially Sunday which was Mothers' Day.

Some highlights were an overdue return to the Similkameen Valley, several wineries visited for the first time, cowboy Ken from Rustico, some great stinky cheeses from Poplar Grove and Upper Bench, and Bill from Fairview going back to his house to find us a couple of bottles of The Wrath.

This was also the first year I took notes. The quality of some of the tasting notes inexplicably declined during each day, as did the quality of my handwriting. But at least I have a record of everywhere we went and what we tasted. I plan to write it all up here in the next few days, but here are the raw numbers:

• 85 hours in the Okanagan
• 36 wineries visited
• 221 wines tasted
• 60 wines brought back
• $100 in extra baggage fees

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

C.R.O.W.N. 4 Results

Let me preface this by saying how wrong I was about pinot noir. I wrote that pinot noir "is tricky to pin down." Well, after tasting quite a few before and during the event, I think I can say that the grape is among the more identifiable varietals. There is still a wide range of flavours but I can taste that distinctive strawberry now.

And I think we all expanded our palates a bit. It was unintentionally challenging to find a decent pinot noir under the price limit of $22, but everyone passed the assignment with flying colours. Plus we got to use my new custom-made cloth wine bags for the tasting.

The results:

1) The People's Pinot Noir 2010, New Zealand $20.00

2) La Crema Pinot Noir 2010, Sonoma $21.90

3) Rock Wren Pinot Noir 2008, Prospect Winery, Okanagan $19.00

4) La Petite Paille Pinot Noir 2008, Little Straw, Okanagan $21.90  

5) Fat Bastard Pinot Noir 2009, France $16.00

The winner had five first-place votes, the runner-up four top rankings, so it was pretty close. The top four all scored well, with only the Fat Bastard not impressing (which surprised me since their Chardonnay is quite good). Compared to the others, La Crema was much more full-bodied and some even found it sweet. This was our entry and we lucked out that Superstore put it on sale the week of the tasting. The People's was more of a traditional pinot noir but a cut above and very engaging.

All of the New Zealand pinot noirs we researched were excellent by the way. The one we almost went with instead of La Crema was Yealands: like the winner Yealands really impresses up front and is great on its own. But for drinking with dinner I would go with La Crema. The Okanagan pinots were very good too.

In terms of learning something new and drinking good (cheap-ish) wine, the evening was a success.

2000 Zero Zero

This blog just hit 2000 pageviews today. Pretty modest, granted, but deserving of a little recognition nevertheless. I have no idea how accurate these counters are, but the stats have the top five countries as Canada, US, UK, Brazil and New Zealand in that order. But there have been hits from such unlikely places as Trinidad and Tobago, Mongolia, Cyprus, Bahrain and Vietnam. Also, the Alpha Zeta, Luigi Bosca and Nugan Durif seem to be among the most searched wines that lead people here. Thanks everyone!

Cheers.

C.R.O.W.N. 4

For the first time we will focus on a single varietal: pinot noir.

Like many people (way too many people from the point of view of the wine community), I got interested in pinot noir after watching Sideways. Miles' response when asked why he loves it so much is one of my favorite movie moments ever:

It's a hard grape to grow, as you know. Right? It's uh, it's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and uh, thrive even when it's neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. And, and only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors, they're just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and... ancient on the planet.

There is even a "Sideways Effect" which describes the masses of people who turned on to pinot noir as a result of the movie. Even though Sideways is a satire not to be taken too seriously, it did open my eyes to this grape. Although I still drink merlot, too, when I feel like it.

Pinot noir is tricky to pin down. I find it's not easily identifiable, like malbec or chardonnay. I will often buy a bottle of cabernet sauvignon or syrah that I've haven't tasted before because you have a fairly good idea of what you're going to get. But not pinot noir - each one is different. Some are very "thin" and others surprisingly robust. And to me they really are hit or miss. 

Should be fun.

Coyote's Run Meritage 2008

When we travelled to Ontario this summer, we knew we'd be driving around both the Niagara and Prince Edward County regions so we brought a wine shipping box. However, the trip turned out to be mainly about visiting family, so we didn't actually find the time to visit any wineries. We did haul a few bottles back, but these were some last-minute selections hastily chosen from what may be the best liquor store in the world, the Summerhill LCBO in Toronto. I don't regret how we chose to spend our time in Ontario for a minute, but on the other hand we did pass up an opportunity to visit two of Canada's three main wine regions in person.

So, I feel like we owe one to eastern Canadian wines. Coyote's Run is a fairly well-known winery from Niagara-in-the-Lake, but not one I have ever tried. So on a whim I picked up the Meritage from the Superstore Liquorstore a couple of days ago. Let's dive in....

The Coyote's Run Meritage is dark purple and has a very compelling bouquet which I had a hard time putting my finger on but the back label correctly identifies as violet. The wine is a spicy blueberry concoction that would more than compliment any red meat or tomato pasta dish. I think there are hints of chocolate, leather and tobacco, but subtle enough to give this floral wine some depth without overpowering. I think this would be a killer if matched with the right food, maybe steak tartare. Very impressive. The next time there is rare meat on the menu I will look for this one.

91 points. $19 at Superstore.

Henkell Trocken Sekt

About four or five times a year I wonder out loud to anyone in earshot, "Why do we only drink champagne to celebrate something? Why can't we have it as an everyday house wine?" But do I ever do anything about it? No. At least, not until now. The Henkell was the only cold wine I could find in the house, and none of the reds had screwtops, so I quietly popped the cork (kids just went to bed) and had some sparkling wine for no reason.

To be honest this has been a favorite of mine for a long time, pretty much since I started drinking wine. I'm sure a lot of it is the association with hundreds of memories experienced while holding a glass of Henkell Trocken. Hey, it was a fine day today so let's celebrate. Somebody famous, a writer but I can't remember who, once said he has a glass of champagne every morning to start the day, just because he can.

In case you didn't know: "champagne" refers to sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France only. Apparently everything else is properly called "sparkling wine" or some local variation. Even sparkling wines from elsewhere in France can't be called champagne.

Henkell Trocken is amazingly consistent: I don't remember ever having a bottle that tasted different from what it tastes like now. Medium bubbles, dry but with a very little honey sweetness and a creamy finish. Nicely acidic, this can be sampled on its own or with any cheese, seafood or curry dish. Once in a while I get to try some more expensive champagnes, and while I do appreciate them I think I like good old Henkell as much as any of them.

89 points. Usually around $11-12 at Superstore.

Carmen Shiraz 2008

Not much background on this wine. I have no idea how it landed in our wine rack. I can't find an image of the label on the internet. The winery website doesn't even list it. So we're flying blind here. All I know is it's a shiraz from Maipo valley in Chile.

A little acidic right out of the bottle, but not too shabby. A very nice inky purple colour, with a fairly hot alcoholey nose. Now that it's been out to play for a few minutes the wine is rounding out a bit and mellowing nicely. I'm getting some plum and leather smells/tastes. The back label mentions blueberry, and I'll agree with that. Good structure if a bit astringent, this would probably match with sweet Italian sausage, or rich chocolate cake, or the usual suspects. If it's in the price range I think it is, this is not a bad value at all. A good, solid, balanced shiraz that's not too "big" but is quite drinkable with food or on its own.

88 points. Guessing this is about $12 somewhere.