Tuesday, December 30 2008
Weekly Wined-Up
It's been a busy season for my liver
'Tis the season to be drinky, and to share good bottles with friends. Despite the cooler weather we've been eating some lighter dishes, and thus the spread is heavy on whites right now--with a few interesting exceptions.
Starting from the left is a bottle of my Limited Edition California Lake County Trio Blanca from last year. A blend of Pinot Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc (nicknamed internally 'that blanc-itty blanc wine'). It's evolving exactly on plan: at first it was zippy with the Sauvignon but now the Chenin is throwing honey and hints of ripe melon into the mix. Soon enough the Pinot's floral notes and minerality will start to come through as well. Had it with chipotle prawns and it was wonderful good.
Next is a little bottle lf Mort Subite Kriekbier. It's a Belgian beer that has cherries added to it after primary fermentation. Slightly tart with wonderful cherry flavour it works as an after-dinner beer or with spicy snacks. Mort Subite means 'sudden death' but that would only apply if you keeled over from the happy after pouring this stuff over vanilla Haagen-Dasz like I did.
Next up is Riesling country:
Next on deck is a Josef Drathen Bereich Bernkastel Riesling from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. A Qualitatswein, it's about a 2 on the sweetness scale with plenty of zesty acidity and floral notes to carry it. It drinks more like a declassified Spatlese than a QMP with lots of juicy lime and mineral notes.
One over is Pierre Sparr Alsatian Riesling. This is one of the commercial examples we used in this year's Limited Edition tasting program, and it's completely made out of awesome. Dry like chert, clanging with acidity, huge on fruit and brimming with white blossoms it was great with herbed roast chicken and lemon-roasted Greek potatoes.
The Stoneleigh Marlborough Riesling is cut from entirely different cloth. It's as juicy as fresh-squeezed grapefruit and has a lot of the same aromas and flavours. It's got bracing, almost over-arching acidity, and a good thing too as it's about a one on the sweetness scale. 99% of consumers would never notice because it's a big wine with lipsmacking apples, lime, peach and white fruits all over the place. It went great with homemade French onion soup, baguette and local brie and a crunchy salad.
Bracketing things for the Germans is Weingut Lorch Pfalz Riesling Gutsabfüllung. Rather than referring to full-up guts, that means 'estate bottled'. This stuff is dynamite, a 2 on the sweetness and softly yummy, with lots of peaches, nectarines and green apple. Forgot to pair it with anything and just sat and drank the bottle as-is and wished for more.
Now leaving Riesling country, Sandhill's 2005 Small Lots Barbera is a great example of a hot-climate grape achieving it's potential in a cool climate like BC. Barbera isn't usually associated with the Okanagen Valley, but this wine got enough heat units on the company vineyard to ripen well and drop acid. It's got a squirt of Sanigovese and a dribble of Cab Franc in it. It's a deep garnet wine that shows plums, black fruits, moderate acidity, spicy finish and restrained oaking. I tease our winemaker Howard Soon about having a wooden palate because I'm far less of an oak fan than he seems to be, but this one marks a very nice balance between wood, structure and fruit.
No, the next one is not wine, but it's definitely worthy of a wined-up note. Bushmill's is the world's oldest licensed distillery, and word is that they were providing whisky to Henry II 400 years before they got their license in 1608. I'm a fancier of spirits, concentrating on Scotch mostly, but I do enjoy Irish and American whiskies, along with a very limited amount of Canadian and Japanese (you'd be surprised what the Nipponese can do with peated barley. Really, you would). This was a bottle of 1608, a blended Irish whisky (meaning it was made with a mixture of grain whiskies, along with whisky from malted barley) with a hint of roses in the aroma (I find this in all Bushmills). It's a touch syrupy, with hints of sherry and nuts and a bit of earthiness, finishing quite sweet, perfect over a single ice cube.
Next is a bottle of Raimat Albarino. Raimat is a big Spanish winery founded in the 70's. They're not terribly forthcoming about the place, but I believe they're either affiliated with or owned by the big Cava house, Codorniu, and they do some surprisingly good stuff. This wine has floral aromas, spiciness and an interesting dollop of vanilla finishing on a citrus note. A wee bit lacking in acid, I still really enjoyed it as a change-up. I'd love to offer an Albarino in our Limited Edition program, but there's still none available worth buying. Keep your eyes peeled, though.
Finishing up this round of 'let's punish Tim's liver' is a bottle of Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes, from the Mendoza in Argentina. Torrontes is a grape I adore: it's got a fresh, juicy acidity and a wonderful crisp finish. It's nearly as flowery as Gewurztraminer or Muscat, but with a much better acid balance and a very satisfying food wine--we had it with a pasta in cream sauce, and it was spectacular-good.
Whew! Got this done just in time for New Years. It's off to the Polar Bear Swim again, only this time I've got my pal David conned, er, convinced to join me in the water. I better dust off the hot tub so we can thaw his skinny corpus out after a quick dip in Semiahmoo Bay.
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